Bennett groaned, and Amanda ignored it.
“They’re really excellent and it’s good for us because it showcases local talent—and I’ve got more on that in a minute.” She looked back at her tablet. “We also have the Los Angeles Philharmonic set down for three shows sprinkled through the summer and several other options to explore.” Looking at Bennett, she added, “It’s only April so we have plenty of time and most of the performers from last year’s pageant are eager to come back.”
“Still not sure about the chorale, but otherwise, good news.” Bennett nodded, then looked at Serena. “How’s marketing coming?”
“Slow,” Serena admitted, her voice clear, but soft. “I’m finding my way. I’ll have a full report for you at the end of the month.”
Amanda hated seeing her sister doubting her abilities. Serena had never been as invested in the family corporation as the rest of them. All she’d ever wanted was a family of her own. She’d once planned to have six kids. When she fell in love it seemed everything would go as she wanted, then he walked out because he just wasn’t ready. Which left Serena heartbroken and all too vulnerable when Robert had come around. She’d been swept into a marriage that made her miserable, had a daughter she adored, then got a divorce that left her free and happy again.
Now she was back at the company, leaving three-year-old Alli at the company day care downstairs and finding her way back into the Carey Corporation.
“Okay, Serena’s being modest,” Amanda said abruptly and had Bennett’s gaze focusing on her again. “She’s handling setting up the auditions for the Summer Stars program and getting the website up and ready. Her team’s ready to calibrate the voting when it starts and she’s working with our ad company to get a couple of commercials ready to run on local channels.”
Serena spoke up quickly. “Nothing’s ready to go yet—”
Bennett held up one hand. “Sounds like you’re on it, though, so good news, Serena. I think the Summer Stars idea is going to be big.”
“It’s exciting, isn’t it?” Their mother, Candace Carey, caught their attention. “Giving people the chance to audition live for a spot in the Summer Sensations performance schedule? Wonderful. I’m glad I don’t have to understand how the online voting will be tallied, but I’m looking forward to the contest itself.”
“It was a good idea,” their father, Martin, agreed and smiled at his wife, but Candace gave him a cool look. At sixty-four, Martin’s dark blond hair was liberally sprinkled with gray, but his blue eyes were as sharp as ever. He’d given his tall, muscular build to both of his sons, and even now the older man was a presence.
Which was, Amanda admitted silently, sort of the problem. He’d been “retiring” for the last year, insisting his children could now take over the day-to-day of running the company his own father had built. But retiring meant actually staying away and doing other things. That, Martin was having trouble with, and his wife was at the end of her rope.
“Serena,” Martin said, “if the Summer Stars website is ready to go, why isn’t it live yet?”
Bennett, oldest son and CEO, shoved both hands into his slacks pockets as their father took over the meeting. He gritted his teeth hard to keep from speaking; Amanda could see the muscles in his jaw twitch. His dark blond hair was cut stylishly short, and his sea-blue eyes were now focused on the window across the room. Amanda thought her older brother looked as if he’d been born in a well-tailored suit. At thirty-four, he was the designated head of the family business—but Martin simply couldn’t let go.
Serena cleared her throat, looked from Bennett to their father and said, “The website is almost ready. We’re tweaking some of the information and I want the team to be able to update the vote tallies and the pictures almost instantly, so Chad Davis is working on making the site easier for everyone to navigate. We should go live in a week or two.”
“Make it a week,” Martin said, tapping his fingertips against the wide, mahogany table.
“Two is fine,” Bennett interrupted and shot his father a quelling glance. “We’ll have it up and running in plenty of time, Dad.”
Candace sighed heavily and Martin winced. Nodding, he said, “Fine. You’re in charge, Bennett.”
Bennett went on, determined to finish everything before their father jumped in again. “Has anyone heard from Justin?”
“No,” Serena said with a quick look at Amanda to see if she had spoken to their youngest brother. At a shake of her head, Serena looked down the table at their parents. “I tried to call him last week, but only got his voice mail. I’m sure he’s fine, Mom. You know Justin.”
Candace Carey was nearly sixty and, thanks to excellent genes and the most intricate moisturizing routine in the world, looked fifty. Her short hair had recently been dyed a rich chestnut, with red highlights that made her blue eyes shine. The few wrinkles she did have were all from smiling and Amanda thought that was the mark of a life well lived.
“I do and you’re right, Serena. He’s fine. I spoke to him yesterday and he’s in Santa Monica.”
“He should be here,” Martin grumbled. “He’s a Carey. His place is in this meeting.”
Candace shifted in her seat and narrowed her eyes on her husband. “He’s working on something that’s important to him and—”
“What’s more important than the Carey Corporation?” Martin demanded.
Amanda’s turn to wince when her father blurted out exactly the wrong thing. She could actually see her mother’s temper spike and wondered silently why the woman’s husband completely missed it.
“That’s a very telling question coming from you, Martin,” Candace said and Amanda winced again. When everything was fine, Candace called her husband “Marty.” Things were not fine.
Martin caught on finally and obviously realized—too late—that he’d stepped in it. “Now, Candy, that’s not what I meant.”
“It’s exactly what you meant,” Candace said, giving her husband the hard glare all her kids would recognize. “Honestly, Martin, we’ve been over this a hundred times. You said you were retiring. We made plans.”
“I know we did, sweetie,” Martin said. “And we’re going to do everything we planned.”
“When?” She tipped her head to one side, tapped her manicured nails on the table and waited.
“Well,” Martin hedged, “we’ve got the Summer Sensations coming up and—”
“And Amanda’s in charge of that and doing a wonderful job.” She smiled and nodded her way and Amanda’s lips curved slightly. “What else?”
“There’s the new merger with the Macintosh hotel line—”
“Bennett is on top of it all,” she assured him.
“What about Justin?” Martin asked, obviously playing what he thought of as a trump card.
“Justin will be fine without your supervision, Martin,” Candace said, leaning toward him. “We’ve raised our kids.” She swept out a hand to include three of them. “Honestly, Martin, I’m starting to think you don’t want to spend time with me.”
Amanda winced and shared a worried look with her sister.
“You know that’s not true, honey,” Martin said, reaching for her hand.
Candace pulled away, though, and shook her head. “Oh,” she said, rising and grabbing up her black leather bag, “I think it is. You’ve been very clear where your loyalties lie.”
“Mom…” Bennett’s voice cut into the tension mounting in the room.
She held up one finger and instantly got the silence she was signaling for. “I’m going to meet your aunt Viv for lunch—”
“I thought we were going to lunch,” Martin said.
“And I thought we would be in Palm Springs for the week, so we’re both disappointed,” Candace retorted.
Amanda glanced at Serena again and her sister winced in sympathy with their mom. They both knew that Candace C
arey had been looking forward to her and her husband seeing some of the world, spending time together during his retirement, and now it looked as though Martin was trying to avoid just that. This was not good.
“Now, honey, I wanted to make sure everything here was going fine before we left for a week is all…”
Candace’s eyebrows lifted. “No, that’s not all. The problem is, you can’t let go. You trained Bennett. You turned the company over to him and promised me you would retire and we’d start traveling.”
“And we’re going to,” he argued.
“How are we going to Europe if you can’t even go to Palm Springs?” Shaking her head, Candace tucked her bag under her arm, lifted her chin and said, “No. You don’t want to travel beyond company headquarters. That’s clear.” She looked at Bennett briefly. “Good luck to you, sweetie.”
“Now, just hold on a minute,” Martin said, rising to meet his wife’s irate gaze.
“I’ve been holding on, Martin. Now I’m done.” She looked at each of her children. “You all have a lovely day. Not you, Martin.”
“Honey—”
Candace didn’t even glance at her husband as she swept out of the room, and Amanda could only think how odd it was that she and her mother were both having man trouble.
Copyright © 2021 by Maureen Child
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Special thanks and acknowledgment are given
to Barbara Dunlop for her contribution to the
Texas Cattleman’s Club: Heir Apparent miniseries.
ISBN-13: 9780369708182
Bidding on a Texan
Copyright © 2021 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Bidding on a Texan Page 21