Go

Time: 12:00pm

Barbara always had lunch at her desk, DH was right about that. She’d gone to meet her lawyer that morning and only told Todd she’d gone to lunch. It wasn’t any of his business, and anyway her lawyer’s office, W. Allen & Co., was on the same street as several of the popular lunch spots and finer dining establishments.

She settled for a liquid lunch at her attorney’s office. Billy Allen was part of the “Co” of the firm. He still went by Billy even though he was pushing 50. He couldn’t get out of his father’s shadow. Barbara had first been introduced to W. Allen by Kay Forrester, when she’d first started working for the elderly heiress.

She always suspected W. Allen and Kay Forrester had some kind of romantic entanglement, but never pressed the issue with either one. Sometimes she thought Billy resembled Kay.

He had no interest in Barbara, or, she thought, in any woman.

He was old school, so he had the little liquor bar set up in his office. The two shared a couple of scotches on the rocks while they went over Barbara’s “exit strategy.”

She was already half way on her walk back to the bank from her lawyer’s office when Todd texted her about DH. Todd couldn’t handle anything on his own.

She copied his message and pasted it into her AI assistant app, Lloyd.

“Brief me about this guy,” she typed and pressed send.

It paused like these apps do, and then responded:

“Sure, I can tell you about DH Winans. He is the vice president of franchising at Winans Food Company,” it started.

There was no vice president of franchising, but Barbara wouldn’t know that. There wasn’t a Winans Food Company either, it was Winans Food Markets, Inc., but Barbara skipped over that.

“It sounds like the Winan Company is interested in opening an account at your bank because they are expanding into the market. That makes sense—it’s not just an exploratory meeting, they’re ready to get moving.”

Lloyd was hallucinating. It had been getting better at it so Barbara didn’t notice. Lloyd didn’t have a brain, but managed to manage quite a bit of bank business for Barbara.

She was satisfied with the answer as she stepped back into the bank to find DH sitting on the couch drinking a cup of coffee and scrolling on his phone.

It was a nice suit he had on, Barbara thought, but it was certainly too big.

-Mr. Winans? Welcome to Forrester Bank, she began, tucking down on her jacket. I’m Barbara Darcy, the bank president. This way please, she said as she turned around curtly to walk to her desk.

-Good lunch? DH asked dumbly.

-What was that? Barbara asked. She hadn’t caught his mumble.

-Oh, sorry, I just asked, did you have a good lunch?

-They’ll be better when Winans Food Market comes here, she said with a phony but convincing laugh as they got to her desk in the corner.

She felt the second scotch on a rock.

-I have to say, Mr. Winans, that suit is a little bit big on you, she pointed out as she offered him a seat, lingering next to it instead of going to sit behind her desk.

She grabbed a piece of the fabric of the suit by her thumb and forefinger and scoffed lightly.

-An heir in ill-fitting clothing.

-Excuse me? DH asked, unsure how to react to the unexpected touch. He cleared his throat instead, then smelled the scotch on Barbara.

He wanted to point it out but held his tongue.

Barbara pulled her phone out of her purse and put both down on the desk as she crossed in front of him.

-DH Winans, she said, glancing at the phone and thinking of Lloyd. I don’t know that I’d ever heard of any of the Winans in particular before, she said, to the phone or to herself or to DH.

She turned to look at DH. Something wasn’t adding up, but half her mind was still on the conversation at her lawyer’s office, and part of it was still clouded by the scotch.

-So, she said as she finally took a seat behind her desk. DH Winans, she said as if testing it, in the family business. Vice President of Franchising.

DH was already pretty confused and that confused him more.

Raquelle had mocked up a couple of business cards for him, in fact. They just said Vice President. He hadn’t offered Todd one. The number on it was Raquelle’s, and he’d prefer no one actually call it.

Barbara hadn’t offered hers, so he may not have need the business cards at all. More time wasting from Raquelle, he thought.

He took a deep breath to collect himself, then smiled at Barbara, like he’d just gotten there.

He wasn’t ready yet.

-Yes, he said, deciding to go into his cover pitch while opening up his phone inconspicuously to text Raquelle. And we’re interested in opening up a couple of locations here in town.

-Right, Barbara said, starting to focus. You’ll need a local bank for cash deposits.

-Yes, exactly, DH said, as he used his thumb to open the messaging app. I understand you’ve got twenty-four hour service.

-Pardon me?

He fumbled to text Raquelle. He should have saved a draft. He should have texted earlier.

He texted: ok go