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She looks down, shy all of a sudden. “I’m sorry to hear that. Were you two close?”
I sigh and nod. “I was his bud.” I laugh at the memory. “At least, that’s what he called me.” I pause and think about how much I should say. “My dad works all the time, so I kind of felt like my grandfather was more of a dad to me than my dad. He’s the one who would throw the ball with me and really taught me the game of football. My dad was always more into computers, where my grandpa actually played for Michigan so football was our connection.”
A silence lingers between us, and I decide that’s enough about me for the moment, so I move on to her. “What’s your middle name?”
“Marie,” she responds, kind of annoyed.
“Why did you say it like that?” I ask with a bit of a laugh.
She shrugs. “It’s just the most common middle name in the world. I wish I had something more original.”
I laugh out loud. “Delmont is definitely not common, but I can’t say I love the name.”
She smiles. “Yeah, not a fan either, but it has meaning.”
I nod. “My dad actually did something right there, I guess.” I pause and think what kind of interviewquestion I can ask her that might spark something interesting. “What is your dream job?”
She doesn’t hesitate when she responds, “Running the ranch.”
“Seriously? Out of everything in the world, that’s what you would want to do?”
She nods. “Yes. My dream is to get the ranch back to the way it was before TimeLand took over this town.”
I place my hands down on the table and lift myself slightly to stare into her eyes from a higher point to make myself very clear as I level with her, frustrated that it always comes back to that between us. “What do changes in your ranch have to do with TimeLand being here?”
“You really don’t get it, do you?”
I tilt my head to the side, trying not to come off as an ass, but feeling annoyed that she would even bring it up. “Enlighten me.”
“Before TimeLand moved here, we employed most of this town and the neighboring towns. With that many employees, we were able to run the ranch at twice the size that it is now before the fire ruined the other half. Can you imagine how much more we were able to produce with two thousand acres running at maximum turnaround?”
I squint my eyebrows. “Huh?”
“If you can’t find employees to work for you, you can’t run the business you want to run. As my Pops says, ‘You’re only as good as your employees,’ and we can’t find enough to run it like we used to.”
“There are people all over, looking for jobs. That’s not TimeLand’s fault.”
“What’s easier? Working behind a desk all day or working in a field, doing physical labor?” She raises her eyebrows in question, and I get her point, so I don’t say anything and let her continue. “Our town is still relatively small, and people realized they could actually make more money at TimeLand than with us and work half as hard. At the time, TimeLand was desperate for employees and willing to train anyone to help them when the app game was created.”
“Okay, fine, but what does that have to do with not being able to find employees? There are still plenty of people who would move here for work.”
“When TimeLand first came here, they brought some employees with them, which also brought money. Places to live were swooped up, and more were built, but supply and demand. Houses got more expensive, especially when places like your mansion and others like it started to pop up. Leighton River got to be a pretty expensive place to live in a very short amount of time, which means wages needed to go up to support a livelihood here. It was no big deal for most people because they charged more for their services, but we can’t. We still sell to the very small towns across this state that don’t have a huge corporate living situation dotting their once-beautiful hills.”
“So, you really think it is all TimeLand’s fault that your ranch wasn’t able to keep up their two thousand acres?”
“I don’t think. I know.” She drops her head and says with a sigh, “Then add in the fire…”
I have no idea what she’s talking about with the firebut that has nothing to do with TimeLand so I tilt my head in question. “Is this why your family hates us?”
“Ding, ding, ding! He can be taught!” she mimics Genie fromAladdinby acting like she’s swinging a wand at me.
“That’s not our fault though. It’s not like our parents moved back here on purpose, just to bring down your family business. Call it collateral damage, not intentional.”
“Did you really just say the fact that my family’s ranch is dying by the second is collateral damage?” She gets so mad, so fast that I swear it looks like a vein is about to pop on her forehead.
I hold my hands out to her. “I’m just saying it’s not our fault. Things change. People and industries change. They didn’t move the company here just to ruin your family’s ranch.”
“Oh, yeah? Why don’t you ask your father just how much animosity he had toward my Pops in high school? Then, I think you might start to understand.”
