Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 10

seemed the guy had just winked at him. But then he was gone.
    He looked over at Glenn who was smiling. "You don't even notice, do you?"
    "What?" Jason said.
    "When guys flirt with you like that…"
    "What are you talking about?" Jason felt his cheeks getting warm. He hoped he wasn't blushing crimson.
    "Well, you should get used to it," Glenn said. "I'm sure it's not the first time, and it definitely won't be the last."
    "I swear I have no idea what…"
    Just then the bartender returned, placing the draft beer in front of him. "Wow, now that is fast service."
    "We aim to please," the slender blond said, this time with a much more obvious wink.
    Jason coughed and covered his mouth. "Uh… well, thank you."
    "You need anything, just let me know."
    When he was gone, Jason looked up at Glenn, who was smiling. "I rest my case," he said smugly.
    Jason shook his head slightly. "Mr. Braeburn, we're supposed to be here to discuss business."
    "Business? I'm not sure that'd be wise. Your father definitely would not approve of you discussing business matters with the likes of me…"
    "You know what I mean. Family business. You said you'd tell me what happened—your version of it anyway. If you just want to tell lame jokes and make sarcastic remarks, I'll leave right now and save us both the time."
    "Jason … I'm sorry." Glenn leaned back in his chair. "I'm not doing too well, am I? This is the second time in two days I've started off on the wrong foot. Look, I'm a little nervous here. Can you maybe… uh… cut me some slack?"
    Jason stared at him quizzically. Nervous? He sure didn't show it. "Why are you nervous?" Jason asked, drawing a sip from his beer.
    "You have no idea how charming you are, do you? Ah, the beauty of youth. Of course you don't, and if you did, well, you wouldn't be all that charming after all."
    "Speaking of nervousness, when you say things like that, you don't exactly calm my nerves."
    "I'm just making an observation. You're young, attractive, and obviously very bright. How could I not notice that? And you're very professional and mannerly."
    "How about you stop flattering me, Mr. Braeburn, and tell me what happened between you and my dad?"
    The older man took a deep breath and his face got serious. "Okay," he said, "but please call me Glenn."
    "Glenn…"
    "As you probably know, I'm a little bit younger than your dad. When we started NHS, your father was the primary investor. I didn't have a lot of money, but I invested all I had." New Horizons Software was the company name. "Your dad relied on me for technical expertise. It all was new to him—well it was new to both of us really—but he had more of a business background, and my field was purely IT.
    "Around the time your mother took sick, we landed a really big client. Well, actually it was your dad who got the account. It was a really difficult time for him. It was hard on all of us, as you may well remember. Your family was at the hospital a lot, and even after your mom came home, your dad didn't really leave her bedside." Jason remembered all too well. His mother had insisted that she be brought home to be with her family, to die with dignity.
    "Not wanting to lose the account, I assured your dad that I would handle everything. I took over the project, and when I got into the program… well, to be honest, it was just a clusterfuck. It was a mess, and I pretty much had to scrap the whole thing and start from scratch."
    "What was wrong with it?" Jason asked. He wasn't gonna let the man snow him. He hadn't just fallen off the turnip truck.
    "All the binary codes were jazzed. There were so many bugs and glitches, and it was not what the customer had ordered. And remember, this was a major client."
    "Okay," Jason said. "Go on."
    "So I started over, but I had to hurry. We were facing a deadline. I had less than forty eight hours to get the software ready, and I worked round the clock. I made it, though. I got the job done, and the customer was thrilled."
    "So what was the problem? This doesn't explain anything…"
    "The customer, who'd been a long time business associate of your father's, confronted him. Although he was pleased with the product we delivered, he was disappointed that your dad would have handed off such an important project to a junior associate…"
    "Why didn't he just tell the man what the situation was? Why didn't he tell him about my mom?"
    "That's your dad. He doesn't believe in excuses. He thinks that family and business are