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BRENTON
Islumped into my leather couch, cursing my new neighbor. Helen. Who the hell did she think she was, just waltzing in with heels and a bad attitude? If she decided to keep Dudley’s property, there was no way I’d get access to that tree. I usually get what I want and those who get in my way regret it.
Although, they are rarely as hot as this one. I couldn’t take my eyes off her curves in the form-fitting dress. Her flaming red hair could be seen a mile away and her bright pink outfit complimented it well. Freckles dotted her porcelain skin across her face and down to her shoulders. Her nail polish matched her dress perfectly in color. Women like that didn’t last long up here. Maybe I could convince her to sell me the property after she tired of pretending to rough it up here in the hills.
I dialed the phone number of my lawyer and best friend, Charlie, to see if he could contact Dudley’s attorney ASAP. Hopefully, we could work out a deal.
“Hey, Brenton! I was just about to call you.” Charlie picked up.
“Charlie, how are you man?”
“Doing well, bro! Business is booming right now.”
“That’s great to hear. We’ll have to grab a beer sometime this week to celebrate. Listen, I had a favor to ask you.”
“Anything for you. What’s up?”
“You know that plot of land next door that I’ve had my eye on for years now? The one with the apple tree that could really set TruFruit ahead.”
“Yeah, the tree that old man almost shot you over. How could I forget?” Charlie chuckled and I matched it, remembering the time Dudley pulled a gun on me, early on in our neighborly feud. I had just moved into our family home after my dad died and Dudley hadn’t fenced in his backyard yet, so I walked over to check out the tree, fascinated by its unique colors and structure. Soon enough, I was looking down the barrel of Dudley’s shotgun. Needless to say, I didn’t set foot on that property again. Not until today.
“That’s the one. The old man, Dudley, passed away recently. I was going to ask you to draw up an offer on the house, but then today something strange happened.”
“I’m intrigued. Go on.”
“A woman was there. She told me she had purchased it. I wasn’t even aware it was on the market yet. I was hoping you could look into it. See if the house is actually off the market.” I said.
“Yeah, I can look into it. Unfortunately, if the old man did give her the house, there’s not much we can do short of convincing her to sell the property to you.”
“I don’t think it’d be too difficult to scare her away,” I remarked with a chuckle.
“Alright man, I’ll see what I can do. Hey listen, I have some questions regarding Amber.”
“Fire away,” I said, souring a bit at the mention of my ex-wife.
“Did you agree to a schedule for the kids this summer? If so, do you have documentation of it? Just in case she tries to lie to the courts again. I want to make sure we’re covering all our bases this time.”
I shuddered at the memory of last summer. “Yes, Aiden is away at sleepaway camp all summer. Candace will be spending the first half with Amber and then coming up here to stay with me for the latter half of the summer. I have a recording of our phone conversation where we detailed the arrangement. I’ll send it your way when we hang up.”
“Perfect, thanks man. Keep recording those calls. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll slip up during one of them. All it takes is one piece of evidence and we can proceed to file for full custody.”
“Here’s to hoping.” We shared goodbyes, promising to meet up this week before hanging up. I promptly downloaded the recording of Amber and my last phone call and sent it to Charlie.
I spent the rest of the afternoon puttering around my home lab, checking seedlings and making notes as I went along. I had been exceptionally pleased with the cherry apple seedlings I had been nursing for the past few months. They were from the trees at the bottom of the property that had taken me some time to get around to. My property was almost a thousand acres and aside from a few yard workers that came on and off, I managed most of it myself.
I had inherited TruFruit from my father almost 15 years ago. He died soon after, and it’s been
entirely under my control since. We made our billions developing drought resistant seeds that could be crossbred with any apple seed to make drought resistant harvests, which were extremely invaluable in California. We patented our process, which allowed us to take over most of California’s apple market, producing unique and flavorful breeds. If I could get access to the leaves, bark, and just a few apples from Dudley’s tree, I could cross breed it with our drought resistant seeds and set our market share in stone. Helen had no idea what she was strutting into.
I had the upper hand, and I would not back down. I was used to getting what I wanted, and this red head was not going to stand in my way. I hadn’t made the best first impression, but I had a plan. I was going to charm Helen Washington’s socks off.
