Page 18 of Gibb

“I think you should just let him go home. He obviously doesn’t want to do business with you. And I’m not going to jail for you.” Longshot asked the other man what he was talking about. “Did you do any research on this man before coming here? Or demanded that he come to this meeting? I did. I’d not fuck with him any more than you have already. Just let him go. He said no, and I believe that he means it.”

“Douglas, get your ass over here and talk to him. I’m out of options.” The woman said that she liked her ass just where it was, and she wasn’t going to jail either. “Do you people understand that we’re going to be fired if we don’t bring in more business. Isn’t that what we were told when we came here?”

“You said that he’d be an easy buyout because he’s nothing but a country bumkin. I did try and point out that he’d graduated at the top of his class from Harvard. Several times. And if you would have read over the file that I gave you, you’d also have known that his family is well connected and not to be fucked with.” The man, Barron, couldn’t remember his name right now, looked at him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Cross. None of us thought that his tactics were going to work out. However, he forced us to come with him. You’ll understand if we don’t think that we want to be associated with him any longer. I hope.”

“Leave.” They did. Nearly knocking their leader down in the process. Taking Longshot’s hand from his shoulder to remove it, Barron let a bit of his bear go so that he’d break a few of his fingers before he was finished. “I told you not to touch me.”

Not only did the police show up, but there were a few Feds with them. Barron had explained to the people in the room that he was a Federal Officer and that they implying that he’d be arrested if he hadn’t shown up was their first mistake. The final straw was manhandling him.

Longshot was arrested. Once he was in cuffs, Barron took that opportunity to call his boss. He finally had to go into another room so that he could hear over the man cursing him. Christ, all he’d wanted to do was make some fancy cheese and sausage from his goats and pigs to make a few extra bucks in the winter months.

“Caitlynne Royce speaking.” Barron didn’t wait for her to tell him anything more but started in on telling her what he’d had to endure today. Not only that, but to let her know that the Feds had arrested her man Longshot for abuse to a Federal Officer. He was on a roll, telling her all the things that he’d said to the man when she whistled. Barron had to jerk the phone from his ear. It had been that loud. “May I speak now? I’m so sorry you were treated that way, sir. Longshot was fired from this company several days ago. I haven’t any idea why he set up a meeting with you when I told him to his face that he was no longer to mention that he ever worked here, much less going to meetings with people who have told him no. The very fact that he manhandled you doesn’t surprise me, either. The man worked for my father before I took over, and my dad let him get away with too much. I don’t roll that way. If you’d not mind, Mr. Cross, is it? I’d like to speak to the arresting officers. I have a few more things to add to his incarceration.”

Laughing, he handed the phone to the officer who had had Longshot taken to the jail. He told his brothers what she’d said to him, and for some reason, every bit of his anger was gone. Barron didn’t even feel like he’d wasted any of his time today after hearing Ms. Royce talking to the officers there with him.

“Jamie is pissed off that you called for Fraizer instead of her. Just to give you a heads up. Also, you should know that none of them are happy that they didn’t get to rescue you from the clutches of the bastard.” Barron said that he was fine, but then the man had jerked him around. “I think that would have pissed me off as well. I didn’t even think you were going to go to this meeting. I thought you had already decided that you weren’t going to sell.”

“He told me that if I didn’t come, he’d have me arrested. I was just curious enough about how he thought to pull that off that I came. It wasn’t worth it. The man is certifiable. He actually told me that I’d be a millionaire before the end of the year.” Mark told him that he was already one, several times over. “Yeah, I don’t think that he believed me.”

He made his way home after that. Barron had been going to work in the cheese factory today, but his plans were flexible. Once he had fixed himself something to eat and went out onto his deck, he was feeling much better. The ringing of his cell phone didn’t bother him as much as it might have had he not gotten things squared away with Longshot.

“Mr. Cross? This is Caitlynn Royce again. I’m sorry to disturb you so late, but I do have a few questions to ask you. I’m not going to try and sell you on anything, but just some curiosity. What is it you sell that had him so rabid about contacting you in the first place?” He told her about the products that he sold. “Are you, by chance, related to the Cross that makes wine?”

“He’s my brother, Ewing. My other brother, Dexter, he blows glass and makes the specialty wines that Ewing makes.” She said that they were all talented then. “I guess you could say that. We were, up until a few weeks ago, working for the National Park, the Smoky Mountains. But when our grandparents died, Grandda being killed by one of the guests here, we decided that it didn’t hold the same appeal that it did for us before. I believe we’re enjoying life again. Especially me.”

“I can understand that. My father, he ran this company with a lax hand and an even less hand at keeping it running. There were so many people that I’d had to let go that I was afraid that I’d never get it up and running again. Then, just like that, snap. It just all started to fall into place. Longshot was the last hanger-oner.” He told her that he had heard of her company, too. “I’m glad to hear that. Thank you for that. To be honest with you, Mr. Cross, I might be a tad responsible for having Longshot pursue you so hard. I was given a basket of Mountain items. They called them in a large raffle recently. I have been thoroughly enjoying everything that was in it, but especially the wine and crackers. I’ve never been much of a cheese person, but it’s delicious, too. Especially on Granny’s—your grandmother. She made the crackers, didn’t she?” Barron laughed.

“Yes. As you said, we’re a talented family. Granny did make the crackers that we sell. Granny’s Crackers are nearly sold out as soon as they hit the shelf here. I’ll send you some when you run out. And I’ll send some wine too if there is any left with this recent batch.” She laughed and said that she’d be delighted to have them. “I’ll see about getting it to you soon. Is there anything else I can do for you? It would be my pleasure since you didn’t get Longshot out of his predicament.”

“Longshot can rot in hell for all I care about him. He actually told me that he wouldn’t normally listen to a woman boss, but he did out of respect for my father. My father. He was a good dad but had no head for business. I’m going to miss him.” Barron told her that he was sorry for her loss. “I am as well. We were all we had for the longest time and—I’m sure you don’t want to hear about this. Anyway. I have to travel down your way in a few days. I have to talk to the Feds about what Longshot did in the name of my company. The little shit even wanted me to pay to have him bailed out. Nope, not going to happen. But I do need to go there and prove that he wasn’t working for me at the time. Do you know of any good places to stay while there?”

The two of them spoke for the next four hours. It was fun for him to have someone who didn’t know the dynamics of his family to talk to her about it. He cried when he told her how his grandda had been killed and that his granny, so in love with him, died the same night. Barron told her about his goats, all seventy of them and how he had named them all as soon as they came to him.

Caitlynn told him about her father’s lack of business sense as well as the things that they did when he wasn’t working. It was the most enjoyable hours he’d spent on a date in a long time, and he told her that.

“For me as well. People hear that I’m a business owner, and they immediately think that I can get them a job. Not by working, mind you, but an income for them. Then they figure that I’m easy. Because, of course, that’s the only way that a woman can get to the top of the ladder is by sex.” She laughed. “I’ve been carrying a gun since I was old enough to carry one, and it’s all that stands between me and some bad dates going seriously wrong.”

It was nearly midnight when he made his way to his bed. He was exhausted, but it was more than that when he went to bed that night. Barron had been so stressed lately about nearly everything, but tonight, he felt like he could take anything on and be all right. Closing his eyes, he thought of the things that he was going to have to do tomorrow and didn’t feel the normal dread that he did. It was nice, he thought, to have a shoulder to lean on. And Caitlynn had been good at it.

~*~

Gibb waited for the people to disembark from the plane before he held up his sign. Barron had had an emergency, or he would have been here to pick up the woman that he’d been talking about nonstop for two days now. When she smiled at him—or he hoped that was her—Gibb reached for her bag and told her who he was and why he was there.

“The gardener with three children and one on the way.” He told her that was right. “Your brother told me a great deal about his family. I feel like we’re all old friends by the way he talked about you. I was dreading this trip, I was, but I’m actually excited to be here. I hope his emergency isn’t that bad. Is it one of his animals? He loves them a great deal.”

“It is as a matter of fact. Bessy, I think that was the one who was breeding, and she went into labor earlier this morning. But she wasn’t doing well, and he had to call the vet in. You’re right about saying that he loves his animals. He takes good care of them, too.” She said that he more than likely took better care of them than some people do their families. “I’m sure you’re right about that. We’ve seen our fair share of mistreatment in our previous line of work.”

“I’m sorry that you don’t see a better side of all of us. Barron told me that you’re all shifter bears. I have some shifters working for me at the shop.” They were headed to the car when he heard from his brother.

“I’m not going to be fit to talk to her today. Bessie and her baby died. There was no saving them, the vet said.” He could hear the pain in his brother’s voice, and it hurt him so badly. “Tell her that I’ll see her later. I have to take care of the mamma and baby here before I can leave.”

Gibb told Caitlynn what was going on. She asked if she could go to him, to be with him, and Gibb didn’t ask his brother if that would be all right. Taking her to the mountain and then up behind the barns, he saw Barron sitting on the outside of the pen, looking as forlorn as he’d ever seen any of them.

Before he could stop the car and explain to Caitlynn that he thought this was a mistake, his brother really was hurting, she got out of the car and made her way to him. About halfway up the mountain that the barn sat on, she pulled off her heels and tossed them behind her. Gibb sat in the car and watched the two of them.

She didn’t seem to say anything when she walked up to his brother. Once she was standing in front of him, Barron surprised him. He pulled her closer to him and sobbed into her belly. Gibb felt his own heart hurt. The pain of his sobs cut him to the core of his body. When Caitlynn went down on her knees, still holding onto his little brother, Gibb knew that the two of them would be all right.

As he drove home, he decided to take Caitlynn’s things to Barron’s home. If she wasn’t going to be staying there, it would be a simple thing for them to sort things out. Wiping at a tear that would occasionally fall, he thought about the things that Barron had told him about the young woman. Just as he was getting into his car again, he realized that she might be the one.

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