Page 1 of Barron

Chapter 1

Caitlynn filed the paperwork in the file and put it behind her on the credenza with the rest of the work she’d been catching up on. Looking up, she was startled to see that Barron was sitting across from her. Smiling, she asked him if he’d gotten things squared away already.

“I did. For the most part, anyway. I have an order in for goats and pigs to be delivered to the farm in a few days after we return.” She corrected him, saying if they returned. “They’ll come by rail car and then be delivered to the farm in semi-trucks. I’m about as excited to have them as I am to have new stock coming in. This way, I can play around with the different kinds of goat milk that I’ll get from them.” She asked him if it was a huge difference, letting him ignore the fact that they had talked about returning or not. “I don’t know if it’ll be huge, but it will be different than just the Boer goats that I have now. And you don’t really care.”

“I do. I promise you. I was just thinking about the fact that you’re excited about goats like I am about advertising a new product. It suits you to be this happy. Everything about us being here seems to make you happy. Don’t you think?” He thanked her. “Did you have any luck finding yourself some sheep? I know that was on your list while we were here in town.”

She and Barron had started talking to each other three weeks ago. A very long phone conversation that had them both knowing, just by that, that they were meant to be together. He told her how she was his partner, his friend, and she couldn’t have been happier if he’d asked her right then to marry him. Caitlynn knew that if he ever did, she wouldn’t hesitate to say yes. He meant that much to her.

She’d spoken to him on the phone when one of her ex-employees had come to talk to him. Really, he’d been manhandling him about letting her company buy his cheese and sausages company that he made to sell in their local shop. Since he’d made it very clear to Denver Longshot that he had no desire to sell his company, she’d never once asked him—for that matter, thought about asking him to allow her to buy him out. Caitlynn could and would have if he wanted, but she thought that it wouldn’t be as good as the good hometown charm that he put into everything that he made. So long as he could figure out how to put it in it without actually being there.

Every time he spoke of the goats and his other animals, she could see how much passion he had for them. His love for them and the things that they gave him were something special. And his joy in making what he did with their product was something so refreshing that she couldn’t help but be excited when he was. Also? Well, she could wait for that passion to lessen, and then he’d be all hers. The milkers—his cows and lambs, he had named each and every one of them as soon as they were purchased or born on the mountain. She really enjoyed his mannerisms of being a compassionate man and a good man to be around.

“Several of the farmers said that sheep are just curly goats. I’m not sure that’s right, but I did find out that I’d be better off with llamas than sheep. They need a great deal of room to roam, and while I have that, he also said that they can be slightly aggressive toward other animals. The fencing needs to be better than I have already for the cows. Which is going to be work. I’m thinking keeping the bears out with them will be a big chore when they smell them.” He got him a cup of water from the water dispenser. Never bottled, she noticed. Maybe he didn’t care for the plastic taste. When he was finished with his drink, he tossed the paper cup into the recycling bin marked paper.

“I’m still weighing my opinion on them, to be honest. I don’t know if he was trying to make sure that I didn’t buy them from his neighbor and the llamas from him or if he was telling the truth. I should have done more research on them. But I do have a good idea about the wool I would get from them.” She knew that he did. Barron had told her from the start that he wanted to branch out a little more, that he thought that making throw rugs to go with his wine and cheese set would be the perfect thing for a young couple to have. He even told her that they’d have to try them out when the weather got warmer. “Are you about ready to go? Or do you have more work to do? I can come back. I have a couple of meetings in the morning that I can get some information on from the computer.”

“No, I’m ready.” Closing up her filing cabinet, she was so thrilled when he came up behind her and nibbled on her neck. They’d not had sex yet, she couldn’t wait, but she knew that they’d come pretty close a few times. “Are we having dinner with that guy again tonight?”

“No.” She liked that answer and told him so. “I had my sisters do some looking into his life. He’s not nearly as clean-cut as he makes out to be. Also, you might want to rethink hiring Mr. Darby. Jamie said that she’d speak to you later about him. However, we are having dinner with a friend of mine. I hope you don’t mind.”

“So long as at the end of the dinner, we go home together.” He kissed her neck and then turned her around in his arms. “Barron, are you ever going to fuck me?” He laughed. Hard too.

“Baby, you have no idea how much I want to right now. But, as I told you before, you’re ovulating, and we don’t want to have children right away. You’re still thinking that, correct?” She nodded, then shook her head. “Yeah, I’m right there with you. By the way, Rusty and Joey got their packages today. So did the kids. Thad, he’s my favorite little man. He told me that he’s going to make his first project for you. Since I don’t know what that might be, I’m sure that it will be amazing.”

It made her smile every time that they talked. There was no subject too taboo for them to talk about. Even if it was sex, they would talk about their likes and dislikes when it came to making love. Neither of them seemed to be in too much of a hurry to make love, especially Barron. Also, about their businesses. He would and had come to her with questions about sales, and she came to him about different projects that she was thinking of purchasing to sell, too.

Most of the time, they talked about the mountain and how much he wished he could have all the things that the big city offered him, as well as the country life that he’d grown up with on the mountain. But every time, he would say that the mountain was where his heart was, and she believed him.

They were seated right away when they arrived at the restaurant. Barron, for all his country boy charm, was a very sophisticated man. He knew wines, of course, and topics about everything, including politics. He could talk about farming as well as a spreadsheet that he’d come up with to keep track of sales. There weren’t too many subjects that he didn’t have some knowledge of. But what she liked most about him was that he had no trouble at all telling her that he didn’t know something when she’d ask him about it.

“Okay, you might be surprised to see who we’re having dinner with. I know that when I was called this morning to set this up, I was surprised, too.” He smiled at her as he looked over his shoulder. “I didn’t think that he’d be incognito, however. Or so he thinks he is. I knew him as soon as I saw him. Honey, just act like you’re old friends.”

She put out her cheek to be kissed when the man who joined them leaned into her. She had to cover her laughter when she realized that the man, whoever he was, really was dressed up—

“You’re the president.” He nodded, then smiled at her. The ugly wig came off, and he nodded to someone who was still behind her. She looked at Barron. “I had no idea…Well, I should have known that you’d have connections with people who are high on the food chain. Should I still act like I know you, sir?”

“You can if you want, but I’d rather get to know you like this, in a nice restaurant. Everyone here is on my payroll, so it’s a moot point to pretend that no one knows who I am. Barron and I go way back. I think it was kindergarten. Right?” Barron said it was preschool. “That’s right. I remember now. We were in different rows in class but right across from each other. He saved my nerdy life a few times in high school, too.”

“You always say that to people. But all I did was point out to the bully that you were too skinny and nerdy to beat the crap out of when there were bigger targets around that he could mess with.” Roger said, laughing that Barron had pointed out his older brother. “Yeah, I did. The kid was never a bully again after that. His name was Aaron Spike if I remember correctly. The last time I saw him, he was running for mayor of our town. I think he was run out, much like my brother did to him when he decided to pick on someone much bigger than him. Aaron wasn’t a good person to anyone. How are you, Roger?”

“Your family, they know that you eat dinner with the president?” Barron told her that it had never come up. “So I’m the…you know, this is great. I know that I can’t tell anyone, but it’s very good to meet you, sir. So what’s this meeting about? I have places to be later if you need me out of the way.”

Roger laughed. Very hard, too, and Caitlynn knew that he’d not done that in a long time. He’d seemed as surprised as she was when he did it. After a plate of appetizers was set before them, she took off the first thing that she wanted and put them on her plate. The deep-fried raviolo was her favorite snack of all time.

“Greedy, aren’t you. It’s a good thing that I have ordered extra to be brought out in a few minutes. As for you leaving, never when I’m around, young lady. If I want to talk about something, I’ll find Barron later.” She told him her name. “I know you’re more than likely aware that I’ve done a thorough background check on you and found you to be delightfully without skeletons in your closet. There are a couple way back in your line, but nothing that anyone would care all that much for now. I’m here to talk to Barron about a project that he came to me with several years ago. The prison farms.”

“You said it would cost too much.” Roger said it still would, but it would work out better because he had an idea. “All right. And if you need numbers, you know that I have them. What sort of prison farms are you thinking about? The ones that I came to you with or the ones I sent to you later. I think that one would—”

“Stop talking in riddles, please? What farms are we working on?” Caitlynn smiled at them when she realized that she’d been snippy to them both. Roger told her three that Barron had come up with. She just stared at him. “Prisoners farming for their own food? I think that’s a brilliant idea. I don’t know a great deal about cattle yet, but I do know that pound for pound, they have a good pay off. Not like fruits and vegetables, but…I like this idea a great deal.”

“There are issues with it, however. And I have to admit that when he broached me with the idea, I turned him down flat. The prison system is so overloaded now, it would be hard to keep track of all of the men and women while working in the grounds.” Barron started to speak, but Roger stopped him. “I went back and reread the proposal and found that you put in there that only the good guys were able to work outdoors. You’re not going to believe this, but Barron also said that the hardest criminals should have the option of working in the gardens for their one hour a day outside. I honestly think that’s the best idea of all. It’s not like I wouldn’t have enough guards around them at all times.”

“You wouldn’t just make it mandatory, would you?” Roger asked her why she’d think it shouldn’t be. “Then they won’t enjoy it. I can understand why some people wouldn’t want to be put out in a garden, made to work for their food. But if you give them the option to say, I don’t know, they sort of reap what they grow with getting a little extra in their plates. Or once a week. I would have to give that some thought. But maybe you might have more workers than you need. However, the overall products coming into the kitchen, the healthy aspect, it shouldn’t come up. I can’t imagine too many inmates would be all that thrilled about eating healthy when they know that they’re never going to get out of the four walls that they’re behind.”

“Roger has actually thrown around the idea of selling the products. Including the beef or whatever they decided to have on the farms. It would help with a few of the inmates that don’t have anyone filling their commissary funds for them.” She started to shake her head and then said she didn’t know about that. “I can see a couple of reasons for not selling it, but you tell me what you think.”

“Greed.” She looked at Roger. “I’m not saying that you’d be like this, but my thoughts keep coming back to that movie with Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. The prison one they were in. Remember that? How the warden of the prison…what was his name? Anyway, he was taking bribes centered around the work they were doing from business owners that couldn’t underbid—Bob Gunton, that’s him. I just saw that movie about a month ago. The only people who were benefiting from the roads being done by the prisoners were the man in charge of them. I know you are a good person, or Barron would have killed you decades ago, but what about the new warden or the next one? That could cause an uprising that would get a lot of people killed.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com