To Meet a Hart – Chapter 2

"Good Morning!"

The gravelly voice stopped Jennifer in her tracks as she pulled open the refrigerator door, but she was used to waking a couple of hours earlier and the growling from her stomach insisted she find the kitchen. "Oh, you scared me! You must be Max. I'm Jennifer, Jennifer Edwards."

"Hi, Ms. Edwards, yeah I'm Max. Mr. H told me about the hotel last night, sorry you had to deal with that."

She took in the older man's appearance, with a long silk robe, and answered, "Well, I can hardly complain, you have a lovely guest room."

"Thanks, we like it. I'm about to start the coffee, can I get you some breakfast?"

"I'm starving, but I can do it myself."

"Don't be silly, you sit down and let me work my magic. Now what sounds good? Eggs and bacon, French toast, oatmeal?"

"What does Jonathan usually have?"

"He's usually an eggs and bacon guy, with toast and fruit, but he changes it up every once in a while."

"That sounds great, but only if you don't mind."

"No trouble at all, coming right up!"

Jennifer pulled out a dining chair and then watched Max move around with ease. "So, how long have you known Jonathan?"

"We go way back, to when he was a kid figuring out his place in the world."

"And you work for him now?"

"Yes. I watch out for him, but he watches out for me too. So, have you been to Los Angeles before?"

"I've been through the airport many times, but that's about it. How long have you lived here?"

H2H2H2H

Jonathan Hart tightened the belt of his navy blue robe, and peeked past the open door of the guest room to see that his visitor had already headed downstairs. He looked down and seriously contemplated a change of clothes before heading down himself, but decided that the casual look would probably fit the situation better.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he heard laughter, both male and female, coming from the kitchen and followed the noise.

"Hey! Good Morning Mr. H! I hope you don't mind I've been entertaining your guest this morning."

"Good Morning, Max!" He walked over to the table and sat down next to his guest. "Good morning, Ms. Edwards." She looked adorable, he decided. Her hair was pulled back in a low pony tail and she wore black leggings with a loose plum colored top, and could see her bare feet perched on the base of the table. "I trust you slept well?"

"I did, thank you. Max has given me a wonderful breakfast and has been regaling me with your most embarrassing stories, Jonathan. I hope you don't mind."

He took a steaming hot cup of coffee from Max and responded, "Not even a little bit, you should know everything about me."

"Why, so I can become one of your many admirers?" she flirted.

"It's a little early for me to take that bait, I'll concede the point to you."

"Spoilsport."

Jonathan laughed and turned to Max, "Max, Ms. Edwards has a very important interview today, would you mind taking her?"

"Not at all, Mr. H, but me and Ms. Edwards have already planned out the day, seeing that's she's a guest to our fine city."

"Do tell!"

"Well, first I'm going to play tour guide for a little bit, you know just show her a few of the highlights. Then, I'm going to take her down to the club and buy her lunch and then take her to the interview. Hey, Boss, you should come with us!"

Jonathan smiled as he gave a wink toward Jennifer, "Well, I don't want to intrude."

"Nah, it would be great! Then, when she's done, you guys can go on a date."

Jennifer stepped in at that point, "Max, I just said that I owed him a drink, not that we were going on a date."

"One thing you should know about Mr. H is he ain't no fool. You're a beautiful lady, he's a single man. He's taking you out for a nice dinner."

Jennifer turned to Jonathan, and tilted her head toward Max, "How much did you pay him to say that?"

Jonathan laughed, "I couldn't have planned it that well if I had tried. But you have to admit, it is a great idea."

She rolled her eyes, and rose from her seat, "Thank you gentlemen, but I'm going to go back upstairs, take a shower, and prepare for my tour. Let's not make any more plans until I get the first interview behind me."

H2H2H2H

As Jennifer stepped out of the Bentley, she looked up at the converted warehouse where she and Melissa Monroe had agreed to meet, brushed her charcoal skirt down, straightened her stylish blazer, and turned back toward the car. "Thank you, gentlemen, it's been a lovely day so far."

"We enjoyed it too, Ms. Edwards," Max piped in.

"Max, I told you to call me Jennifer."

Ignoring her request, he continued, "So, Mr. H will pick you up when you're ready, just text him, or me."

"Hey Max, I'm going to walk Jennifer up to the door, give me a few minutes, okay?"

"Sure, Mr. H, you go right ahead."

Jonathan climbed out of the car and walked around, then placed his hand lightly on her back and escorted her to the large canopy at the front of the building. "You good for your interview?"

"Yes, this is the easy part."

"Really, then what's the hard part?"

"All the business stuff that goes with it, like dealing with editors, selling an article, following up with publishers, things like that."

"Something tells me you handle all of that just fine." Jonathan stepped a little closer, and mentioned the plans discussed at breakfast. "Jennifer, about tonight, I would like to take you to dinner, if you're up for it."

"I thought you'd never ask," she smiled back.

"Good, then I'll pick you up when you're ready?"

"I have you on speed dial, remember? You put it in my phone when you thought I wasn't looking."

"Just look under M." When she looked puzzled, he leaned forward and kissed her cheek, "For Mr. Right."

"You're incorrigible."

"Good luck, see you soon."

H2H2H2H2H

Melissa Monroe was a very attractive woman, about her own age Jennifer surmised, and dressed in a pair of dark denim overalls and a white t-shirt which offset her golden tan, with her warm blond hair piled in a loose bun at the top of her head.

"Jennifer? Hi, I'm Melissa Monroe, but please call me Mel." Mel stood and walked over to shake her guest's hand.

"Hi, yes, I'm Jennifer Edwards. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me."

"You'll have to forgive the outfit, today is the day I work out in the garden, so it doesn't make sense to dress up too much."

"No problem, you look great."

"Hardly what you expected though, am I right?"

Jennifer smiled, instantly at ease with the other woman. "I must admit, not what I expected, but it makes me that much more curious to interview you."

Mel laughed and walked over to the large sectional that sat tucked in a corner in the large room. "Let's sit over here, it's much more comfortable. Can I get you something to drink before we get started?"

"Sure, whatever you're having is great."

Mel walked over to a small refrigerator and pulled out a couple of bottles of water and handed one to Jennifer before settling down to talk.

"So, how do we do this?"

"Why don't you start by telling me what you do here."

"Okay, right. Heart and Hands is a service organization, but a non-profit one, that works to help. We started with feeding the hungry, and then ventured into helping families in need, and have grown from there. I oversee ten different sectors, but the mission continues to grow."

"What is that mission."

"It's simple. To help, with love and compassion, without judgment or cost."

"How do you run all of this if you don't charge for your services?"

"About 70% of our operating costs are funded by corporate sponsors and personal endowments. The other 30% is from revenue earned within the group by the different organizations. For example, we have a team that makes fresh bread daily and sells to restaurants and other businesses. The bakers needed jobs, and they had the skills to fill a need, whole organic bread that is made locally and delivered throughout the city. That's just an example, but a good one of how we try to identify a need and then source with a solution."

The ladies continued to talk, both equally animated about the topic. After about an hour and a half, Mel suggested a break. "How about we switch to a light wine, and we can keep talking."

When they settled back in, Jennifer continued. "How did you get started with all of this?"

"That's a great story," Mel promised, as she poured a glass of wine for each of them. "The summer before I started my senior year at Stanford, I was part of an internship program. I was an older student than most by about 7 or 8 years, because I had wanted to travel and see the world, you know? When I came back, I knew college was the right thing, and I knew I wanted to help others, but my family was really expecting me to follow in their footsteps, which was corporate law or music. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, so everyone assumed it was corporate law for me. My father pulled a few strings, and I had a great internship that last summer, but I was still struggling with how I could combine my interests into something I could do with my life."

Jennifer took notes on autopilot, glued to Mel's story.

"So, there I was, being an intern in this large corporation. I was really a glorified errand girl, but had been invited to sit in on a meeting for a new line of business, which focused on outreach in the Los Angeles area. The group was primarily older men dressed in suits, but I had a seat at the table and listened to everyone talk, trying to figure out the best way to service the needs of the greatest number of people. Lunch was brought in, and one of the guys asked if he could have a word with me out in the hall."

Mel took a sip of wine, "Jennifer, I had no idea what to think, I was so out of my element."

"I can imagine! What did you do?"

"What could I do, I followed him! So this guys says to me, 'I can see you have something to say in there, why aren't you speaking up?'"

Jennifer leaned forward, the story drawing her in.

"I told him that I wasn't part of the team, just an intern for the summer."

"What did he say?"

"He said you were invited to the meeting for a reason. If you don't speak up, you don't get heard. Then he told me he could tell by my body language that I had something to say, and to not waste the opportunity, and that if that group of men had the answer, the meeting would have been over thirty minutes after it started, and then he went back to the meeting. Jennifer, I was blown away! It was like he put a fire under me. I was nervous, excited, determined, and sick to my stomach all at the same time. But I went back in there, and from that moment on, I spoke up, and gave my ideas. At the end of the meeting, when all the other guys had filed out, he came up to me, shook my hand and said I had done a great job, and that he finally felt that the team was headed in the right direction. He said ideas like mine were what had built the company and helped them to stay competitive. Within two weeks, I was leading the meetings. Once the summer ended, of course I went back to school, but that experience helped me focus in on what I wanted to do. After I graduated, I came back to that same company and took the position of Director of Outreach, and started work similar to what I do here. All of this," she motioned around her, "is a direct result of my work at Hart Industries."

"Did you say Hart Industries?"

"Yes, you've heard of it, right?"

"Oh, yes, I'm recently very familiar with that particular company. If I might ask, Mel, what is the name of the gentleman that gave you the good advice?"

"The big man himself, Mr. Jonathan Hart."

To be continued, but reviews are very much appreciated!