“Has my son told you what I do as a profession?” James asked as the

“Has my son told you what I do as a profession?” James asked as the waitress brought out their food. He smoothed a serviette onto his lap as he looked at Maurice with a hint of a smirk.
“Uh, no.”
“Unsurprising. In the simplest terms, I work alongside businesses to help them succeed. Evaluating risk and such.”
“Oh.” Huh.
“Six months, you say…” James took a bite of his food and chewed thoughtfully. “Hm. Well, you have a working business now, and therefore enough income… Would it not be preferable to take out a short term loan to cover the rest and be rid of this partner sooner? A bank would surely see you as investable by now.”
“Um… I guess? But then I end up paying more in interest than if I simply waited. And I’d have to hope business stayed good enough to be able to pay off the loan in time to not fu— to not screw myself over.”
“Have you ever had such a downturn in business?”
“Well, no, but…”
“It’s a risk, I’ll concede that, but as someone more qualified to say so—if you don’t mind me saying—I would suggest it a risk worth taking. And yes, it may mean you lose a little paying interest on the loan compared to waiting, but potentially higher profits would make up for that long term. I assume you want to put a kitchen in there?”
“Yeah…” Maurice was surprised James would have guessed that.
“That alone would up your profit margin significantly—”
“Honey, I think that’s enough business talk at the table,” Helena said pointedly, exchanging amused expressions with her son.
“Of course, of course. Just think on it, hm?”
“…I will.”