Barbara Dunlop - An Intimate Bargain

He dropped his hands and stepped back, voice clipped. “Sorry.”

She turned her head, afraid to look at him while she gave a short nod. “I’ll get back to work.”

“Yeah.”

She heard him turn. Heard the clatter of Ozzy’s footsteps. Heard the door open then close, and their sounds disappeared.

* * *

Zach slouched in a dusty, French-provincial chair in the topmost reaches of a castle tower, Ozzy curled sleeping in his lap, and his cell phone squeezed in one hand as the bulldozers rumbled into the rear, gravel parking lot. Alex was speed-dial one, but Zach couldn’t bring himself to press the button just yet.

Abigail had agreed to stay another day. She’d made it crystal clear that she had her doubts about their success with the license. Truth was, he had his doubts, too. But he couldn’t dwell on that. There was only one route forward.

He’d signed off on the construction contract this morning, and it was the right thing to do. It was the only thing to do. In his experience, any action was better than no action. He knew that if he sat here and did nothing, the company would trickle down to an inevitable death.

He pressed his thumb on the one key and lifted the phone to his ear.

Alex picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Zach.”

The clatter of background noise quickly faded as Alex obviously moved to a different location.

“How’s it going?” Zach asked his business partner.

“I just found out that Shetland Trucking went bankrupt,” Alex rattled off in a matter-of-fact voice. “There’s a mechanical breakdown at the bottling plant in Charlotte. And Stephanie walked out on me last night. So, pretty much business as usual.”

“Again?” Zach asked.

“Which part?”

“Stephanie.”

“It was inevitable,” said Alex.

“She serious this time?”

“If she’s not, I am. I don’t know what other guys do, but I’m not into working sixteen-hour days then coming home to talk about my feelings.”

“So, how’re you feeling about that?” Zach couldn’t help joking.

“Shut up.”

“We can talk about it if you like.”

“Then can we braid each other’s hair?”

“You get a new trucking company?” Zach went back to business.

“As of this morning. What about you?”

“I’m looking at the bulldozers now.”

“Fantastic. So, you got the license?”

“Not yet.”

Alex paused. “What do you mean, not yet?”

“Abigail’s still working on it.”

Another pause. “But you started anyway?”

“We’re out of time.”

It took a minute for Alex to speak. “You’re putting it all on one roll of the dice?”

“I am.”

“And if we don’t get the license?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

“It’s a veiled criticism.”

“You’d have done the same thing.”

“Maybe. Probably.” Alex heaved a sigh. “Hell, what’ve we got to lose?”

“Beer.”

Alex coughed out a laugh. “At least we’re both still employable as bartenders,” he said, referring to the first jobs they’d had after they left the group home.

“I could start all over.” Zach wasn’t worried about himself. He’d give up the Houston penthouse, the sports car and his platinum credit card in the blink of an eye. Some of the happiest times of his life were when he and Alex had shared a tiny basement suite while they saved up the down payment for their first brewery.

But he’d hate to be forced to lay off even one employee. Many of them had kids and mortgages, and for the first time were settling into normal lives.

“Need a roommate while you start over?” asked Alex. “The apartment lease is in Stephanie’s name.”

“You’re homeless?”

“I am.”

“You’ve got my spare key.”

“I guess it’s either your place or the Four Seasons.”

“Hey, we’re on a budget now.” Zach glanced at the third bulldozer rumbling and clanking its way off the trailer. If this all went bad, their days at the Four Seasons were definitely over.

“The Family Inn on Hawthorn Street?” Alex suggested.

“Get your ass to my place.”

“Yeah, I probably will. How long do you think you’ll be in Colorado?”

“A couple more days, anyway. Hopefully, Lucas can take it from there.”

The aging door to the tower room creaked. Both Zach and Ozzy looked toward the sound. Abigail peeked around the end of the thick, oak panels.

“Gotta go,” said Zach, meeting her eyes.

“Keep me posted.”

“Will do.”

“You’d better bring this one home,” Alex warned.

It was probably the hundredth time Alex had said that to Zach over the years. They’d been in many tight spots before, taken plenty of risks, but this was truly a make-or-break moment.

“I know.” Zach clicked off the phone and tucked it into the breast pocket of his shirt. “Hey.”

“Hi.” She moved around the end of the door and into the room, glancing at the curved walls, dusty furniture, boxes and crates, and the collection of knickknacks and outright junk that covered every horizontal surface.

“Wow,” she breathed.

“Quite the collection,” he acknowledged, dislodging Ozzy as he came to his feet.

“Don’t get up.”

“I’m already up.”

She gave him a rueful grimace. “I just came to tell you that something’s come up.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “To do with the license?”

“To do with me. I have to go to Houston.”

“Why?” Was it an excuse to get away from him?

“It’s a long story. My parents are down there. And, well, I told you about Lisa, the newly discovered cousin? We need to tell my mom about her before other people find out. I just talked to Seth and then to Travis. They want me to do it. In person. Of all the sisters, I know Lisa best. And Katrina and Mandy are-”

“Living their own lives?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I suppose not,” he allowed. Though it still galled him that she seemed to be the one in the family bearing the most burden.

“I know you’re in a hurry.” Despite everything, there was an apology in her voice.

“We can keep working while you’re in Houston,” he pointed out. “In fact, it’ll be easier. DFB headquarters is there.”

“Whoa.” She held up her palms. “I’m not going to have spare time in Houston.”

“You won’t be busy twenty-four seven.”

“Zach-”

“Abby-”

“Abigail.”

“Yeah, ’cause that’s our biggest problem.” It might not be fair to her, but he was frustrated by the situation. And he was getting genuinely worried about losing his entire company.

Her tone was tart. “I have to focus on my family right now. I’m sorry if it slows down your personal agenda for me, but I have obligations.”

He pointed out the window. “See that? Do you have any idea how much it costs per hour to dig that hole?”

She tightened her jaw. “You don’t own me, Zach.”

“Maybe not, but we have a deal.”

“I’m altering the terms.”

“That’s not your choice to make.”

“Are you drawing a line in the sand?”

He was. But maybe that wasn’t the smart choice. Maybe he’d pushed her as far as he could. It was time to change tactics. “You can have time with your family in Houston.”

“Thank you so very much.”

“But you’ll also need to find time for me. Five other breweries are waiting to press the go button on spring orders. If I can’t confirm Craig Mountain, I’m going to have a way bigger problem than a useless hole in the ground.”

She hesitated, and her teeth came down on her bottom lip.

“I’ll spring for your plane ticket.” He sweetened the pot. “Hell, for your hotel, your meals, anything you need.” He didn’t give a damn about the cost.

“My sister Mandy’s fiancé has a jet.”

“He coming with us?”

“There is no us.”

“I need you, Abby.”

He realized the words were true on far too many levels.

“We can bring Ozzy,” he offered. “He can stay in my penthouse.”

She cracked a smile at that. “You’re bribing me with a dog?”

“I am.”

“You’re going to spoil him,” she accused. “And then he’s going to hate me when I make him live at the ranch.”

Zach bent and picked up the pup, scratching under his chin. “He really doesn’t strike me as the ranch-dog type.”

There was total sympathy in her eyes when she gazed at Ozzy.

“Fine.” She capitulated. “You take the dog, and I’ll see you in Houston. But I’m not promising anything. I’m going to be busy.”

“Thank you,” Zach offered sincerely.

“Are you ever going to be out of my life?”

He hesitated over his answer. What an intriguing question. He didn’t really want to be out of her life. And he sure didn’t want her out of his. Not yet, anyway, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with any water license.

Abigail was happy to see her father looking so well. He’d been in rehab in Houston for several months following a stroke in the early summer. Luckily, her sister Mandy’s fiancé had been in the valley with his jet plane that night, and they were able to whisk everyone to Lyndon and then Denver for his treatment. Ultimately, they moved him to a state-of-the-art facility in Houston. After months of therapy, he was nearly ready to come home to walk Mandy and Katrina down the aisle at their double wedding, coming up in a few weeks.

Now Abigail and her mother, Maureen, moved to a shady table in the lush garden of a restaurant a few miles from the facility. The scents of roses, asters and sage mingled beneath the oak trees in the September afternoon. They ordered iced tea and spinach, raspberry salads, settling comfortably into padded rattan chairs.

“And how’s Travis doing with the ranch?” asked Maureen, stirring some sugar into her glass.

“He seems good,” Abigail answered. “Though I’ve actually seen more of Seth lately than Travis.”

“But you are back on the ranch.”

“I was for a few days. But I’m back in Lyndon.” Abigail drew a breath. “Speaking of which, your sister Nicole’s name came up the other day.”

A look of obvious shock contorted her mother’s face. “Nicole?”

“You never talk much about her.”

Her mother’s fingers trembled ever so slightly as she rested them on the table. “Even after all these years, it’s hard for me to think about her. She was so young and beautiful and full of life. It hurt a lot to lose her.”

“Seth said she ran away from home?”

“Sadly, she did. All she could talk about back then was the bright lights and the big city. I tried to convince her to pick out a college.” Maureen squared her slim shoulders. “But I couldn’t. She thought she was going to become a model or an actress or some such craziness. Seven months later, she was in that accident.”

“Seven months?” Abigail’s stomach flip-flopped.

Maureen’s eyes shimmered. “I can only guess what happened. I adored her. But she always partied too much, was constantly finding excuses to stay in town on weekends. She smoked and drank with her friends. There was no holding her back.”

While her mother spoke, Abigail’s brain did the math. The nuns had told Lisa she was two weeks old when her mother dropped her anonymously into their care. Nicole had died a week later. That made her ten or twelve weeks pregnant when she left town.

Lisa’s father was from Lyndon. But that would have to wait until later.

“We were told the pair of them were leaving a bar,” Maureen continued, a faraway look on her face. “We later found out his family didn’t know Nicole, had never met her. They were estranged from their son, too.” Maureen absently restirred the iced tea.

“Mom.” Abigail reached forward and took her mother’s hand.

“Yes, dear?”

“I have something to tell you. It’s surprising, maybe even shocking.”

Maureen frowned. “Are you ill, honey? Is something wrong?”

Abigail quickly shook her head. “No, no. Nothing like that. It’s good news. At least I think it’s good news.”

Her mother waited.

“It’s Nicole, Mom. She had a daughter.”

Maureen blinked, her expression frozen in the dappled sunlight.

“A daughter,” Abigail repeated. “She was adopted out to a very nice family. She started looking for us a couple of years ago. And now she’s found us.”

Maureen’s voice was paper dry. “Nicole had a baby?”

Abigail smiled, squeezing her mother’s hand. “My cousin. Your niece.”

Maureen’s eyes welled up with tears, and her hand went to her chest.

“Her name’s Lisa,” said Abigail, speaking more quickly. “I’ve met her. In fact, I know her. She helped with Seth’s campaign.”

“I can’t believe it,” said Maureen, but a smile was forming on her face. “Okay. I do believe it.” The smile turned into a shaky laugh. “Nicole was never a careful or cautious person.”

“So, you’re okay? You’ll like her. She’s a wonderful woman.”