Not Quite Dating(21)

“I guess that means you’ll be with her over Christmas.”
“Probably. Danny thinks she’s funny. It’s my sister and me that she rubs wrong. Everyone else loves her. Heck, you’d adore her.” Jessie leaned her head forward onto her bent elbow resting on the back of the seat.
“Has she done anything awful?”
“No, not really. She tried her best raising us. Which isn’t easy when there’s only one income. I know that more than anybody does. I think maybe I’m ticked at her for not finding one guy and sticking with him. How hard can that be? Thousands of people manage to stay in a marriage for years and years. Why can’t she?”
Jack felt her sadness and wanted to wipe it clean off her plate. “Thousands of people get divorced, too.”
“I know. I guess I just want to see her settled. Safe.”
“Stability is important to you.” Now he understood her desire for a rich husband. Jessie thought that with money came stability. Hell, his parents’ relationship proved her wrong. There were no guarantees, even when one of the parties was hopelessly in love with the other.
“It is.”
“I understand. I remember waking on Christmas every year, dreaming that my mom was there. She’d tell us about some horrible thing that kept her away and how she wished she had been with us.”
“But she never came.”
Jack shook his head and cleared his throat. “Never.”
Jessie reached over and covered his hand with hers. “Life sucks that way.”
He watched her hand playing with his, liked the feel of it. “Enough of memory lane. What about your future, Jessie…what is your last name?”
“Mann, Jessie Mann.”
“What do you see yourself doing in five years?”
Her face lit up and Jack was glad he changed the subject. “I don’t know. I want to go back to school, like I said, maybe get into some type of event coordinating job.”
“You said something about being a wedding planner.”
“Not that I know anything about weddings. My mom’s marriages at the county clerk’s office don’t count. But yeah, I’d love to help brides with what is supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.” Jessie still rubbed her fingers over his. He wondered if she realized what she was doing.
“You do appreciate how weird that sounds after learning about all your mom’s failed marriages.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in marriage. I mean a real marriage, not the temporary state my mom plays in. I can plan more than weddings. There are anniversary parties, birthdays, corporate events. There’s all kinds of things an event planner puts together.”
“I’ll have to find out what the lady at the hotel did to get her job.”
“I’d love to know.”
“I’ll ask her for you.”
She smiled. “Thanks. What about you, Jack, where do you see yourself in five years?”
Jack turned her palm over and rubbed the inside with his thumb. “I like the hotel business.”
“You want to manage a hotel?”
“Kinda. I want to start a new concept in hotels. One geared for the typical family, with the typical family budget. Nothing over-the-top or high-end.”
Jessie glanced around the inside of the limousine. “Nothing with limos and caviar?”
“That wouldn’t be cost-effective, but minivans and car seats would work. I want to cater to the middle class, but give them some of the same perks The Morrison does.”
“What kind of perks?” She leaned in a little while she listened.
“Room service with food geared for the family. Babysitting, dog sitting, even a spa priced right.” That was his concept for the hotel he was in Ontario to build. “I’d place every hotel around airports, major family vacation destinations.”
“So you want to start a chain of them, not just one? Those are some serious goals, Jack.”
Jack cautioned himself about opening up to Jessie. “I’d start with one, see what works, what doesn’t, then revise and go forward with the profits from the first hotel and build the next.”
“You’re talking massive capital, investors.”
“I’ve been saving.” Which was true.
“What will you name your hotel?” She was smiling, and not in a mocking, Yeah, sure you’ll do that…one day kind of way, but in a sincere, Here’s hoping you do make it kind of way.
“More for Less.”
Jessie held back a laugh.
“What? You don’t like it?”
“Well, ‘More’ is a rip from Morrison, isn’t it?”
“My friends do call me Jack Moore.”
She really didn’t like the name. “Still, ‘More for Less.’ It sounds…I don’t know, cheap. Like Pick ’n Save.”
“It will be priced cheap, compared to The Morrison anyway.”
She sat taller. “The name needs to be something people will brag about. Think of Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack. Both sell Nordstrom clothing, but one is the cast-off store. If you had an in with The Morrison, I’d suggest you call your place ‘Morrison West’ or something like that. Or name it something completely ambiguous like ‘Jack’s Place.’”
Jack scratched his head and purposely didn’t say anything about her comment concerning an in with The Morrison. “Jack’s Place sounds like a bar to me.”
Jessie waved her free hand at him while she spoke. “Or a friend’s place. Think about it: We’re going to Disneyland and we’re staying at Jack’s Place. Then again, We’re going to Sea World and we’re staying at More for Less. Do you see what I mean? The one sounds like a great time, the other sounds like a budget vacation with hard beds and leaky roofs.”