Looking For You All My Life Part 107

"He didn't tell me to leave town. But on the other hand, he

didn't invite me to stay either."

"Are you staying?"

"I'd like to."

"Do you have a place? I'm sure there are lots of rooms

available at the hotel. It's pretty slow over there."

He shrugged. "I guess I could stay at the hotel, but

they've fixed the place up so nice I'm afraid it's gotten pretty

expensive. And to tell you the truth, I'm a little low on cash

right now. I haven't had much income lately."

Suddenly she wondered if the only reason Gavin had

come back was to weasel some money from his uncle. But

something about his demeanor made her think not. Still, she

couldn't be sure. "What exactly are your plans, Gavin?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know. I just needed to come

back here, Maggie. For some reason this place feels like

home to me. I just don't know where else to go."

"I always thought you were more of a big-city guy,

Gavin."

"I suppose I've changed."

She smiled. "I can see that. But if you stayed here, how

would you make a living? Any plans?"

L.

168Melody Carlson

His eyes lit up. "You hiring?"

She thought about that for a moment. Just last week, she'd

mentioned to Clyde she'd like to hire someone for the sole pur-

pose of selling ad s.p.a.ce. The paper's only profits came from

selling advertising, and yet none of them enjoyed doing it.

"Well, actually, we might have an Opening, Gavin. Although

it's only part time to start-and it's not very glamorous.

He straightened up in his chair. "That's okay. What is it?

Delivering papers? Cleaning up? Believe me, Maggie, I'm

willing to do whatever it takes."

She laughed. "Well, I suppose it could include those

things. There's no doubt a lot goes undone around here, but

I was thinking more about getting someone to sell adver-

tising for the paper. We've been toying with the idea of doing

two editions a week, and we're already understaffed."

"Hey, I was always good at selling ads. Just pull Out some

of the old papers and you'll see."

She remembered the old ad-filled papers with hardly any

news stories, then grinned. "No offense Gavin, but I think you

were better at selling ads than you were at running the ~

He nodded eagerly. "I was. Want to give me another

shot? Do you think Clyde will agree?"

She drummed her pencil on the desk while she considered

this. "Well, I'm the one who'll decide, but I'd like to run it

past him first. I want him to be supportive of the decision.

And you know, Gavin, Clyde's not getting any younger, and