With love,
Jackson
With love...
I rolled out of bed and made my way downstairs. I was completely incapable of keeping the ridiculous smile off of my face.
I made some coffee and then set to work arranging my new tables and chairs. I would reopen the restaurant tomorrow, and I had a lot to do before then.
Tyler came over around lunchtime to help me sort out the food situation and get everything ready. We started by going through the kitchen. I bought many of my ingredients fresh daily, but we always had a lot of food in the place. We hadn’t been open for three days, and some of it wasn’t going to be good for much longer. I had very high standards when it came to quality, so I wasn’t going to use them when we re-opened, but I always hated to throw food away.
We started cooking, and I easily fell into a comfortable pattern, like I always did. I had really missed my kitchen, so much in fact, that I might have gotten a little carried away.
....Okay, I got really carried away. When we were done, we had a massive amount of food ranging from sandwiches to full dinners to baked goods. I had no idea what we were going to do with it all.
We packed everything back in the fridge as a temporary solution. We were going to have to get rid of it today so that I could bring in all of the new groceries before tomorrow morning.
I called Jackson. I told myself that I was calling because he might have a good idea for what to do with the food, but if I was honest with myself I knew I just wanted an excuse to talk to him. I was such a sap.
I rang his cell. He picked up after the first ring.
“Alissa?”
“Hi, Jackson.”
“I miss you.” I could hear the smile in his voice. I was glad I called.
“I miss you, too. Are you busy?”
“Yeah, kind of, but I have time for you. What’s up?”
“Right, um Tyler and I did some cooking to make room for the new groceries that I am going to buy today, and now we have a ton of food and no one to eat it. Do you know anyone who might want it?”
“How much food is a ton?”
“Oh, about forty dinners...”
“Really?”
“Well, yeah, and I needed to use up the sliced meats so we made some sandwiches... and some other things...” When I said it out loud, it suddenly seemed like a ridiculous amount of food.
“Alissa? How much food are we really talking about?”
“Well maybe fifty or so sandwiches, too... And a couple pots of soup... And some baked goods... Tyler made pies to use up the berries. They were getting moldy, Jackson. I can’t have that.”
I suddenly felt the need to explain my random cooking spree. I don’t care what his note said. I made massive amounts of food for no one. He was going to think that I was nuts.
“I just... well... I got to cooking, and I’ve kinda’ been missing the kitchen. Please don’t think I’m crazy. I really did need to use this stuff up.” He laughed into the phone, and it was the most wonderful sound. “I don’t think you’re crazy, and I have an idea for where we can send the food.”
“Really?”
“Really. Let me make some calls, and then I’ll come over and help you deliver it. I have a quick 4:00 meeting, and then I’ll be over. You can do your shopping now if you want, and then we’ll put the old food in your van and bring in the new food. Sound like a plan?”
“Perfect. Thank you, Jackson.”
“You’re welcome. See you soon.”
I felt better knowing that we would have somewhere to send the leftover food. Tyler came with me to get the new supplies. I usually shopped alone, but I needed the extra help for a full kitchen re-stock. I could manage the market in the morning, but I needed things like potatoes, which came in fifty-pound bags that were a pain.
Two hours later, Tyler and I returned with a van full of food to find Jackson leaning against my kitchen door. He was talking to someone on the phone. He looked happy, and I hoped that I might be a small part of the reason why.
When I got out of the van, he announced that Jason and Ben were coming to help us with the food. The plan was to take the hot meals and soups to a church that had a soup kitchen. They would be served as part of dinner the next day. The sandwiches were going to a shelter tonight, the same shelter that Jackson had stayed in just a short week ago. I asked if I would need more food. I was willing to put together some extra sandwiches if we wouldn’t have enough, but Jackson said that fifty was perfect. He’d also picked up a couple of cases of bottled water to go with the sandwiches.
We took all of the food to donate out and brought all of the new stuff in for tomorrow.
Jason and Ben followed my van in Jason’s Jeep. We went to the church first and loaded the food into the refrigerators there. We were just going to leave the pots and trays. I could pick them up tomorrow.
We arrived at the shelter about twenty minutes before the men would be allowed inside.
The staff let us in the back entrance, and we set up just inside the front doors. The plan was to hand each person who wanted one, a sandwich and a water on their way to find a bunk. Jackson and I stood side by side, armed with food and water, and Jason and Ben took the other side so we could have two lines.
I will never forget the look on Jackson’s face as he handed my simple sandwiches to those men. He was clearly humbled, and he seemed truly grateful for the opportunity to serve. It was clear that he preferred being on this side of the line this time, but I thought that Jackson would probably have a lot more experiences like this one in the future. He’d learned something about what it means to be hungry, and he’d learned that there are more important things in life than working hard all of the time. I thought Jackson would probably be more of a hands-on giver from now on.
Jason looked up at one point and winked at me. It was obvious that he was very proud of his brother. I was proud of him, too, not to mention madly in love with him.
The sandwiches were mostly gone in about ten minutes, so we packed up and headed back to my restaurant. Jason took the leftovers with him, saying that six or seven sandwiches would be no match for a guy like him. We all laughed at that, but something told me it was probably true.
Jackson and I spent the rest of the night drinking wine on my couch and talking about everything that crossed our minds. It would become a frequent habit of ours for years to come. It was the start of an incredible relationship.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Jackson Hayes, the brilliant real estate tycoon, entrepreneur, financial genius, and recently married man was walking home from work. Admittedly, this was a rare event prompted by the early springtime weather coupled with an extremely productive late-afternoon meeting.
He was in the process of purchasing a company owned by none other than Mr. Matt Ozwell, former part-time employee to Mrs. Alissa Allen-Hayes. It was a small chain of sporting goods stores that were surprisingly profitable despite their new CEO’s lazy attitude.
Matt had inherited the company from his father a month ago, when he’d graduated from college, and Jackson wanted to buy it before Matt had a chance to really screw it up. The due diligence checked out, and pending any further information, the deal was scheduled to close in less than thirty days.
Jackson loosened his tie and threw his perfectly tailored jacket over his arm for the hike across town. He was whistling as he walked, and daydreaming about his incredible wife, Alissa.
About a half a block up, he saw group of three teenage boys harassing an older man that was sitting on the cement steps in front of a vacant retail building. He watched the scene for a moment debating the right thing to do.
The man had a plastic cup in one hand and he was holding it up in an effort to shield himself as the boys flicked pennies at him. The man was making no aggressive move to defend himself, but three against one was not good odds, and the man didn’t appear to be in the best health.
“Hey!” Jackson yelled coming closer a
nd attracting attention to the boys. “Knock it off!” The boys looked at him and seemed to realize that he wasn’t kidding. They took of running down the street leaving only a string of profanities in their wake.
“You okay?” Jackson asked the man.
“Yes, thank you. They’re only boys. Their parents don’t raise them right any more.” Jackson nodded in agreement before putting a twenty-dollar bill in the man’s cup and going on his way. After several visits to volunteer at the shelters, he knew that twenty dollars would not solve the man’s problems, but it might feed him for a day or two.
As he was walking away, his phone vibrated in his pocket.
“Hello.”
“What’s up, my brother?” Jason’s boisterous voice echoed through the phone.
“Nothing.”
“Good, we’re having a night out. Shel, Lexy, and ‘Lissa are off at some open house thing, and you know I can’t cook for shit. We’re going down to the Phyrst. David and I will meet you there in half an hour.”
The line went dead. Jackson looked up at the street sign. He was still ten blocks from home, and it was a ten-minute drive from home to the bar. It looked like he’d need that cab after all.
Jackson
“...so I’m talking to Matt today, during the negotiation, and he tries to tell me that living in the wild is tough,” I said. Jason chuckled and shook his head, taking a long swig of his beer.
“And then, when I call him on it, he tells me that I wouldn’t survive one week in the wilderness on my own, unless I bought a ton of his camping gear.” I paused while the waitress set our burgers in front of us. “This looks so good. I was freaking starving.”
Jason was still shaking his head and laughing across the table. “He’s right though,” he said.
“Who’s right?” I asked.
“Matt Ozwell. Wilderness survival sucks. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to try it.”
“What?” I paused with my burger halfway to my mouth. “You don’t think I could do it?” I looked at David, who just shrugged and returned his attention to his fries.
Jason smiled his typical huge goofy smile at me, and I knew I was in trouble. “No, I don’t,” he said. “I’ve got $50,000 that says you can’t last one week in the wild.” He was cracking up laughing.
“What?” Not this again. David was laughing and shaking his head, clearly trying to stay out of this bit of brother bonding time.
“You heard me,” Jason said. “I’ll bet you fifty grand that you don’t make it one week in the woods. Hell, I’ll even let you have a tent!”
“You can’t be fucking serious,” I said. “I’m a newlywed. ‘Lissa will kick my ass!”
“Take Alissa with you,” he said. “When was the last time you two had an adventure together? It’ll be a marriage builder. If I remember correctly, it worked out okay for you two the last time we tried this kinda’ thing.”
I looked back to David. “What do you think, Dave?”
“I think I’m staying as far away from this as I can. Lexy will kill me if she finds out that I had a hand in making Alissa spend a week in the woods.” I laughed at that. Lexy could be quite a handful. David was a smart man to stay on her good side, but Jason was right. Alissa and I both worked a lot, and we didn’t get to spend as much time together as I would like. We hadn’t even taken a honeymoon yet – preferring to wait until the ongoing legal matters were all solved.
Nick’s trial had just wrapped up last week. He got thirty years for kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, embezzlement, and a whole list of other charges. I was so relieved to have the whole mess behind us, and I knew Alissa was, too.
My businesses had settled down again with a new board member to replace Kayla. She was doing fabulously in her new role. The investigation into Robert had determined that he made a bad judgment call, but was not maliciously involved in anyway. He was doing his job a little more cautiously now, but was actually performing better than ever. The press had lost interest, as they always do, and we were back to business as usual.
Maybe it was time to move on to the next great adventure. Alissa was an incredible woman; she would understand.
“Deal,” I said. “Fifty thousand dollars says Alissa and I are perfectly fine after living one week in the wild.”
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Bet
Chapter 2: Bodyguards and The First Night
Chapter 3: Morning Dawns on a Man for Hire
Chapter 4: When it All Falls Down
Chapter 5: When Jackson Met Alissa
Chapter 6: Who am I?
Chapter 7: Running the World
Chapter 8: Thicker than Water
Chapter 9: The New Plan
Chapter 10: A New Trade
Chapter 11: Fish Guts and Friendship
Chapter 12: Too Much Information
Chapter 13: Revelations and Anger
Chapter 14: Action and Reaction
Chapter 15: Those We Ignore
Chapter 16: Confrontations and Conclusions
Chapter 17: What’s Most Important
Chapter 18: The End of the Whole Mess
Chapter 19: Building Trust
Chapter 20: Home Sweet Home
Chapter 21: Breathing Room
Chapter 22: Lucky Elevator
Chapter 23: Dinner and a Storm
Chapter 24: Nightmares and Break-ins
Chapter 25: Phoenix from the Ashes
Chapter 26: Work and Working, Fights and Fun
Chapter 27: Fast Cars and Slow Nights
Chapter 28: French Toast and Findings
Chapter 29: Surprise After Surprise
Chapter 30: Exhaustion and Abundance
Epilogue
The Billionaire Bum Page 18