Summer Love by Piper Rayne

Chapter Eight

The afternoon dragged as Jewel sat in her office. It had been a week since she’d walked away from Bobby, and a week that she’d been working every spare minute to find a solution to not losing the Double B.

She reached for the cup of pens sitting on her desk and moved them to the other side. Then she moved them back. She shifted the position of the single folder lying in the middle of the flat surface, picked up then set down the tiny bull Bobby had given her as a teen. Nerves had eaten a hole through her, and if Mrs. Brandon didn’t hurry and make it down for their appointment, she feared she might throw up.

“Bulls are fed, boss. Settled in for the night.” Leon popped his head through the doorway, then pulled up short when he got a good look at her. “You okay?” His eyes narrowed as he took in the room.

“I’m fine.” She sat ramrod straight.

“Your desk . . .” He motioned to the nearly clean space in front of her. It was typically littered with paperwork. “Are you moving out?”

She hoped not. After leaving Missoula, she’d finally made up her mind and had decided that she did want to enact her plan. At least, she wanted to attempt to. “I have a meeting with Mrs. Brandon.” She then let him in on a bit of reality. She looked Leon straight in the eyes. “To discuss the future of the Double B.”

“Oh.”

The man was smart. He’d been around for several decades more than she, and he’d known when he’d hired on the year before that things might change. Mr. Brandon had just died, after all, and everything could be up in the air when such a huge change occurred. Of course, given the way the past year had gone, neither of them had expected any changes.

“You’ll let me know if I need to start looking for another job?” His tone went solemn.

She nodded. “We’ll talk the minute I finish with the meeting.”

Without further words, Leon retreated. They’d returned from that week’s rodeo a couple of hours ago, and making excuses, she’d headed to her office and left Leon to handle the bulls. She suspected he’d just figured out why. But she’d needed time alone to prepare. To review her pitch. This wasn’t going to be an easy sell.

“She’s in the office.” She heard Leon speak from outside the barn, and she pulled in a deep breath and rose to her feet.

Bobby’s mother appeared a few seconds later, for once not in her usual scrubs, and when she offered a genuine smile, Jewel relaxed for the first time that day. Beth Brandon had always been good to her. Just as her husband had been.

“Please, have a seat,” Jewel requested. But as the older woman moved into the room, her footsteps stalled.

Her gaze trained on something behind Jewel.

Jewel didn’t have to glance behind her to understand. It was the gift she’d found waiting for her the weekend before.

“That’s you.” Astonishment filled Mrs. Brandon’s features. “That’s phenomenal.”

When Jewel had returned to the office last Sunday, mentally drained from walking away from Bobby, she’d come face-to-face with a twelve-by-twelve wooden placard of her. It was only one side of her face, her profile rising up out of the wood. Bobby had sculpted both profile and placard from a single piece of mahogany, using stains and finely carved details to perfectly capture her expression when speaking with bulls. He’d mentioned how mesmerizing that look could be a few weeks before, and upon seeing it, she’d collapsed into tears.

“Who did that?” Beth asked.

Jewel didn’t speak. She couldn’t. But Beth had to know the answer.

Jewel waited, and Beth finally lowered to her seat. She dragged her gaze to Jewel’s. “Not Bobby?” she whispered.

Jewel nodded.

“But how?”

Beth studied the sculpture again, and Jewel watched as pieces of the puzzle seemed to click into place. She turned in her seat, looking back over her shoulder as if seeing through the walls of the barn and across the pasture. Seeing the studio where Bobby spent so much of his time.

“I never knew,” she finally whispered. “Does he have more like this up there?”

He had a cabinet full. But that wasn’t her place to share. “You probably should ask him that yourself.”

Bobby’s mother nodded, and Jewel found herself wanting to say more. Wanting to suggest she demand her son not give up this part of his life. Jewel knew he had plans, that he’d always seen himself being a solid “provider” by getting a job that would support a family. But his talent was so extraordinary. He couldn’t just turn a blind eye to it.

She kept her thoughts tucked away, however. Because that, also, wasn’t her place. If she and Bobby were still together . . . maybe. But he was probably already back with Bria.

With the thought she’d done her best to avoid all week now forefront in her mind, she bit down on the pain of her loss and nudged the folder across the top of the desk.

“I have an offer I’d like to discuss,” she said. “Concerning the sale of the Double B.”

She and Bobby’s mother got down to business then as Jewel presented her idea. She was young; therefore, it hadn’t occurred to her at first that she could buy such an established business. The reality was, she’d long planned to start her own company. It wasn’t a dream she’d talked about much, but she’d been tucking away money since she’d first started working. Her hope had been to buy land and start from the ground up by the time she turned thirty. But life didn’t always work out as planned, and she was nothing if not flexible.

“So, what I want to present are two options.”

She opened the folder and spread two single sheets of paper out for Mrs. Brandon.

“One, would be for you to stay on as investors. As you can see, I’ve broken down what I can put down and the loan I’d be willing to take in that situation. As well as how your investments would pay out, what would happen on down years, and so forth. I’d be full operator of the business, having to manage any staff losses on my own, while you and your family could sit back and simply receive dividends.”

As the other woman looked over the sheet of numbers, Jewel tucked her hands into her lap and crossed her fingers. She’d never intended to take on such a large loan, and at her age, had assumed banks wouldn’t be thrilled to hand over that kind of cash. But surprisingly, in the scenario where the Brandons stayed on as investors, banks were willing to talk to her. Her reputation, as well as that of the Double B preceded her, and she had several loan officers willing to take on that risk.

“Option two would be a straight-up buyout.”

This was where things got dicey. It’s where she would bring her father on as cosigner of an even larger loan. Her parents’ retirement would be at stake, but their faith in her was solid. This was also the option she hoped would be given the most consideration.

“I’m aware that I may not equally compete with Easup’s final offer,” she went on, “but I want the Double B, Mrs. Brandon.”

The other woman looked up from the paper.

“I want it because it was Mr. Brandon’s. Because my own blood, sweat, and tears are in these bulls, as well as his. I would honor your husband’s legacy, Mrs. Brandon. That I can promise you. So, I’m asking that you and your family consider my offer. If it’s a no”—she nodded—“then I’ll totally understand. This is a business, after all, and I understand how businesses work. But if it’s a yes, then I would spend my life making your husband proud.”