"I surely will, Moose, and it is. Thank you," Maude said upon departing with her load.
Barbara got it. He's had the conversation for my benefit, so I can see how he works his trades.
After the woman left, Moose Mondrowski came back to Barbara.
"I don't usually get into a big trade like you want. But you look like you could make things happen."
Just not in the way you might hope for. "I can make that airport a profitable investment for us all," she assured him.
"We need to talk about it. Dinner tonight? Six o'clock, at the Excelsior Steak House in town? My buy."
"On the understanding that our partnership is strictly businesslike. If you have any other delusions, good-bye now."
Moose thought a moment, looking as if he was sure he could change any beautiful young woman's mind, once he put a shirt on and some beer into himself, or her.
"Business is business. I agree."
Barbara had to take a chance on him. She didn't know what she would do if he tried to get physical with her. He could crush her with one hand. But, again, she would worry about that tomorrow.
Barbara left, then returned at six. She found Moose Mondrowski waiting in a booth at the Excelsior Steak House in beautiful downtown Tehachapi. He dressed the same as he had earlier, except for a work shirt under his bibbed overalls. A smoking cigarette dangling again from his mouth, he was alone except for a bottle of beer in his hand and an empty already in front of him.
"Want one?" he asked, offering a package of Lucky Strikes.
She accepted, deciding that the only way to endure the cloud of his cigarette smoke that hovered around their booth was to join him.
The Excelsior was little more than a diner smelling of hot grease, but the steaks a tired waitress carried past them on her way to another booth looked fantastic to Barbara. She couldn't remember when she had had a steak that big or thick. She knew she wasn't in love that night, but was still famished.
When the waitress came with their steaks, Moose tucked a towel under his chin and dug in. Cutting into the mountain of meat on her platter with fried onions, a huge baked potato, and a small tossed salad on the side, Barbara sighed, then took her first bite.
"Best steak I've ever eaten."
Was it that good, she wondered, because she was so hungry and Moose Mondrowski was paying for it? She didn't think on it, just began devouring it.