One

      Jack Buchanan listened to his interior decorator talk about swatches and color and found his mind drifting...to anything else.

      Four months ago, he’d been in a desert, making life-and-death decisions. Today, he was in an upholstery shop in Long Beach, California, deciding between leather or fabric for the bar seats on the Buchanan Company’s latest cruise ship. He didn’t know whether to be depressed or amused. So he went with impatient.

      “Which fabric will hold up better?” he asked, cutting into the argument between the decorator and the upholsterer.

      “The leather,” they both said at once, turning to look at him.

      “Then use the fabric.” Jack pointed at a bolt of midnight blue cloth shot through with silver threads. “We’re building a fantasy bar. I’m less interested in wear and more concerned with the look of the place. If you want black leather in the mix, too, use it on the booth seats.”

      While the decorator and the upholsterer instantly jumped on that idea and put their heads together to plan, Jack shifted his gaze to encompass the shop. Family-owned, Dan Black and his sons, Mark and Tom, ran the place and did great work. Jack had seen that much for himself.

      The shop itself was long and wide and filled with not only barstools, but also couches, chairs and tables being