15. JT
Chapter fifteen
JT
“JT Johnson, what are you doing here, man?”
I look up and smile at Conrad Ferguson. Mary, the club manager, let me know he would be arriving tonight. She also mentioned he had dinner reservations for him and one of his brothers at the club’s restaurant, so I’ve been waiting at the bar for the last thirty minutes to ensure I don’t miss them. I may also be avoiding listening to Lila talk to someone about her date tonight. I can’t believe she’s going out with a guy named Matthew .
“Conrad. Good to see you again. I’m staying at Jameo’s place for a few weeks while I’m recovering from a tweaked back.”
“Oh, no. Sorry to hear that. When do your doctors think you’ll be able to be back playing in tournaments?”
“Unless anything major happens, I’m planning to be at the tournament in two weeks.”
“Ah, that’s not too terrible, then. Though I know any time away from your job can feel like too much.”
A snort of laughter draws my attention to the man who just walked up behind Conrad.
“Do you know my brother Tyler?” Conrad asks by way of introduction.
Tyler looks a lot like his brother. Both have dark brown hair that’s slightly longer on the top and neatly trimmed on the sides. They’re both roughly my height, so somewhere between six feet two and six feet four, though Tyler is a bit taller than his brother. He’s also a bit bulkier. While it looks like Conrad likes to spend his time out running, Tyler has the build of someone who spends time in the gym, lifting weights.
I shake Tyler’s hand. “Good to meet you.” I gesture toward the bar where I’ve been posted up. “Want to join me for a drink?”
Conrad shakes his head, and I feel my stomach drop. I didn’t expect much more from him than idle small talk, but I also didn’t think he’d turn down the invitation for a drink.
“We golfed all day, and I’ve barely had anything more than a candy bar to eat. If I don’t get some real food in me, I’m going to pass out.”
“Okay,” I say. “Well, it was good to see you.”
“You want to join us?” Tyler asks.
“I don’t want to intrude…”
“Not intruding at all. Please, we’d love to have you join us for dinner,” Conrad says, heading toward a table in the corner where two walls of windows meet. “I like this table best. Everyone gets a good view.”
“Great, then, I’d love to join you.” I grab my drink and cross the room to sink into the seat next to Conrad’s.
He’s right. The view is spectacular. The sun is setting, and it looks like a flaming ball of fire resting on the horizon, swathed in layers of orange and yellow. There is a foursome of middle-aged men out on the grassy area in front of the restaurant playing bocce ball, each with a drink in their hands.
“So how are you liking Wild Bluffs Country Club, JT?” Conrad asks.
“The course is amazing.” Remembering that I’m supposed to be out with a tweaked back, I backtrack a bit, saying, “Not that I’ve been able to play too much golf.”
“What have you been doing to keep yourself occupied, then?” Tyler asks.
“Jameson said his sister was moving out here this summer. Do you see her very often?” Conrad asks before I can answer his brother’s question.
“We’re both staying at Jameo's place right now. But she’s working, so I don’t spend too much time with her. We mostly just do our own thing.”
“I don’t think I knew Jameson had a sister. Is she older or younger?” Tyler asks. Even though I know it’s a polite, normal thing to ask, I can’t help the irritation that pricks at the back of my neck. Why does he care about Lila?
“She just graduated from college.”
Conrad tilts his head. “I thought she was finishing up a graduate program. Engineering or something like that.”
Good God. Is this man secretly stalking Lila? Why would he possibly know that?
“Uhm, yeah. Something like that,” I say, though I know very well it was a master’s in engineering from Denver College.
The waitress arrives, greeting us with a warm smile as she takes our orders. With a quick nod, she departs, leaving us to our conversation. Conrad picks up right where we left off, leaning in slightly. “Bryn was telling me about Lila’s graduation ceremony. I was bummed Bryn’s sister had a chance to snag her as an employee before we did.”
You’re an idiot, JT. Of course one of the wealthiest men in America is not stalking Lila Walker. He works with Bryn. It makes sense she would mention Lila’s graduation and her moving out here to work for her sister.
“Yeah. She’s a bit fiery, but I’m sure Kelsey wouldn’t have hired her unless she knows her stuff.”
“Fiery, you say?” Tyler asks with a smirk.
“Tyler.” Conrad has on a big-brother face if I’ve ever seen one.
“What? It’s so hard to meet a girl who doesn’t work for us and isn’t just after me for my money. Plus, I like a girl with a bit of fire in her veins.”
“You’re starting to sound as bad as Xander.”
Alexander Ferguson rounds out the Ferguson brothers trio. The youngest of the family, he’s rumored to be quite the playboy. I’ve never met him before, but his face does have a tendency to land on the front of gossip magazines at least a couple of times a year.
“I am not. I was just considering if I should ask her out on a date.”
My beer goes down the wrong pipe, and my eyes water as I cough.
“You okay?” asks Tyler.
I nod and croak out, “Yup.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make the Lila thing awkward,” Tyler says. “Does she have a boyfriend or something?”
I know she doesn’t, and despite his interest in Lila, Tyler seems like a decent guy. As I go to tell him she’s available, something else comes out instead. “Yeah.”
What the actual fuck was that?
“Ah, well. All the good ones do these days. Is it serious?”
“I think they started dating last year when Jameo and I played in Vegas. So probably pretty serious.” Why are these words coming out of my mouth ? I’m not even supposed to be talking to these men about Lila. I’m supposed to be making friends with them so they can help my parents connect with potential clients. Instead, I’m sitting here lying to them about Lila’s love life.
“Ahh, well. You win some, you lose some,” Tyler says.
Our food arrives then, and we get wrapped up in eating and making small talk about golf, California, and Jameson’s recent rise to greatness.
As our plates transition from full to empty, I navigate the conversation to their work. “I’m looking forward to the Ferguson Tournament this year. I’m especially excited for the event the night before.”
“Oh really?”
I hate having to navigate this delicate balance of asking about the event without it coming across like I’m asking them for a favor or am trying to help my parents poach their clients. This is the realm where my parents thrive, but I’ve never quite been able to figure it out.
“Yeah. I mean, I’m not at the level of the Ferguson Brothers Investment Firm, but I dabble with some angel investing. Sam and I have been doing a lot of research into how we might want to expand some of our angel investments to better support the leaders we are investing in. It’s been eye-opening for us just within our small portfolio, I can’t imagine what I can learn talking to some of the guests.”
“You’re an angel investor?”
“Who’s Sam?” both brothers ask at the same time.
“Sam is technically my PA, but he does so much more than just manage my life.”
“Like help you with your casual angel investing hobby?” Tyler teases.
I grab one of the few fries left on my plate and pop it into my mouth. “Exactly.”
“Don’t your parents own an investment firm?” Conrad asks.
“They do,” I answer, not sure where this is going.
“I thought that’s what Bryn said. I guess I assumed they managed your wealth for you.” Why were Bryn and Conrad talking about my finances?
“Oh, well, they do manage the majority of it. When they started out, it was just my money they were investing, but they’ve expanded into a full wealth-management firm since then. The angel investing is just a very small portion of my portfolio. Only one or two investments a year.”
“That’s great that you have your parents to help you out. Managing investments for your family can be tricky, though. We stick to private equity investing and don’t do much wealth management, but I know it can be challenging for my colleagues who manage their parents’ or friends’ money. It’s a lot of pressure, particularly when the investments don’t perform as well as they expect. You know, now that I think of it, the reason I know about your parents is because Bryn mentioned it when I suggested she ask Jameo about investing in one of the start-ups she’s working with. She quickly let me know she wouldn’t be mixing business with pleasure.”
“It adds a different dynamic to the relationship for sure.” Although it doesn’t seem my parents feel particularly guilty about losing my money.
“That it does. But just so you know, there won’t be many investors at the Vegas event. I know that rumor went around when we first announced the event, but my brothers and I are starting to focus on sports investments—like the Ferguson Tournament. To help balance the investment, we are also going to start giving a large portion of our philanthropic dollars to sports programs for underserved kids. We’ll primarily be inviting people who run those programs and a few of the families they serve. We hope that by connecting the programs across the country, there will be more collaboration and less duplication of services.”
“That’s amazing,” I say. And it is. It’s just not the people my parents are hoping to meet that night. Although it might be a smart long-term play for them if they can create connections with the parents of golfers on track to play professionally someday.
“Well, thanks. We’re excited about this new avenue for the firm,” Tyler says in what can only be described as his interview voice.
Crap. I somehow managed to turn this casual dinner into a work event. Wanting to dispel that immediately, I shift into fun-guy mode. “But enough about work, tell me about what Xander is up to these days. He seems like the type of guy I should be spending more time with. Is it true he went skydiving naked? That seems…cold?”
The brothers laugh and regale me with stories of their wild younger brother. When we finally decide to call it a night, we’re all a bit drunk, but I feel like I’ve possibly made enough of an impression to help my parents with introductions at the event in Vegas—even if it’s not with the exact clients they are hoping for.
I walk with the brothers out of the restaurant, saying goodbye outside the front doors as they head to their house that’s in the opposite direction of mine. I make my way to Jameson’s place using the path that follows the first fairway, only stumbling once as I navigate the dirt walkway in the dark. I stop outside the house, my impaired brain trying to understand why the lights are off. Shit, I guess Lila isn’t home yet. Unwilling to go inside to sit and stew about what Lila is up to and where Matthew is or is not touching her, I turn the firepit on and drop into one of the chairs facing it.
Realizing it’s not too late to call my Mom in California, I pull out my phone to let her know I made progress on her request. I’m excited to finally be able to give her some good news after letting her and my dad down so much lately.
“JT,” my mom says as her greeting.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Are you calling to let me know you’ve finally been able to meet with the Ferguson brothers? Or that you finally decided to give up on this ridiculous ‘injury’ and start golfing again? You know your dad does not agree with your decision.”
I do know, he’s called me at least twice a day about it since I’ve been here.
“I’m not—” I cut myself off, recognizing how fruitless it would be to explain why I need a break. My mom needed a break twenty years ago, and she worked through it. Worked so hard to earn the money we needed for me to play golf that she fell asleep at the wheel and drove into a tree. “I actually just finished up dinner with both Conrad and Tyler Ferguson.”
“Oh, darling, that’s fabulous.”
“It is!” I say excitedly. “I think we really hit it off. I’m sure they’d be willing to introduce us to a few people at the event. However, just so you know, they did mention it will primarily be young athletes and their parents in attendance.”
“Oh, JT,” my mother says, her tone making it clear just how displeased she is.
“I know it’s not the demographic you were hoping for, but I think it could be a smart long-term play. The parents of junior players will appreciate your insight, and you can start building connections that may pay off in a huge way in five or ten years.”
“Five or ten years will not work, JT. We need the investments now.” And with that cryptic statement, my Mom hangs up on me.
Why do they need money so badly?