Cowboy Baby Daddy

by Claire Adams

  “Who’s talkin’ ‘bout my mama?”

  Greyson’s terrible joke interrupted the friendly conversation Christian and I were having.

  “Greyson,” Christian said.

  “Christian! Congratulations on the company, man,” Greyson said as he held out his hand for Christian to shake. “It’s about time someone younger stepped up and ran this thing.”

  “With a team like Stella and I, things can only go up from here,” Christian said.

  “Listen, I’m proud of you stepping up and taking control when your stepfather asked you to. Don’t let little Stella here try to take that from you,” Greyson said.

  I threw my gaze over to him, my eyes wide with horror. Did he say what I think he just said? How the hell did he know what I was trying to do?

  “Well, my first order of business was hiring Stella to be the senior vice president of the company. She’s got way too much knowledge to throw away on this business. Intimate knowledge of how her father ran things that will become very useful to me,” Christian said.

  “Spoken like a true owner,” Greyson said, smiling. “At any rate, I was rooting for you the entire time. Sometimes men are just better at this kind of thing, eh, Christian?”

  “Actually, as of 2015, women CEOs rake in more than $1.5 trillion dollars of the United States’ overall GDP. Over 9.4 million businesses are owned by women, and of those companies, a whopping 31% of them have created close to 8 million jobs over the past eight years,” Christian said.

  “Whopping, huh?” Greyson said, grinning. “Well, we’re all rooting for you,” Greyson said.

  “And I’m rooting for us both,” Christian said.

  The two of them looked at one another for a little while, and I couldn’t help but grin. I had no idea why in the world Christian had just stood up for me in front of Greyson, but I was honestly thankful for it. It was nice to think someone was in my corner.

  You know, before it came back to me that my father had given him the family business.

  “Let me know if you need any help, alright?” Greyson asked. “We all want to see this place succeed after the passing of your stepfather.”

  “This place will succeed. I hired my secret weapon as my VP,” Christian said, grinning.

  I watched Greyson leave before Christian turned his smile toward me. I was at a complete loss to what had just happened. Not only had Greyson come in and blatantly insulted me in my own damn office, he hadn’t even acknowledged the fact that I was in the room.

  “You alright?” Christian asked.

  “Why would you stand up for me like that?” I asked, turning my surprised look to him.

  “He’s a dick, Stella. We all know that. No one on this planet knows why you’re dating him,” he said.

  “He really isn’t such a bad guy,” I said. “He’s just set in his ways.”

  “And those ways just happen to think you aren’t capable of running this company,” he said.

  “Well, he’s not the only man in my life who thinks that,” I said.

  “Remember what I promised you?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “That we would figure out why your father did this the way he did?”

  “Oh, yeah, yeah,” I said. “We’ll figure it out.”

  “Together. That’s what people do during tough times. They band together and get out of it side by side. They don’t put each other down to make the other feel superior,” he said.

  “Are we still talking about my father?” I asked.

  “Does that sound anything remotely like your father?” Christian asked, grinning.

  I couldn’t help but smile at him, but my phone ringing in my bag interrupted the conversation.

  “I’m heading on back to the store. The contractor will be out here within the next hour to take a look at the dimensions,” he said.

  I felt myself bristle at that statement. It was just another reminder of why I was doing this. Of why I was taking the company back and putting it in the hands of who needed to control it.

  He was destroying everything.

  “Sounds good. That’s probably one of the warehouses calling me back,” I said.

  “Let me know what they say,” he said before he turned and left the room.

  I scrambled for my phone, recognizing the number showing on the screen. It was my lawyer calling me back, and I hoped he had good news to share.

  “Hello?”

  “Miss Harte, I’ve got some good news,” he said.

  “Perfect. Hit me with it,” I said.

  “You do have one other avenue you can pursue with regard to taking the company back from Mr. Gunn, but it’s going to require liquidating your father’s other assets.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Your father left the company to Mr. Gunn, but he left control of his estate to you. So, his stock and bond portfolios, his bank accounts, and his property are all under your control,” he said.

  “Alright. So, what do I have to do with them?” I asked.

  “You’d sell them. Cash it all in, sell the property, and put it all into a dump account and slowly purchase shares of your company’s stock. If you can gain the controlling percentage of the stock in the company, it doesn’t matter whose face represents the company in the media. Whoever holds majority stock holds the best interest of the company,” he said.

  “If I liquidated, would I have enough money to even execute something like that?” I asked.

  “You would have to do it over an extended period of time. One, maybe even two years.”

  “No. I need something sooner than that. He’s already making changes that my father never would’ve agreed to. He’s going to run this place into the ground,” I said.

  “If you feel he’s mentally unfit, we can always take that route. You can put him through the wringer in court and scoot him out. This is your only other option if you don’t want to mutually settle it with him,” he said.

  “And there are no other avenues?” I asked.

  “None. Take your time and think on this, Miss Harte. Whatever route you choose, it’s a long one, and it’s going to drudge up a great deal of ill will along the way,” he said.

  “Thank you for your call, sir,” I said.

  I hung up the phone before I tossed it onto the couch. My eyes fluttered back to the picture Christian had left standing on the coffee table, and the happiness in my father’s eyes brought tears to mine. There wouldn’t be a day that would go by for the rest of my life that I wouldn’t wish he was here to help me through these decisions, and I felt a tear run my cheek before I wiped it away.

  Harte To Heart Medical Supplies deserved better than Christian, and I was going to make sure it got what it deserved.

  Chapter Eleven

  Christian

  “So, how was the first day?”

  I lifted the heavily weighted barbell as Todd helped me rack it. I’d gotten up early this morning to go to the gym with him since he had a day off, and I was glad. While the first day at work seemed to go well, I knew Stella was still trying to take the company away from me.

  Which meant I had been tense and on my guard all day.

  “I mean, it went well. I walked in, and Stella was already trying to control everything,” I said.

  “Did we expect any different?” he asked.

  “Well, it confirmed my fears,” I said.

  “What fears?” he asked.

  “She’s still trying to take the company from me,” I said.

  “Is that a shocking thing to you?” he asked.

  “Well, I hoped offering her the job would squash that passion in her,” I said.

  “Dude, I didn’t tell you to hire her to shut her up. I told you to hire her so you could keep her close.”

  “Makes sense,” I said. “You ready?”

  “Yeah, switch out.”

  I got up from the bench, and Todd laid down before I put on another set of weights. He was grunting out his reps and
sets of bench presses as we were beginning our exercising, but my mind was swirling with other thoughts.

  “What’s going on in that head?” he asked as he racked the weights.

  “I just never pictured myself as a business owner, you know? But, by the end of the day yesterday, people were already congratulating me on the good job I was doing,” I said.

  “Think they were just trying to kiss ass?” he asked.

  “I honestly don’t know. I mean, it’s not like anyone called me out of the blue and told me that. That would be ass kissing. But, people I encountered throughout the day would pat me on the back and tell me,” I said.

  “Ah, so they were being soothing and supportive. Got it,” he said. “Was Stella one of those people?”

  “Is that really a question you have to ask?”

  “Well, at least she’s partially honest in where she stands,” he said. “You want to go another round?”

  “Nah, I’m good. I could go for a round of pull-ups though,” I said.

  “We can do that,” he said.

  I walked over to the corner and jumped to grab the bar before I pumped out a round of 20. By the time I was done, sweat was bursting on my brow, and Todd was itching to get up there. Todd was scrawny, but he was strong. The way his body seemed to fool you into thinking he was a weak little coffee nerd before he beat your ass in football was something I always laughed at.

  It was very entertaining, watching people underestimate him before he whipped their ass.

  “I guess I could try to work on my relationship with Stella. You know, since we didn’t cultivate one when we were younger,” I said.

  “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” Todd said breathlessly.

  “She’s not my enemy, dude. She’s my stepsister. I want her to feel at home in the company. I want us to work well together,” I said.

  “Well, she’s trying to take it from you, so if you want to go the lovey-dovey route, be my guest. Just protect yourself, Christian. Keep an eye out,” he said.

  “You know who did drop by to wish me a job well done, though?” I asked.

  “Who?”

  “Greyson,” I said.

  “Oh, shit! The douche-friend stopped by. How did that go?”

  “He berated Stella and her ability to run the company right in front of me. Spewed some bullshit about how men were better at working than women,” I said.

  “Why the fuck is Stella with him again?” he asked.

  “I don’t fucking know. I mean, I’ve heard Daisy mouth off about him a couple times, but that was the first time I’d ever met the guy,” I said.

  “Daisy?” he asked.

  “Stella’s best friend,” I said.

  “She hot?” he asked.

  “Shut up.”

  “Just asking! Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he said. “What did you say to the dick?”

  “I gave him a few updated statistics on the number of women who were CEOs of companies and how many jobs those women have created as well as how much revenue women-owned businesses bring to the country’s overall GDP,” I said.

  “And you say you’re not fit to run a company,” he said with a smirk.

  “I don’t like him. I have no idea why the hell Stella’s fucking around with a guy like him.”

  “Well, that’s a first,” he said.

  “A first what?” I asked as I jumped for the pull-up bar.

  “I’ve never heard you be a protective stepbrother before. It looks good on you. Keep up the good work.”

  “Thanks,” I grunted.

  I finished my second set of 20 reps of pull-ups before I hopped down. Todd got his set in before the two of us sat down on the bench, but my mind was no longer focused on the workout.

  It was focused on the next day of work.

  “I know that look,” Todd said.

  “What?”

  “You’re thinking about work,” he said.

  “Not a chance. It’s the weekend. Any parties we should be getting into?” I asked.

  “You’re thinking about work. It’s official. You’re the owner of a company who’s doing this ‘adult thing’ right,” he said.

  “Whatever, man.”

  “Let’s finish up and get you home so you can have more thoughts about what work will bring next week,” he said, grinning.

  “I’m not thinking about work!”

  “You can lie all you want! I know what thinking about work looks like,” he said.

  “Because you do it all the time, of course,” I said.

  “Oh, that hurts. That hurts deep, man,” he said.

  We finished up our workout with a decent run around the track before we parted ways. He was right; my mind was whirling with things from work. Numbers and figures and designs for the offices. Stella had yet to get me the information and dates for the projects already in the works, so I was planning how I would approach her Monday. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t living in the present. I was worrying about the future and what it would bring, and I didn’t like it.

  Todd was still living his life just as carefree as he could, and I was chained to a company I didn’t know shit about.

  I walked through the doors of my house and went straight to my refrigerator. I stood in front of my mother’s letter, scanning it with my eyes again as I reminded myself why I was doing this. Everything in my body wanted to hand this company over to Stella. I had no passion for running it, I had no passion for improving it, and I had no desire to be chained to it.

  But, every single time my eyes read that one sentence, it would remind me of why I was doing this.

  “Please forgive me, my sweet baby boy. I never meant to stunt you in any way.”

  “You didn’t stunt me, Momma,” I said as I ran my fingers over the letter.

  I wasn’t there for my mother when she was alive. I didn’t work hard enough to prove to her that her parenting tactics worked. I was ungrateful about everything she gave me, and I was lazy because I knew she would continue to give it to me, no matter what. Instead of growing into a man who took care of his mother, I grew into a man who took advantage of her.

  I couldn't be there for her when she was alive, but I sure as hell could do it now that she was dead.

  “I will do this for you,” I said aloud. “And you’ll be proud of me. I promise.”

  And as I backed away from the letter, sitting my ass on my kitchen counter, I felt tears rise to my eyes as I thought about the emotional state she must’ve been in when she wrote this letter.

  “I’m so sorry, Momma,” I whispered. “Please forgive me.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Stella

  Bagel in hand, I walked through the doors of the offices only to be met by Christian. I looked down at my watch, realizing it wasn’t quite 8 yet, and I honestly had to say I was impressed. To my knowledge, Christian had never taken a job that required him to be anywhere before noon, but he was still wearing that goofy-looking suit.

  And he was holding two cups of coffee.

  “Care for some caffeine?” he asked.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “So, I’d like to start off today with a little meeting between the two of us,” he said.

  “Alright. What’s up?” I asked.

  “Come on into my office.”

  I watched him turn around and wondered where in the world this was going. Christian wasn’t one to take the initiative, so the mere fact that he was commanding me to do something was well beyond him. I followed him into the office he had outfitted for himself, and he beckoned for me to sit on the couch in the corner with him.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “I know you’re not happy about me handling the company, but I want you to understand that I’m taking this very seriously,” he said.

  “Alright.”

  “There’s a meeting we have on Friday with a potential client,” he said.

  “Oh, really? And who is this client?” I aske
d.

  “It’s a doctor that has moved into town and is opening her own practice. I think it would be good if you came with me. I think she might feel better discussing things with a woman, and you are still more knowledgeable about the products around here than I am,” he said.

  “I take it they’ll be needing the basics? Regular orders of gauze, needles, that sort of thing?” I asked.

  “Yep. She admires the reputation Harte To Heart has in the community and rallies around the charities your father donated to. I told her we could meet with her Friday to solidify things as well as answer any questions she might have. I would also like to prepare her a ‘welcome to the family’ sort of box with things she’ll need right from the get-go.”

  “Like gauze, trial medications, canes to display in her office, things like that,” I said.

  “Yeah. I thought that might be another good incentive the company could start doing. You know, to attract more regular clients. Oh, and I wanted to know what you thought about warehouse-to-doctor shipping. It would enable us to take on more clients without having to house all the inventory. Plus, we could start offering more of the bigger items, which would bring us more profit faster,” he said.

  It was like I was looking at an entirely different person. Christian was no longer the idiotic, bobble-headed boy I’d always seen growing up. He had somehow become knowledgeable enough about running a business to know about these kinds of things, which told me he must have worked on this over the weekend.

  Suddenly, his baby blue eyes were looking out from the face of a man instead of a child.

  “If you could reach out to the warehouse contacts and get them on board, we could even start offering a few purchases online. As a test run. We’d have to hire a web developer to set up the store for us, and possibly revamp the website, but the upfront cost would be worth it in the long run. I had a few of the employees shoot me suggestions to my email over the weekend.”

  “Wait, you reached out to the employees?” I asked.

  “Yep. I sent them all a follow-up email detailing the points of that first meeting, just in case they didn’t make it. At the end, I told them to hit me up with any suggestions they might have for the company,” he said.