Chapter Six
Later that same afternoon, Harlan met with Travis and his partners at Devil’s Rock airfield, to discuss the plans for it. Some improvements had already been made when they’d hired Whiskey River Construction, and they had expanded the runway to accommodate a small jet. But now the three men were ready to put some serious money and effort into making Devil’s Rock a private airport that not only catered to private planes used for pleasure, but could also become a business hub, with more runways long enough to handle small jets and other amenities to make it attractive to business travelers in the area.
The three were old friends, having gone to high school together. Travis was a flight instructor and had worked all over the state of Texas. When Zack Bannister inherited the airfield from his uncle, he’d decided to enlarge it and turn it into a real business. There were a lot of small towns around and he believed many of the business travelers would prefer a smaller, closer airport rather than having to go to Austin or San Antonio. He’d talked Travis into setting up a flight school in Whiskey River, hoping private flying lessons would be an added draw. Finally, their other friend, Levi Chapman, a wealthy inventor, had invested in it and also become their “idea person.”
“I might have found an architect for you,” Harlan told them once they sat down.
“From Dallas?”
“No. From San Antonio. She designed Wildcat Tower. Her name’s Dana DeLong.”
Levi choked on his coffee and set his cup down with a bang. “Dana’s going to design our terminal? Dana DeLong?”
“I don’t know, but it’s a possibility. I take it you know her.”
“Yeah, I know her. And there’s no way in hell Dana will agree to come back to Whiskey River.”
“Really? Savannah seems to think she will.”
“Do you know something we don’t know?” Travis asked Levi.
“I know a lot of things you don’t know,” Levi retorted. Travis grinned at him but didn’t take the bait.
“Go ahead and ask her,” Levi said to Harlan. “But don’t be surprised when she turns you down.”
Harlan filed that away to investigate later. “Besides a new terminal what do you envision needing?”
“We made a list,” Zack said, handing Harlan a piece of paper. “Everything is listed in order of importance. The first few are equally important.”
Harlan took the paper and scanned it. Control tower, terminal building, several different hangars, and the list went on. He looked up at them. “This is an extensive list. Do you want me to bid on everything?”
Levi nodded. “Yes, but can you break it down to an estimate of each building’s cost? And the costs of the runways?”
“Sure. What’s the budget? I’m assuming you don’t want either the cheapest or the most expensive.”
“Quality materials but nothing too outrageous,” Zack agreed. “We just want a rough estimate of how much it’s going to cost. We’ll consider the architect’s fee separately.”
“All right,” Harlan said, rising. “I’ll get to work on it right away.”
Everyone rose and shook hands. “I’ll walk you out,” Travis said. “We need to talk about Laurel.”
“What’s wrong?” Harlan asked, once they were out of earshot of the other two men.
“I’m not sure. It’s undoubtedly money, but I don’t know what has happened lately to make her flip out. I only found out because Cody told me Laurel wouldn’t let him play soccer. It’s not for a few months, but she’s already said no. When I asked her about it she said she couldn’t take him to practices or go to his games because of work.”
“I thought she’d been able to cut back on her hours?” Laurel worked at Kelly Boots, as an assistant in the accounting department.
“Yeah, so did I. But recently she took on more work and won’t tell me why. She’s working Saturday nights at Jalisco’s, the new Mexican food place.”
“What’s she doing with the kids?”
“I asked her and she told me to mind my own business.”
“How she can make enough money waitressing to even pay for the child care?”
Travis shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“I hate that she and her kids are living in those crapshit apartments in the Barrels. Why the hell won’t she let us help her?”
“Because she’s too damn stubborn and independent. The only time she ever lets us help is if she desperately needs the money for the kids. And that’s a last resort. She won’t let Mom and Dad help her either.”
Harlan shook his head. “I’ll see if I can get something out of her.”
“I hope you have better luck than I did. And while you’re at it, try to get her to move out of the Texan apartments.”
“That’s probably not going to happen but I’ll try. Again.”
They reached Harlan’s car and Travis said, “You planning on taking this sweet ride to construction sites?”
Harlan patted the hood of his Ferrari. It wasn’t the traditional red but a beautiful silver blue. He’d thought about black but in the Texas summer heat a black car only made things hotter. High-end homebuilding in Dallas had been good to him. “Not if I can help it. My truck should be here tomorrow.”
“You have someone driving it down here?”
“Yes.” He glanced at the Ferrari. “No one but me drives this car.”
“Can’t blame you for that,” Travis said. “How was the ball? Did you get stuck at the inn in that freaky ice storm?”
“I did.” He smiled, remembering the morning after. “It was…interesting.”
“Who is she?”
Harlan just looked at him.
“Don’t tell me there wasn’t a woman involved. Not after seeing the look on your face. Besides, I know you,” he added.
“There was a woman, but not like you’re thinking.”
“Who is it?”
“My office manager.”
“Savannah?” Travis looked at him like he’d lost his mind.
Travis was the only one of his family who knew he’d been secretly dating Savannah in high school, and that they broke up. His brother had seen what a wreck he was afterward, but Harlan had never told anyone exactly why they broke up.
“Savannah Taylor? Are you kidding me? You’re going there again? After she messed you up so bad? I thought you’d been cured of her years ago.”
“I did get over her.” Mostly. “But I hadn’t seen her or talked to her in years until Saturday night.” Not to mention, he hadn’t kissed her in years. “To tell the truth, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” He suspected he was no more “cured” of Savannah now than he had been all those years ago.
“You never would say why you two broke up. Obviously it wasn’t your choice.”
Harlan grimaced, aware Travis had always had the wrong idea about what happened and he’d never set him straight. “It wasn’t Savannah’s either. I broke up with her.”
“What the hell? You never told me that. I always assumed she’d blown you off. But you dumped her? Why? You were crazy in love with the girl.”
“It’s a long story and not one I can go into right now.”
Travis pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time. “I don’t have time, either. I gotta go, but meet me at Booze’s after work. We’ll grab a beer and you can tell me that story.”
Some of it, Harlan thought. But some of it was just between him and Savannah.
*
“Savannah, can you come in here?” Harlan said from the doorway of his office Tuesday morning. “And bring your tablet.”
Bill had come to the office the day before but had said he was going to stay out of Harlan’s way as much as he could. He’d be in and out of the office in the coming weeks, until the gas station project was finished but today he was on site. Liv worked three days a week in the afternoons, filing and other things of that sort while she went to community college in San Antonio.
Which left Savannah alone with Harlan today. She wished she could say he didn’t affect her at all and he was simply her boss, but that would be a big, fat lie. She’d been able to present a professional facade. Probably because Harlan did. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that today was only Tuesday, the second day she’d worked with him.
Apparently, he’d forgotten all about that Sunday morning kiss they’d shared. She hadn’t. Damn it.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
“Have a seat.”
She did as he suggested, wondering why he’d called her in and why he seemed to be thinking of the best way to say something.
“I’m going to be perfectly honest here. I mean Bill no disrespect, but I get the feeling he likes doing things the way he’s always done them.”
Savannah laughed. “He’ll be the first to admit that. He’s a little old-fashioned.”
“So I gathered. I want you to write up a business plan that would make this office more efficient as well as enable us to take on more projects. Tell me what you want, what you think is necessary immediately, what you’d like to have but may not need right away, and anything you want but think of it as a pipe dream.”
She perked up at that. “Things we need immediately? You mean new software?”
“Yes. Whatever you think will make our jobs easier.”
New software. Basically carte blanche to revamp the entire system. How many times in the past had she talked to Bill about these things? He’d turned her down so often she’d almost quit asking. This had been the one major area of disagreement between Savannah and her former boss. Otherwise, though, she loved the job so she’d stifled her natural inclination to update their processes.
“You look like a kid on Christmas morning.”
Savannah laughed. “That’s pretty much what I feel like too.” She made more notes and said, “I can tell you right now that specialized cost-estimating and planning software would help budget time and money far more efficiently than what we have now.”
“What do you have now?”
She tapped an icon on her tablet and turned it around to show Harlan the calculator app. “This. And me.”
“Okay. I suppose you’ve already researched the programs?” He shook his head. “Of course you have. Just make sure it’s comprehensive enough to grow as we do.”
Savannah made notes and said, “I can price several options for you. There’s also a software program that helps determine the best way to get materials to building sites. That would be really helpful too.”
“Sounds good. How long do you think you’ll need to come up with this plan?”
Tomorrow, she wanted to say. But she knew it would be wiser to take her time. They’d waited this long, after all. “How about Friday morning?” That would give her the remainder of the week.
“Are you sure you don’t need more time? I was really just asking for a ballpark at this point.”
“Yes, that will give me plenty of time.”
“Especially because you’ve been thinking about it for a long time now,” he said shrewdly.
Savannah smiled. “I can’t help it. I’m kind of a geek where computers and software for construction are concerned.” She thought about that a minute and added, “Who am I kidding? I like software period. I’m a total geek.”
Harlan laughed. “A geek isn’t the first thing I’d think when I look at you.”
“Ah, but looks can be deceiving.”
“True.”
Savannah got up. “I’ll start now unless there’s something else you need?”
“Not right now. I’m going to the airfield and then I’m meeting Elijah and Logan at the winery site. I think now would be a great time to get that new software.”
“Thank you. You won’t regret it, I promise. This should make everything run smoother.” And she was going to be in geek heaven.