Chapter 27
An entire plate of Mary Mac”s fried chicken and baked mac and cheese sits in front of me, all but untouched. Dale Tribley, Coastal Construction’s chief architect, suggested that we meet at Mary Mac”s this time to talk about the construction project details.
But as I stare at Dale, and his right-hand man, Bishop, anger roils in my guts.
Bishop has been careful to keep his mouth shut while we”ve been at lunch. But he has a faint smirk all the time, and I want to rip the barbecue sparerib from his hand and stuff it up his ass.
Dale looks at Cole while he wipes chicken grease from his mouth with a paper napkin. ”How do those deadlines sound?”
I lean forward, not letting Cole get a word in. ”They”re very impressive. But I”m worried that you can”t possibly keep up with them. Your crew chief here has proven himself to be quite a hothead. So I would just like some assurance that if you fall behind, there is a plan in place to fix it. A plan that doesn”t include Bruiser over there being a total dick.”
Dale crosses his arms, sighs, and sits back. He glances at Bishop. ”You aren”t going to be unpleasant, are you?”
”Nah.” Bishop looks bored. ”I”m straight. I don”t have to like you to do my job.”
Dale raised his hands. ”There you go. Straight from the horse”s mouth.”
Cole looks at me. ”River, if this is going to be a problem, we need to know now. What’s your plan for approaching Delta Jackson and telling Pearl that you are trying to buy her land out from under her?”
I pause for a few seconds. ”It”s not going to be a problem for me. But I was thinking about the buyers--”
The door to the restaurant opens and Rex comes in, brushing off raindrops from his coat. He sees us and makes a beeline for our table. ”Sorry I”m late. What”d I miss?”
He grabs a chair and turns it around to sit down. I roll my eyes at his showmanship.
”I was just going to say that the property we are going to buy is vast. Hundreds of square miles. What would you all say if I offered to buy all but a small portion of it? We would take ninety eight percent and the original owners would keep the remaining two percent.”
”Hah!” Bishop laughs. ”I knew it was the Jackson property.”
“Wait.” Rex shakes his head, looking at me with concern. “It is? Pearl knows about this little scheme, right?”
“Not exactly,” I hedge.
“Are you serious right now?” Cole breaks in. “I thought she knew. In that case, I would also be very interested in hearing how you plan to tell her she’s evicted from the land her great grandfather struggled so hard for.”
“River, you are really playing with fire here.” Rex gives me long look. “Unless your whole engagement is fake and y’all don’t care about each other.”
“It’s not fake,” I say, clenching my teeth. “And can we please talk about this later?”
Rex looks at me, scratching his cheek. “Oh, you bet your ass we will.”
”Maybe I should talk to Delta,” Bishop offers. He spreads his hands magnanimously. ”She always liked me.”
Dale rebukes him without hesitation. ”Bishop, that”s enough. If you like your job, keep your damn mouth shut. I will remind you that you have signed a non-disclosure agreement for exactly this scenario.”
”Yes sir. Just trying to be helpful.”
”It”s not, so cut it out,” Dale says. He looks at me. ”Get the rights. And not to part of the land. I’m talking about the whole thing. Any way you slice it, no one is going to want to invest in a property that might be tied up in court for years. Make sure that we can get the land free and clear. Then we will make our next move.”
He stands up, checking his watch. Everyone else stands up and shakes hands, saying goodbye awkwardly.
When I”m left with my brothers, I sit back down. My brothers are both staring at me so hard my skin itches.
“What?” I ask.
Cole points his fork at me. “You’re going to be in so much trouble.”
Rex”s eyes are on the kitchen. To keep from talking about Pearl’s family, I ask him, ”Do you want me to get the waiter?”
He shakes his head slowly. ”I can”t eat anything here. It”s full of gluten and trans fats and god knows what else. If it takes good, I probably can”t have any.”
”I feel bad for you,” Cole says. ”This corn pudding is the best thing I”ve ever eaten.” He pauses. ”With the exception of Savannah.”
I smile, but my mind is still on the meeting with Coastal Construction.
“Hey, that’s my line!” Rex complains. ”I guess I should let you have it in this case, though.”
”I know,” Cole says dryly. ”I could see it in your eyes.”
”Can we focus please?” I ask, gritting my teeth.
”On which part?” Cole smiles ruefully. ”The fact that you”re selling Pearl”s land out from under her?”
Rex scratches his chin. ”Yeah, River. Is that true? Dad is going to fucking kill you. You know that, don’t you?”
“Dad won’t have the chance because Miss Delta will get to River long before Dad does. Miss Delta and Pearl are going to take this shit out of your hide,” Cole says.
Rex spreads his hands on the table. ”Wait, so how much of this does Pearl know?”
My neck is on fire as I answer my brother. ”Almost none of it.”
Cole slaps the table. Rex gives me a sorry shake of his head. For a long second, neither of them speak.
”And how much of your engagement is just for show? Does your fiancée realize that she”s just a pawn?” Rex asks eventually.
I grit my teeth. “None of it is fake!”
My protests sound feeble even to my ears.
”Pearl is perfectly innocent in this whole scheme. And she’s not a pawn, either. Just a bystander. But my relationship with her is very real.”
Cole crosses his arms and slides a disbelieving look to Rex. ”Are you buying this?”
”Hell no. I thought that it was suspicious when you announced that you”d been dating in secret for two years.” He sucks his teeth. ”Dad really is going to kill you.”
”No, Dad”s going to disinherit him.” Cole squints at me. ”That might mean we get a cut of your money instead of you, River. But you”ve made contingencies for that, I bet. You expect to get paid a lot of money when we secure investors.”
Rex nods, slowly stringing it together. ”How much? Fifty million?”
I lick my teeth, looking back and forth between them. ”Something like that.”
”That”s a huge gamble, River. You could end up with nothing,” Cole says.
”I think the odds are that my risk pays off.” I screw up my face. ”If Bishop doesn”t rat me out to Delta Jackson.”
Our table is quiet for a second. We”re all doing the math of the likelihood that Bishop takes his NDA seriously. It”s not favorable to me because if he violates it, I would have to get lawyers involved. And lawyers are expensive.
”I don”t love it,” Cole finally announces.
”You don”t love most things,” Rex says.
“Look.” I smooth my hands out on the table. “Pearl will probably not be thrilled. But I swear, I’m doing her family a huge service by hooking them in with this deal. As it stands, Delta Jackson has not paid property taxes for years. The IRS is going to take their property and auction it off to the highest bidder. Some out of town player who won’t care about how long the land has been in Pearl’s family. They’ll pay pennies on the dollar for every acre. And they won’t hire locals to do the construction, either! They’ll bring in a cheap crew to do cheap labor. As far as I can see, I’m doing Pearl, Delta, and the entire community a big favor.”
Cole and Rex look at each other for a second. Then Rex sighs.
”I don’t think anybody else is going to see it that way, River. But regardless, you have to tell Pearl about your plan. That”s the only way forward from this point.”
”Let me worry about Pearl.” I point at Cole. ”And no telling Savannah any of this.”
He snorts. ”I”ll give you a couple of weeks to figure out how you”re going to tell her. After that, all bets are off. I hate lying to my fiancée.”
Rex elbows him. ”You should give River some pointers on how to be honest with his woman.”
”I doubt he”d listen.”
Rex squints off into the distance. ”You know, something occurred to me just now.”
”They”re called thoughts. And they’re perfectly natural,” I volley back.
He frowns. ”Do you wanna hear my idea or not? I”m not the one getting caught with his pants on fire.”
”Sorry.” I duck my head. ”Go on.”
”We should approach the owner of the Atlanta Kings about investing in the project. He has a construction company that could replace Coastal Construction. If we took this to him, and made the offer sweet enough, he would probably take it. And you could make it worth Bishop”s while to stay quiet.” He gives me a sly grin. ”Everybody has their price.”
I sit up, my eyes widening. ”Holy shit. I would love to be in business with Ray Kendrick.”
Rex pulls out his phone, nodding. ”He”s a rain maker, that”s for sure. It seems like an easy lay-up to ask him to be involved in the resort.”
Cole chips in, ”He”d be mad if we didn”t at least ask, wouldn”t he?”
Rex nods. ”I”ll make some phone calls.”
Cole pins me in place with his gaze. ”And you. Talk to Pearl. This offer is a ticking time bomb. It”ll have to get resolved one way or another in the next couple of weeks. You don”t want her to be surprised.”