by Nicole Helm
But she didn’t want to find any kind of leverage. She just wanted to have things work. She wanted to help Gallagher’s in a way Uncle Craig couldn’t argue with. He couldn’t argue that this wasn’t a much better use of their money and connection with the community. Even if he didn’t agree, the board would surely outvote him.
A farmers’ market would cost so much money to start, and working with Carter wouldn’t take very much at all: a new menu, and most of the food costs would simply be diverted from the food budget they already had.
Carter was a stubborn man, suspicious after having been burned a lot. She needed to find some patience with him. He probably deserved a little bit of patience.
He’d bought her coffee. He’d made it. He was a man worth . . . well, something.
“Are you saying that you sell every piece of produce every season at a few farmers’ markets? Wouldn’t it be easier to work as a partner with a restaurant that would—”
“Get to dictate what I grew, and when they wanted it, and what quality it had to be. A partner who would have a say in everything I do on a day-to-day basis. A partner who could pull out at any time, leaving me with nothing. Is that the kind of partner you mean?”
“Obviously there would be a contract, and—”
“A contract that would benefit Gallagher’s far more than it benefited me. Even if I could afford a lawyer, I can’t afford one like yours. Any contract would be stacked against me from the start.”
Dinah couldn’t believe he was still arguing with her. It had been a perfect solution. How could he not see that?
“Dinah, I know you’re trying to do the right thing here.”
His estimation she was trying to do something right only made her bristle further. She had every right to buy his land, too. This was not about doing the right thing, it was about compromise. Help. Working together.
“I don’t trust the Gallaghers. I don’t trust them to have my best interest at heart, or even be equally invested in my interests.”
“I am part of Gallagher’s,” Dinah replied, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.
“You want me to trust you, but I don’t have any reason to.”
It shouldn’t hurt. His not trusting her shouldn’t have any effect on her whatsoever. What right did she have to think he should trust her?
But it did hurt her feelings and she was surprised to find she even felt a little teary. Which was obnoxious and embarrassing.
“I’m sorry,” Carter said gravely.
His apology somehow made it worse. He probably only felt bad because she was sitting there looking all too close to tears. His sorry had no real regret behind it. What on earth was wrong with her thinking she could . . . could . . .
“I do wish things could be different,” he said softly, and it was the first gentle thing he’d said that didn’t piss her off. Because she wished that too. If they both wished things could be different . . .
“Don’t you think if we both feel that way, there’s something we could do about it?” she asked, trying not to sound desperate, even though she was afraid that’s exactly what she was being.
“I’ve spent my life not getting what I wanted. Sometimes there isn’t anything you can do about it.”
She reached across the table and put her hand on his. It was warm and strong, but he had been beaten down a number of times. Maybe he needed someone to stand up and fight with him, like Kayla had always done for her before this week. “Sometimes, Carter, there is something you can do about it. Sometimes there are options and chances and possibilities if you’re willing to fight a little bit.”
“Baby, I have done nothing but fight my whole life, and I’m tired of it. I’ve got what I want, and I’m not going to lose it.” He turned his hand and curled his fingers with hers, giving a little squeeze.
It hurt to see the failed fights right there in his eyes, but not the way things normally hurt. Not because it affected her in any way. She hurt for him, and she wished he could have had something go his way.
“What is the worst thing this could do to you?” Dinah asked. No matter how she hurt for him, she wasn’t willing to back down. “It’s not like it would break you. If you set some of the terms and you still had your farmers’ markets, you’d still have the income you have now. You’d just be adding to it.”
“It isn’t feasible.”
“You don’t know yet! You haven’t even considered it. I won’t ask you to make a decision right now, but I am asking you to think about it. Maybe come up with a plan where you think it could work, and then I can look at it and see if it works with what I have in mind. Don’t you think it’s worth a shot to at least consider?”
What she was really asking was, didn’t he think they had a shot. She knew it was dangerous to ask with her heart, when her brain needed to be in charge of business.
Letting herself do this was an anomaly, and she almost told him how she never mixed business and her personal life, but that would give him too much power. It would certainly show him just how pathetic she was.
“All I ask is that you think about it,” she said resolutely, trying to focus on the business side of her brain. “Think about a possible way it would work for you. If you can’t find a way and we can’t work anything out, then we move on. But I think it has a chance to be really great, and I would love for you to consider it. Please.”
He stared at her for a few seconds, lines bracketing his mouth and his forehead. So serious and world-weary for a man who couldn’t be too many years older than her.
When he finally spoke, he looked down at his hands. “Why?”
She blinked and sat back, trying to take a calm breath instead of a sharp inhale. She knew what he was asking. It wasn’t just your average why, it was why not keep fighting for his land? Why not take him down in the way she was so sure she could?
Which meant her answer would have to be honest, and that scared her more than anything. To be honest and to show her weakness to him. But she liked him. Really liked him.
She liked him enough to come up with this alternative plan. Enough to want . . . more. When had she ever been scared of going after more?
“I don’t want to buy your farm, Carter. I will keep pressing you on that if it’s the only option. Paving over the place would give me no pleasure and no joy and I don’t think it’s in the best interest of Gallagher’s.” She shouldn’t have said that, but it came pouring out of her. She’d never had feelings like this before, and she didn’t know how to compartmentalize them the way she usually did.
“If it’s all I can do to get my rightful place, I will do it. But, if there’s another way, I will find another way.”
“So . . . this has nothing to do with D and C?”
She could say it had nothing to do with that. She could lie, and she had no doubt she could make him believe that lie. But she didn’t want to lie about it. Not to him. Not now.
“I wouldn’t say it has nothing to do with . . .” She could’ve said them, kept up this farce that D and C were separate from Dinah and Carter. But the whole point of this meeting was that she didn’t want to keep up the farce and the war. She didn’t want to pretend. She wanted to be Dinah with him, and she wanted him to be Carter. She wanted them to work together and see what could grow.
She wanted reality. Which was frightening, and she’d never been a fan of things she didn’t know how to conquer. But she wasn’t a coward, even if she was afraid.
“It is partially about us,” she said forcefully, letting it sit there between them like the little bomb that it was.
* * *
Carter could not in a million years have predicted this. There was certainly nothing he could have done to prepare himself for this compromise, this offer . . .
It is partially about us. She had said that as though she felt everything he’d been feeling the past few days. As though she felt strongly enough to want to change the course of her business plan.
He didn’t know what to
do with that. Not as the waiter put the bottle of wine on the table. Not as he put the plate of cannoli between them. Nothing about the romantic scene in the little Italian restaurant, with the beautiful woman across the table from him, made any sense whatsoever.
He studied Dinah as she took a seemingly careless sip of wine before sliding a cannoli onto her plate. Anyone who walked past her would think she was completely and utterly unaffected. A woman on a date having a decent enough time, maybe a little bored.
But he saw the flicker of nerves in her hazel eyes, and the way she nibbled on the cannoli rather than actually eat it proved his point. She wasn’t suggesting this on a whim. Or because the sex had been amazing. She felt the same things he felt and she was willing to put some of her pride on the line for it.
He admired that about her, even as it scared the living hell out of him. What was he supposed to do with this woman? She was beautiful and nearly perfect and far too smart for his own good. If he agreed to this, what else would he agree to?
It felt like a slippery slope, and God knew Jordan and the rest of the neighborhood would judge him for partnering up with Gallagher’s.
But he hadn’t been lying to Dinah when he’d said he was tired of fighting. He was tired of standing up for his land and always having to protect it and struggle for it. A partnership with Gallagher’s would at least put off the fight for a while.
As much as he was growing to care for Dinah, against his will, he still couldn’t imagine a scenario where he gave up this farm he’d worked so hard for.
“I can’t promise anything, but I guess I could . . . consider it.”
She set her wine down a little bit too hard and her grin spread so bright and so fast he couldn’t fight the bolt of pleasure it gave him to bring her some semblance of happiness.
“You’ll really think about it?”
“Think being the operative word. I’ll have to put together some thoughts and plans, look at finances and all sorts of things of that nature.”
“Absolutely. And if you have any questions or anything you want me to ask our chef, I can get you any information you need. I really think this could be great. For Gallagher’s and for you and . . .” She trailed off as she frowned at her wineglass.
“And for us?” he finished for her, because he had no doubt that’s where her thoughts were going.
She glanced up at him, eyes serious. “Yes. Us.” She took a deep breath. “I think us could be . . . good. Don’t you?”
It was insane, but he did think that. How it had come about made no sense, and actually finding a way around her uncle trying to buy his land, it all felt so surreal.
But she was here, across from him, gorgeous and real and wanting the same things he wanted. Wanting to fight—not against him, but with him. How could he not think it had all the potential in the world for good?
So he smiled. “Yeah, I do.”
Chapter 12
“I followed you last night.”
Dinah stopped in her tracks in the hallway of Gallagher’s. Though she’d never been fond of her uncle, his tone and his words were downright creepy, enough to have her shivering.
She turned slowly to face him, trying to maintain an aura of not giving a fuck. “That’s certainly a creepy statement, Uncle Craig.”
“A man wouldn’t have to be creepy if his family members weren’t a bunch of lying, cheating deviants.”
Dinah tried to fight off the shudder of fear, but it got the better of her. Condescending Craig she’d always disliked; flat-out hateful Craig actually scared her a little bit.
“You know, fucking the enemy doesn’t make you any more moral, and certainly not any smarter than your father.”
“You spied on me?” she asked, rage replacing revulsion so quickly it nearly made her sway. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“The director of operations of Gallagher’s, who will be damned if I let a slut ruin everything I’ve worked for.”
“You have some nerve.”
“You are supposed to be buying Carter Trask’s land, but instead I find you—”
“I have no interest in hearing what you found me doing,” Dinah returned, cold and angry and disgusted that he would go to such lengths. She couldn’t even be worried about how it would affect her deal with Carter, she was so outraged.
“I’ll be bringing this to the board.”
Dinah lifted her chin. “Go right ahead. I have a few things to bring to the board myself.”
A muscle ticked in Craig’s jaw as he narrowed his eyes at her. “Like what?”
Interesting. He very nearly sounded concerned. “I guess you’ll have to attend the meeting tomorrow and find out for yourself.”
“Watch your back, Dinah,” Craig muttered, stalking off in the opposite direction.
Dinah let out a shuddery breath. Though her uncle could be mean and intimidating, she’d never felt scared in his presence before. She didn’t care for it, especially when she would need to move Carter along on his decision now. She couldn’t let Friday’s board meeting pass without bringing up her suggestion.
She closed her eyes and turned into Kayla’s office. Craig knew about her and Carter. Which shouldn’t be a terribly big deal, but it would be. It made her look bad. It made her look stupid. It made her look young and foolish and everything the board already thought of her.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“So, it’s true.”
Dinah nearly jumped a foot when she realized Kayla was actually in her office, sitting behind her desk, looking pale and tired in a way that immediately worried Dinah. “Hey, are you all ri—”
“Are you really sleeping with him?”
Dinah blinked, surprised by the undertone of hurt in Kayla’s voice. “I . . . Kay, he . . . he’s the guy. The . . . the email guy.”
Kayla shook her head, her expression scrunching up. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, Carter is the guy I’ve been emailing. I mean, I didn’t know that until . . . Well. It’s not . . .” Dinah blew out a breath. She hadn’t thought about actually explaining this to her family. She really hadn’t thought about much.
The realization she’d lost sight of quite a few things since figuring out Carter and C were one and the same made it hard to catch a full breath. She was a planner, but she hadn’t planned this whole thing out at all.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Dinah tried to come up with an answer to that question. Kayla was her best friend and usually they told each other everything, but Dinah hadn’t wanted to tell anyone about this. Especially when it had all happened so fast and out of the blue and . . .
“I was sitting there, going to meetings with you to convince him to sell his land, and you were sleeping with him? You didn’t think I should have some clue that was going on, considering everything we were up against?”
“It wasn’t going on the whole time. It hasn’t even been going on that long. I just . . . happened to put all the pieces together that he just happened to be the guy I’d been . . . emailing. I know it’s a little crazy, but it’s true. So, I didn’t know how to . . .”
“Didn’t know how to tell me he was the guy you’d been emailing? Didn’t know how to tell me this man we were supposed to crush, was someone you started sleeping with? And now you’ve got this insane idea to fold this guy into our business after you slept with him? This isn’t like you, Dinah, and it’s messed up.”
“Look, I know it looks a little odd, but I promise it isn’t messed up in the least. You know I would never let anything come before Gallagher’s.”
“I don’t know that, actually.”
“Kayla!”
“I’m sorry, did you learn nothing from what your father did?”
Dinah felt as if she’d been slapped. Those words were certainly the metaphorical equivalent, and coming from Kayla . . . “That was hardly business, Kayla. I resent the implication—”
“You’re right. Not business. It was just my mom. My fa
mily. That’s all. Hardly important.”
Dinah stepped toward her cousin, anger mixing with some of the hurt. “You know I do not condone anything my father did. You know I’m just as furious at him for doing that to my mother as I am that he did it to your father, regardless of my feelings toward Craig. I don’t know how you could possibly compare me to him. I know something is going on with you, but turning it around on me is unfair and just plain mean.”
Kayla shook her head. “I don’t like this. I don’t like thinking that you’re being . . .”
“That I’m being what?”
“You’re either being fooled by this farmer guy, fooled by yourself, or maybe just blinded by your damn ambition. Not long ago you were determined you were going to buy his land. No matter what. How many times did you tell me that? Then you find out he was the creepy guy you were creepy emailing and—”
“He’s not creepy. It was never creepy. A little out there maybe, but not creepy.” Why she was bothering to defend herself on this point was beyond her, but it seemed imperative. Hell, if she couldn’t convince Kayla everything was normal, she wouldn’t convince a damn board member.
“It seems creepy to me. You don’t know him. He doesn’t know you. I don’t know how you could possibly think this is a good idea.”
Dinah swallowed the lump in her throat. This was not what she had planned, that was for sure. She wasn’t sure how to deal with business stuff and emotional stuff all mixed up together. She didn’t know how to face her cousin, her best friend, sitting there telling her that everything she was doing was wrong.
Kayla had always backed her up. Always agreed and supported, and Dinah didn’t know how to feel except betrayed. “So, I take it you won’t stand with me at the board meeting,” she managed to say, though her voice was tight and scratchy.
“No, I won’t. Because I think you’re making a huge mistake, and because I quit.”
“I know you think you want to—”
“No, Dinah, you don’t understand. This morning I told Dad, Grandmother, and the board that I quit. Effective immediately. I won’t be a part of Gallagher’s anymore. I don’t want to do this anymore, so I’m not going to. I can’t wait around for the perfect job. I have to get out of here and find some semblance of sanity. It’s not you, and it’s not my dad. I can’t be a part of this anymore.”