fair wage since it was his idea, but that's all I'm offering. He
can take it or leave it."
"That's more than I expected," said Gavin. "I'd like to
continue selling advertising for the paper too-I think I'll
have time for both. It's good for me to keep busy... keeps me
out of trouble." He smiled.
"But how will you do it?" asked Maggie. "Do you know
anything about developing properties of this kind?"
"Well, as you may recall, I spent a couple years down in
Arizona. Not that I learned so much while I was there, but
my old buddy Stan Williams turned out to be one of the
finest developers around. You can go down and see his
places for yourself if you don't believe me. Or just do the
research on the Net; this guy's been written up in some pretty
prestigious magazines for his creativity and style. To tell you
the truth, I used to be seriously jealous of all his success, Looking for You All My Life217
thinking if I'd only stuck it out with him just a little
longer..." Gavin shook his head. "But I probably would've
just dragged him down in the long run. Anyway, I'm glad
he's where he is now. And he's a really good guy-nothing
like that Cohn Byers you wrote about in last week's paper."
"Do you think your friend would have the time, or even
the inclination, to do something like this?" asked Maggie.
"We must look like pretty small potatoes to someone like
him."
Gavin smiled. "I already called him to sound him Out. I
didn't want to get everyone's hopes up for no good reason.
As soon as I mentioned that Cohn Byers was involved, Stan
grew very interested. Apparently, he's well aware of this
creep's reputation. He said Byers is the kind of developer
who gives the rest of them a bad name. Stan wants to check
us out because of Byers. I've invited him to come out at his
convenience." He frowned. "Now, if only we had some
snow to offer. Stan mentioned he'd like to bring his wife and
kids up here for a ski weekend sometime after the New Year
and asked if I could work out the details for him. No
problem getting rooms here in the hotel, but I don't know
what to do about the lack of snow."
"Maybe we should get that Michael fellow to praying
again," said Clyde with a smile.
"Maybe we should all do some praying," added Maggie
quietly. Then she turned back to Gavin. "Well, this is the best
news I've heard in weeks. I hope everything works out. Is
there anything I can do to help?"
They talked extensively about all the possibilities and
Maggie teinporarily forgot about her concern over Jed's ear-
lier presumptions about Gavin, but by the time they left, Jed
and Leah's table was vacant and wiped clean. It figured, she
thought, as the three of them stepped out the door. "I have
more good news, Maggie," announced Gavin. "I found a