Safety be damned, all in the name of getting in and getting the park opened and impressing her father.
There you go, mastermind. Get us out of this mess.
When she got to her office, Janie was buzzing her.
“If it’s someone from the media, please take a message. Mr. Fortune Hayes will be handling all media contact.”
“No, I’m sorry, Ms. Moore. Your father is on line one. He said it’s urgent.”
Crap.
In the midst of everything she tried to call him once, but hadn’t had time to call back. As eager as Brodie was to please him, now she thought her father would’ve been the first person Brodie had contacted. Obviously not.
Oh, wait, Brodie Fortune Hayes only dealt in miracles and glory.
She just hoped this episode hadn’t set her father back. He’d been so happy this morning at the ribbon-cutting. How had things spiraled out of control so fast?
She let out a carefully controlled breath, and picked up the phone. “Hi, Dad. Please don’t worry. We have everything under control.”
She spit the words out in one breath because she knew if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to get a word in edgewise.
“Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? How can you say you have everything under control when we are the laughingstock of the evening news? The international news. I can’t believe this. Hayes isn’t picking up his phone—”
“He is debriefing the employees right now. He’s instructing them not to talk to the media. I’m sorry you’re upset. I tried to call you, but I didn’t want to leave a message on voice mail.”
She’d tried to call him, but he hadn’t picked up. Caitlyn figured he was either resting or maybe if he got a second wind on the trip back to Lubbock, he and her mother had stopped to get something to eat.
“It was an emergency. Then we had to take care of business, Dad. Brodie is still debriefing the staff, and I just got back into the office.”
“Don’t take that tone with me. I should’ve been the first one you called. Instead, I had to hear this on the news.”
He was yelling now. Full-out yelling. Caitlyn had to hold the phone away from her ear.
“Dad, you were the first one I called. I couldn’t get in touch with you. I was in the midst of an emergency I didn’t have time to keep dialing you. Calm down—”
“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down. I trusted you, Caitlyn. I put my faith in you, and you let me down. I can’t remember a time when I’ve ever been this disappointed in you.”
“Dad—”
“Actually, no. You know what? You let yourself down. This disaster was caused by animals, Caitlyn. Animals. You are a zoologist. Animals are your area of expertise. If anyone could have prevented this from happening, it was you. You failed. Now I know. It just doesn’t make good business sense for me to invest in this zoo park dream of yours. You might as well pack your bags and go back to your research in Chicago.”
Caitlyn was too stunned to respond. Just as well, because after he had said his piece, he hung up.
She sat in her chair staring out the window, holding the receiver, and thinking about calling him back.
But why?
So she could absolve herself of the blame? Tell him that it was his own blindness and Brodie’s pigheadedness that created the disaster?
No. Because she knew she was just as much to blame. She’d gone against her instincts when she’d known the animals weren’t settled and comfortable enough with their surroundings and there were props in use.
She’d let Brodie steamroll her. And that was nobody’s fault but her own.
From here on out, she resolved, she would not allow herself to be crushed. By anyone.
Telling on Brodie wasn’t going to fix anything. The damage had already been done.
She turned around to hang up the telephone receiver and saw Brodie standing in her office doorway.
“Was that your father?”
Caitlyn nodded. It felt as if she didn’t have any words left. But really, what was she supposed to say?
“I was going to call him after I finished the media counseling. How was he?”
She glared at him. “How do you suppose he was? Did you send everyone home?”
“Everyone except security and the stable managers and staff. They’re working with the vet to make sure the animals are okay. I sent the others home with the promise of a full day’s pay.”
Playing the hero again.
Caitlyn gave herself a mental shake. Being catty wasn’t going to solve anything. It certainly wasn’t making her feel better.
“It sounds like you have everything under control. So I’m going to leave.”
“Where? Wait—what?” He waved away his words. “It’s been a stressful day. I totally understand if you need to get away for a bit. Take the rest of the afternoon. Do what you need to do. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She shook her head.
“No, Brodie. I don’t think you understand. I’m leaving. I’m going back to Chicago. You don’t need me. You can handle everything just fine on your own.”
Brodie shook his head. “Caitlyn, I understand what it’s like to live with a father you can’t please.”
She looked up at his non sequitur.
“Nice try, Brodie. But I don’t think you fully get it. Sir Simon may have shipped you off to boarding school, but it sounds like he gave you a pretty good life. Look at you. You’re confident. You’re successful. You’re a world-class business consultant. If life at boarding school hurt you, it didn’t leave any noticeable scars.”
She knew that wasn’t altogether true. This man was so emotionally unavailable that something had happened to make him that way, something beyond the woman who broke his heart. But she didn’t want to think about that right now, because she was saying goodbye. Someone else could try to save Brodie Fortune Hayes.
She was done.
He stepped inside her office and closed the door.
“When I was thirteen years old, I decided I wanted to go see my birth father. His name was Rhys Henry Hayes. He and my mother divorced when I was three. So I really didn’t remember him. Oliver couldn’t stand him. He used to just rage on about what a bastard the guy was, but I didn’t believe him. You see, Oliver was super protective of our mother. He was seven when our dad left. I always thought his attitude toward our dad was colored by childhood resentment.
“I couldn’t take his word for it. I had to find out for myself. So it was Christmas. Just before we were to return home for the holiday, I ran away from that fancy boarding school that you were ribbing me about a moment ago. I bummed a ride from a classmate and made my way to London. I was determined to find my father. He was living in a flat in Chelsea and I thought he was going to be the coolest guy in the world. He was going to put that stuffed shirt of a stepfather of mine to shame. He was my dad. He was my superhero. Or at least that’s how I’d built him up in my naive little-boy mind. When he answered the door, he looked at me like I was garbage. He asked me what the bloody hell I was doing there and how dare I show up unannounced.
“Long story short, he told me he wanted nothing to do with me. I was nothing but an inconvenience to him. When I showed my disappointment, he told me I was weak, and my reaction to his words proved I would never amount to anything. He said, ‘Your brother Oliver is ten times the man you will ever be and I want nothing to do with him. What makes you think I’d welcome you into my life?’ I opened myself up, rendered myself vulnerable to the one person in this world I thought would show me unconditional love, and he spit in my face. Figuratively, of course. But it would have hurt a lot less if he had actually done it.”
They were both quiet for a moment. Caitlyn was trying her hardest not to let his heartrending story of rejection break down her armor.
“Just so you understand why I’m telling you the story,” he said. “It’s not to prove that one of our dads was worse than the other or that one of our struggles was less than the oth
er. Each person’s struggle makes them who they are, and in some ways—in many ways—it defines them. I know my experience with my natural father has defined me. But in many ways you have changed me. You have helped me see that it’s okay to let people in. That not everybody has bad intentions. I’m sorry if you think that of me. I hope you don’t.”
After Brodie left her office, Caitlyn sat there thinking for a long time.
Her workaholic father had always been hard and blustery, but she’d never had any doubt that she was his princess.
A princess he’d set on a shelf, out of harm’s way—giving her a job instead of making her find a job; indulging her with lip service about her dream of opening a zoo park; patronizing her by letting her take over his office while he was sick, but never really believing that she could make a difference.
But the truth was she’d never doubted his love. The comparison of Brodie’s verbally abusive father to her own—well, there was no comparison. She was the one who had been soft all these years. She was the one who had allowed people to walk on her.
That’s why she needed to leave and start taking responsibility for herself.
* * *
Brodie had to fix this disaster. He would fix it. Even if it meant driving to Lubbock to talk to Alden Moore face-to-face, which was exactly what he was doing. Everything at the park was secured. They would be closed tomorrow, of course, as they started putting the pieces back together.
In the meantime, he was going to talk to Alden Moore. It seemed like the best way to get on the road to making things right.
This went beyond business and reputations and referrals for Japanese theme parks. His stubbornness had nearly broken them. It all became crystal clear as he watched Caitlyn walk away.
Now her words still rang in his ears: You don’t need me. You can handle everything just fine on your own.
She was wrong.
He did need her.
He’d needed her since the moment he’d first set eyes on her in February. It was rather perverse how it took almost losing someone to snap everything into place. Now he knew that he’d been afraid, he’d been too long on his own, yet the thought of loving and losing again terrified him.
Funny thing, he thought he was trying to protect his heart, and all the while he was setting it up to be broken into tiny pieces. As he drove, he knew that even if it took an entire village to prove how much he needed her, he’d make this right.
He was going to win her back.
His phone rang, and he activated the hands-free device.
“Hello?”
“Brodie? It’s your mum. Jeanne Marie, uncle Deke and I are worried about you, love. We want to know how you’re doing. Is everything all right?”
It felt odd asking for help. Uncomfortable. Unnatural. When you asked for help, opened yourself up wide, you rendered yourself vulnerable. Ever since his encounter with Rhys Henry Hayes, Brodie had done his damnedest to button himself up and not let people in. That’s why he’d become the spin master. When he painted happy pictures for the world, no one was ever the wiser of the thirteen-year-old boy who was still crying inside.
Funny, wasn’t it, how he thought he was going to help Caitlyn Moore, but it was she who had made him over from the inside?
“Actually, if I may be honest, I’ve just about hit rock bottom. But I know what I need to do to fix this. But I’ll need the help of my family to make things better.”
Chapter Fourteen
Caitlyn had been in such a state yesterday that she’d gone off and left her wallet at the office. She hadn’t realized it right away, of course. It was only when she had gone to book her airline ticket back to Chicago that she missed it.
By that time it was late, and she didn’t want to drive from Vicker’s Corners all the way back to Horseback Hollow to get it. Especially when she wasn’t even certain that was where she had left it.
Plus, she didn’t want to take a chance of running into Brodie, who most likely would still be at the office even at that hour. She was exhausted and much too vulnerable to risk running into him.
Early the next morning, she’d called Janie and asked her to check for the wallet. Sure enough, it had fallen out in her desk drawer, the place where she kept her purse.
Hearing Janie’s voice made her realize that would’ve been cowardly to leave without saying goodbye in person. She would’ve called, of course. She wouldn’t have just disappeared without telling Janie where she was going.
But it was much better to do this in person.
More difficult, but better.
She was all packed and ready to go, suitcases in the car. The plan was to grab her wallet, say her goodbyes then hightail it to the airport where she would buy her ticket and board the plane. She would be back in Chicago by late afternoon.
She wasn’t the least bit excited about the trip, but it was better than hanging around a place where she was superfluous. Who knew if she would even stay in Chicago? But she would regroup there and figure out what she wanted to do next.
What she wanted to do with the rest of her life.
The thought took her breath away, not in an entirely good way. She needed to stop being afraid of the unknown.
She just hoped she didn’t run into Brodie this morning.
He would probably already be out in the park, supervising the cleanup. She hoped she’d miss him this morning.
No, she didn’t.
Good grief, Caitlyn. After everything? Don’t be an idiot.
She parked in her usual spot, got out of the car like she had every morning since she’d come to work at Cowboy Country and started to make her way toward the executive offices, but she stopped when she saw a caravan of vehicles pulling into the employee parking lot. There must’ve been twenty-five or thirty of them—gosh, maybe even thirty-five? She wouldn’t have given it much thought, but then people she recognized started piling out—every single one of them was a Fortune or Mendoza or somebody else from Horseback Hollow that she recognized from the wedding or the barbecue or the town council meeting. There was a whole parade of them, arriving with ladders and toolboxes. They all wore blue jeans; some wore plaid shirts, others sported T-shirts and most of them sported cowboy hats.
Caitlyn spied Deke and Galen. They waved at her.
“Good morning, sunshine,” said Galen. “I’ll bet today’s going to be a much better day than yesterday. I see you wore your work clothes.” He lifted a questioning brow as he took in her dress and heels. “Here, help Tim Marcus carry in this coil of rope, will you? By the way, Caitlyn, this is Tim. Tim, this is Caitlyn. She’s my cousin Brodie’s girl.”
Caitlyn nearly choked.
Galen winked at her, and his harmless teasing made her heart squeeze. She couldn’t bring herself to dispute him and explain that no, in fact she was not Brodie’s girl. Never had been. Never would be.
So she changed the subject. “What are you doing? Why are you all here this morning? The park is closed.”
Galen cocked his head in mock exasperation. “Well, obviously we’re not here to play. I don’t usually bring my toolbox to a day at the amusement park.”
“We’re here to help clean up the park, to get you guys back up and running again,” Deke offered as he walked by, carrying a power saw. “Didn’t Brodie tell you? He asked us to come.”
“Really? All of you?”
Everyone in Horseback Hollow hated Cowboy Country USA. Why in the world would they do this? Why would they help them?
“Deke, no, Brodie didn’t tell me.”
“Well, you’ll have to take that up with him. I need to get this inside. This is heavy. There’s a couple gallons of paint in the bed of my truck. Why don’t you toss that rope over your shoulder and grab the paint? We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we aren’t getting anything done by standing around talking.”
Caitlyn was speechless. This just didn’t add up. She thought these people were ready to run them out of town on a rail. Why would they give their time to he
lp out the place that had essentially been put out of commission?
Then it hit her.
Of course. It was so obvious.
What Cowboy Country had been missing, that something that she just couldn’t seem to put her finger on was the influence of real cowboys.
Well, here they were today, as if heaven sent.
She put the rope over her shoulder and grabbed the paint buckets. She caught up with Deke just inside the gates. He was talking to Brodie.
Brodie did a double take, and his face brightened. “Good morning. I’m glad you’re here. Even if it does spoil the surprise I had planned for you.”
Surprise?
What was he talking about?
“Did you hire all these people to put the park back together?” she asked.
“Heck, no,” Deke interjected. “This is what real cowboys are about. Helping each other out in times of trouble. We always put personal differences aside when people are in need. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get to work. Are you here to work or talk?”
Exactly. Real cowboys.
She couldn’t very well walk out now. Not when all of these good people had shown up out of the goodness of their own hearts to help out.
She turned back to Brodie. “Did you round up all these people?”
A grin spread over his face. “I did. I realized since it was my fault for not listening to you that I had better fix everything, and fast. You won’t find anyone more reliable than these folks. With everyone pitching in, we can have this place good as new and ready to open by the end of the week.”
“Excuse me? Did I hear you right? Did you just admit that you should’ve listened to me?”
“You’re absolutely right. I should’ve listened.”
Was this the first time she was seeing the real Brodie? Because there seemed to be no spin on this. No pretense or sleight-of-hand. This just might be the real deal. The real man.
But she couldn’t quite let herself believe.
“Brodie, you’re so good at what you do, but sometimes you won’t get out of your own way.”
“I can’t argue that point with you,” he said. “Sometimes I am my own worst enemy. But today I want you to know how deeply sorry I am and I want to show you that I can make things right.”
My Fair Fortune Page 16