Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
Autumn
Summer tapped her foot against her desk. I’d rushed to Copper Summit after school so I could catch her. The last two months of wedded bliss with Gideon had been perfect. I woke up to him and his egg wraps. I went to bed tucked into his side. And we burned up the sheets so much that Sprinkles avoided our room at bedtime.
“Isn’t this what you told Teller you didn’t like?” Her eyes were dancing. She liked to turn the tables on our brothers as much as the rest of us did.
“It is precisely what I used to hate.” Tenor and Teller had been very diligent about discussing any ideas or changes in the bar with me. I was with them every step of the way for the switch to the new inventory program. But this was different. This was something I had to talk with my sisters about before we broached the request to our brothers.
There was a knock on the door and Wynter entered. She shut the door behind her. I dug out my phone and dialed Junie.
“This feels so clandestine.” Wynter propped a hip on the edge of the desk. “Remember when we used to meet under the stairs to talk about what we were getting all the guys for Christmas?”
Summer rolled her eyes. “They’re still awful about finding packages I try to hide. When Jonah made Teller that nightstand in December, Teller walked in on him when he’d just finished it. Jonah tried to act cool and failed, yet he claims I lie like shit.”
“You do,” I said.
She folded her arms across her chest. “All of us do.”
“He-llooo,” Junie sang from the phone. “What are we hiding from our brothers?”
I had messaged all of them last night and told them I needed to talk. Junie had been the wild card, but she must’ve sensed the seriousness of the topic. She’d told us to name a time and she’d make it.
I pressed my hands against my stomach. My nerves were lighting up. There was a reason my sisters were the first ones I was talking to. I trusted my brothers, but if my sisters told me my idea was unreasonable, then I’d have no choice but to drop it. If my brothers said the same thing, my stubbornness would kick in and I’d press ahead out of emotion.
If Summer, Junie, and Wynter said I was out of line, then I’d know their decision was what they felt was the best for the business.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, here’s what I’d like to talk to them about.”
Gideon
I was stocking the bar while Autumn was in a meeting with her siblings. For the last three months, I’d experienced the kind of wedded bliss I’d thought was a pipe dream. When Autumn was working during the day, Dad and I helped at the food pantry a couple days a week. Some “anonymous” donor had set up a continuous grocery delivery. Dad had just looked at me and shaken his head, a small smile hidden under his trimmed mustache.
All that money I’d socked away for years and invested and grown was finally getting used.
Autumn and I were looking at bigger houses, but we weren’t in a rush to move. I’d been helping a little at the ranch, but mostly Tate had tapped Dad’s knowledge. The Baileys needed to buy equipment and Tate had asked us to watch auctions and estate sales for good deals.
Dad and I would pore over the ads for farm equipment, and sometimes, we’d take a trip to look a piece over and note our observations. Nothing had been purchased yet, but Dad and I had told them they were running out of time.
I set a crate of Copper Summit’s new summer special barrel in the storeroom. I was no longer behind a desk, and my back and shoulders were happy. I didn’t need an ergonomic chair if I wasn’t sitting for twelve or more hours of the day. When I emerged, Autumn was peeking her head around the wall that bordered the entry.
“You got a minute? The guys want to talk to you.”
Curiosity rose, but they probably just wanted to ask me timeline questions. They might know how to farm, but Dad and I knew that land, how it behaved through the seasons, where it flooded, what parts drained well.
She tangled her fingers through mine. I’d rather walk behind her and admire her ass since she was wearing the same brown skirt she’d worn when I had officially proposed to her. She didn’t have the Christmas sweater on, but her loose cream shirt draped over her tits in a way that made my mouth water.
I’d never get enough of her.
The meeting room was on the upper level where the offices were. Inside the rectangular room, family pictures of the Baileys covered the walls. Some images had kids I didn’t recognize, but Autumn had said they were the foster kids the Baileys had cared for over the years. Whoever had been under the Bailey roof at the time was in the family picture.
Her siblings were scattered around the table. Teller, Summer, and Tenor on the opposite side. Tate at the head of the table. Wynter was across from Teller. Autumn picked a seat next to her and I took the empty spot beside her.
“Junie’s on speaker,” Autumn said.
“Hiiii,” Junie sang.
“Hi, Junie,” I said.
She’d briefly stopped in over the New Year, super enthusiastic and raining gifts on everyone. Autumn was worried about her. According to the tabloids, Junie had broken up with some country music stud and the gossip shows enjoyed showing pictures of him and every other woman who crossed his path.
Her siblings were worried, but Tenor had claimed Junie’s troubles weren’t man-related. He insisted it was business. I didn’t know Junie, but Autumn was worried, so I cared.
Tate tented his fingers together at the end of the table. The two of us were former CEOs dressed down in jeans, a hoodie—his a Bailey Beef sweater and mine an old Silver one. I was finally getting some use out of the merchandise I’d been gifted during my time in charge.
“Autumn approached me a few weeks ago,” he said. “Then Summer. And Wynter. Junie.”
Summer cocked a brow, looking unrepentant. Wynter smirked. I glanced at Autumn.
Her smile was smug. “I figured it was time for the girls to have a talk before we ran our decision past the guys.”
Teller grunted and Tenor nodded.
Tate tapped his fingertips together. “Autumn thinks we need to sell some property.”
Myles and Jonah weren’t here. Why was I? I didn’t have a say about any of their holdings.
Autumn reached for my hand. She beamed. Puzzle pieces were starting to click into place. No. She wouldn’t ask Tate to sell?—
“She thinks we should sell Percival to you,” Tate said, confirming my realization.
They’d just put in all the expense of purchasing the property. I’d love to have a chance to buy my family home, but I didn’t want to make financial craters in this family. It wasn’t worth it. “What does everyone else think?”
The corner of Tate’s mouth lifted. “Seems like the thing to do.”
“We all agree,” Summer said .
Wynter nodded. Teller folded his arms and leaned back in his chair until it squeaked.
The offer didn’t make sense from a business standpoint. They’d be taking a loss. They’d sacrifice the plans they’d made to grow some of their own grains for Copper Summit. They couldn’t expand the ranch and use all the new fence Dad and I had repaired. “What’s in it for you?”
Tate’s smile broadened like he relished my disbelief. This was what having a sibling was like. “Autumn’s happiness. Our dad taught us that not every decision needs to benefit the company financially.”
“‘Money should never be your first priority all the time,’” Wynter said.
“We wanted to be the buyers to make sure it stayed local.” Tate spread his hands. “You’re local.”
Born and raised and here to stay. I glanced around the table. “What are you charging?”
“What we bought it for.”
I had that amount. A few business days, it’d be theirs.
No. There had to be a catch. It was too good to be true. Then it dawned on me. “No.”
Autumn squeezed my hand. “Gideon?”
I shook my head. “If you want Autumn’s property in exchange?—”
“Nope,” Teller said. “We don’t. Just buy the place back so we don’t feel like shit making plans to use it while you work for us and refuse to get paid.”
I hadn’t refused payment. I’d shamelessly taken Mae’s meals as payment.
Tate tapped his fingertips together. “We’re not even going to make the sale contingent on contracting with Copper Summit. But if you want to be a farmer, we’d be happy to do business.”
“We can go over my estimates, see what you think,” I said. “I’ve been wanting Dad to have a look.” A farmer. From casino and hotel CEO to farming and ranching. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“You’ve got a helluva resource at your disposal.”
Dad.
I huffed out a laugh and considered the top of the table. The wood was glossy and it was filled with epoxy in a way that made it look like a river ran through the middle.
Did I want to farm? To work with the Baileys instead of for them? Teach my kids about the life, take them horseback riding, and show them where we remembered their grandma?
As long as I had Autumn, I didn’t give a shit about what I did. But getting Percival? This time, it felt right. These last few months had been an awakening. Farming and ranching were in my blood. Mom had passed on her love for the land, but Grandpa’s obsession about who owned what and why had been purged from me. I could just enjoy spending my days outside again. Paying attention to the land and the weather, deciding what equipment to buy, studying the market—it was more rewarding for me than making millions a year for someone else.
More than that was the chance to hang out with Dad again. I couldn’t forget the past, but I understood it now. I couldn’t wait to pass on my love for the land to my own kids. Only this time, I knew I could do it from anywhere. It didn’t have to be Percival. Though if it was.. .
Autumn was chewing her lower lip like she worried she’d overstepped. Home was with her. The rest was just logistics.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I said to her.
“My god, Gideon. Buy it. We’ll figure the rest out.”
My wife’s eyes were wide, shiny. My world was in that gaze. She wanted me to have it, so I’d buy it. For us. “All right. Get the paperwork ready.”