Free A Hero's Reward by Amy Morrel Page A

than enough to
keep four of us comfortable when I was still married to my ex and the
kids were here.”
    “It's none of my business but are
you going to take him up on his offer and buy him out?”
    “Probably, if he actually goes
through with making me a partner. I'd still be doing the same work
mostly but I'd have to put in some extra hours and learn how he does
his end of the business. It would mean a decent raise when I became a
partner and we'd probably have to hire on another crew so the
business profits didn't suffer too much, especially if the customer
base expands. But the company has a good name and an established
customer base already so it's probably worth it. I don't know how
much he'll ask for, we were talking about it before and he said maybe
one million, payable over ten years. It sounds like a lot but if I'm
making what he is now, taking a hundred thousand a year out of that
would still leave me with double what I'd make as a partner even.”
    “You've given this some thought,
haven't you?”
    “Yes, I've been thinking about it
on and off since he first asked me if I'd be interested.”
    “Well, I'm sure you'll make the
right choice. I've got the list all set if you're ready to go.”
    They took Greg's car for the trip. It
was a 2001 model Saturn SL and it got nearly forty miles per gallon.
He liked to buy good quality American made items when he could and
the late nineties, early two thousands Saturn vehicles qualified. If
you kept up your maintenance they ran like a charm. Add in an MPG
rating that beat most of the new compacts that they were putting out
and he found that his choice was easy. He also had a heavy duty
pickup truck, but that was mainly used for work. Most other time he
had to drive, he took his Saturn.
    Their visit to the department of motor
vehicles was, amazingly enough, painless. There were only a few
people in line during mid-morning in the middle of the week and when
they got to the counter he explained the situation. The lady asked
him for his own ID and when he handed it to her she said:
    “Oh, I read about you in the
newspaper. Is this the lady you saved from the burning building?”
    “Yes” Greg replied, “Her
ID was in her purse and it got destroyed in the fire.”
    “Don't worry, we'll get you taken
care of right away.”
    They were in and out of the DMV in
under an hour. He'd never gotten out that fast before, even when he
was trying to renew his own license. Maybe a touch of fame wasn't
such a bad thing at all, but he was still looking forward to his
fifteen minutes of fame being over and being a mostly anonymous face
in the crowd once more.
    Margaret insisted on thanking him once
again. He told her that she was welcome and they headed to a Target
superstore for groceries. His plan was that once they were in the
store, he'd casually mention that they should get her some clothes
also so that she had more than the one outfit. He wanted to do this
before they got to her bank so they could be a gift from him. He
didn't know how well she'd take it but his ex-wife had honed his
stubbornness to high levels and he thought that he could convince
Margaret to go along with his idea.
    As they were walking into the store
Greg turned to Margaret:
    “You know how you were talking
about wearing those same clothes a few days in a row? We should get
you a couple more outfits while we're here.”
    “You know I can't Greg, I don't
have any money until we get to the bank and even then I won't have
much to spend. I'll probably go shopping at the Goodwill for some
more clothes.”
    “Please, it would make me happy
to get you a few new outfits. We can pick up some stuff for your son
while we're here if you remember his sizes. He'll need some other
clothes also, won't he?”
    Margaret looked indecisive. Hit with
the one-two punch of doing something to make Greg happy and getting
something for her son at the same time had her on the fence. Greg
tried to clinch the deal.
    “I'll tell you