“Forgive me,” James said with a smile as the waitress placed the las

     “Forgive me,” James said with a smile as the waitress placed the last drink down and returned behind the counter. “I know my dear wife asked you a lot of questions about your business, but I’d like to ask my own, if I may?”     “Dad, really? Must you start business talk—”     “That is why I asked, son. He can say no if he minds.”     Maurice chuckled at the similar defensiveness Rue had shown his mother last time. “I really don’t.”     “See, Rupert?”     Rupert rolled his eyes and turned to start a quiet conversation with his mother and sister instead.     “This business partner of yours, you say he doesn’t carry his weight?”     Maurice snorted. “Nope. Pays up his percentage of maintenance and other expenses, takes his share of the profit, and that’s it. Haven’t even seen him in the last six months. Not sure he’s even in the country right now, to be honest.”     “Really? …May I ask why you got into business with such a person?”     Maurice dropped eye contact to rub his neck with a weary sigh. “After I renovated my parents’ house to… something I could live in, I didn’t have enough to cover the entire cost of the bar, and no bank would lend that amount to a nineteen-year-old starting his first business. Especially to buy a bar. The guy’s an old business associate of my father’s, and he offered to put up the rest. I was naive to be so blind; he was after an investment without any effort. Shoulda known better.” An understatement, he thought to himself.     James nodded neutrally, though Maurice could see the cogs ticking behind that calm exterior. “And you want rid of him?”     “Yeah, of course. Another”—he paused to calculate—“six months, year, maybe? And I should have enough to buy him out.”     “That’s not bad.” James nodded, looking genuinely impressed. “You must be good at budgeting, then. Better than most your age, anyway.”     “I guess.” Maurice shrugged uncertainly. “Been pretty lucky, though. No mortgage to pay on my parents’ house. One of the only bars in town, too,” he added with a self-deprecating chuckle. “Don’t think turnover would be quite as good otherwise.”     James smiled faintly. “Don’t quote me on this, but a sizeable part of business success comes down to good luck.” || -- source link

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