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There was an extended silence. My dad glanced at my mom briefly, focused his attention on me again, and stated, “Let’s forget about why there’s been such a delay in you being able to have this conversation with her for a minute. What happened at dinner last night?”
“Rhea gave me the opportunity to tell her what we wanted and why,” I returned.
“And? What did she say?”
I shook my head. “Nothing yet. I mean, she asked a lot of specific questions, wanting clarification on things, but she didn’t give me an answer. And if I’m completely honest, I went into it knowing where she stands on this and that it’s unlikely we’ll ever get the answer we want.”
More confusion washed over my parents’ faces, but before either of them had the opportunity to say anything, my eyes were pulled to a movement off to my left side.
My youngest sister, Jules, had entered the kitchen and was making her way toward the oven. Her eyes caught mine, surprise washed over her, and she beamed at me. “Hi, Wyatt. You’re here early.”
Of the six Westwood siblings, Jules was the only one who still lived at home. Cooper, Tate, Ivy, and I all had our own apartments. Liam had been living at home with our parents until some things happened in his life that compelled him to want some time and space to himself, away from everyone. So, he’d been living in one of the suites at the Westwood Hotel, and he never made the attempt to move back home with our parents or into his own apartment. It was safe to say he was a bit stuck when it came to that part of his life.
As for Jules, it was likely that her living at home would continue to be the case at least until she turned eighteen and graduated from high school, but probably until she completed the accelerated pastry and baking arts program in which she was going to enroll. She was such a good kid with a good head on her shoulders, so I didn’t think she’d decide to do anything too bold.
Once my sister finally made it to the oven and opened it up, revealing two trays of freshly baked cookies, I returned, “Hey, Jules. How’s it going?”
“I’m great. I only have just over nine weeks left until school is done. I can’t wait.”
I smiled at her, feeling proud and sympathetic about where she was in her life right now. I could remember those last few weeks of high school and being beyond ready to be done. Considering she knew exactly what she wanted to do in her life and was eager to start her career, I could only imagine it was going to feel like these next nine weeks were dragging.
“It’ll be over before you know it,” I assured her. “What did you make today?”
“Well, since spring is technically here, I thought I’d make something to celebrate the occasion. These are my glazed lemon cookies,” she replied.
I narrowed my eyes slightly at the cookie sheets she’d slid onto the countertop. “Where’s the glaze?”
“I’m going to whip that up right now and give the cookies a chance to cool on the sheets,” she explained. “Then I’ll move them to a cooling rack and drizzle the glaze on top.”
Nodding my understanding, I asked, “So, should I expect five or ten minutes before I can eat one or two of these?”
She smiled back at me, and I hope she realized just how proud I was of her. My sister hadn’t even gone through the program yet, but she already had this natural talent for baking. “They’re for dessert tonight after dinner, which, by the way, you are extremely early for.” Jules tore her attention away from me, glanced at our parents, and immediately saw the concern in their features. “Wait a minute. What’s going on? Did something bad happen?”
Not wanting to see Jules so distressed, I assured her, “Everything is fine.”
“Sort of,” my dad chimed in. “Wyatt stopped by to tell us about his dinner with Rhea, the woman whose family owns the Marks Dairy Farm.”
“Dinner?” Jules repeated, her voice ratcheting up a few notches. With a smile on her face, she asked, “Was this a business dinner or a dinner date?”
“Date?” Dad scoffed. “That’s not what this was, Wyatt, was it? Is that the reason we shouldn’t expect to get the answer we’re hoping for here?”
I held my hands up in surrender, recognizing I needed to clear the air and set the record straight before rumors started swirling and the rest of my siblings walked in. But I couldn’t ignore just how astute of an observation Jules had made. Or, maybe that wasn’t it. Maybe it was just wishful thinking on her part.
“Rhea made it very clear from the start that her family would never consider selling any portion of their farm,” I started. “By chance, I happened to run into her the following Monday morning when I was out for a run. We’ve been running together every morning for weeks now, and my initial motivation was all about doing whatever I could to get her to give me an hour of her time, so I could explain what we needed and why.”
My mom could no longer seem to hold herself back. “Wait. Wait. You just said that was your initial motivation. Are you telling us that your priorities have shifted, and you’re no longer motivated to help us close a deal with Rhea and her family?”
This was where the need to be honest with them was most important. It was one thing to tell them the specific details of how things had been playing out, but the truth was that they needed to know how and why my mindset had shifted.
“You know how important Westwood’s is to me,” I started, feeling it was best to make sure they knew I was still committed to doing my job. “But I’d be lying if I said I haven’t grown fond of Rhea over the last few weeks.”
“So, it was a dinner date,” Jules declared excitedly.
Both of my parents looked at their youngest daughter with conflicting expressions before my dad said, “Growing fond of her doesn’t have to mean that you lose sight of your goal.”
Nodding, I insisted, “I know that. Obviously, I want her to seriously consider doing this deal with us. It would be perfect for us, and it would solve a lot of potential problems or headaches we’ll run into if the Marks family declines. But I’m not okay with pressuring her either.”
I’d seen where doing that got me in another department, and I was beyond frustrated about it. I wanted something more with Rhea, something special that had nothing to do with business. And because this was hanging over our heads, Rhea wasn’t prepared to let either one of us have it.
