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Marjorie. Talon probably had no idea why I didn’t want Marjorie seeing my weaknesses, and I certainly wasn’t going to tell him how attracted I was to his baby sister. He’d probably want to pummel me. God knew Joe would.
“I’ll get us a drink. Peach Street okay?”
I nodded. Normally I was a beer guy, but I loved a good bourbon, and Peach Street was Tal’s favorite. He bought it by the case directly from the distiller.
I followed him down and took the drink he’d poured for me. Then he led me down the hallway to his office.
“Have a seat.” He indicated one of three leather chairs as he took a seat behind his desk.
“You mind sitting here with me?” A strange request, considering I was asking for a job on the ranch. But I wanted to be on equal footing with a friend. He was going to grill me, and I didn’t want to feel like I was opening up to a potential boss.
“Sure, man.” He walked out from behind the desk and sat down in the chair next to me. “What the hell is going on?”
Where to start?
“You know as well as I do that life will never be the same for any of us,” I said. “I don’t want to get into specifics.”
“There’s no reason to,” he said. “No one knows the specifics better than I do.”
Wow. I felt like a douche. Talon had been through the worst of all of us. I never forgot that, but sometimes I got so involved in my own issues that it nudged itself into the back of my mind. I had no idea how to address my self-absorption, though, so I took a long drink of my bourbon, letting its smoky crispness float over my tongue. The smooth burn down my throat felt good. Damned good.
“Let me get right to the point,” Talon said. “Joe, Ryan, and I have already discussed bringing you on, and we were going to bring it up sometime soon. But things get in the way.”
I stifled a surprised jerk. They’d talked about it? “I get it. I wish Jade weren’t having such a hard time.”
“You and me both. It kills me. But she and the baby are healthy, so that’s the main thing.”
I nodded.
“Then we were all on pins and needles waiting for Melanie’s amnio results. They came in fine, thank God.”
Again, I nodded.
“I’m sorry it’s taken a while, but the three of us are on the same page. Even though Ry and Joe aren’t here, I know they wouldn’t mind me telling you what we’ve been discussing, especially since you came here today asking for a job. The three of us want you to be a part of Steel Acres, and not just as a ranch hand, Bryce. You have a ton to offer, and we need you.”
“That’s kind of you to say.”
Very kind of him, but it wasn’t true. The Steels did not need me. They had a first-class, billion-dollar operation that was thriving despite the trauma of the past year. If they truly wanted to bring me on, it was probably out of pity. Pity for me because of what my father had done. What my father had been, and the fact that he’d basically left my mother and me penniless.
“You’re worth a lot more to us than a hard laborer, Bryce,” Talon continued. “We’re prepared to make you a solid offer that includes a profit share.”
I widened my eyes without meaning to. A profit share? Even a tiny share would amount to more money than I’d seen in my lifetime. As much as I just wanted to labor—do physical work without thinking—I had an obligation to my son. This could mean everything for him.
I cleared my throat. “That’s generous of you. What exactly did you have in mind?”
“I don’t want to get into all the details without Joe and Ryan here, but it’s an offer you won’t be able to refuse.” He smiled and took a drink of his bourbon.
“All right. I’ll hear you out.” I took another sip. “But honestly, Tal, all I really want is to do a hard day’s work for a fair wage. I need to help my mom and support my son. I don’t want a lot of time for…”
“For what?”
“For thinking, man. I want to work my body so damned hard that I collapse from exhaustion. Surely you get what I mean.”
He nodded. “I do get it. Why do you think I joined the army? Went to Iraq? I was running, Bryce. Running from a bunch of shit I didn’t want to face. But you can only run for so long before your legs give out and the past hits you in the gut.”
“Look,” I said seriously. “I’m not equating your ordeal with what I’m dealing with. It’s nothing compared to what you went through.”
“Don’t do that,” he said. “Don’t belittle your own situation. Your father turned out to be something horrible, and now you have to live with that.”
