Page 16 of Angels Above

Back to being basic in his mind, but something told him she probably wasn’t.

He wondered if he judged her wrong on their first meeting when he thought she wouldn’t be interested in him.

If she was single.

Guess his grandfather’s words were still playing in his head and he’d been waiting for a chance to see Mia again to feel her out.

“I have to say I’ve spent the last week or so looking at your file,” she said. “Just getting familiar with what Brian has done in the past.”

“It’s a hodgepodge of investments. I know.”

People always said that to him. It wasn’t for him though. He knew exactly what he was doing and why, but no one ever really cared enough to ask.

He figured Brian understood it. They’d had a few conversations.

His grandfather was the only one that knew.

“Not really,” she said. “I mean Brian explained some.”

“What did he say?” he asked, leaning back in his chair to get comfortable. Something about her made him relax faster than he normally did.

“That the liquor store was the first business you owned. You worked there and bought it. A friend of your father’s.”

“Yes,” he said. Tom Brown had moved out of state a few years ago. The cold weather not good for his health problems. He’d let Tom continue to work for him after the sale and was sorry to see him go, but they kept in touch.

“It makes sense you’d buy another one. I don’t see anything odd there. Not even the rental properties. That is smart if you ask me. Passive income for the most part.”

“Not completely passive,” he said. “There is always work to be done on the houses or with the tenants, but for the most part, yes. Not a day-to-day type of job.”

“The Italian restaurant and ice cream shop are both food related, so I don’t think that’s odd. Maybe you just like Italian and ice cream.”

“I do,” he said. Though that wasn’t the reason he bought them.

“The bakery is throwing me a bit, but again, you are only a partial owner and I realized shortly after there was one thing in common with them all.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“The liquor store, restaurant, ice cream and bakery, all the previous owners, or co-owner with the bakery, were older. They were either retiring or the business was struggling. My guess is, they were places you knew you could turn around. Places you used to go to? Or had some connection to?”

“You’re good,” he said.

“I am that,” she said. “Don’t suppose you are going to tell me why I’m so good?”

“If we had time I could elaborate more. But it sounds as if the rest of the parties are here.”

The door opened a second later and they got to work. It didn’t take long for him to sign all the documents and hand over the certified check.

He would have rather just had the money transferred into their account, but the sellers wanted a check for the difference of what they owed to the bank.

Once everyone was leaving, he gathered the keys to the house. He was going over to change the locks on everything except the apartment that was currently being rented.

He’d walk through and see what needed to be updated and then call the contractors he used for a timeline of the work.

Mia was picking up her papers and he decided to wait for her. It’d give him a chance to see what she had on.

When she walked out from behind the table, he noticed the navy pants this time, navy and white pumps.

So much for getting a sneak peek of her legs again.