Abby Directed Malcolm To A Building A Few Streets Away From The Restaurant. He Parked At The Curb And

Abby directed Malcolm to a building a few streets away from the restaurant.  He parked at the curb and walked her to the only car in the dark lot. 

“Well,” she said, “this is me.  Thanks for the ride.”

Florence wasn’t having any of Malcolm’s sales pitches. 

Malcolm looked over at the counter, where Thea was angrily scribbling on a clipboard.  “Excuse me,” he said to Raven, and walked back to his other employee.

“I want to apologize again,” he said.  “Raven said you’ve worked really hard to make this place great.  I’m not about to barge in and undo all your work.  I want to be involved, yes, but I’m not going to try to change things.  It sounds like you’re doing a great job.  Can we work together, maybe?”

Thea’s angry expression softened ever so slightly. “You’re not going to take over?” she asked. 

“No,” Malcolm said.  “I promise.  I’ll probably check in every couple of days, and I’d like to help with sales if I can, but basically, you’re still in charge.  If you want to be.  I just want to be in the loop.”

Thea reached up and fiddled with her glasses for a moment.  The corner of her mouth tilted up just for a second. She held out her clipboard.  “If you want to help, take a look at this and make sure I didn’t miscount anything.”

Malcolm took the clipboard and smiled.  “Will do,” he said with a nod. 

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Abby?”

“Yes it is, who’s this?”

“Malcolm Landgraab.  We met at the store earlier?”

“Oh, right!  Hi!  How are you?”

They walked out of the restaurant and paused by Malcolm’s car.  “Can I give you a ride home?” Malcolm asked.  “It’s kind of late to be walking anywhere.”

“My car is at my office, though, remember?” Abby said.  “I was planning on walking over there and then driving home.”

“Then let me drive you to your office, at least.  Please.  It’ll...make me feel better.”

Abby laughed.  “All right, if it’ll make you feel better.”