Chapter 56
CHAPTER 56
CHARLIE
D riving back onto the ranch, I stared at the rolling pastures and the cattle dotting the fields, the unmistakable sense of home washing over me. The sun was slowly rising higher in the sky and there was no one around for as far as the eye could see.
Not a skyscraper or another car. Not a sound to be heard above the humming of my truck’s engine.
“It’s good to be home, right?” Colt rolled down his window and dragged in a breath of fresh, early morning air.
“Sure is,” I agreed, but I couldn’t shake the sense that I was missing something. Unfortunately, what I was missing was Liv and she’d only be back here in a couple of days. “I had a surprisingly good time in the city, though. I’m glad we went.”
He chuckled and turned his head to smirk at me. “I bet you are. You and Olivia sure seemed to have gotten closer.”
“Yep.” I tightened my grip on the wheel. “That’s about all I’m going to say about it, though. Don’t even ask.”
My brother let out a long-suffering sigh. “You should’ve slept on the damn plane. You’re cranky when you’re tired.”
“I’ll sleep tonight. When we’re supposed to be asleep. I’m not wasting the day in bed.” I parked my truck next to the barn and rolled up my sleeves. “Let’s get to work. There are chores to be done and not enough hands without us here to do them.”
He scoffed. “You do know that the ranch was perfectly fine without us, right? We’ve got an army of people working here and we do have brothers.”
“Yeah, but it takes us all to make it work. Let’s go. We can still get a lot done before breakfast.”
I climbed out of the truck and started toward the barn with Colt grumbling about coffee and a shower behind me. I knew how he was feeling, but we’d had coffee on the plane and in the car, and we could go freshen up before we ate.
For now, there was work to be done and we’d had a few days off. It wasn’t fair to keep expecting the others to pick up our slack.
Colt and I went around doing the morning chores that hadn’t been attended to by anyone else yet. Then I headed back to my place to shower and change before breakfast. My parents and brothers were already at our dining room table when I walked in, and I grinned as I wrapped my arms around my mother.
“Welcome home, baby boy.” She chuckled as she lifted her arms to hug me back. “How was New York?”
“Charlie had a terrific time,” Colt piped up after shaking hands with Dad and our brothers. “Stupendous. One might even say orgasmic .”
I released my mother to send him a piercing glare and he finally shut up. Sighing as I went over to Dad first, I smacked my palm into his. “Ignore him. Colt ate half of the city. I’m sure he’s just cranky because he’s got indigestion.”
Dad chuckled and took his seat at the head of the table after releasing my hand. “Well, I’m glad you both had a good time.”
I patted him on the back as I moved past him to greet my brothers. “We learned a heck of lot. I made notes for you. At some point, we’re going to have to set aside some time to go through it all.”
He laughed. “How about you just tell me on the go?”
“I suppose that works too.” Once I’d gone around the table shaking hands, I dropped into my seat and leaned over to pile some food onto my plate. “So what’s happening with this fundraiser? You said the meeting was this morning?”
“Yeah, the owner will be here in a couple hours,” Dad explained. “What he’s got in mind is to put on a fair. That’s why he needed more space this year. Apparently, they used community halls and that kind of venue in the past, but they wouldn’t be able to do what they want to do now indoors.”
“Seems like a good plan,” I said. “Fairs do tend to bring people out more than just a raffle and a lunch.”
Dad nodded. “That’s what they’re hoping for.”
Mom leaned forward and smiled at Colt and me. “Before we get into all that, tell us about the city. The conference. You said you learned a lot?”
“We did,” I replied after swallowing a bite of my eggs. “Personally, I also enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I even did a bit of networking and there’s one organization in particular that I would like to talk to you about. They focus on food security in regions that don’t have it. I thought it might be worthwhile to look into what we could do to help.”
“I’d like that,” Dad replied without hesitating. “It’s a good way to get the ranch out into more of the community and to do more good. Let’s set up a meeting with them.”
“Will do.” I grinned. “There are also a few other ideas that I’ve been playing with over the last couple days. Liv’s presentation about authenticity kind of sparked a few things for me.”
“Had some things just come up , huh?” Cody joked softly enough that Mom and Dad probably hadn’t been able to hear him.
I punched his thigh under the table and he winced. “What? I meant ideas, asshole.”
Dad sighed. “Gentlemen?”
Ignoring my brother for now, I turned back to Dad. “Yeah, she spoke about how much more impactful it was to market from a place that is real over what you think consumers might want to see, and I liked what she said. It made a lot of sense to me. We’re lucky to have someone who thinks like her working with the ranch.”
My dad and brothers nodded their agreement and Mom smiled. “I feel like she’s one of us sometimes. Family. Her brain sure works in a lot of the same ways ours do.”
Once again, I flashed on a fantasy of Olivia really becoming part of the family someday. My parents sure seemed to be onboard and it was early days yet, but the longer I’d known her, the more I’d gotten the sense that she really did belong here. With me. With us.
Dad asked more about New York and the conference while Mom wanted to know what we’d done with our free time. We finished our breakfast and had coffee while we kept talking. Then my brothers and I set out to mend a paddock gate Mom had noticed wasn’t working properly.
We were still busy with it when Dad called to let me know the nonprofit owner would be arriving soon. When I walked into the open-sided barn, an SUV was just pulling up outside.
Dad was there to welcome him and I strode across the packed dirt floor, my eyes on the sky as clouds started rolling in. A light breeze had started up too, rustling the leaves and stirring up the familiar scent of home.
I breathed in deep and hooked my thumbs into my pockets as Dad shook hands with the balding man who had climbed out of the car. He wore a light-colored suit and thick, wire-framed glasses, was probably around early fifties, and had sharp, striking features.
He also seemed faintly familiar, but I didn’t recognize him, per se. He’s probably just got one of those faces.
Dad said something that made him laugh, both men turning as Dad motioned at the pastures across the farm road. After staring at something for a few seconds, they turned in unison and came striding toward the barn.
I stuck out my hand when they were close enough. “It’s nice to meet you, sir.”
“Call me George, son.” He gave me a decisive, quick shake.
I nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, George. I’m Charlie.”
“Thank you both for having me,” he said, following us to the table where we had all our meetings. The table where I’d first learned who Olivia really was. “I was just explaining to your father that we’d like to use the ranch for a huge fair we’re planning.”
“So I’ve heard,” I replied, getting settled in and motioning at the bottles of water already set out on the table. “Please help yourself. Can you give us an idea of what you’ve got in mind for this fair?”
I appreciated that he’d gotten right down to business instead of beating about the bush, and I figured the least I could do was to return the favor. George leaned back in his chair, making himself comfortable and cracking open a bottle of water as he replied. Something about him bugged me, making me feel like I’d met him somewhere before.
“I’d really like to do a Ferris wheel,” he started. “We’ve been doing our research and it looks like that kind of thing generally draws the crowds.”
“I can definitely see that being true,” I said. “You can’t only have a Ferris wheel, though.”
He chuckled. “No, we’d also like to offer horse riding, a petting zoo, tons of food vendors, and maybe even have a classic BBQ contest.”
“I love that.” I grinned. “If you don’t mind my asking, who are we raising these funds for? It sounds like you’ve chosen some real crowd pleasers, so whoever they are, they’re dang lucky to have you doing this for them.”
“All the money will go toward local farmers,” he said on a soft sigh. “I’m sure you know how tough it’s been out there for a lot of them. I suppose farming has always been a challenging enterprise, but lately…”
As he trailed off, I nodded my understanding. “It does just seem to keep getting worse. I know. That’s a wonderful cause. We’d have been happy to host either way, but we’re thrilled to be involved in something that supports those in our own industry.”
George chuckled. “Is that a yes? We can host it here? I’ll be honest with you, I have some other property owners I can reach out to, but with all the attention Anderson Ranch has been getting, I knew this would be our best bet.”
“We’ve got plenty of cleared land you can use,” Dad said. “It’s a definite yes. We’ll connect our marketing company with yours. They can work together to plan and promote the event. We’ve only been getting all that attention because of the firm we use and I’m sure they’d be more than happy to get involved with this as well.”
“Actually, my marketing rep is my daughter,” George said with a smile. “She’ll be great to work with whoever you’ve got, though. She’s a real ace at this stuff.”
Thanks to Olivia, I didn’t immediately reject the idea of working with another woman. It certainly hadn’t been all bad with her and it turned out that I’d grown a lot in this area. I didn’t actually feel anything about working with his daughter at all.
“That sounds good. Why spend money on a fancy firm if you’ve got someone in-house, huh?” Dad smiled and asked him a little more about the details, getting the timeframe, the dates they had in mind for the fair itself, and other information from him before he reached out to shake George’s hand. “You’ve got yourself a venue. Just let us know what else we can do to help.”
“Thank you,” George said, reaching out to shake my hand next.
As we said goodbye to him, I knew things were about to get really busy. Dad was even already in the process of setting up our next meeting. “We’ll meet you and your daughter at the beginning of next week, and then we’ll really get the ball rolling.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” I added as he climbed into his car, giving us a wave before he shut his door and backed out, turning and driving away. I glanced at Dad. “That was a quick one.”
Dad rubbed his jaw. “Yes, it was. We got all the information we needed for now, though. George runs the nonprofit in addition to his investment firm, so he’s a busy man. I just wanted you here to be involved from the get-go.”
I nodded. “Of course. It’s a really worthwhile cause. I’ll get in touch with Liv and ask her when she’d be available. With her help on this thing, I’m sure we’re going to be able to drum up interest from far and wide.”
I had no doubt Liv would turn this into the most successful fundraiser the organization had ever seen, and I would be right there to help her in whatever way I could. This was a new challenge for us to take on together, and I was really looking forward to being able to spend even more time with her.