He rushed into my house and handed me a cup of coffee. “I know you told me to call or text you before doing this again, but I had to come see you.” His hands were shaking as if he just drank five cups of coffee.
I was intrigued. “What’s up?”
“So, I got a call this morning from some suit in New York.”
I thought it was hilarious when Parker called other businessmen “suits” because he didn’t believe he was in the same category as them.
“And they offered me an insane amount of money to buy my company.”
“Were you in the market to sell your company?” I asked.
“I’ve thought about it before,” he said. “But only when the right offer came along. I expected this since that’s what seems to be happening lately. You start a social media business and become mildly successful—”
“Mildly?” I said incredulously.
He waved me off. “You know what I mean.”
“Are they a reputable company?”
“Oh, yeah. And they offered me enough money that my grandchildren won’t have to work a day in their lives and everyone will be able to live comfortably.”
With his billions in the bank, I didn’t think that would be an issue, but they must have really wanted his company to offer him that much. “Wow, that’s amazing, Parker. Do you know what you’re going to do?”
He took a long swig of his coffee. I didn’t think he needed any more caffeine, but I wasn’t going to interrupt him processing this news. It was a big decision and not to be taken lightly. “I’m not sure yet.”
“Do you think a better offer will come along?” I asked.
He shook his head. “It’s not about the money. This company has been my baby for so long. I can’t imagine just selling it off.”
“What would make you happy? In the end, that’s all that matters.”
“It would be foolish of me to make a decision so quickly,” he said, smiling, “but I just wanted to share the news with someone.”
“Have you told Rachel?” I asked.
“Not yet.”
His eyes darkened momentarily, and I wondered what that was about. Over the past few days, I had to pull information about Rachel out of him. I wondered if something had happened between them. He still carried on with the wedding plans, so I couldn’t imagine they’d had that big of a fight. I hated that I still wished they would end this thing before it started, but with each passing day, I started to lose hope.
Though it felt really good to have him come to me first instead of her.
“Well, it looks like you need a distraction while you go through all of your options. And I think we need to get some of that nervous energy out.”
“What did you have in mind?”
When we got to Sunny’s, I tossed Parker an apron. “You’re serious?”
“I think it's time you worked a day in your life like normal people and not on your phone.”
“Hey, I made a lot of money by working on my phone,” he said.
“Yes, but you’ve lost touch with the people you offer your services to. And we have a busy afternoon, and I need the help.” The day before, I got a call from a school about their field trip coming through the area, asking if I could accommodate thirty kids. The woman mentioned my website. Something I didn’t know I even had. I planned on asking Parker for that information, but it appeared he’d be out of a job soon. Maybe he could continue to work on getting the word out about the diner in his free time. At least it would give him something to do while he sat on a very fat bank account. Plus, I never turned down the opportunity for money, so I agreed to have them in the diner. But that also left me short-handed. Parker had been my guardian angel when it came to helping with my business. And to show him how grateful I was, he was about to work his butt off.
He tied the apron around his waist. “Okay, what do you need me to do?”
“To make it easier on everyone, the group already sent in their order. Since they are all middle-school kids, it's a bunch of hamburgers and chicken tenders and the like. Easy stuff.”
He shook his head. “You want me to prepare these kids food? I don’t want to poison them.”