“Jim doesn’t need to be involved in this. He’s getting older and I’m worried that the strain of the situation would be bad for his health.”
“It’s the hair, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry?” Arthur asks, completely confused by my question.
“That makes you think I’m an idiot. Is it the pink hair? I know it's strange, but my school kids get a kick out of it. Plus, Momma hated it and I could never help myself when it came to pushing her buttons.” Ignoring the look of utter confusion on Arthur’s face, I continue on. “Let me see if I have this right, Arthur. You’ve gotten the Peterson company into trouble. You’re too scared to tell your daddy, so instead, you come here to me, your unwanted daughter, to force me to accept something I don’t want, just so I can sell it to you and get you out of trouble. Do I have it correct so far?”
“Tanner said something to you, didn’t he?”
“Tanner? What does he have to do with any of this?” I slap my forehead when the proverbial light bulb goes off in my brain. “Jim told me you wanted Gretchen with Tanner so when they married, Jim would give Tanner part of the company. Instead of that happening, I show up and ruin everything. Never mind the fact that Tanner isn’t dating Gretchen and has absolutely no desire to do so. Does Tanner know what’s going on?”
“Of course he does. He’s being groomed to take it over after I retire. His heart may be on the farm, but he understands his place is in the office running things. It’s the whole reason I’ve pushed Gretchen on him.”
“You do realize he isn’t ever going to be with her. Right?”
Arthur shakes his head and a lets out a dark laugh. “Is that what he told you? He’s been with us since he was just a kid. Tanner will do whatever it is to stay involved with Peterson Farms. Hell, Jim gave him my mother’s engagement ring the week before you showed up.”
“But Jim told me that Tanner…”
“Jim knows Tanner doesn’t love Gretchen. However, like I was saying, he knows that Tanner will do whatever it takes to get his the chance to run the farm. Greed is in everyone, Memphis. Even you’re sweet Tanner.”
Tanner has a ring for Gretchen? He told me he had no feelings for her. Arthur has to be lying. One call to Jim will clear all this up. Deciding I’ve had enough Arthur for the day, I stand and walk toward the door. “I think you should go now.” I open the door so he understands I’m serious.
“I need this to happen soon, Memphis. This,” he stumbles for the right word, “situation, is time sensitive.”
I watch his back as he walks down the hall to the bank of elevators. Once I know he’s on one and away from me, I close the door and sit down in the chair Arthur just vacated. I pull my phone from my back pocket and call Jim. If anyone is going to tell me the truth, it will be him. Call it gut instinct, but I believe he was being honest when he told me he wanted to know me. To have a relationship with me. Jim picks up of the second ring.
“Memphis? Are you okay?”
I decide to get straight to the point. “Did you give Tanner your wife’s ring for Gretchen?” After a moment of silence I pull the phone from my ear to see if we’ve been disconnected. “Jim? You still there?”
“When did you talk to Arthur?”
“Why would you ask me that? What makes you think I’ve seen or talked to him? Just answer my question, Jim.”
I hear him exhale a breath and I have my answer. “I told him to leave you alone, Memphis. Tanner is loyal to a fault so just forget whatever it is you're thinking. Can we meet somewhere? This is not a conversation I’d like to have over the phone.”
“Of course. There’s a coffee shop a few doors down from me, can you meet me there?”
“I’ll be there in ten.”
I’m about to hang up when I hear Jim calling my name.
“It’s going to be okay, Memphis. After we talk, I’ll take care of everything.”
After we hang up, I send a quick text to Cain, letting him know I can't meet with him, Jasper, or Tanner this morning. Ignoring the text notification coming in, I slip the phone back into my pocket, grab my purse, and head out to the coffee shop. I don’t know why the idea of Tanner and Gretchen bothers me so much. It isn’t like he’s mine. I've known the three of them a week. This possessive feeling I’m having isn’t normal, and it's really not right to be having it for three different men.
A shadow looms over the table I’ve commandeered and I look up to see a hesitantly smiling Jim. Using my foot, I kick the chair across from me out from under the table. “I see you already had time to order a drink. Sorry it took me a little longer to get here. I swear the drivers in the city are on something.”
A smile breaks through all the surliness I’m feeling. I can relate to Jim and the drivers. Crazy lot. All of them. “It’s no problem. I haven’t been here very long. I can wait while you go order.”
Jim stands back up. “Can I get you anything else?”
I shake my head and look out the front window. The coffee shop is directly across the street from where the city’s college and professional basketball is played. It’s a beautiful structure that draws the eye in. I wouldn’t mind catching a game there someday. What am I thinking? The season won’t start until long after I’m gone.
“Pretty impressive, isn’t it?”
I didn’t even notice Jim had returned to the table. “It really is. Have you been to a game there?”
Jim smiles, looking out the window. “I actually have a pair of season tickets for both teams. We can go sometime.”
A sigh escapes. “Jim.”
“I know, Memphis. But maybe you could ease this old mans heart and at least lie to me and say you’d consider staying around. I just got you here and I’m not quite ready to let you leave me yet. Something tells me I wouldn’t be the only one not ready for you to leave.” His brow lifts with his last statement.
Setting my cup down, I settle back in my seat, ready to hear a little truth. “I need to know all of it Jim. None of this is my business, but he’s dragged me into it. Besides that, I still deserve to have some questions answered for my own sanity.”
Jim takes a deep breath and lets out a long exhale. “Some answers aren't good, Memphis. But I told you I would tell you, so I am. Do me a favor? Hear me out before you make any rash judgments. Can you do that for me?”
I stare into his eyes for a moment. No matter what he tells me, I know deep in my heart that Jim would never hurt me. Not intentionally. Not ready to speak, I nod and prepare myself.
“I always knew about your momma and Arthur. My boy, he thought he could pull one over on me, but he was a crap liar then, like he’s a crap liar now. The summer they met, Peterson Farms was in the top of the chain in cotton farming. When he started coming home late, lying to me about where he'd been and who he had been with, I starting looking into it.”
“And you found out about his relationship with Momma.”
“And I found out about his relationship with your momma,” he says in agreement. “I had to know who she was. I didn’t trust Arthur to not think with his smaller brain, so I had her and your grandparents checked out. Even if my son wasn’t using his brain, I had to. I had to protect not only him, but everything I had built.”
Jim looks so apologetic. “I understand, Jim. I would have probably done the same thing if I were in your shoes.”
He nods his head and I see his shoulders fall just a little bit. “Your momma came from good, honest working people. There was no reason for me to be worried about her, so I continued to look the other way and just let things unfold. Maybe I should have stepped up and said something, because although I knew he was seeing her, I also knew he was still seeing Rachel.”
I throw my hand up to stop him. “You’re telling me he was seeing them at the same time?”
“I’m sorry, honey. He was young, about to leave for basic training, and I just assumed he was sowing some wild oats. I didn’t condone his behaviour, but I didn’t think it would ever turn out this way.
I honestly thought your momma was just a summer fling until he left, and then he and Rachel would finally get married. I knew I was wrong when we came back from picking him up after basic and I found all the letters from your momma. I had no idea it was so serious, or that he’d led her to believe it was. By then, things with Rachel were past the point of being stopped, so I let it go and moved on. Never in a hundred years did I ever think she was pregnant. If I had known,” he pushes his white hair back, “things would have been so different, Memphis. We absolutely wouldn’t have been meeting for the first time when you were in your twenties. That's for damn sure.”
“What does any of that have to do with now? What's done is done, Jim. Arthur is an ass now, and he was an ass then.”
Jim lets out a harsh laugh. “You are right on that. My son, the ass of Tennessee.” Jim takes a drink from his cup before continuing. “He knew about you, Memphis.”
Shut. The. Front. Door.
“Rachel came to us about two weeks before he finished basic training. She told me and my wife that she was pregnant, it was Arthur’s, and she wanted to go with us to Texas to pick him up and share the good news with him. We of course believed her. They had been dating on and off for a few years. We always assumed they would end up together at some point. It wasn't ideal, but it was what is was. We agreed to take her to Texas. What could we do? There was no reason to deny her. Arthur was home for two weeks before he had to check in on base. Our families decided to have a small, quick wedding so Rachel could move to Texas and live on base with Arthur. They were married, he left, and two days before she was supposed to move, she came over to the house to tell my wife and I that she had a miscarriage.”
I reach across the table, laying my hand on his. Jim did nothing wrong and I don’t want him to ever feel guilty about his son being a big butthole.
“I never questioned Rachel, although between us, I wouldn’t have put it past her to lie about the pregnancy, especially once I found out everything the other night. It seems Rachel knew all about Arthur and your momma, too. Someone saw them together and told her. The week after Arthur left for Basic, she saw your momma at the drugstore buying a pregnancy test. It didn’t take much for her to put two and two together. I can’t prove anything, but Rachel has always been willing to do whatever to get her way. Lying about being pregnant, I wouldn't put it past her. It wasn't until about five years later that she let it slip about you. It seems Rachel kept tabs on your momma until she and your grandmother moved. One of Rachel’s friends saw your momma out one day and you could obviously tell she was pregnant. None of us knew. Rachel held onto that until it was the right time to tell him. Arthur told me all of this yesterday.” He stops to take another sip from his now cold drink. “You see, I called him over to the house yesterday to tell him I had decided to give you part of the business. I asked him what he thought about it, not really caring what he said. He told me after everything, you deserved it. He then went on to tell me the entire story. My best guess it that he figured I was asking him because I was on the fence about it and used the truth, for once, to sway me.”
Deciding to ignore everything he just told me, I ask him the questions that I think the answers to I could handle. “Why does he want me to own part of the business so badly? He told me this morning it was in a lot of debt and he would buy my part. None of what he said added up to me.”
Jim narrows his eyes at me, but decides to let me ignore his story. I doubt he’ll let me ignore it long, but for a few moments to play ignorant, I’m thankful. “He has a gambling addiction, Memphis. He’s gambled my company into the red. He thinks if you get part of it, a part he can’t touch, that he can pay you a tiny sum and use it to pay off some of his debt.”
“He gambles? Like in an underground poker ring?” I already told you I have an active imagination, but even I roll my eyes at myself.
“Not quite. He plays the tables down at the casinos. There's a couple of them an hour from here. He hasn’t literally gambled away the business, but he’s been taking money from petty cash, he’s cashed out his 401-K, and he took a big loan against the business. It’s a mess, but I’ll deal with that myself.”
I would dare say that Jim has a bit of a gleam in his eyes at the thought of dealing with Arthur and his mess. This man and I are definitely going to be friends. “What do you need me to do, Jim? If there is anything, I’m happy to help you.”
“Stay a little longer, Memphis. That's all I ask. Give me a little more time to get to know my granddaughter. That's all this old man wants. That and accept twenty-five percent of my company.”
I laugh until my side hurts. “It feels good to laugh, Jim. I needed that.” I wipe the tears from my eyes from laughing so hard. “Tell me about Tanner and this ring.”
“You aren’t messing around now, are you? Fine. Before you got here, Arthur had put all his eggs, so to speak, in Tanner’s basket. He knows that boy would do anything for the farm. It's in his blood, but he knew Tanner would never agree to sell anything I gave him, so Arthur decided the next best thing would be to have Tanner marry Gretchen, let Gretchen have some shares as a gift, and voila. He wouldn't need Tanner because Gretchen will do anything her daddy tells her to do, including keep something like that from Tanner. What Arthur doesn't know, is that Tanner already knows all about his gambling and risking the farm. I told him as soon as I found out so he could keep an eye on things. I didn’t put it past Arthur to try to steal one of my damn combines from out in the field. Tanner picked up the ring for two reasons. When the gambling started getting bad, I noticed a few things missing from my house and if there’s one thing I refuse to let that man get hold of and hock, was my beautiful wife's engagement ring. Two, Tanner doesn't have any family left, unless you count Cain and Jasper, which I do. He’s become an adopted son of mine and there is no one else I would want to pass on that ring to than Tanner. He wasn’t ever going to give it to Gretchen. If that's what they all think, they are sadly mistaken. He will never be blatantly rude to her, Memphis. It’s not in his DNA, but he doesn't have feelings for her. In fact, I’m almost positive not a single one of them are in any type of relationship with anyone.”
He’s such a sly fox. I’m going to have my hands full with this man, and I will cherish every moment of it.
Give me strength
“You have got to be kidding me,” I grumble to myself. I haven't been back long from my heart to heart with Jim, and someone is already knocking on the door to my hotel room.
I swing the door open and come face to face with an irritated looking Jasper. Before I can ask why in the world he’s here, his lips slam down on mine. In the back of my mind I hear him kicking the door closed before walking me backwards. I pull free when the back of my knees come in contact with the bed.
“What?”
A growl from Jasper cuts off any question I may have, followed by his lips attacking mine once again. I’m not as caught off guard this time around, so instead of standing there like a statue, I give this kiss all I have. Once Jasper and I come up for air, he leans in, putting his forehead against mine. Both of us are panting but neither of us care. “You are not running. Not from us.”
I must still have a fogged brain because his words aren’t registering with me. “What?”
Jasper pulls away from me and turns to walk back out the door. Before he turns the knob, he glances back over his shoulder. “You. Are. Not. Running. From. Us.” He punctuates each word. “The three of us will be here tonight at seven. Call room service and order dinner. We have a lot of things to talk about, Memphis.” With that, he turns and leaves me.
At five minutes to seven, there's a knock on my door. Again. This time it's the dinner I ordered from room service. I didn’t know what to get, so I splurged and got one of almost everything on the menu. The cart is loaded down with burgers, wings, chicken tenders, fries, a salad because why not, and even a few different deserts. I barely have time to close the door when there's another knock. This time I know who it is. It
's almost as if I can feel them this close. Taking a deep breath, I swing the door open. I’m not sure if it’s my nerves or enthusiasm at seeing Tanner, Cain, and Jasper, but I swing the door a little too hard, and smack myself in the nose with it.
“Goshdangsonofabitchcarhopper that hurts!”
A pair of warm hands pull mine away from my nose and I feel the blood running down my chin. Seriously. Could this day get any better?
“Lean back, baby. Cain, grab a warm washcloth. Jasper, can you find some ice?”
So it must be Tanner that is holding my head back and rubbing circles on my back.
“Here’s the wet cloth. Let me wipe some of this off her face.” I open my eyes a fraction to see Cain gently wiping under my nose and down my chin and neck. “There’s those beautiful eyes. Let me get you cleaned up, okay.”
The door to my room opens again and I see Jasper carrying the ice bucket. “I filled this up. Let me grab a towel to put some ice in.”
I can’t help the tears rolling down my face. Not from just the pain, but from the tenderness and concern these three men are showing me. I feel like such a klutz, but none of them have laughed or even smiled at my clumsiness.
“It’s alright, Memphis. We’ve got you.” Tanner breathes his words across my neck.
Jasper reappears in my sight, looking tightly at my nose. “Do we think it’s broken? She hit it pretty hard.”
“I don’t know, man,” Cain answers. “It's definitely swollen. We better take her to the hospital.”
I try to groan out a no, but it just comes out more like a meek meow.
“I don’t think she wants to go to the hospital, and neither do I. We’ll be there half the night before she’s even seen. There's a new minor med that opened up a few months ago. Let’s try there first. I hate to see her sitting in a waiting room for hours in pain.” Jasper, always the levelheaded one. Except for this afternoon. If I were not in so much pain I’d laugh at myself right now.
“Memphis?” Tanner is back in the front. “I’m going to pick you up and carry you down to Cain’s SUV. Just hold the ice on your nose for me. Can you do that?”
Memphis Page 8
