“I’m so sorry I’m late. Don’t mind me.” She settled into an empty seat and looked around the room until her eyes landed on David. She held out her hand and introduced herself. “I’m Vivian. I help out here when I’m in town.”

David looked a bit confused as he shook her hand. Clearly, her grandfather forgot to mention that Aunt Vivian was back. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

Paula started the meeting and handed out her usual spreadsheets with the weekly numbers.

“Hallie closed a new conference this week, which bumped our numbers quite a bit. Hallie, do you want to tell us about it?”

Hallie leaned forward in her chair. “Sure. It was actually thanks to a lead from David. A Manhattan hedge fund called to see if we could accommodate them for a company weekend conference in late September. They booked all of our suites, including the four presidential ones.” The presidential suites were their nicest, biggest rooms at almost two thousand square feet. They had three bedrooms, a huge deck, full kitchen, dining area and a conference room.

Grandfather looked pleased. “That’s fantastic. Nice work, Hallie. And thank you for the referral, David.”

David smiled. “I’m glad it worked out.”

Paula went through the rest of the agenda, finishing with an update on the Taste of the Town event.

“David and I had lunch at Mimi’s Place and they were the first to agree. So, we were able to use that with the other restaurants we spoke to. So, far, twenty have agreed to come on board and we’re still waiting to hear from a few and have a few more to talk to. I think we’ll end up with between twenty-five and thirty total.”

“Good job, Paula and David,” her grandfather said.

“We’re doing a Taste of the Town event? Will The Whitley’s own restaurant be participating?” Aunt Vivian asked.

“I’m planning on it,” Nick said.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Aunt Vivian clearly didn’t think it was.

“Well, yes. We are hosting the event, after all,” Paula said.

“Exactly. So, maybe we shouldn’t be participating as well?” Aunt Vivian argued.

“I think it’s an excellent idea for us to participate. I’m excited to do it,” Nick said. “It will be great advertising for us—to get people to sample our food and want to come eat here.”

“Hm. Well, people already know about us. I think there’s a conflict of interest,” Aunt Vivian insisted.

“Vivian, it was my idea to have this Taste of the Town event, and a main reason was to showcase the property—all of it, including our restaurant,” Grandfather said.

“There shouldn’t be any conflict,” Paula explained. “Everyone that comes will get to vote on all of the restaurants. So, the winners will be their choice, and everyone has an equal chance.”