Thanks For A Great Evening, Malcolm Replied. I Had A Lot Of Fun.

“Thanks for a great evening,” Malcolm replied.  “I had a lot of fun.”

“Me too.”

“Can I call you again some time?” he asked hesitantly.

“I’d like that.”

“All right.  I’ll call you.  Soon.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

They stood together for a silent moment, unwilling to let the evening end. Somewhere in town, a clock chimed.  It was after 1 am.  Abby sighed and moved away.

“I’ve got to work tomorrow,” she said sadly.  “I need to get home and get some sleep.”

“Good night,” Malcolm said.

“Good night.”

She reached out and touched his hand for just a few seconds before walking away to her car.  Malcolm stood and watched her drive out of the lot.  Once again, he couldn’t wipe the goofy grin off his face. He watched until her tail lights disappeared, then went to his own car and headed home.

After checking the inventory, Malcolm excused himself to the office to use the phone.  He was pleased to see a bulletin board on the wall over the desk with several phone numbers, including the one for Club Dante down the street and Fleming’s law firm’s number.  He dialed the number for the firm first.  It took him several minutes to connect to the right secretary, and then a few more minutes to get her to connect him to Fleming. Finally, the lawyer’s monotone voice said, “Howard Fleming.”

“Hello, Mr. Fleming, it’s Malcolm Landgraab again.”

“Ah, Mr. Landgraab, hello.  I trust you’re enjoying your first day back in town.”

“I’m having an interesting day,” Malcolm said. “I’m actually calling from the electronics store.  I had an odd conversation with the employees here and I wanted to clear up a few things with you.”

“What did they say, sir?” Fleming asked.

“Among other things, they said that you told them to shut down until further notice because I might want to change things. Both the ladies here were kind of upset about that.”

“My apologies, sir.  I assure you, I had your best interests in mind when I instructed your employees to await your orders on the business.”

“Why was that your job?”

“I was doing it on your behalf, sir.”

“Well I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do things on my behalf anymore,” Malcolm snapped.  “Did you call the people who work at the club too, tell them to shut down until I got there?  You’re losing me money, Fleming.  Shutting down my businesses so I can come in and possibly make changes is just going to lose money. And it’s going to turn my employees against me, which is just going to make it harder for me to work with them.  What made you think that you could do things ‘on my behalf’ in the first place?”

“I do sincerely apologize, Mr. Landgraab,” Fleming said. “Rest assured, I will not take your affairs in my own hands any more.  I thought what I was doing was in your best interest, as I was uncertain how involved you wished to be with your family businesses.”

“I’m going to be as involved as I can be, Fleming, in every aspect of the legacy.  You’ve done your job.  I’ll call you if I ever need you again. Keep out of my affairs.”

Malcolm slammed the receiver down before Fleming could say anything more. He really had to wonder what that guy thought he was really doing.  Hopefully he wouldn’t hear from the lawyer again any time soon. 

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.”

A reporter already?  He must be here to get the scoop on why the store was closed for a bit.  At least he gave the store a good review in the end!

“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?”