Chapter 26

Brock

Running late, I decided to grab some breakfast to go at the diner. I had a phone conference at nine with another potential investor and then a meeting with still another. I needed to have all my ducks in a row. I couldn’t afford another missed opportunity. I was starving after my quick run this morning and couldn’t wait to dig into some carbs.

I pulled into the diner, walked to the front counter, and greeted the hostess. Then it happened.

“Daddy!”

I was absolutely excited to see Jasper, but the single word created some kind of time-warp effect in the diner. No one moved. No one said a word. I turned to see Tanner at a back booth in the diner and Jasper racing down the aisle toward me. His arms went around my legs as he squeezed me tight. I leaned over, rubbed his back, and attempted to hug him, but he had me at a bit of a disadvantage.

“Hey, buddy!” I said, happy to see him.

Tanner sauntered up behind Jasper with a big grin on his face. He made sure the last of the breakfast crowd, which was mostly the older population, saw how happy he was. He smiled and nodded at all the people who were staring at the three of us.

The second Jasper released my legs, I lifted him and kissed his cheek. “Did you already eat your breakfast?”

“Nope. Me and Grandpa ordered some pancakes here so Mom could get some sleep. She was real tired,” he explained.

I laughed. “Good,” I said as I put him back down on the ground. He glued himself to my side.

“Good morning, Tanner,” I said, feeling a little awkward.

Tanner was still beaming. “Good morning yourself, Brock.”

“I was just getting my breakfast to go,” I said for lack of anything else to say.

“Why don’t you join us? Can you spare ten minutes? I think your son would enjoy having breakfast with you.”

I hesitated but then quickly agreed. I turned to the hostess, who smiled and winked at me and told me she’d bring it to the table with the other two orders.

“I’m really happy everything worked out,” Tanner said, winking as he walked toward the table.

I smiled and followed him. I didn’t have the heart to tell him nothing had really worked out, unless he was referring to him keeping his farm. If that was the case, well, that had certainly worked out for him, and I guessed I could admit it wasn’t so bad for me. If it meant I could get those hugs every day, I was cool with losing half a million dollars.

Jasper wanted to sit beside me in the booth. The boy was a bundle of energy this morning. No wonder Ashley was tired. This would take some getting used to.

“How’s Helen doing?” Tanner asked.

I should have known everyone would know about her cancer. Little got past anyone in this town.

“She’s fighting the good fight. She had a double mastectomy. The doctor in Morgantown thought an aggressive approach would give her the best shot at kicking this thing.”

“What’s a mastectomy?” Jasper asked.

Oops. I forgot we had little ears.

Thankfully, Tanner handled the situation. “It’s a woman thing. I’ll explain when you’re older.”

Jasper was satisfied with the answer and went back to doing the maze on the paper menu.

“Next time you talk to her, pass along my best wishes, would you please?” he asked.

“I’ll do that.”

Our food was delivered and we all dug in with gusto. It was a little surreal to be sitting at a table and eating breakfast with my son and Ashley’s dad. I looked up and saw Anna walking by. I prayed she wouldn’t look in the window, but she saw her dad and waved. When she saw me, her eyes practically fell out of her head.

She paused for a second, glared at me, and then continued toward the office. I knew I was going to get the third degree for sure. We finished eating and chatted about nothing in particular for a few more minutes until I checked my watch and realized it was close to nine.

“We better let your dad get to work, Jasper. We need to get those groceries your mom asked for, too,” Tanner said, recognizing my need to leave.

“Thank you so much for letting me eat breakfast with you,” I said to Jasper, ruffling his hair.

He shrugged. “It’s no problem,” he said, as if he were a grown adult doing me a favor.

His response got a chuckle out of both me and Tanner. I slid out of the booth, said my good-byes, and walked out of the diner. I could feel the hum of voices as I went. The old biddies had their confirmation now. By the end of the day, the whole town would know that Ashley and I had a son together. It was going to be a bumpy ride, but together, we could weather the scandal that was headed our way.

I drove the short distance to my office, bracing myself for Anna’s wrath, and headed inside. She was sitting at her desk, tapping on the keyboard, pretending she didn’t notice as I walked in. The bell made it impossible for her not to know.

“Good morning, Anna.”

She looked up, shot me another glare, and went back to whatever she was doing.

“Gee, Anna, are you upset about something?”

“I can’t believe my dad is dining with the enemy.”

“What, you thought you were the only Parks willing to give me the time of day? Sorry, I guess I’m not enemy number one. Not anymore.”

I didn’t want to tell her that eating breakfast with Tanner was nothing compared to what I’d been doing with Ashley. That would probably result in the computer monitor being thrown at my head.

“Any messages this morning?” I asked, changing the subject to one that was relatively safe.

“I wrote them down. They’re on your desk.”

“Thanks.”

I headed into my office and picked up the stack of messages. One name stuck out. It was another realtor, some guy who was a hotshot in Morgantown. I had a feeling he had heard about the property outside town and was probably going to try to sell it. No way. I had to move fast if I wanted to make sure I was the one who got that deal.

The call came in and I spent thirty minutes pitching the deal to the new investor. He was interested as well. Competition was good. It meant I was onto something. I called the owners of the land, spoke with the person managing the trust, and talked numbers. They were going to present it to the rest of the family and get back to me tomorrow.

Now it was time to get down to what I did best. Putting together a lucrative package that would entice an investor was something I had gotten very good at. My attention to detail and my charm had worked well for me in the past. I hoped it was enough this time.

Anna appeared in my doorway. “So Jasper knows?”

I assumed she was referring to his parentage. “Yes, of course.”

She shook her head and left. The girl had some serious issues. I couldn’t believe the four siblings didn’t get along better. They had no idea how lucky they were to have each other. I had no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no one at all. They had family by the buckets and didn’t appreciate each other in the least. It was a little disheartening. I wanted Jasper to have a big family, but I wanted it to be a family he actually liked and got along with.

Anna appeared once again. “Do you need me to make those copies for you?”

I nodded. “Yes, please.”

“I’ll have to go to the copy center. Your copy machine is on the fritz again. You really should buy a new one, you know.”

I chuckled. “I’ll get right on that. I think they’re only a couple thousand dollars.”

She looked at me over her shoulder. “If this deal goes through, you can buy ten.”

I smiled. Damn straight I could. I considered asking her if she knew why Tanner seemed so quick to accept me into the fold. If anyone should be mad at me, it was the old man. I had worked hard to get his land, and I’d apparently knocked up his daughter years ago as well. Either one of those offenses should have been enough to earn me banishment from the Parks family for the rest of my days.

But Tanner wasn’t angry at all. In fact, he seemed down right happy to see me. It was like he was welcoming me back with open arms. I decided I better keep my guard up in case it was a ruse, a ploy to get me to relax so he could spring a surprise attack on me. What kind of attack, I didn’t know.

I dismissed Tanner’s strange behavior from my mind and focused on the proposal. I needed to make sure every T was crossed and every I was dotted. There could be no mistakes. I was trying to get into the big leagues and needed to show I could compete with some of the most successful investors. Land was better than gold, and I wanted lots of it.

“I’m headed out,” I told Anna, feeling a little anxious about my meeting.

“Good luck.”

Her words took me by surprise. “Thank you.”

I had to drive up to Morgantown and wanted to make sure I had plenty of time. This was not a meeting I could be late for.

I arrived twenty minutes early and was shown into a conference room. I expected to be meeting with the entire investment group and had come prepared. Anna had done an excellent job putting together the packets that I would hand out to each person. My palms grew sweaty and my stomach was a jumble of nerves.

“You can do this,” I whispered to myself.

Several people meandered into the room. We went through the introductions and then I got right down to business. After an hour-long meeting, I had gotten what I wanted. I had a signed agreement with several stipulations. I was confident I could fulfill each of the demands the investment group had put in the contract. If I could get the property for the agreed upon price, the deal would move forward.

As I drove home, I couldn’t fight the bubble of excitement that came over me. I wanted to call Ashley and tell her the news. I was a little surprised she was the person I wanted to share my excitement with. She had become a friend once again, and I had to laugh at the irony of it all. My plan to buy her home to piss her off had certainly backfired, but it had been the best backfire possible.

Ashley was in my life. I had a son and we were building a relationship that I hoped to foster and grow. Life was good. The bitterness that had nearly eaten me alive these past six years was gone. I didn’t hate Ashley, and I wasn’t mad at the world for dealing me a shitty hand. I felt good, and I wanted to scream it from the mountaintop.

Now I had to hope the trust was willing to sell the land at the price I offered. The land wasn’t even on the market yet, but I knew they had called several realty agencies and there were a lot of interested parties. The competition would be fierce. I hoped my hometown advantage would be enough to persuade them to choose my offer.