Chapter 24

RIVER

River woke up the next morning with Mariah in his arms and a determination to save his company. He was going to regain the trust of his co-workers as well as the public, and River wasn’t going to let Kimberly or the governor dictate what was best any longer.

When River first started his company, there were dozens of people that told him it was a bad idea. They said he would never be able to get fresh food to people’s doors in a reasonable amount of time. But he proved them wrong. People told him that no one would want to buy his meal delivery service because the meals were too expensive; again, he proved them wrong. So when River decided that he was going to save his company, there was no doubt in his mind that he was actually going to do it. River didn’t have a doubt at all because he made the decision to save his company. River made the decision not to let the governor or anyone dictate what was going to happen with his life. Only River was in charge of his life.

“I think I should go public about being Jackson’s father. I think I’m ready to make a statement,” River said as they both started to wake up. “Jackson already knows; I don’t see a benefit in keeping quiet any longer.”

“Are you sure? The governor might continue with his lies. He might even fight back by making up more lies about everything.”

“Mariah, I’m not the kind of guy who gets afraid, and I’ve been afraid the last two months. I’ve been afraid of losing my company or losing Jackson; I’m not doing it any longer.”

River felt his surge of confidence rush back to him as he finally vocalized his fears. He had kept them quiet for months out of fear of actually looking weak. But the thoughts and fears had tortured him, and he needed to move forward. He had great ideas of how he could save his company and ensure that his new product launch was a hit.

“River, I love that you’re excited. I’m excited because you’re excited. But we need to think things through. Your board members are about to try and push you off as the head of your company. If you are going to make a move, it’s going to have to be organized and executed within a week.”

Mariah was right, and River knew it. His company board members were probably well into discussions on how they could get River out of the way so the Wholesome Foods deal would continue to go through. River didn’t blame them; he would have done the same thing if he wasn’t the boss. Luckily, River was the owner, and he had the ability to make all necessary decisions still, and he was going to make some pretty amazing ones.

River wanted the Wholesome Foods deal to go through just as much as everyone else did. But he intended on making sure the deal went through with him still attached to the company. His company couldn’t survive if River weren’t there to lead it. No one else had the vision and drive like he did.

While River had been in jail, Edward and April had talked to him constantly to ask him questions about the day to day running of the company. Edward had even brought dozens of questions from the heads of other departments for River to answer. All because Edward didn’t know the answers himself.

It was alright; River was fine with running his company. He was more than fine with it. River wanted to run his company, and he was going to continue to run it while he took back control of his own future.

“Here’s the deal. The public might not like me all that well right now, but free stuff can turn people around really quickly. I’m going to offer a one-week trial of the new Fresh Family Meals to anyone who signs up for their first month of service. It’s going to be expensive, Wholesome Foods isn’t going to like it, and I’ll probably have to front the money myself. But it’s going to work.”

Mariah looked skeptically at River as the two of them got dressed and ready for the day. He could tell that she didn't quite understand where he was going with all his talk, but that was alright. River had a clear vision of what was coming ahead. He knew exactly what he needed to do, and it was going to be amazing.

Every new company that River had ever tried was because someone either recommended the company to him or he had received an offer to try it for free. River loved free weeks, free rentals, free anything. And he knew the general public would love it too. Giving away one free week to everyone who wanted to try their new company was going to cost him millions of dollars. It wasn’t something River would have even suggested if he didn’t believe in his company. That was how he was going to sell the idea to Wholesome Foods.

River believed so strongly in the company that there was no way it would fail. River would back it with his own money to even lessen the risk for Wholesome Foods. Whatever it was going to take to get their product rollout to happen, River was willing to do it.

“Do you have advertising friends in the area? I’m going to need all hands on deck for the next few days.”

“I’ve got experience, and so does Elizabeth. We can help you, but I don’t understand how giving away free food is going to really make your image all that much better.”

“I’m going to do a family matters campaign. Talk about sitting down to family meals, spending quality time with each other. I’ll offer the one week free, and people will try it, and they are going to love it. I guarantee once a family tries our meals, they aren’t going to go back to spending all their time slaving over the stove at night. People want to spend time with their family, and our program is going to make that happen.”

“I’m sorry, River. I just don’t think that America is ready for a Family Matters campaign from you. I don’t think it’s going to work.”

River didn’t let Mariah’s skepticism get in his way. He was excited, and he was determined to make Mariah just as excited to help him. She was just trying to protect him from the idea of failure. But River hadn’t ever needed protection from failing in his life. It was precisely that fear of falling on his face which drove him to do a better job every day at work.

“Will you help me?” River asked.

Mariah seemed to be pondering River’s plan and working it through her head as she tried to decide if she should help him. It wasn’t going to be easy to get everything done before his company board members tried to force him out. It wasn’t going to be easy to get all that had to be done in the marketing department and meal planning, but River had confidence he would make it happen.

“I’ll help. I like seeing that spark in your eye.”

They went straight to work developing a marketing plan and invited Elizabeth to come over to Mariah’s house to help out as well. River wanted to invite Edward to help but was leery because of everything that was going on in the office. For the time being, he decided it would be better not to include Edward; although eventually, River was going to need his help in dealing with Wholesome Foods.

When Elizabeth arrived at the house, they got her up to speed on what was going on. Luckily, she seemed instantly excited about the idea and didn’t take as much convincing as Mariah had needed.

River rambled on and on about all his plans while Mariah and Elizabeth took notes and made suggestions. The three of them worked long into the evening as they plotted and planned each next step of the process.

They fell asleep on the couches and woke up and went straight back to work again. It was a fantastic couple of days that got an amazing amount of work completed. River was proud of what they were doing. He felt that accomplishment and power that he hadn’t felt in a really long time. It was a group effort, a team effort, and River loved that feeling. He hadn’t always been very good at team efforts, so this one made him especially proud.

“We need to decide how my statement should read. I want to call out the governor for saying that I assaulted Kimberly. It didn’t happen, and I want my words out there saying that it didn’t happen like that. I’m going to say something about being a father, and my only priority is Jackson. I’ll say the only reason I didn’t speak up before was purely to protect Jackson, but he knows the truth now, so I’m coming forward.”

Mariah cringed a little at the idea of River going public with everything. She looked over at Elizabeth, who had an equally worried look on her face. River saw the uncomfortable expressions that crossed their faces and wasn’t exactly sure it was a good idea either. But he also couldn’t just sit around and wait until everything felt perfect. Sure, his plan was going to make the governor look like a liar, and River was perfectly fine with that. The governor was a liar, and he shouldn’t have come after River the way he had.

The only part about the plan that made him nervous was the part about going public as Jackson’s father. Although Jackson already knew the truth, if River went public with everything, it could cause a great deal of backlash for Jackson. Kids nowadays were already getting picked on and teased enough; River didn’t want to put Jackson through something even more horrible than being a kid could already be.

“I don’t think you need to make the statement. I think we should move forward with our marketing plan, and that will be enough. How about we avoid the statement for now?” Mariah said as she gave River a sweet smile.

Mariah had been the one who wanted River to make a statement in the first place. He knew she wouldn’t have told him not to do the statement if it would help him. On a positive note, River thought that it was pretty exciting that his plan looked like it would help him enough without the need for a statement at all. Unfortunately, River had made the decision that some sort of statement was necessary. It was needed for his own sanity, and it was partly needed to get back at the governor.

The governor had ruined the moment of River telling Jackson he was his father. River had imagined how that moment would go for years. He thought of what he would say and how Jackson would react. It killed him that the governor had tried to make that moment into a negative one.

As cute as Mariah’s smile was, River wasn’t going to back down. He got ahead in business by going full force and not ever backing down. He couldn’t take it any longer, and he was certain that his plan was the best idea.

“I’ll think about it,” River said as he pulled Mariah toward him. He valued her opinion, and he wasn’t going to alienate her.

“Do you think this will work?” Mariah said with a serious look on her face. “Last time I talked to April, she was pretty sure the board members were going to vote to kick you out.”

River felt like he had been punched in the gut. It was true; he knew the board wanted him out. But hearing it from Mariah actually made him very worried. He needed to have his marketing plan fully in place before a vote ever came. Even if he couldn’t actually get the plan deployed, he had to be able to show the board members what he was doing to save the company. Certainly, they wouldn’t remove him from his own company if he could show them his plan to save it.

His plan was going to do more than just save his company; it was going to skyrocket their profits. If everything went as River had planned, the company could almost double their sales by the end of the year. There was no way the board members would take him out of the company if they had a chance to double their revenue.

“I think I’m going to have to get Edward in on this. Maybe I’ll invite him over this weekend and discuss it all?”

“Yes, but that means we need to finish everything by this weekend so you can show him.”

“It won’t be a problem,” River said confidently.

“Oh, you mean you won’t get distracted between now and then?” Mariah teased.

Then she looked over at Elizabeth and tried to be a little more serious. Although Elizabeth already knew what was going on between River and Mariah, it was kind of awkward to have any flirting taking place with Elizabeth sitting there.

“I’m not so easily distracted.”

River was totally lying. He was one of the most distracted people he knew. It was one of his poorest qualities, and one he constantly wanted to work on. He would start one task and then quickly move to another task without finishing the first one. April had been a life savior when working with River because she always kept him on the first task before he moved to the next one.

As much as River wanted April and Edward to work with him on the new plan, he had to wait until the last minute. He didn’t want any news getting out to the governor and giving him a chance to make another statement to a newspaper or television show.

“I think I’m going to head out for the night you two,” Elizabeth said as she took the cue from the two of them. It was obvious they wanted to spend some time together.

Elizabeth was excited that Mariah and River were seeing each other. Mariah had confided in River that she had told Elizabeth the whole truth about their relationship. River didn’t mind Elizabeth knowing what was going on.

When Elizabeth left, Mariah quickly turned her sights on River. They had been working so hard over the last few days. It was about time that they relaxed a little bit. She smiled at River as she walked straight toward him. Her eye contact was intense, and River couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

“I think I can distract you,” Mariah said as they sat at her kitchen table. “Now that Elizabeth is gone.”

“She is a good friend to come and help out with this project. You and her are amazing.”

River felt like the last few days had all blended together with him and Mariah. They had made love, ordered take out, talked until the late hours of the evening. Every moment of their days had been spent together, and it made them even closer than they had been before. Elizabeth had come and gone a little, and River really appreciated all her help as well. Elizabeth was really good at the marketing stuff and a lifesaver as they discussed that part of the new product plan.

“Oh, I’m not distracted,” Mariah said as she slid up onto the table.

She seductively put her legs on either side of River while he sat at the table and watched her. He loved it when she took control. It wasn’t normal for Mariah, and it was sexy as hell when she did it. Perhaps it was because she was younger, or maybe Mariah just preferred when River took charge, but at that moment he sat back and let her be the one in charge. She was adorable as she tried to look extremely confident and in control of the flirting situation that was going on.

“You seem pretty focused to me,” River laughed as he let his hands slide up her legs and rest on her thighs.

The touch of her legs was an instant hardening factor for his body. She wasn’t dressed sexy at all; in fact, she was wearing some running shorts and a T-shirt. Mariah had her hair pulled up in a bun, and everything about her still seemed amazingly beautiful. River could have looked at her for hours and hours without ever getting sick of the beautiful features on her face. But it was the touch of her skin that really threw him over the edge; the simple touch of her skin was all it took to derail him and have him thinking only about her moans and not work at all.

“I think we should take a break,” Mariah said sweetly as she looked intently down at River.

He certainly wasn’t going to argue with her. A nice break to get the blood flowing was just what River needed.