“I was just thinking of Maggie and how ticked off she’s going to be when she finds out we went without her.”

“Yeah, that is pretty funny.” Dennis chortled as he stepped into the elevator. “But five will get you ten she had more fun than we did.”

Jack scowled. “There is that.”

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Cyrus was the first off the elevator. He bounded through the foyer and headed straight for the state-of-the-art kitchen, where everyone was seated at the large round table, drinking coffee. The big shepherd made the rounds to get his ears tickled, his belly rubbed, and a few treats, which he devoured before settling himself next to Jack’s chair.

Maggie handed Jack a slip of paper with a wild flourish, and said, “Ta-da!”

“What’s this?” Jack asked.

“William Devane’s agent’s number for you to give to Harry. I told you yesterday we have a book of agents at the paper. Well, here it is. One big question: Is Harry going to call him? I did my part,” Maggie said, smacking her hands together dramatically to make her point.

Jack snorted. “Like Harry is really going to do that. He’s going to dump it right back on me. Harry doesn’t do commercials no matter how much they offer in payment, so it’s a moot point even if that guy would agree to the deal.”

“Run it up the flagpole and see if he salutes,” Ted said, laughing out loud. When Jack didn’t make a move to pull out his cell phone, Ted reached for his own and pressed in the number 4 for Harry’s phone. The gang stopped what they were doing to listen to the conversation the minute Ted pressed the SPEAKER button.

“Hey, Harry, you winning big?” Ted didn’t bother waiting for a response. He dived right into the conversation. “Listen, Maggie came up with that gold guy’s agent, and I have the number right here for you to call. You got a pen, or can you type the number into your phone?” The gang listened to a string of Chinese that literally bounced off the walls of Annie’s kitchen. Doing his best not to laugh, Ted said, “I don’t understand Chinese, Harry, so let’s go with English. But before you do that, know this. You gotta give a little to get a little, so be prepared to . . . you know . . . maybe make some concessions to help out your friends, and they are your friends, aren’t they? You want to talk to Jack, is that what you said?”

A gleeful look on his face, Ted handed the phone to Jack. If looks could kill, Ted would have expired on the spot. Everyone in the room leaned forward to hear what they all thought was going to be a one-of-a-kind conversation.