by Liz Isaacson
Gray turned to Wes and Colton. “So,” he said. “Do we need to talk about the upcoming meeting?”
“I’d like to,” Colton said. “I feel out of the loop.” He looked at Wes and back to Gray. “Did he tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“I didn’t tell him,” Wes said.
“Tell me what?” Gray asked, his mind sharp and moving through multiple scenarios at once.
“I’m thinking maybe I’d like to work in one of the labs.”
Surprise lifted Gray’s eyebrows. “Is that so?”
“I thought you were going to tell him about Annie,” Wes said.
“Who’s Annie?” Gray refused to remove his eyes from Colton, who shot a dark look at Wes.
“No one,” Colton said, lifting his chin. And Gray had seen that tell before. He’d known Colton his whole life, and he’d been trained to see tiny things other people might overlook. “You met someone up in Coral Canyon?”
“Yes,” Wes said. “He did.”
“No,” Colton said, but he was clearly lying.
Gray chuckled and shook his head. “Okay, whatever.” But he suddenly knew what was different about Colton. He didn’t seem like the shell of a man he’d been when he’d left. After Priscilla had left him only minutes before their wedding was set to happen, Colton had shrunk and shrunk into a person Gray hardly recognized.
Now, looking at his brother, he could see Colton had returned.
“Let’s use Dad’s office,” Wes said, heading in that direction. Gray and Colton followed, and Gray snuck another look at his brother.
“Is she nice?” he asked.
“Yes,” Colton said, an admission of his new relationship and his lie.
Wes’s phone rang as he entered the office, and he said, “Oh, I have to take this.”
“Is it Bree?” Colton asked.
“Who’s Bree?” Gray asked. He felt like the one out of the loop, and he didn’t like it.
“This woman Wes is talking to,” Colton said, his voice a bit too gleeful.
Wes turned around, irritation flashing in his eyes.
“What?” Colton asked. “You told him about Annie.”
Wes looked at his phone, which continued to ring.
“Take it,” Gray said, and Wes swiped the call on.
“Hey,” he said, his voice this flirty, gentle sound Gray had never heard come out of his mouth. He stared in disbelief as a smile crossed Wes’s face and he went out the front door, sans coat.
“He likes her,” Gray said, a bit of awe in the words.
“Oh, yeah,” Colton said. “And here’s the thing. He’s never met her. Doesn’t even know what she looks like.”
“Are you kidding? How’d he meet her then?”
“I met her,” Colton said. “Up at Coral Canyon. We became fast friends, and I handed her the phone once when I was talking to Wes, and she talked to him for a couple of minutes. Next thing I know, he’s asking me for her number, and they’re talking.”
“Wow,” Gray said, the shock moving through his system slowly. “And you and this Annie woman? Did you become fast friends with her too?”
“Oh, yeah,” Colton said, sitting down in a chair across from their father’s desk. “Instant spark there.”
“But....” Gray sat beside him, hearing all kinds of things Colton wasn’t saying.
“But nothing. She lives there. I live here. I’ve only known her a few days.”
“Are you going to call her the way Wes talks to Bree?”
Colton shifted in his seat, and Gray saw it. Felt it down in the tips of his boots. “You broke up with her.”
“Kind of?” Colton said, sighing. He didn’t say anything else, and Gray wasn’t one to push—at least not when he wasn’t in court.
“So I guess Coral Canyon turned out to be a good place to go after all,” he said.
“For Wes,” Colton said. “I’m staying right here.”
“Hmm.” Gray had always thought he’d stay right where he was too, but with two of his brothers suddenly in relationships, Gray couldn’t help wondering if he should book a visit to Coral Canyon too.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Wes didn’t want to go back to the city. He hadn’t realized how stifled he felt there until he’d been on the farm for the past several days. With Colton, Gray, and Hunter there too, Wes had truly been able to relax.
He’d spoken with Bree every day too, and he sure did like her more and more with every minute he talked to her.
He’d enjoyed full breakfasts that were served hot, not just coffee on the way to the office. He liked going outside in the afternoon, when the weak winter sunlight shone down on all the snow Mother Nature had left behind last week. He’d laughed while he played baseball with Gray and Hunter, then Colton, Ames, and Cy, all of them getting soaking wet despite the fact that Gray had cleared the snow off the front lawn.
He felt more grounded, more down to earth, as he worked to keep the stables clean and the horses fed. He’d been reminded of simpler times, and he wanted that simplicity back in his life.
He liked talking to his brothers, and they’d been over the agenda for this morning’s meeting at least a dozen times in the past four days. None of them were going to fight anything. Wes didn’t want to be CEO anymore. He was ready for something new. Colton wanted to get back to his scientific work in the lab, and Gray would stay on for twelve months in a legal advisory period.
Wes had no idea what he’d do.
He’d thought about traveling, perhaps visiting every state in the country, something he’d put on his bucket list as a teenager.
In fact, working through his bucket list seemed like something Wes should do. It made him feel old, though, and like he was getting close to death. He was nearing fifty, but that wasn’t that old. He’d heard people say fifty was the new thirty, and he wanted to do something more with his life. What that “more” was, he didn’t know. Wes didn’t like feeling lost, he knew that. He needed to find a tether, and fast, or he could be blowing in the wind before he knew it.
He knotted his tie around his neck and stepped into his perfectly polished shoes. He never attended a meeting without every piece of himself exactly in place, and today would be no different, even if everyone in attendance was a family member.
He’d have to take their proposal to the executive board after the New Year, and they needed to hammer out all the details today so Gray could prepare the documents for that meeting.
He arrived in the kitchen first, unsurprised to see Gray had been up and made coffee already. He and Hunter had been out on the farm by dawn since Christmas, and Wes felt a rush of affection for his next youngest brother.
They came inside together, and Wes turned to face them. “Ready?” he asked Gray. Gray had always been the most country out of all the brothers, and he wore his cowboy hat to the office most of the time.
“I need to shower and change,” Gray said. “But otherwise, I’m ready.”
“Haven’t seen Colton yet,” Wes said. “But we do need to leave in about a half an hour.”
“I’ll be ready.” Gray went down the hall to the bathroom, and Wes helped Hunter get down a bowl and a box of cereal.
“What are you going to do today?” he asked the ten-year-old.
“Grandpa is taking me out to the firing range.” The boy seemed happy enough, and Wes nodded.
Colton entered the kitchen wearing a suit and tie, his hair properly combed, his shoes just as shiny as Wes’s. “Ready for today?” he asked as he poured his coffee.
“Yeah.” Wes drew in a deep breath and let it out. “For the meeting anyway.” He cut a glance toward the hall where all the bedrooms were. “Not for telling Dad about the transfer.”
“He’ll be fine,” Colton said, but he often thought things would be fine when they wouldn’t. Or at least he had no plan for how to make them fine if they didn’t turn out that way. He was a perpetual optimist, and while Wes normally liked that about him, toda
y it only sparked his irritation.
“You should drop the governor bomb on him today too. Then he won’t know which way to go.” Colton grinned as if Wes’s life were a game.
“Nope,” Wes said. He’d tie everything up at HMC first, then he’d talk to his father about the governorship. He’d endured days of talk of it already, and a brick settled in his gut at the thought of that conversation.
He sipped his coffee, the minutes ticking by impossibly slow. Finally, Gray returned, also in a suit and tie, but he wore cowboy boots and that hat as he grabbed his keys.
“I’ll drive.”
“You’ll have to stay after,” Colton said. “We should take two cars.”
“I’m not staying after,” Gray said. “They can wait for whatever they need after we talk. It’s the holidays.” He shook his keys. “Let’s go.”
They piled into his pickup truck together, Colton between Wes and Gray. Wes wasn’t sure he could endure more conversation about the meeting; they’d been over everything to death.
So he asked, “Colton, what are you going to do about Annie?”
A sigh leaked from his mouth. “I don’t know. You know what? I thought I’d have heard from her by now. But nothing. Not even a response to the text I sent that I’d arrived here safely.” He sounded absolutely miserable, and Wes had no idea how to help him. Other than pray, which he’d already done a multitude of times. Surely the Lord was tired of hearing from Wes Hammond, especially about his business and his brothers.
But to Wes, that was all he’d ever had. The company and his family.
He wanted more.
He wanted his own family. A good woman to spend time with. Children.
Bree’s name ran through his mind, because he didn’t have a picture of her to focus on. He couldn’t even imagine what she looked like, and he’d refused when Colton said he had a picture of her. Wes didn’t want to see it. He rather liked that she existed in his mind, and that his relationship with her wasn’t built on anything physical.
“Have you tried calling her?” Gray asked.
“No,” Colton said. “The ball is in her court. I can’t just snatch it back.”
“Do you like her?” Gray asked.
“Yeah.” Again, Colton sounded like liking Annie was an absolutely terrible thing to have to suffer with.
“Maybe give it a few more days,” Wes said. “After the New Year. Then call her. Maybe she’ll have cooled off or whatever.” Colton had never really said what had happened between him and Annie, just that they’d “kind of” broken up.
“I don’t want either of you to breathe a word of this to Ames or Cy,” Colton said, the fire back in his voice now. He shot Wes a particularly nasty glare. “I don’t need the whole family giving me unsolicited advice.”
“Hey, I don’t do that,” Gray said.
“Only because you want to get paid to give advice,” Colton said dryly.
Wes burst out laughing, because that was true. Gray kept his mouth shut—until there was money on the table.
“I can agree not to say anything,” Wes said. “But that’s a two-way street. The last thing I need is Ames running some background check on Bree ‘just to make sure’ she’s not a criminal.” He rolled his eyes. “He’s kind of crazy about that stuff.”
“Yeah, well, you would be too if literally every woman you dated had been a fraud,” Gray said. And he had some experience with that, so Wes didn’t argue.
“But background checks?” Colton asked. “It’s a little much.”
“He’s a cop,” Gray said. “Everything he does is a little much.”
“When are they arriving?” Colton asked.
“Ames should be here tonight,” Wes said. He’d called everyone and arranged a New Year’s Eve party for the following night. “Cy said tomorrow morning. I think he’s staying in Green Canyon tonight.”
Colton nodded, as did Gray. Wes couldn’t wait to have all of his brothers home again. And at the farm too, not the downtown penthouse where they’d last gathered for their father’s birthday in the spring.
“So we have a deal?” Colton asked. “We just say everything is great, no women troubles, no talking to women, nothing.” He looked at Wes and then Gray.
“Deal,” Gray said. “Not that I have any of the above.”
Wes looked past Colton, sensing something in Gray’s voice. “You could,” he said. “Put yourself out there. You could get a date in seconds, Gray.”
“Yeah, because I’m rich.” He rolled his eyes. “No, thank you. I have Hunter to consider.”
“You’re smart,” Colton said. “And you know, good-looking.”
Gray looked at Colton, a long second passing before he laughed. “Thanks, Colton. I mean, I do try.”
“You run more than any human should,” Wes said. “You’re definitely a catch.”
“Don’t want to be caught,” Gray said.
Wes had thought he didn’t want to be caught either. Now, he wasn’t so sure. Now, all he seemed to think about was his freedom from HMC and when he could talk to Bree again.
The rest of the drive happened quickly, and Gray parked in the garage beneath the company building. They rode the elevator to the top floor, and Wes noted how cold the rooms were. He nudged up the temperature on the thermostat in the conference room, and not ten minutes later, the door opened again.
Laura entered first, and she had the traditional dark, Hammond hair. Her eyes were dark too, and she wore a pantsuit that she’d probably had tailored to fit her body precisely. She reminded Wes so much of himself, and a sense of peace about transferring the company to her filled him.
She’ll do a great job, he thought. And she would. She was as invested in Hammond Manufacturing Company’s future as any Hammond had ever been, Wes included.
“Morning,” she said, reaching out to shake his hand. Jill followed her, and she was a couple shades lighter than Laura in all regards.
Wes liked her the least, as she tended to have a forked tongue that didn’t know when to stop talking. Nothing he said to her could be kept in confidence, he knew that. So he’d learned not to tell Jill anything he didn’t want the whole world to know. Which was nothing, so he literally never spoke to her.
He shook her hand too, though, and looked to Kent. The youngest of the Hammond children in his uncle’s line, Kent had definitely gotten the Hammond nose—long and sloped. He looked powerful, but he didn’t act it. Wes knew that from experience too.
“Morning,” he said to them all. “I’d offer you water or coffee, but my assistant is out for the holidays.”
“No matter,” Laura said.
“Sit,” Wes said, falling into his CEO role easily. “Let’s sit and go ahead and tell us what you’re thinking.”
He already knew what they were thinking, because they’d gone to Gray first. They’d had to, because he did all the paperwork for HMC, and that included anything to do with the transfer of power.
It took several seconds for everyone to find a seat and sit down, and then Wes looked at Laura expectantly.
“We’re looking for a straight-across trade,” she said. “I’ll be CEO. Jill will take over as executive marketing director. Kent will slide into the role of acquisitions.”
“I don’t do acquisitions,” Gray said. “That’s not a straight-across transfer.”
“You’ll still be here for a while,” Laura said without missing a beat. She didn’t fiddle with her hair or adjust in her seat either. She had plenty of experience in leadership roles too. “And during that year you’re still with us, we’ll find someone to replace you.”
“Not that you’re replaceable,” Jill said smoothly. “We know you’re excellent at what you do, Gray.”
“You all are,” Laura said. “But we sense that you’re...tired. And we’re ready to take HMC into the next phase of its life.” She looked and sounded absolutely confident about that.
“Great,” Colton said. “I think we’re ready for you to do just that.” H
e looked at Gray and Wes. “Right?”
“I am,” Wes said, surprised at how easily he could open his fingers and let his role at HMC go. He knew it would be hard to clean out of his office. Move off the top floor. All of that.
“So I’ve drawn up some papers,” Gray said, inserting himself smoothly into the meeting. “That provides our standard severance package for CEOs, for all three of us.” He pulled a folder out of his briefcase. “As Wes has reached a decade as CEO, he’ll get a ten-percent bonus in the package. Colton brings a special skill set to HMC, and I believe he’d like to be considered for a scientific position. If you’re not aware, he holds a master’s degree in biology and biological research from Yale University. Since he is stepping down from this senior role, his severance will be the same, and he’s also been at a high level for over a decade. His ten-percent is in the package. I’ve been the corporate lawyer for my entire career.” He paused, and Wes watched him. He’d never known Gray to be overly emotional. Even when his marriage had dissolved and he’d taken his ex-wife to court to make sure she didn’t take Hunter somewhere Gray would never see him again, Wes had never seen him get emotional. Never shed a tear. Nothing.
But he swallowed and took a long second before he continued. “As is custom, I’ll stay on for twelve months, ending my tenure here on December thirty-first of next year. I’ll help hire a new lawyer for the company, whether from within the family or without, and I’ll receive a severance package at that time, at our usual rate, as well as a retirement package.”
“I’m sure it’s all in order,” Laura said, picking up the folder Gray had put in front of her. The others did the same, and Wes felt some of the weight he’d been carrying for fourteen years lift off his shoulders. He could almost hear the Lord Himself telling him what a great opportunity he had in front of him.
“I see nothing to object to,” Laura said, closing the folder though she couldn’t have read everything in it so fast.
“Barring any opposition from the board—which we don’t expect,” Wes said. “We’ll vote in our meeting on the sixth. And Colt and I will have thirty days to be out of your way. HMC would be in your hands by February seventh.”
