Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
“Well, I suppose I wanted to see what this place looked like now that you’ve gotten going,” he said. “But also, I had a…” He paused, as if he were searching for the right word. “Parental moment. Yes, a parental moment today.”
I sat back in my chair.
“Ahh, feeling sappy, huh?” I asked. “Well, why don’t we take this conversation somewhere a little nicer?”
“Oh? I just got comfy,” he said.
“Yes, but I think you would be far comfier with a plate of those crab cakes and a beer.”
He seemed to think about it for a second.
“Crab cakes and a beer, you say?”
“All the crab cakes you can eat and anything else off the menu,” I said. “My treat.”
“Well, I suppose,” he joked. Then we both laughed, and he got himself up and out of the chair with some effort.
“I know, I do that to myself all the time,” I said.
“I have at least forty years on you. When my knees take a break, they jolly damn well like to be on break for a while.”
Laughing again, I led him to the door, and we made our way down the long hallway to the restaurant. As we did, I wondered exactly who it was Mr. Proctor had to play parent to. Was he referring to me? I tried to shrug the thought off and opened the door for him, following him inside.
We went to my favorite booth, and he sat deep in the corner. This time, it would take a fair amount of work to get him off the bench.
I sat down across from him, and the waitress, a young girl Ally hired named Maryse, came by.
“I believe Ally was holding some crab cakes for my friend Mr. Proctor here, but rather than to go, we’re going to have them here,” I said.
“We?” Mr. Proctor jokingly asked.
“I mean him. I am going to have the buffalo wings. And we’re both going to need beer.”
“Beer?” she asked, confused.
“I know. It’s a vineyard. But I want a beer, and I know for a fact we have some because I pestered Derek myself about it until he added them to the menu,” I said, laughing.
“Oh, there is most certainly beer on the menu,” Maryse said, “it’s just no one ever orders it. Because…”
“Vineyard, I know.”
“Two beers, wings, and crab cakes. Got it,” she said, smiling, and walked away.
“She seems nice,” Mr. Proctor said.
“Yeah, she’s good. Knows her stuff. Ally wouldn’t hire someone who didn’t,” I said. “Do you remember when they hired that math teacher next door to you?”
“The one who didn’t know basic algebra?” he asked. “How could I forget? The man looked lost. As soon as the alphabet mixed with numbers, it was as if the poor man’s brain exploded.”
I laughed. “I remember you had me go help him out for a week,” I said. “Then he quit. I almost ended up teaching math for a semester.”
“You could have. You are really good with students.”
“I had a great teacher,” I said. “Seriously, I just spent the entire time thinking ‘what would Mr. Proctor do.’”
“Well, I’m glad I had such a good effect on you,” he said. “You were always such a good student. Even when you were helping me out, it was just as if you had come back to class to learn.”
“Well, I kind of had. You kept covering new things. The way programming was changing was so fast, staying in your classes to help keep me up to date on a lot of things that probably would have passed me by.”
“You seemed especially pleased with the video gaming seminars.”
“I was,” I admitted. “There was a lot of stuff in those that was useful all around but building my own video games was admittedly a good draw. I’ve built two or three since in my spare time. Back when I had some of that.”
“I know, I bought one of them when you put it up on the streaming gaming platform,” he said.
We both laughed, and he shook his head. The food and beer arrived moments later, and we both tucked in for a bit before continuing our conversation.
“I am just so pleased you have made something wonderful of yourself, Alex,” he said. “I always hoped that before I retired, I would see at least one of my students doing well. I don’t know what happened to most of them.”
“I’m friends with a few on social media,” I said. “There are one or two working for gaming companies up in Frisco. Bill Carrell, do you remember him?” Mr. Proctor nodded. “He works as a tech guy on Wall Street now. One of the top guys keeping the entire financial institution running.”
“Well, that’s rather impressive,” Mr. Proctor said. “Good for him.”
“Yeah, I thought so,” I said. “Better than running social media for my family’s restaurant and vineyard.”