Free One Way to Succeed (Casas de Buen Dia Book 1) by Marjorie Pinkerton Miller Page B

can’t help you.”
    “Well, sure.” Carl nodded, but he looked disappointed. “I’d better get back. One of these bulldozer operators is new to the job. I’ve got to watch him like a hawk.”
    Rick pulled his butt back up on the bike seat and headed back down the busy street. He pulled up to a Starbucks, and locked his bike to the railing around the sidewalk seating area.
    The line inside for coffee was surprisingly long, given that it was at least three in the afternoon. Didn’t afternoon caffeine keep most people up at night? he wondered, taking up his place at the end of the queue. Once upon a time, before Starbucks became so ubiquitous, people had stopped drinking coffee about noon.
    “Rick?”
    Rick knew the voice. He didn’t even have to turn around to know Beautiful Betty was suddenly behind him. He had managed to avoid running into her for nearly year; his luck had finally run out.
    Rick turned around and fell back at the sight of his ex-wife’s huge belly.
    “You’re pregnant!” he exclaimed and immediately regretted it. Fifteen sets of eyes looked up from the bistro tables scattered around the coffee shop; he grimaced at how stupid he had sounded. Of course she was pregnant. And neither she nor anyone else in the room needed him to announce it.
    “Yes,” she said, smirking openly. “You always were so observant. It’s a boy, and I’m thinking of naming him Rick.”
    Rick frowned. Was she serious? He backed up a step and looked around to see if anyone heard her or recognized him. Luckily, everyone was once again focusing on their iPads, iPhones, and laptops. Apparently the mini-drama in front of them—the one with real, live human beings—couldn’t hold a candle to the excitement of their Facebook postings and Instagrams.
    “Just kidding, Rick,” Betty cooed. “How are you? What are doing out of the office in the middle of the day?”
    “Trying to find some new properties to rebuild my company after you stripped me of my cash,” he said, trying to keep his voice neutral. He was still bitter about the extent to which a philandering wife could reduce her husband’s company’s coffers, even when she’d had nothing to do with building them.
    “Oh, Rick,” Betty said, backing up a step herself and shaking her head. “You really have to quit blaming all the women in the world for your problems. You’re never going to enjoy living until you can accept the other fifty-one percent of the population. We’re everywhere, you know.”
    “That is not the issue, Betty,” he countered. “I love the company of women. I sleep with a lot of them now. In fact, I sleep with them a lot more often than I did ever slept with a woman when we were married.”
    “Ouch.” Betty feigned hurt. “But honey, women can be more than prostitutes, wives and mothers. It might be time for you to realize that.”
    ~
    Rick decided he didn’t need a latte. He let Betty take his place in line, slipped out the door, and retrieved his bike. He flew down the street, taking advantage of the downhill slope of the streets toward the wash, and pulled into the equipment bay attached to his office. He hung up his bike, grabbed his clothes out of his office, and took a quick shower in the large walk-in shower he’d had installed at the back of the machine shop a couple of years before.
    Walking from the garage into the office hallway, Rick multi-tasked: walking crookedly while studying the notes he’d taken on his bike trip, wondering if he should hire someone to track down the owners or do it himself.
    “Watch where you’re going!” Amy stopped abruptly in front of him as they rounded the same corner from adjoining halls. She was holding a cup of coffee, but had somehow managed to pull it out of the way before he bumped into her.
    “Oh!” He backed up out of her way and quickly took stock of his body’s reaction to Amy’s proximity. He was relieved to find he was staying cool and focused. Perhaps running into Betty