Once he’d eaten some french fries, he said, “Tell me about the BalanceTrakR software. How did you hear about it? What made you decide to use it for your clients?”
“Some trainers at Work It Out were talking about an upcoming event at the Lipton Hotel a couple of towns over, where you would get free wine, beer, and munchies if you listened to a presentation.” Work It Out was the gym where Alice exercised with her personal trainer and friend, Dawn Galioto. They worked out, practiced martial arts and self-defense moves at Dawn’s insistence, and talked a lot. “It’s ironic that the trainers there are always looking for free booze and food, since they advocate a healthy lifestyle to their clients.”
Derek’s eyes narrowed in agreement as he chewed another bite.
“When they said the presentation was about accounting software, I got interested. A couple of my other clients had heard about it too so I figured I’d go check it out.”
“And get some free wine?” His tone was teasing. An odd thrill ran through her.
“I can be bought.”
“Good to know,” he said with a wicked little gleam.
She cleared her throat. “Anyway, the guy who gave the presentation was named Myron Barsky.” She thought for a moment. “He was a classic nerd. Black-rimmed glasses that he had to keep pushing back up his nose as he talked. Jeans and a wrinkled button-down shirt and sneakers.” When she’d shaken his hand before the demonstration, his grip had been weak and his greeting slightly monotone.
But when he’d gotten up on the stage, Barsky had projected a surprising authority. His pride in his product seemed to energize him so that his voice took on a deeper resonance as he strode back and forth across the raised platform. A couple of women she knew had even speculated about his marital status.
She shrugged. “Barsky gave a good presentation and you’ve seen the software. It’s user-friendly, has some innovative features, and integrates seamlessly with other systems, like payroll, tax prep, credit cards, and bank accounts. And the cost is surprisingly reasonable. After checking some references, I recommended it to three of my clients.” She gave him a wry look. “Hard to believe, but one company was still doing their books on paper, so I wanted to bring them into the twenty-first century.”
“I’ve seen worse at large corporations. People don’t like change.”
“Eventually, seven of my clients bought BalanceTrakR, some entirely on their own. I took several webinars to get up to speed and converted them all to the new system. It looked great until that first issue showed up.” She balled up her napkin in her lap. “Now I wonder if I jumped into the new program too quickly.”
“Don’t beat yourself up.” Derek dabbed a french fry in ketchup. “The truth is that we don’t know for certain that it’s a software bug. I just can’t see any other explanation right now.”
“I agree, which is why I feel responsible for recommending that my clients buy a bad accounting package.”
He held up his hand to stop her self-castigation. “The discrepancies are very small and Leland will figure it out. In the meantime, tell me how you got into being a bookkeeper.”
A shiver of shocked delight ran through her at his question about her, not the software. On the other hand, the answer to his question wasn’t a happy one. She’d planned to be a CPA, saving money to go to college to study accounting. Then her stepfather had begged her to loan him her funds to invest in a “can’t miss” scheme. It had been during one of their financially difficult periods and he’d been desperate. Since her biological father had exited the scene before she was born, her stepfather was the only male parent she’d known. So how could she say no? Her college fund had disappeared into the smoke and mirrors of a Ponzi scheme.
“I went to bookkeeping school.” She shrugged with a slight smile to hide her discomfort. “How about you?”
He gave her a hard look but let it pass. “I got into it by accident. I was a theater major, but I minored in accounting so I wouldn’t starve while I auditioned. I discovered that I liked numbers better than acting.”
“That’s an unusual path.” She could imagine his face on the big screen, the camera loving his bone structure and the sharp intelligence in his eyes. She’d certainly go see any movie he was in. “What kind of acting? Do you sing and dance too?”
“I can carry a tune and tell my right foot from my left, but I guarantee that no one would hire me for Broadway.” His expression turned reminiscent. “Although I enjoyed belting out ‘Seventy-Six Trombones’ while leading the band in The Music Man. That was in high school.”
She pictured a younger version of him as Harold Hill in a braid-bedecked drum major’s uniform. It was easier than she expected because Derek had that smooth confidence and arrogant tilt of the chin.
The nostalgia faded from his face. “Of course, my father never forgave me for not putting the Killion name up in lights on a marquee.”
“Seriously? Your father wanted you to be an actor? Most parents push you to do something with a steady income.”
Derek shrugged. “He was a pretty decent singer who never quite made it. I was supposed to make up for that.” A muscle tightened in his jaw. “When I took my fancy MBA and started my own company instead of joining an established firm, Dad let me know that he considered that just as risky as being an actor. And he was almost right. KRG had some tough times at the beginning.”
Sympathy made Alice’s heart twist. She knew something about disappointing a parent. “I hear you. My mother is a former model. She wasn’t thrilled with my career choice either. Not that I was headed for modeling anyway.” She didn’t want him to think she had any illusions about her looks.
“You’re too smart to be just a pretty face,” he said, leaving her to debate whether that meant he thought she was pretty. At least he thought she was smart. “So why did you choose numbers as a career?” he asked. “To combat poetic madness like Ada Lovelace?”
He’d hit closer to home than he knew. “Maybe a little.” He’d shared so she owed him something more. “My mother isn’t the most reliable parent, and my stepfather’s finances were . . . unsettled, so I gravitated toward more dependable things, like numbers. They’re orderly and rational—except for the irrational ones.” She exchanged a math-nerd smile with him.
“And the BalanceTrakR ones,” he tossed back at her.
She grimaced. “Yeah, well, that’s human error.”
“Where did you study bookkeeping?”
“The local community college.” Since she couldn’t rely on her parents, she’d had to keep her costs down. Now she was saving her money to get an online degree in accounting, although she couldn’t justify it on practical grounds. She just wanted to be able to put “CPA” after her name. “Nothing fancy but it was a good foundation.”
“You’ve demonstrated that very clearly, although I suspect you’ve gone beyond their curriculum at this point.”
She was beginning to believe his compliments were sincere. That made them dangerous because his words soaked deep into her thirsty soul. “Experience is an excellent instructor.”