Oklahoma (Isaac Hanson)

Chapter Eight

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The bustling diner was only a handful of minutes from the airport, it was also close to the hotel address that Grady Burnham had given Isaac. In the mid-morning traffic the diner had been a tiny bit of a journey for Isaac and Nikki, but Isaac had insisted on meeting there anyway. It wouldn't be fair to send Grady, a man who had never been in Tulsa before, looking for a certain place when Isaac knew the city like the back of his hand. Furthermore, the diner had been one of Isaac's favourite places to get breakfast and any chance he got to stop by, he was taking it.

While talking on the phone with Grady the previous evening, Isaac left instructions that if the other man arrived first, he take the booth in the first corner behind the door. In the event that Isaac arrived first, then Grady was to meet him in the same spot. It was an easy table to find, you couldn't miss it once you walked inside, plus it had a great view of the skyline and in the morning it was the table that the sun hit first. Skyline views and sunlight weren't really things to worry about, but Isaac enjoyed the warmth and glow that would flood whatever emotions came with this meeting.

The morning crowd was piling in by the time Isaac parked his chevy. It turned out that the Hanson's and Grady must have been running on the same notion, seeing as they met just as they approached the door of the diner. Greeting the other man and his wife, Grady held open the door until they were all inside. It must have been fate, or some weird coincidence, when the trio walked in the first empty table spotted was the booth Isaac had told Grady to take. Properly seated, Isaac made introductions. He had called Grady, knowing that the other man would be in Tulsa until his flight out tomorrow, asking to meet mostly because Isaac wanted Nikki to have a chance to meet the man who had raised Perrie.

"Mrs. Hanson, it's very nice to meet you." Grady shook Nikki's hand over the table.

"It's Nikki." Nikki offered with a polite smile. "And it's nice to meet you as well."

"We're not the most formal bunch." Isaac joked easily.

"Though you'd never tell by the way he dresses himself." Nikki poked fun at the dress shirt and slacks her husband had picked to wear.

Grady nodded and chuckled. "Is it possible that the way a person dresses is genetic? I know that she hasn't lived with you long, but Perrie is quite the serious dresser as well."

Nikki tilted her head for a second, before glancing at her husband. "If I have two of you I guess the dry cleaner is going to love me even more."

Isaac shook his head, a small grin crossing his lips. "Now, now be nice. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look good, no matter where you go. I commend Perrie on that."

In a situation where three people come together over one common denominator, it is easy to get lost dwelling on that subject. The topic of Perrie Marshall was there and waiting, an absolute promise that she'd be brought into conversation, but not right away. The couple sat chatting with Grady for quite some time over this and that. Isaac liked Grady, he liked that Grady was honest, direct, and had a kindness to him. Bottom line, Grady Burnham was one of those few people that you met and just knew they were a decent human being.

Grady sat sipping his coffee, easily telling Nikki about his wife. The more he talked about Laura, the more he wanted her to be with him, to meet Perrie's dad and step-mother. Laura would, without doubt, hit it off really well with Nikki. The two seemed to have a simple, but witty air to them. Both stunning women, in every way that it counted. In conversation, Grady informed them that Laura held a job as a vet tech and he was a contractor, a fact Isaac realized he had never known. He had also learned that the Burnhams had started taking foster children, because of Grady's own childhood spent in the system.