Chapter Nineteen

“Brook, are you still with us?” Perry saw that she was daydreaming in the boardroom.

Brook had forgotten where she was for a minute. She had been meeting with the board, the lawyers, the presidents, all the heads of her father’s companies. With Perry at her side, giving her the run down on everything as she was about to take over as CEO of Tilson Enterprise. She had been operating on autopilot for the past month after her father passed. Not one word from Deacon. She also hasn’t had a moment to herself, not to mourn her father, not to quiet her mind, not to call Deacon. The ‘I can’t believe this has happened’ phase had ended after a month of adjustments and mostly taking care of everyone else.

She sat in her father’s leather high back chair at the head of a large meeting room table, staring out the window, Brook shifted in her seat slightly as she started to come back to life. She was about to move on with life without daddy. She handed off some of the important positions to others, whom she thought could handle the job and who were more fit to be president.

“Call, that reporter from Business Week and tell them I am ready to do the story.” Brook’s team tried to keep this out of the papers for as long as she needed. They paid off reporters and media heads not to announce her take-over until she was ready. With the ex-husband in jail and now her father, the businesses under Tilson Enterprise would surely suffer a blow. So far, they’ve only announce her father’s sudden death. That happened before the family could even blink.

“I’ll have Kate take care of it.” Morgan, who was head of PR and communications replied.

“Brook, can we get back to Lockwood Steels?” Perry was trying to continue the meeting with ten other members at the table, all eyes on Brook. They were in the middle of buying Lockwood Steel when her father died while negotiations were at a stand-still.

“Perry, I need take the afternoon. Can you finish up here without me?” She got up before he could answer and headed for the door. He followed her and said in a low whisper “Are you alright?”

“I am now.” She looked like her mind had cleared up and was ready for the mountain of work that laid ahead of her. “I just need the afternoon.”

“Fine. Absolutely.” Perry obliged. “Whatever you want.”

“Thanks Perry.” She walked out looking more confident than ever. Her assistant, Christine followed her. “Call the stables for me. Have them take Griffin and Skyla to Evansville for me, immediately.” She stopped, took out her cell phone and sent Christine a text. “Send them with a large bouquet of flowers and this note.”

Christine read the text. “Yes, Ms. Tilson.”

Brook kept walking as Christine stood there to input it into her calendar. Brook stopped and turned “And make sure it gets there before the Business Week story gets out.”

“Yes, Ms. Tilson.”

“I will be going to Ashbury Lake this afternoon. Have the car ready for me.” Brook wanted to go back to Middleburg, where she spent her summers as a child. Her grandparents’ house was still there, untouched. She knew it wasn’t going to change the fact that she would be one of the youngest female CEOs of a multi-billion dollar company, but decided to start living her life for her and no one else.

Even though this was, what may seem to some, a small and pointless trip, to Brook, it meant something. Something she had learned from Deacon, it is better to stay still and watch the world around you. She realized that she did have roots, in Orlando, and they ran deeper and spread wider than she had imagined. She had thought about Deacon many nights. And many times, she wished he was lying next to her, holder her in his strong bear-like grip.

After a month of being back, Brook knew that if she had gone back to Evansville, she would be doing it for him, when she so desperately needed to find herself. As CEO, she would be force to make the final decision rather than follow what others dictated her. Over the past month, she learned more and more about herself through the kinds of decisions she made. It was a refreshing new look on the world, being in charge, instead of being a follower, Brook thought.

She even thought of ways to get Deacon to come to Orlando, but she couldn’t bring herself to go through with it. It would strip him of everything he knew, who he was. Buying him a ranch would be stripping him of his manhood. Deacon was a man that earned for himself, never would he take a handout, she knew that much. The impossible reunion sometimes made her sick and she would lay awake at night wishing for a solution that would come from the heavens. But now, she knew. Although it wasn’t the reunion she had hoped, she did the next best thing.

***

Deacon had finished fixing Brook’s car shortly after he had left. It laid there in his garage, untouched, not knowing what to do with it. He couldn’t bring himself to call her. It was a family thing and he wasn’t about intrude. He knew that she must have been going through some stuff and if she needed to, she could call him.

The first week after she left, he would jump every time his phone rang but the anticipation of something that would never come finally took its toll on him. He finally put her out of his mind. He needed to move on for himself. What he had learned from her, moving on didn’t mean forgetting the past. It comforted him to know that she would hold the same precious memories of their time together as he would. And with that, Deacon was able to let go. He thought about selling his garage to put the down payment on the ranch but never made the move.

“Hey Deac. You got a delivery!” Joey hollered from out front. Deacon, in the back office yelled back. “Just bring it to the back, Joe.” Deacon thought it was another part being delivered.

“Can’t do that Deac.!”

“Why not?” Deacon was busy sorting out his month-end receipts and didn’t want the interruption.

“Deacon! Come out here!” Joey popped his head in the garage and yelled once again.

Deacon, slightly peeved, put his stack of receipts down and went to see what in the world was going on with Joey. He came out to a sight that he had never expected to see. Two beautiful horses on his lot with a great big red ribbon and a bouquet of flowers.

“You got flowers, Deac!” Joey laughed in excitement.

“What in the world…” Deacon quickly opened the attached card that read ‘To the best mechanic in town. Thanks for starting up my engine. Brook. PS. Please give Griffin and Skyla a good home.

“What is all this? Are you thinking of turning me into a stable boy or something?”

Deacon smiled at the amazing gift “I just might.”

THE END

*****