Chapter Thirteen
Emily
Dad had been quiet all the way home, but the next morning he wanted to talk about the plans for the town. So I got up and got out of the apartment, headed for our favorite lunch spot in Houston, Rudy’s. On the way over, I got a call from Jacob. I considered just letting it roll over to voicemail, but I figured that he wouldn’t be calling me—on a weekend and just after Dad’s meeting with Rhett—without having something to say that was worth hearing.
“What’s up, Jake?”
“I know you’re meeting with your dad in a few. I just wanted to get my own update on what the situation with sales is,” he said.
“It’s going about like I expected,” I replied. “There are still some holdouts—Rhett has been spreading the word not to let us talk folks into selling.”
“That’s going to make things tough, if we can’t get past their resistance,” Jacob observed.
“Well, yeah, but the company can build on a smaller lot,” I pointed out. “We already worked that out with them, didn’t we? We have a minimum and a max that they need to move forward.”
“Well, they came back with new plans,” Jacob said. “About a week ago. Didn’t your Dad mention it?”
“No, he didn’t.” I felt my stomach starting to twist and my heart beating a little faster. Surely it was just that Dad had forgotten to mention it—either that, or it wasn’t set in stone yet. “What’s the new plan?”
“They’re putting in a whole complex,” Jacob said. “They brought in a handful of partners that they’ve worked with in other rural locations, making a sort of strip mall thing. Not just the capstone store, but also shops for a restaurant, a shoe store, a pet shop, things like that.”
For a few moments I couldn’t do anything but run on autopilot. I had been selling people on the idea of trading in their land for good money, with the expectation that the new store that would come in would actually bring more business to the town. But if what Jacob was saying was true, then a lot of the businesses would end up needing to close almost right away—there would be the competition right there. The new plan would wipe out the whole of the town center except for the administration offices. Maybe not right away, but it would probably happen in less than a year. Anyone who owned a business in the town center would basically go bankrupt. It would absolutely kill the town.
“You’re sure about this?” I turned into the parking area for Rudy’s, and thought that no matter what Jacob said, I was going to talk to my father and get the word from him before I made up my mind on what to believe—or, more importantly, what to do about it.
“Hey, I’m just telling you what I know,” Jacob said. “So we’re definitely going to need as much property to put that sweet little piece of development on as possible.”
I managed to get off the phone with him without—I hoped—tipping off the fact that my mind was spinning at what he’d had to say. I couldn’t believe that my father would move forward with the kind of plan Jacob was talking about, when he’d spent the day before with Rhett, going around the town and getting to know people in Mustang Ridge as an actual community.
I took a deep breath and told myself that I was overreacting. My dad wasn’t evil. I couldn’t let myself think that he was going to destroy a town—even a tiny one—for the sake of making a profit.
I shut off the engine to my car. I grabbed my purse, made sure to put my phone in it, and got out, then headed for the door to Rudy’s. Hopefully I don’t have my stomach turned by what I’m about to hear from Dad, I thought, already smelling the gorgeous odors of smoke and beef and sausage. I’d always loved eating at Rudy’s with Dad; the food was amazing. But if what Jacob had said was true, I didn’t think I would have much appetite.
I spotted Dad at one of the tables and waved at him to let him know I’d arrived before getting in line. I tried to keep my patience even though my brain was swirling with what Jacob had said about my father’s plans, and my need to hear Dad say that Jacob was wrong, or at least mistaken. I got my usual order of a brisket sandwich, cream corn, and coleslaw, along with a Coke and a banana pudding—. Then I grabbed my tray and navigated through and around the steady crowd of people to get to Dad’s table.
“Good to see you, baby girl,” Dad said as I sat down. “I almost couldn’t wait to call you this morning—we’ve got a lot to do.”
“About that,” I said. “Jacob called me and seemed to think that the plan had changed—that we were going to put in a whole business complex in Mustang Ridge.”
Dad nodded, and my stomach dropped to my knees.
“I called the company last night to confirm the plan,” he said. “It’s going to be huge! In one fell swoop we’ll be bringing Mustang Ridge into the twenty-first century.”
“But don’t you think that it’s going to kind of...destroy the businesses that are already there?”
Dad shrugged. “Since we’re going to be putting in a much bigger complex of businesses, we can afford to pay everyone out more,” he said. “Including some of the folks whose businesses might end up being overrun a bit. There’s always room for competition, sweetie—makes people work harder.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from my dad’s own lips.
“Dad, don’t you see anything wrong with this?” I gripped my fork so tightly my knuckles turned white.
Dad looked at me, a little surprised. “Well, if you think it’s wrong to bring a whole suite of businesses to a sleepy old town, and make their lives better, then I’d like to hear it.”
I swallowed against the dry feeling in my throat. Suddenly I couldn’t even think of eating any of the things I’d ordered, even though they were my favorites. My stomach twisted around inside of my body, and all I could think of was the fact that I needed to get away from here. I didn’t even know where I could go. But I knew I couldn’t make a scene.
“Just...tell me how you picture this playing out, the whole long-run plan,” I said, forcing down the bile creeping up my throat.
I swallowed again and tried to focus while Dad went on and on about paying off the people whose properties we were going to be buying up, and how they would—in turn—be able to either relocate to greener pastures, or create new businesses in Mustang Ridge, businesses that would bring even more business to the town. I couldn’t even imagine what he was saying. I could picture how the families in the small, sleepy farming town were going to manage to turn even hundreds of thousands of dollars into a new life somewhere else or within the town itself. They would have to start over from scratch, move to a completely new town, somewhere that was just as small.
It would, I was sure, absolutely destroy Mustang Ridge.
Dad noticed after a little while that I wasn’t eating my food, even though he was shoveling his meal into his mouth every time he took a break from talking my ears off. “Come on, sweetie; are you feeling okay?”
I took a breath. Don’t make a scene, Em. Get yourself out of here and figure out what the hell you’re going to do.
“I’m actually feeling a bit green,” I said. “I think I’ll ask them if they can wrap this up for me, and go home.” I knew I wasn’t going home—I would only stew there, just get myself even more worked up. But I had to tell the old man something.
“Well, if you’re feeling poorly, then it’s a good idea to get your rest now,” he said, oblivious. “We’re going to need you to be on top of things come Monday, when we really start the full court press on buying land up in Mustang Ridge.”
I nodded, not even trusting myself to speak for the moment—at least, not on the situation in Mustang Ridge—and told him I’d call him in the morning, before I grabbed my tray and went back up to the service counter.
I managed to convince them to wrap my stuff up to go, and hurried out of the restaurant as quickly as possible, trying to decide what to do about it. I couldn’t think. I fumbled in my purse for my phone, not even sure why I was looking for it, and managed to get behind the wheel of my car. I put the food in the passenger seat, then closed the door behind me.
The only person I could think of to talk to was Rhett. I couldn’t talk to my closest friend, Natalie—not about this. She wouldn’t have any idea what to say, and I could almost guarantee that she would tell me I was overreacting, that my job was more important than some middle of nowhere town.
I found Rhett’s number in my phone and hesitated. As much as I hated what I knew my father was doing, I almost couldn’t stand to admit that Rhett had been right—even if neither of us had known it. The deal I’d originally been selling the people of Mustang Ridge had changed underneath my feet, and I didn’t think it was really my fault. I was going to have to eat crow about it, anyway. I didn’t want to.
But I also couldn’t think of anything else to do. I couldn’t go back to my apartment, because even if Natalie was there, I didn’t think drinking half a bottle of wine with her would fix my predicament, and I’d just get more upset. Better to swallow down some humble pie and see if I could work with Rhett somehow to do something about what Dad was planning. I pushed down my sense of wounded pride and tapped the ‘call’ icon.
“Didn’t think I’d be hearing from you anytime soon,” Rhett said when the call connected.
“I need to talk to you,” I told him. “How busy are you today?”
“Not that busy,” he said. “What do you need to talk to me about?”
I pressed my lips together. If I tried to explain it over the phone, it was going to get more complicated. It would be better to just have the whole thing out with him in person.
“Oh no,” he said, “you’re not about to tell me you missed a period, are you?”
“What? No!” I gritted my teeth. “I need to talk to you about what my dad is planning, but that’s all I can tell you about it now. Are you willing to meet with me?”
“Come by the house,” Rhett suggested. “Mom’s in town visiting with some friends, we can talk.”
He didn’t sound so certain, but then I wasn’t all that certain, either. I ended the call after telling him I’d be there in two hours, and pulled out of the parking spot I’d taken. Maybe by the time I arrived in at Rhett’s farm, I’d know what I needed to say, and have some idea of what I could do about the disaster my father was working to create.
And maybe, by then, I would be able to forgive myself for what I was sure Dad would see as a massive betrayal by one of the only people in the world he actually trusted.