by Kathi Barton
All right. Let me get some gas then I’ll meet you there. I was thinking too that we should have Flora come by and see about the garden. I’m sure that she can tell us if it’s worth saving or not. Some of the flowers and bushes are out of control. Evan said that he was thinking the same thing. Great. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.
Adrian wouldn’t doubt that his brother had already contacted this Mason person for whatever project he had in mind, as well as had a quote on the job. Adrian knew that whatever it was that he wanted, it would be epic.
Chapter 11
Mas laid the phone in the cradle and leaned back on his seat. He wasn’t sure that they’d have time to work with the Whitfield family, but he’d make sure that he had his best people on it if they got the job. Laughing when he heard his daughter in the hall, he wondered who had shit in her oatmeal. She was in a mood, it sounded like to him.
“I’ve had it up to my ass and beyond with that tile company we buy from. Did you know that they’re charging us to bring the tile on site? I told him that if he decided to tack that onto his bill then we’d find.... What’s the matter with you?”
Mas laughed. His little girl was a hoot, and she was smart as a whip and as mouthy as a rattler on a bad day. But she loved him and he her. She was the only thing in the world that would make him smile on even one of his worst days.
“You remember me talking about the Whitfields?” She asked if it was one of those rich fucks. “Yes—well, I don’t think I’d group them in with the people we know. They’re the good kind of rich. Mighty rich, I guess, but not like most think they are.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t care so long as they don’t try and buy us out.”
That was a sore spot for the two of them. They’d grown their little company, mostly due to his daughter, up to where they could pick and choose who they wanted to work for. But now the bigger companies, the ones that they could outdo and outshine any day of the week, wanted to snatch them up and close them down. It broke his heart that his daughter had been so upset about it.
“I don’t think they’re in the business for a tile and paper company. But if they were, you can bet that their price would be more than fair, and if asked, they’d find all the people that worked for us other employment rather than put them out on the street.” She asked him why he’d brought them up. “Oh, yes. The eldest of the boys, as Ollie, their grandfather calls them, is opening a hotel, revamping one with his brother. It’s one of the kind that is too beautiful to want to plow down. He’s sent me pictures—Evan, I believe his name is. The other one...I’ve forgotten his name, but this is what we’d be working with. Come have a look, honey. I think you might like to do this one all by yourself.”
She came and stood behind him. Mas pulled up the file that had been sent to him yesterday. As she looked over the pictures, he read the specs on the place and what they would like to talk about. She had him pause on the one picture that he knew would capture her attention.
“That’s the grand staircase. He said that the steps themselves are made of knotty pine, and the bracers on them are lined with brass. Also, the rails are a mixture of oak, cherry, and walnut. As you can see in this close up, they’re blended together in no set pattern, but are beautiful because of that.” Mason Jane Barnhart, his lovely daughter and partner, asked him about the mural. “Not just a mural, it’s stained glass. There are a few pieces missing. But Adam, that’s his name, he said that there are plenty of leftover pieces that they’ve uncovered in the basement. Which, by the way, holds a large storage area and one of the biggest kitchen areas that he’s ever seen.”
“And it more than likely needs to be updated from walls to ceiling.” Mas told her to behave. “Dad, this is some rich boy—man—that wants us to come in, do the work for less than half of what we’d usually charge, than stiff us for the rest.”
“When did you become this hard, Mason? I’ve never known you to be so judgmental about people. Especially ones that you’ve never met.” Her face blushed brightly, and she said that she was sorry. “I don’t want you to be sorry. I want you to tell me what is going on.”
She walked to the window in his office and stared down at the lot below them. Mas would have just as soon had the lower floor offices, but he’d been moved up here when he’d decided to retire. Mas didn’t know whose idea that had been, but he hadn’t moved back yet. “Angus is getting engaged, did you hear?” He said that he had and was happy for him. “Yeah, me too. He’s a good person. After all he’s been through, he deserves it. I told him that I’d throw him and Shelly a nice party when they were ready to announce it.”
“You’re not upset with your brother getting engaged. So, what is it that has you so snappy to others? I’ve not had any complaints, if you’re thinking that. And you’ve been my daughter a lot longer than Angus has lived with us.” He hadn’t come to terms himself with the way that he’d ended up with Angus, nor would he ever forgive his mother. She had ruined a great many things with her lies. “What’s happened to my little girl?”
“I’m far from a little girl, Dad. And no, I’m not upset about Angus. You might say that I’m slightly jealous. Not a lot. I’m only just now realizing that I’m older than my brother, and I’ve not been on even a casual date since my senior prom.” He asked her why she’d not. “I don’t know. Perhaps I’m afraid. I think it’s more than that, really, but I am afraid of dating.”
“Mason, honey. What happened back then, it wasn’t your fault.” She nodded, and he could see the slight glistening on her cheek from tears. “Do you still hear from him? Does he still call you?”
“Once in a while. I’ve changed my number, and I don’t think he’s able to get it from anyone. He has tried the operator to reach me, but Andi no longer tells me when he does.” Mas thought of Troy, the fucking bastard, and wondered if he could call someone to beat the shit out of him. “Dad, whatever you’re thinking, let it go. He’s not worth it.”
But he was. Mas knew just what he’d done to Mason, and how badly he’d hurt her. It had been several years since that night, and since then his daughter hadn’t been the same. She no longer seemed to smile, and she stayed at home, even when she’d been invited to someplace to celebrate a job well done. Mason did so few social events, people that they worked with thought her to be on her own. No, it was worth it to Mas. The man needed to be put in his place, once and for all. But he also knew that he’d made a binding promise to Mason to let it go.
“I’m going to let Angus take the lead on this project. I’ll be there for him, but he can be the point man.” Mas nodded. “If he gets married, then he’ll need to be more involved in the business. He might be called in to take over for one or both of us.”
“Are you going to leave me, child?” She turned to look at him, and Mas could see the pain on her face, almost touch how devastated she was. “Mason, tell me what’s happened. What did that bastard do to you?”
She didn’t say anything. He worried more about her silence than he did her speaking to him. Again, she stood at the window. Mas could tell what she was looking at. It was just after five, and the staff would be leaving for the day. Cars would begin to pull away, the cleaning staff coming on. It was like this every day at this time. When Mason turned toward him she was no longer hiding her tears but letting the tears that were flowing show just how hurt she was.
“I’m going to take some time off when Angus is ready to be on his own. He’s nearly there now, but he still has a few things to learn. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, Dad, so please don’t talk me out of it.” Mas told her that he’d not do that, so long as she promised not to simply leave for good. “I don’t think that I have any more left in me, Dad. Maybe this will be all that I need. A place alone. But I can’t make you a promise like that. Not at this point, that is.”
“I love you, Mason. With all my heart. I don’t know what I’d do if you were to just leave me.” She walked around the office then, not touching anything there, which wa
s her usual way of getting to the point. “Mason? Tell me what is it that has you so upset.”
“I don’t honestly know.” She looked so lost that he wanted to pick her up and rock her as he’d done when she’d been very small. “I just need to get away I think. To get my head on straight. I think—no, I know that if I don’t get away now, then I’ll never feel right. Like a woman should at this stage in her life.”
“I think I understand.” She smiled at him, a watery one that made him so sad that he felt his own tears fill his eyes, his heart crumble a little more for her pain. “You’ll help Angus with this project, right? Then we’ll talk again. I just ask that you promise to talk to me, to come to me before you just take off. Please?”
“I promise you.” It was the best that he was going to get from her. When she was ready, she might tell him what was going on. Or, and this pained him more than anything, she’d just keep pushing him away in favor of not burdening him. Mas stood up when she made her way to his door. “If you want, you can tell the Whitfields that we’ll work on their project. After, of course, we have a look. And I’ll talk to Angus and let him know what to expect. All right?”
“Yes, of course.”
With a nod, Mason, his lovely daughter, left him there. Mas knew that he had to make a few phone calls, but for the moment they could wait. He pondered what he really needed to do to help his only child, and what had brought on this sudden need to run away. Because as surely as he was sitting there, he knew that was what she was doing.
Just after finding out that Jane was with child, he’d been hit with a paternity suit. Mas not only didn’t father Angus, but he’d not even known the woman he’d supposedly fathered Angus with. Almost as soon as Mabel Clark, the homewrecker, had put it in the paper that he’d abandoned her when she’d discovered that she was with child, his own wife had filed for divorce.
Not that hadn’t expected this to happen. Jane had been unhappy since she’d found out that she was going to have a child. Mas had found out soon enough that he could strike a bargain with her, and she had lived up to her side of the bargain through it all. Jane would have the child, turning her over to him for full custody, and he’d pay her ten grand—a paltry amount, he thought—so that she’d leave them alone.
As it turned out, he’d not had to pay anything, not that he wouldn’t have. The car accident that killed Jane had been just days after Mas had been sued, thus causing Mason to be brought into the world and his life just after her mother’s death.
Months after that, Angus was dropped off at the police station, a note telling the officers there that she had no use for him and wanted his father, Mas, to have him. After that, Mas had considered his life to be complete.
He’d been so wrong. Not only had Mabel tried her best to get money from him, but she’d kidnapped Angus twice and once took Mason, each time abusing the children until he had to take matters into his own hands and pay her a ransom so that Mas could keep both his children safe.
She’d been in jail for a good month before he’d been able to get things straight with her. And to this day, it wasn’t working out. She would pop back into their lives a few times a year, make a stink, then disappear until she needed money again. This last time, nearly twenty-four years after the children had been left in his care, Mas had sicced his daughter on her. That had worked better than he could have imagined. Smiling, Mas set to work on the new job.
The phone ringing had him pull his head out of what he’d been doing. Picking it up, not at all caring at this point who could be calling him, he said his name as he put in the last of his entries on another job that he’d been working on. When there was no answer at the other end, he said his name again.
“Mr. Barnhart, this is Doctor Evan Whitfield. I was calling you to ask if you’ve had time to go over the plans that we sent you.” It took his befuddled mind a few seconds to remember who the man was. “I have gotten a call from someone in your offices, Angus Barnhart, to ask more questions as well. I wondered if that meant you were going to take us on.”
“Yes. Oh, I’m so sorry. I was working on the next project, and I sort of— I’m sure you don’t care what I’m up to. But yes, Mason and Angus are my children, and they’ll be working on this together. I’m to understand that Mason will be working with Angus to make sure that it will suit your needs. They are perfectly suited to each other. I would imagine that he’ll call you several times until he can work you up a project and start there. Is that all right?”
“Perfectly. Thank you. I’ll be looking forward to hearing from your boys.” Mas started to tell him that they were one of each, his children, when the man spoke again. “I’m not on duty for the next few days after this one. My sister-in-law said that she’d cover for me when they can work us in. We’re all— I have to go, sir. I’m on duty today.”
The line went dead just as he heard in the background someone calling Dr. Whitfield’s name. Hanging up, he smiled. They were going to be in for a rude awakening when Mason showed up. Yes, sir. This might be just the ticket to get her out of this funk. Mas might even go along with Angus to see the reaction on the faces of the men who had hired them. And be there when she lost her temper over someone thinking of Mason as being a man, not his daughter.
~*~
Adrian was going to have fun with the project that he’d been asked to work on. There were any number of places that a large factory could be put around the state. The list that he’d had emailed to him from different counties had been not only helpful, but also very detailed on the number of people that could be hired, men and women that were looking for work. He’d been given a list of companies—construction companies—that would gladly take on the construction that would be involved.
“You have a minute?” He looked up at his dad and grandda. “I don’t suppose you could take a couple of old men out to dinner, could you?”
Adrian glanced at the clock on his computer and realized that he’d been working through not just lunch, but dinner too. It was nearly six-thirty. Adrian wondered if Lily, his longtime secretary, had called them in to get him out of the building. He wouldn’t put it past her.
“I don’t mind having dinner with the two of you. But as far as old men wanting to join us, I’d rather just hang out with the two of you.” Grandda laughed and Dad winked at him. “I’ve been working on some projects that I think I’d like your help with.”
He explained what was going on and some of the feedback that he’d gotten from other counties around the area. Adrian told them about the businesses, two local ones, that wanted to expand, and three more that wanted to not only bring business to the area, but also put their home base here.
“Sounds to me like you’re doing a bang-up job with this being governor and all. I cannot wait to tell your grandma about it when I see her.” Adrian asked him not to say that. “You’re right, I should have picked my words better. I’m going to tell her about this when I visit her where she’s resting. I’m guessing that she’s gonna need it once I join her in a few years. I’m happy now. With all you boys growing up and having mates—well, I have to tell you, it’s the best pleasure that a man like me could have hoped for.”
“Thanks, Grandda. You have no idea how much you saying that has done for me. I love you both, so very much.”
They ended up just down the road from his place of business. Only just remembering that he’d given Lily the afternoon off, he remembered to lock up and shut off all the lights, with the help of his dad. He knew were they all were, while Adrian only had a vague idea.
The place wasn’t all that busy, but everyone greeted his dad and grandda right away. He was proud of that, the fact that his grandda had taken a job working here, and that he’d taken so much pride in his work. The man could have bought and sold a hundred places like this one, even had a bigger crew working, without a dent in his money. That too was something that Adrian was happy for. His family supported everyone and everything.
They talked about the projec
ts going on—not just what he had going, but his brothers as well. Not only were they involved in things, but his mom had been organizing a fundraiser for a few things and had the women helping too. Even if reluctant they were giving it their best.
“These here businesses that you’re talking to—is one of them Mason Tile and Paper? I know him, or at least I know of him. He’s about outgrown his little shop that he’s got, and I’m afraid that should he get much bigger, someone is going to try and buy him out—and he just might let them.” Adrian asked him why he thought that. “They’d be able to push him into a corner. You know, buy up every bit of property around him. Then when he wants to expand, there’ll be no place for him to go. It would ruin a good man and his business. And his sons—I’ve only just found out that he has two of them. They work for their daddy full time.”
Adrian was saddened by hearing that. He loved working for his dad when he was needed. And the fact that it was a family job made it all the more exciting to see it to completion each year when they brought in the crops. He’d have to look into this company and see if they’d be willing for him to do an analysis of the company and see what he could do for them. Adrian wasn’t going to let a business fail when he could help them out.
They talked about this and that. Dad said that he’d see what he could discover about each of the plants that wanted to bring jobs to their area. Even though he’d already asked his sisters-in- law to do the same, the information that his dad would get him would be more on a personal level, and not so much the search and destroy kind of information. Dylan still didn’t trust many people, and in a search, she would look for the darkest part of the company. Not looking at what they did for the people they worked for.
Walking home after dinner, he pulled his coat up around the collar and smiled at the snow coming down. The day after tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and he’d never been this excited about the holiday. There would be a crowd of people there—they’d invited some of the pack, as well as the police that weren’t on duty. Some of the ones working had promised that they’d come by after their shift to grab a bite.
