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Tate was the only one of my brothers whom I believed could help me in my current situation anyway. Even though Cooper was too caught up in a couple of projects, and Liam was not even remotely interested in a night out, it was Tate that was the most well-equipped to offer advice for my predicament.
Because although Tate might have been the way he was when it came to his work and allowed some of that to carry over into his personal life, there was no question he was excellent at reading and understanding people. The work he did in our marketing department over the last several years had taken our already successful brand and launched it to heights nobody had been expecting.
My brother met me here earlier, and we’d had a great conversation. Following the typical discussion related to work, he said, “So, I talked to Mom. She told me about the theme park expansion being brought to a grinding halt.”
“Yeah, we got a response about two weeks ago,” I confirmed.
“I’ll bet Coop is thrilled about that,” he noted.
I laughed. “You have no idea.”
“Mom told me you were working on getting this whole situation rectified. How has your progress been?”
“Slow,” I admitted. “I was actually hoping to talk to you about it so I could get your advice.”
Always willing to do whatever was necessary for the good of the company, Tate didn’t hesitate to respond, “Of course. How can I help?”
“The woman we received the response from is Rhea Marks. I’ve been seeing her every morning for the last two weeks,” I revealed.
My brother’s brows shot up. “Seeing her?”
Shaking my head, I clarified, “She’s a runner, and I saw her at the same spot I run just a few days after I’d initially approached her at her family’s farm. We’ve been running with each other every morning.”
Tate smiled and sat back. “This sounds great. You should have no problem getting her to agree to convince her family to sell that portion of the land we need.”
It seemed my family, particularly my mom and Tate, had far more faith in me than might have been merited, because I wasn’t even remotely close to having the success with this that I believed I should have had by now. “It’s not as easy as you might think.”
“What makes you say that?”
“We haven’t spent much time talking,” I confessed.
He grew even more surprised. “Do you really think it was a wise idea to start fucking the woman we need to negotiate with now?”
If only that had been the case.
“That’s not what’s happening,” I muttered, unable to miss just how frustrated having to say those words made me feel.
“You said you haven’t been doing much talking,” Tate noted.
“Exactly. That’s just it. We’ve been running every morning, but we don’t spend much time talking to one another. Rhea doesn’t like to chat while she’s running,” I shared.
Tate looked at me like he was questioning my intelligence. “So, take her out for a cup of coffee afterward. Or ask her to lunch on the weekend. It’s not that difficult.”
I wanted to laugh at how ridiculous this conversation felt. Never did I think I’d need to come to one of my younger brothers—especially Tate—for advice on how to handle a situation with a woman, but this one left me feeling a little unsure.
“It is when she makes you feel like she wants to claw your eyes out with just one look,” I countered.
“Okay, now I’m intrigued. Tell me what exactly is going on,” he urged.
So, I did.
I told Tate about everything that had happened with Rhea from the moment I walked into her ice cream shop two weeks ago until today, leaving out some details like the way I’d attempted to be flirtatious or that I’d bought her a stuffed insect.
After I’d gotten through all of the specifics, I said, “I just don’t know what to do now. She seems to be tolerating my presence while we’re running, but I’m convinced it’s only because I’m honoring her wishes to not speak to her.”
That was the truth, too. Because even if I thought it was progress when she hadn’t thrown that praying mantis back at my face, something hit me later that day. In every situation when I’d made the effort to be a bit more playful or friendly, the moment I pushed too far, Rhea shut down and walked off.
“Well, you can’t do this forever,” Tate reasoned. “You’re going to have to make a move sooner or later. And based on what I know about that project, the sooner you do it, the better off we’re going to be, even if she and her family wind up declining our ultimate offer.”
