“Max’s treatment is expensive. He definitely needs money.”
“Yes, but not just money. Money is just the tool, not the true solution.”
JJ grimaced. “You know, it’s always the people with the money who say stuff like that.”
The waitress came and filled their coffee cups, and Alex used that time to gather his thoughts. The moment had become so important to him he was choking on his own words.
“I see this as so much bigger than Max. I mean, it’s all about Max, but it’s about how we all move forward. Max, me, AG, you, everyone. There’s really only one way out. The only way Adventure Gear—the only way I—can make amends for what’s happened is to make a way for Max to do the things he loves with the body he has now. It’s the same vision I’ve always had for Adventure Gear, just with a new audience.”
JJ’s face changed just the slightest bit. A shade of the edge came off, replaced with the smallest spark of curiosity. That tiny spark lit Alex up like a burst of dynamite. “And not just Max,” he went on, feeling the energy kindle again. “Soldiers are coming home from war with new injuries, new disabilities that are stealing recreation from them in ways that don’t have to happen. Instead of taking all our energy and using it to create comfort or luxury or extreme access, what if Adventure Gear used that same energy to create basic access for Max and people like him?”
JJ’s arms uncrossed. “Access for Max?”
He was getting through to her. She’d heard him. She might not buy into the goal that now pulled him along like a tidal wave, but she’d at least hear him, and that’s all he needed for now. “Yes!” he nearly shouted, making people in the coffeehouse look up with curious faces. “Adaptive recreation. It’s the solution for all of this. No one could bring to it what AG could bring. And Max could be on the crest of that wave. Not just benefitting from it, but being part of it. I don’t just want to give Max a settlement. I want to give Max a job. A purpose. A place at a new AG working to build an adaptive technology division.”
She blinked at him, disbelief warring with a cautious hope. “Why are you doing this?”
He knew that feeling, had felt that for hours after realizing what he had to do. It made no business sense, and then again, it made all the sense in the world. It meant risking everything, but compared to the dead feeling he’d been fighting for days—months, even—it wasn’t a risk at all; it was survival. He gave her the only answer that he had. “I have to.”
Closing her eyes, she shook her head. “No, you don’t. You don’t have to do anything. You can walk away from all of this and never look back.”
“No. That’s where you’re wrong. I can’t walk away from this. Believe me, I tried. I’m supposed to be here. Now. Taking AG apart to put it back together in a new way, a way that matters again.” She shook her head again and he grabbed her hand. She recoiled a bit, but he couldn’t make himself let go. “I need to do this for all us. I want to be the man who shows you that some people can be trusted. I cannot leave things the way they are. You shouldn’t leave things the way they are, either. This is the path that gets everyone to healing. I know it. I promise you it is.”
Alex saw a tiny crack in the warrior armor, the glistening in her eyes he’d seen when she was desperate enough to let him in close. “You can’t ask me to bank on this.”
“Then don’t bank on it. It’s crazy, I know that. I’m just asking you to give me a chance. Don’t write it off. Let me prove it to you. Watch me, JJ. I’m really good at what I do, and I feel like my whole life is riding on this. Just watch—that’s all I ask.”
It took her forever to answer, but her quiet “Okay” launched him in a way that nothing had in years.
“Okay, then.” Alex felt like his whole world had tilted, but not one detail of the artsy little coffee shop had changed. Life was exploding on the inside, and the only clue was the small spark in JJ Jones’s eyes. He nodded at her. “I’ve got to catch a plane. There’s a company in Denver I sort of need to dismantle. It’s going to be a big mess for a while, but the finale is going to knock your socks off.”
JJ rolled her eyes, a momentary glimpse of the old JJ. “You and your high-drama words.”
“Yeah,” he said, sliding out of the booth. “You just watch.” With JJ still staring at him, Alex walked up to the bakery counter at Karl’s and slapped a fifty-dollar bill down on the counter. His days of upscale living were likely behind him, but he still had a few grand gestures up his sleeve. “Send two dozen goodies over to the firehouse for me, will you? The works. Just let the lovely lady over there at the booth know when they’re ready. She’s on her way back. Me, I’m on my way to climb a mountain.”
The low reluctant laugh he heard from JJ as he left the coffeehouse? Well, that was pretty much the best music he’d heard in ages.
* * *
Melba picked a hot-pink feather out of her hair as they stood at the footbridge that served as the race finish line. “That was the most fun I’ve had in ages.”
JJ chuckled at the memory of the firehouse guys running in the Breast Cancer Awareness 5K in not only their Real Men Wear Pink shirts but also outrageous pink feather boas Abby Reed had secured in secret. “They were all good sports today, weren’t they?”
Melba held open a plastic bag while JJ tried to wrangle the unwieldy feathered scarves inside. “Except for Chad. Jeannie says we shoved him way out of his comfort zone. And with the way his stepson Nick was taking pictures, I’d say it’ll be all over town by lunch if it isn’t already. And then there’s Jesse. When he started doing twirls over the finish line, I nearly tripped I was laughing so hard. I hope Nick got that, too.”
“Max would have done something ten times worse, I assure you.” It was an old reaction, a comment that wouldn’t have caused a bit of notice before Max’s accident. Now, innocent as it was, it cast a pallor over the happy conversation, stinging like a cut that kept reopening when she got careless.
Melba’s eyes filled with compassion. “Hey, he’ll be in it next year. I always see wheelchair racers in the big city marathons, so why not Max?” She forced a smile. “His wheelchair would probably be so tricked out it would look like a parade float.”
“Yeah.” JJ couldn’t manage much of an enthusiastic response.
Melba cinched the bag and set it aside. “How are you? Really?”
“I wish I knew how to answer that.” JJ redid her ponytail elastic and slumped down on the curb where they had been cleaning up after the race. “I’m good and awful. Feeling better and feeling worse.”
Sitting down beside her, Melba blew out a breath. “Been there, believe me. Actually, there are days where I’m still there. I love Clark to pieces, and I’m so excited to marry him, but none of that changes the continual drama that is Dad.” She leaned in toward JJ. “But this is a good place to have all that drama. People will come around you and Max the same way they come around me and Dad. It’s a good place to call home, JJ. Clark thinks you’re a fine addition to the brigade and I know we’d all hate to lose Jones River Sports just because Max isn’t up to speed quite yet.”
“I do like it here.”
“You know, what you like does matter. I know it has to be all about Max right now—believe me, I get that—but there’s a life for you here, too. And boy, I sure am glad to have some friends my own age around. And to hear Violet Sharpton tell it, you’ve made a few friends yourself. Just so you know, no conversation had at Karl’s is ever truly private.”
JJ sighed. “Alex.”
“Talk about relationships with serious complications. I can’t believe the whole situation. There’s enough blame to go around and nobody really wins when it’s all over.”
It was odd that she’d chosen words so close to how Alex had described it. “Well, that’s the thing. Alex thinks he has a way for this to come out good for everyone. But with so many lawyers involved and Max on the warpath the way he is, I don’t see how it can all work out.” She gave Melba a short explanation of Alex’s plan
s and how she hadn’t decided how she felt about any of them.
Melba pulled her knees up and perched her chin on top of them. “Whoever said Gordon Falls was the place to live the simple life lied through their teeth, huh? I have to say, Alex sounds like the kind of guy who could make an amazing vision like that happen. No one could blame Max for wanting him to stay out of his life, either.” She turned her head to face JJ. “Sounds like a job for yarn.”
JJ frowned. “Huh?”
“Not yarn, exactly—and hey, don’t look at me like that. I mean prayer shawls. The ladies’ Bible study—which you should join, by the way—knits them and we pray over them and give them out to people who need healing or comfort. I think you and Max and even your Mom need a whole lot of that.”
JJ wasn’t exactly sure how some old-fashioned prairie accessory could work such wonders, but then again, who was she to argue with anything that sounded soft and comforting right now? The firehouse had plush teddy bears to give kids in emergencies, so why shouldn’t there be a grown-up version? “Okay.”
Melba grinned. “Great. What’s your favorite color?”
A warm glow crept up from under JJ’s ribs as she remembered Alex asking her the same question. She knew his was green. “Um...red?”
“Wow, you really are a firefighter. Red it is. And your mom?”
JJ had no idea what her mother’s favorite color was. Her favorite sweater was a pale blue, and most of her cars had been blue, so that seemed as good a guess as any. “Blue, I think.”
“Okay, red for you and blue for your mom. I’m pretty sure we have both of those in our collection. What about Max?”
Now that was a question. “I don’t know. He’s chosen a black wheelchair, but I can’t see how that tells you much of anything.”
Melba pondered. “Well, just black wouldn’t really work. I’ll give that project to Violet. She’ll come up something spectacular, just you wait.”
“Well.” JJ sighed. “Max has always been a bit of a spectacle.” She put a hand on Melba’s arm. “Thanks. That’s really nice of you to do.”
“I believe in being nice to friends. Even if my fiancé is your boss, I hope you and I will be friends outside the firehouse. Gordon Falls is woefully scarce in the under-thirty age demographic, so us whippersnappers have to stick together.”
It felt so very good to be an “us” outside of the army and the Army of Jones. With a quiet sparkle in her chest, JJ realized she truly was healing. Maybe everybody was. Maybe the thing about Gordon Falls wasn’t that everything was simple or perfect, just that it was borne together by one big community. If she had come here to relearn how to be alone, how surprising that the best way to do that was surrounded by good people.
For the first time in what felt like forever, JJ reached out to hug someone who wasn’t Max or her mom. “Thank you. Thank you for everything. I’d like to be there for you, too, if there’s any way I can.”
Melba blinked back tears. “I hope you mean that, because my family has a gift for calling in favors.”
JJ’s own eyelashes felt wet. Outside of the bonds of combat, she hadn’t felt like she could rely on anyone lately. “I’ve got your back.”
Chapter Sixteen
“You cannot!” Sam stood up from his end of the conference table, slamming his folder down on the huge piece of cedar wood. The enormous table had been built by their father and had once served as the family’s dining room table. Alex had insisted it remain in AG’s head office as a reminder that this company was always supposed to be a family, be about family, not some slick enterprise. That had been a nearly impossible atmosphere to maintain over the past three weeks. “We’re contractually equal partners. And I don’t think you can even say that, since you were ready to walk away from all this a month ago.”
“Equal partners of a dead enterprise, Sam. Either we overhaul this from the bottom up or everyone goes under.”
“I refuse to accept your proposal. I will not have this company become some kind of pity factory—we’re a retail chain, not a charity.”
“We’ll be nothing in another month at this rate. I’ve got three of the four vice presidents agreeing with my plan.” Alex had already eaten his words about life not being war. He was in a full-out battle for the future of Adventure Gear. Actually, he felt as if he were in mortal combat for his very soul—despite how melodramatic that sounded. He stood up slowly, eyes locked on his older brother. “I’m not blowing smoke here. I will buy you out or fire you.”
“You wouldn’t. You can’t.”
Alex had been dreading this meeting since that day back in the coffeehouse. He’d always known that Sam would fight him every inch of the way. But he’d also known—with an unshakable certainty he hadn’t felt in years—that this was AG’s only shot at survival. His only shot at living with himself and with what had happened. “I can, and I will. I’d much rather make these changes to AG with you, Sam, but make no mistake—I’m absolutely ready to do this without you.”
Sam looked around the handcrafted table to the faces of the company upper management gathered there. “You can’t seriously believe that adaptive equipment is the answer to keeping Adventure Gear afloat. It’s one-tenth the market we had. It’s one-twentieth. And upscale? No, sir. It’s retail suicide.”
That was really all Sam cared about, wasn’t it? Not the chance to make up for some of the damage they had caused; not the chance to create products that would make a difference in people’s lives. No, all Sam cared about was the bottom line.
Alex didn’t even bother to address his response to Sam. The brotherhood they once had was forever split in two, no more repairable than Max’s severed spine. Sam would never change his outlook; it was time for him to stop hoping that he would. Alex’s primary goal now was to convince these upper managers to share his vision and move fast enough to save jobs. “No, it’s not our full former market. But you’ve seen the data—that’s already gone. We have to start over, and I’m convinced this is the way to do it.”
Alex motioned to the stack of papers in front of each vice president. “Look at the projections I’ve given you. If we can secure educational and recreational markets—ski resorts, universities, vacation properties—we could grow the market far beyond what it is now. All these places would gain new customers if they could provide ways to accommodate for adaptive sports. Kids with physical disabilities have families. They have moms and dads who want to vacation with them. Soldiers coming home from combat have spouses and siblings, classmates and colleagues. No one is working to give them this part of their life back. No one is serving this market with the kind of creativity we can bring. And let’s face it—no one is more motivated to find good solutions.”
Sam pushed his chair away so hard it almost fell over. “I will not let you take this company on some kind of corporate guilt trip just because you’re scared for the first time in your life. Your style is to disappear when things get sticky, Alex, not to latch on to some ridiculous pipe dream.”
Alex was losing the battle to keep his temper under control. “The pipe dream here is thinking we can survive keeping on the way we have.” Every day since his return to Denver, Alex had carried a piece of SpiderSilk in his pocket. It reminded him of what was really at stake. He fished the piece of rope out of his pocket and tossed it into the center of the table. “We pushed the product too far too fast and now we are paying the price. Our high-end customers aren’t going to forgive us and the settlements will wipe out our reserve. We can stand by and watch while we shutter the stores one by one, or we can rebuild and keep as many jobs as possible. We can do the right thing here, people. This can be our funeral or our fresh start. And I, for one, don’t plan to start wearing black anytime soon.”
* * *
Tony Daxon stared at JJ as if she’d grown a third arm. “You believe him.” It was an accusation of treason, not a statement of fact.
JJ pulled the door shut of the rental cottage she’d just locked up. It was the first of
the month, and a couple was coming in tomorrow to rent the cottage Alex had occupied. “I’m not sure yet.”
Daxon angled in front of her. “Yes, you are. You’re just afraid to tell Max you’re selling him out.”
JJ stared down at him, glad to have even an inch of height over the man. “Does Max know you’re here?”
Daxon loosened his tie in the late summer heat. “I thought it would be better to ensure I had your support before I handed Max this unfortunate offer.”
“Unfortunate?”
“This is a dodging tactic. This is what Alex Cushman is known for—the diversionary solution. This scheme of his can’t possibly work. His brother’s already left the company. Come on, even you can see this is just a way to get out of a no-win court battle. Offering Max a job in six months is like promising a kid in a desert an ice cream cone if he can just hold it for an hour. When it comes time to pay up, nothing’s there.”
JJ put her box of cleaning supplies in a cart on the cabin’s deck and began wheeling it toward Max’s office. She mentally counted all the steps that would need to be ramped if Max came back. When Max came back. “So you haven’t told Max about the offer from AG?”
“I’m his attorney. I’m supposed to protect him from stunts like this. Especially at a vulnerable time in his recovery. Your brother needs financial security, not flimsy promises.”
She’d seen the offer. Alex had sent her a copy. Alex had emailed her nearly every day since returning to Denver, recounting the gains and losses of his battle to give AG new life in the face of disaster. Reading Alex’s struggle alongside her daily phone conversations with Max, JJ couldn’t help but see how alike they were. “Alex’s offer to Max was very generous. He wouldn’t lack for anything if he worked for AG. And he’d have a job. A reason to get up in the morning. I’m not sure you can put a price on that.”
The Firefighter's Match Page 14
