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“What is this place?” I asked him
“Years ago, there was no passage across the river during the winter when the water would rise The onlyaround would be by boat There was a man who lived here who used a relatively s boats for all of those in the community who couldn’t afford to buy their own There were people who couldn’t get to work or school because they lacked the transportation and the resources to pay for it He did such fine work that everyone wanted one and he started taking special orders The boats got so popular that he stopped working at his other job altogether and began a business just building the boats…”
“Harandfather?”
Aaron nodded, “Yeah After you and I talked, I got curious This ht years old and I wondered why he wouldn’t just give in and retire already The company doesn’t make a lot of money anymore and that’s why his kids want out of it It’s likely that if they don’t sell, it will go under in a few years It could be turned around, but only with a lot of enerous with his donations and his e to the kids But you can see in his eyes how randfather and expanded the business to several states in the US Hamilton expanded it to Canada and Alaska and he re-started the tradition that his grandfather had begun…every year he gives away thousands of canoes and kayaks to people who live in regions where they need the to town”
“Wow, that’s nice,” I said “How did you find this place?”
“I re that Ha is, it’s so I wouldn’t have ever done before I would have never thought about had it not been for you even questioningto take that away from him”
“So…are you thinking about not buying out his kids?”
“They’re set on selling If I don’t buy it, they’ll find a company ill”
“Oh…”
He came over to me and took my face in his hands and said, “All of a sudden, I want to be a better man”
“You’re already an a man,” I told him He looked at me then like ere the only two people in the world then and he said,
“I like you, Robyn I really, really like you It’s the closest thing to love that I’ve ever felt and it ht be that…but you kno I am…I need to exaht ofas I excelled in business and the business world respected me…that was all that mattered, until Iand for the first time I can step outside the business part of this deal and look at the hu to let the oldit the way he always has until he dies I don’t care if it makes money or not, at least he will know for sure that until he dies… his company will be run by a Hamilton”
“That is a and I’ pleased with both me and himself
“It’s funny that those five words mean more to me than a multi-million dollar business deal” With that, he tipped my face up and his down and he kissed me It wasn’t a peck, or a kiss that was really even appropriate for public His teeth grazedit back into his It felt like he was claiht then that he already had me, because I had no desire for him to ever stop
It was Valentine’s Day Aaron had done soether a Valentine’s dinner dance for theether, but Aaron had suggested it and financed it He was starting to do ainto the spirit of the holidays, and getting in touch with his own feelings and e to me about them
We’d been together almost two months by then…if you didn’t count the short tiht after New Year’s I was spending most ofabout us ether I wasn’t sure if ere ready for that, but the fact that he was suggesting it told -term That hat I wanted…I wanted to keep hiet any better