Sentimental Journey by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online Page A

ten percent I can buy—money for the man who knows how to build boats."
    "But who will you hire?" She wasn't convinced it was as easy as he was implying.
    "When I heard the company was in trouble, I nosed around. It seems Janson isn't enjoying his retirement. What's more, he's upset at the way his name has been damaged by the company's practice. I talked to him yesterday and offered him a position as president of Janson Boats, and he accepted."
    "Why?"
    "Because he wants to work and he wants to see the company become successful again," Brodie explained with commendable patience.
    "If that's true, then why didn't he buy the company? Didn't he have the money to buy it?" It didn't make sense to Jessica that a man would go to work for a company that he could own instead.
    "Yes, Janson had the money to buy it. But he's getting on in age and liked the idea that he had a nest egg securely tucked away for his old age. He didn't want to risk it in case he couldn't get the company back on its feet again," Brodie explained, as if it were all very logical.
    "But you're risking it," she reminded him.
    "I don't have anything to lose," he said with a shrug.
    "Your money," Jessica pointed out.
    "I can afford the loss," he replied with a diffidence that implied just how successful he was.
    Jessica fell silent while she absorbed that discovery. Brodie resumed his wandering inspection of the plant area. He was several yards ahead of her before she realized he had moved away. She hurried to catch up with him, unsure whether she could find her way out of this maze alone.
    "This will make a very good publicity story for you," she commented.
    "What?" He half turned, then agreed, "Yes, the news that Janson is taking over will be good publicity. That fact alone will increase business in the beginning."
    "I wasn't thinking of Janson, although it would be good, too. I was referring to you," Jessica explained.
    "Me." Brodie paused to measure her with a look. "The boy from the wrong side of town comes home a success, is that how you see it? A Cinderella story in reverse?"
    "Something like that," she admitted. "Is that wrong?"
    "No, probably not, except that I'm not interested in publicity for myself." The pathway had widened, much of the rubble cleared to one side, enabling them to walk together.
    "Why not? It would open a lot of doors for you." Jessica wondered if he was still as eager to be accepted as he once had been.
    "Doors that were closed to me before, you mean?" Brodie mocked. "No, thanks. I prefer to open my own doors in my own way."
    "That's being stubborn."
    "Yes, it is. But I won't be walking into places where I haven't knocked." Brodie pushed back the sleeve of his sweater to check the gold watch on his wrist. "It's getting late and I know you have to work in the morning. Would you like me to take you home now?"
    Jessica glanced at her own watch, surprised to see it was much later than she realized. "Yes, please. I just hope you know how to get out of here."
    "Through that door." He pointed to his right and Jessica realized they had made a full circle of the assembly room.
    She waited in the hallway while he switched off the light, and together they walked to the front entrance. The night watchman wasn't in sight as they closed the door and returned to the car. At the honk of the horn, he appeared and waved his flashlight beam at them before Brodie drove out of the lot onto the street.
    The drive back to her apartment complex seemed to take little time, possibly because Jessica spent it thinking about the man behind the wheel and how much she had learned about him in one short evening. There was much more about him that attracted rather than repelled. Yet she still felt a wariness that she couldn't explain. Something cautioned her not to attempt to begin a relationship with him.
    They were only a few blocks from her apartment when she felt the need to break the silence. "Do your parents still live here?"  
    "My father died ten years