Chapter 51
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Jameson
Nothing can fuel a man more than the love of a woman. There’s even more truth to that if the man in question has loved that woman since he understood the concept – maybe even years before that.
I told Sinclair that I love her on Saturday night.
We celebrated by crawling back into bed.
All day yesterday was devoted to going through many of the things in my grandmother’s bedroom.
I found a few treasures. Sinclair did, too, including a host of photographs that she’ll include in the book.
We discussed it.
If Berk turns her down, she’ll shop the project around to other publishers, and if no one bites, we’ll self-publish together.
Even if the only copies that ever see print are bought by the people who loved Denia, we’ll consider the book a success.
I race up the steps from the subway and almost run face first into a man carrying a briefcase. His phone is pressed to his ear.
“Jameson Sheppard?” he questions with a perk of his dark eyebrow as he drops the phone into his jacket pocket. “Is that you?”
“Mr. Waterson?”
My eleventh grade physics teacher hasn’t aged a day in all these years.
He laughs. “You grew up.”
I step aside to let a group of people descend the concrete steps. “I did.”
His gaze drops to the jeans, dark T-shirt, and gray suit jacket I’m wearing. “Are you on your way to work bright and early this Monday morning?”
“At Carden,” I tell him.
“The family business.” He grins. “You can’t beat that, can you?”
There was a time when I wasn’t sure if I’d find my place within the company, but I’ve given it some careful thought, and I know I belong now. I’m excited, and can’t wait to talk to my brother about it.
“How have you been?” I ask my former teacher.
“Good.” He smiles. “I’m still at the school.”
His brown eyes still hold the same stoic steadiness they always have, but there’s something else there now. Call it a spark or a glimmer, but something is different.
I drop my gaze to his left hand. “Did you ever get married?”
He laughs. “I can finally see that on the horizon, son. I’ve started dating a colleague recently. You might remember her. She teaches history. Glenda Runson… Miss Runson, I mean.”
I pat his shoulder. “Miss Runson is a catch.”
“Indeed she is.” He studies me. “What about you? I always thought you’d end up with Sinclair Morgan.”
“I love her,” I state clearly and proudly. “I’m so in love with her. I’m planning on popping the question soon.”
He chuckles. “I thought that would have happened by now.”
“It did,” I admit. “I asked her two years ago. She turned me down for a good reason, but I’m doing it right this time.”
“Something tells me she’ll say yes.”
“That’s what I want most in this world.” I pat his shoulder. “I need to make it to the office by eight.”
“Go.” He steps aside to let me pass. “I’m proud of you, Jameson. You’ve become an admirable young man.”
“Thank you.” I stop and take a breath. “That means a great deal coming from you, sir. You were always my favorite teacher.”
“But I taught your least favorite subject.” He smiles. “Good luck with everything.”
“You too.” I take off in a sprint toward the offices of the business my grandparents launched decades ago.
Today I’ll confess my truth to my brother and start on the path I was always meant to take.
I knock lightly on the doorjamb of my brother’s office to grab his attention.
He glances up and lets out a low chuckle. “You’re fucking kidding me. It’s not even eight a.m., James. What the hell are you doing here this early?”
I approach him with a cup of coffee in each hand.
I know his routine. Once his assistant wanders in around eight thirty, she brings him a coffee just the way he likes it. Since I’ve been paying extra attention to all the small details since I’ve been back at Carden, I grabbed two coffees on my way in.
I also texted Holden’s assistant to tell her to skip the coffee run today.
I hand him his cup.
His brow furrows as he takes a tentative sip. “This is good. You’re about to drop bad news in my lap, aren’t you?”
I sit in one of the visitor chairs facing his desk. “That depends on whether or not you consider a confession bad news.”
He fuels himself with another sip from the cup before he places it on his desk. “That’s dependent on the confession, now, isn’t it?”
I laugh. “We’re going in a circle.”
“True.” He smiles. “Spit it out, James. What’s up?”
I sit up straighter. I’ve been holding this secret for almost two years, but it’s time I tell him. I missed the chance to tell our grandmother. I’ll always regret that, but I can’t go back in time. The future is my focus, and I need a clean slate to get there.
“I traveled a lot when I left New York,” I say.
“I know.” He rests both hands on the top of his desk. “I do know how to access social media. You did a lot of sightseeing.”
“I did a lot more than that.” I rub my jaw. “I worked on making Denia’s dreams come true.”
He runs his finger over his chin. “How so?”
I glance down while I suck in a deep breath to steady my nerves. “The Dertend deal was initiated by me. I spoke to Carol Auchter before she sold her company to grandmother.”
“That’s why you were in Scotland?” he questions. “You met with Carol then?”
I nod. “Yeah. It took a bit to convince her to sell, but she did.”
“She told grandmother that she had a change of heart.” He shakes his head. “You got her to change her mind, didn’t you? Denia wanted that company for so long.”
“I know.” I sigh. “She used to tell me about all the companies she wanted to buy out. I kept a list, and when I left New York, I set out to work my way through that list.”
“Was Montgomery Candy on that list?”
“Yes,” I admit. “Burton was a hard sell. I spent almost three weeks in California trying to get him on board. He held out until two months ago. He flew to New Mexico to have lunch with me to tell me he would talk to grandmother about selling.”
“The Ballew deal was you, too, wasn’t it?” He smiles. “You said something to Rosetta to get her to come around.”
I lean back in the chair. “She agreed to it hours before you called to tell me Denia was gone.”
“Jesus.” He rakes a hand through his hair. “Are there more?”
“A few,” I say. “I never talked exact terms with any of them. All I wanted to do was get them to a place where they’d be open to negotiating with Grandmother. You know what a hard ass she could be when it came to business.”
Holden chuckles. “I do.”
“I let her down.” I glance toward the window. “I walked away. I had to make up for that somehow, so I did what I could.”
“She had no idea.” He stares at me. “Your name popped up once, but we never connected the dots.”
“My name came up?” I tap the edge of his desk. “When?”
“Bright Lollipop’s negotiations.” He closes his eyes briefly. “The owner, Stuart, mentioned seeing you in London.”
I laugh. “Damn, Stuart. I asked him to keep my name out of it.”
Holden grins. “Grandmother asked how you were. Stuart said you were good, but he changed the subject pretty quickly after that. Why the secrecy, James? Why didn’t you want us to know?”
“I was trying to prove something,” I admit. “I wanted to clear that list of companies she wanted to acquire. I thought if I could do that, I could face her again. It was my gift to her. A gift to try and make up for letting her down.”
“All she wanted was for you to be happy.”
I glance at him. “She wanted me to be a better man than I was at the time. That’s why she wanted me to get married. I was a loose cannon. I had no direction, Holden. Hell, I’d show up late for work half the time, and I spent most of my days slacking off.”
“She wanted great-grandchildren.” He looks me in the eye. “She manipulated us because, to her, that was the fast track to becoming a great-grandmother. She admitted it to me after I married Finella.”
“What?” I ask in disbelief.
“She loved us a lot.” He smiles. “She wanted the best for us. She also wanted great-grandchildren. I was dragging my feet with Finella. You were crazy about Sinclair but never got up the courage to go after her. Denia watched it all from the sidelines. She thought she was giving us the push we needed to settle down and have kids by waving control of the business in our faces. That’s why she tacked on that five year minimum on the marriages in order for us to inherit the company.
She figured at least one of us would give her a great-grandchild by then. ”
“You’re serious?”
“Two weeks after we got married, she asked Finny if she was pregnant.” He chuckles. “That question was asked on the daily until we divorced.”
I shake my head. “Damn. I had no idea.”
“You should have told her you were advocating for Carden behind her back.” He taps his palm on his desk.
“Your influence has helped us expand globally. Some of those deals were dead in the water. Then suddenly, the owners were open to selling. I attributed it to good luck. I had no idea you were out there making shit happen.”
“I want to keep doing that.” I tug on the lapels of my jacket. “You’ve got the CEO in a suit thing down to a tee, but I want something else.”
He glances at my jeans and the T-shirt under my jacket. “What do you want, James?”
I know the position is still open, so I make a pitch for it because it’s where I belong. “I want to be COO.”
“Chief Operating Officer?” His brows pinch together. “That’s a step down from co-CEO.”
“I know.” I nod. “It’s also the position that fits me best. You’ve always been the big picture guy. I’m the one who can implement what you envision. I can get the job done. I can be out there working on acquiring even more companies so we expand our reach further.”
“I’ll be your boss.”
“And my brother,” I remind him. “I’ll do good work for you…for us. I’ll make Grandmother proud.”
“You’ll make me proud too.” He slides to his feet to extend his hand to me. “You’re going to be the best damn COO this company has ever seen.”