It's Only Temporary - The Complete Collection

by Megan Bryce

  “We’ll go see a doctor.”

  “There’s no money for a doctor.”

  She reached across him for her purse, digging through it and pulling out a check. She handed it to him and said, “There is now.”

  He stared at the signature. “This is Cole’s company.”

  “I sold my shares of Caldwell.”

  “You…” He looked back up. “Why?”

  “For Harwood’s deal. I don’t know if that will be enough, and I’m not saying I don’t have to approve it, but it’s for us. We’re the Beaumonts, Tanner. You and me. This is our shot, our dream. And we’ll fall or stand on our own four feet.”

  She put her hand on his arm and said, “I think we’ll stand.”

  He waved his hand at the vomit covering his shirt. “You do?”

  She said, “Did you go ask Cole Montgomery to work with you on a deal for Jackson Harwood?”

  “Yes. He said no.”

  “Oh. Well, you still did it. You’ll do what has to be done. Even when you don’t want to.”

  “He gave me something to take back to Harwood. I’ll get a commission, sort of.” If he could get Harwood to accept it.

  Ginny smiled at him, her face radiant, and he said, “Maggie’s not going to like it.”

  She waved that away. “Maggie understands business. Understands working with people you’d rather be shooting.”

  “That a direct quote?”

  She nodded and put her hand on his knee. “I know you’ll do the same for your drinking. You’ll do what has to be done.”

  “It’s a little different.”

  “Is it? Have you given up? Are you thinking right now that you’ll just have to keep drinking, there’s no way to beat it?”

  That’s not what he was thinking. He wouldn’t go cold turkey again, he’d thought he was going to die.

  But there might be drugs he could take to help with the withdrawal. Or maybe he could taper off. Drink less. Go to therapy. Even AA.

  He looked into her eyes and she was smiling at him.

  She said, “I know you’re not thinking of giving up. Even now. Even covered in vomit. ‘It’s not how many times you get knocked down that counts, it’s how many times you get back up.’”

  He smiled at her quote, squeezing her hand. “And who said that?”

  “George Armstrong Custer.”

  Tanner blinked and said, “The one who didn’t get back up again ever?”

  “Tanner, everyone doesn’t get back up eventually.”

  “Yes, well, he did it rather spectacularly. No one with him got back up again either.”

  She laughed a little. “It does put a different spin on it, doesn’t it? But I still like it. I still think it means to get back up again until you absolutely can’t. And that’s when you’re dead.”

  He leaned his head back, closing his eyes, a smile on his lips.

  She closed his door and when she got in the driver’s side, she said, “So. We’ll go see a doctor.”

  He nodded. “Yes. You’re right, I’m not dead yet. I’ll try again.”

  “I know you will.”

  He opened his eyes, looked at the check. “I can’t believe you sold your shares. I can’t believe Cole bought them.”

  “You can’t?”

  He could tell by her voice that she’d seen what he’d seen. Cole Montgomery was in love with Maggie. That’s why he wanted to buy the loan from Harwood, why he would buy shares of Caldwell when it was worthless. Less than worthless.

  Tanner said, “I never thought I’d say this. But poor bastard.”

  Ginny said, “I thought the exact same thing.”

  Maggie spent the week in Midland. Four whole days, not leaving until Friday morning and only then because she had things to take care of before the weekend. Cole had asked and she’d stayed, and she didn’t know what that meant. Except that she’d been horny and he’d been Cole. And God, she’d do it again. Was doing it again come Monday.

  Except next week she’d be bringing supplies. Clothes, toiletries.

  She’d been forced to rough it, relying on what she could find instead of dressing to kill. It was surprising how little clothing could cost when all you were buying was jeans and t-shirts from Walmart. And boots.

  Cole hadn’t seemed to care. Although he did like her wearing her heels late at night, when they had nothing else to do.

  Which wasn’t often. Because Cole hadn’t been exaggerating. He worked long, hard hours. He visited wells, poured over maps, kept track of injuries, distances drilled each shift, flowing barrels, crude futures.

  Maggie fell into bed each night, too tired to care that they did not, in fact, fit in a queen. Cole’s toes hung over the edge, Maggie’s head had a permanent bruise from the headboard. Cole slept with his nose pressed into her neck, his soft snores moving her hair back and forth.

  They’d never slept together. Before.

  She’d never slept with any man, always leaving or pushing him out when the scratch had been itched.

  She liked it fast and then gone.

  But with Cole sleeping next to her, sharing an office, living in a trailer with little to no privacy, there was no gone. No stepping back.

  Her only time alone was when he went to visit his wells and half the time he dragged her along with him.

  They spent twenty-four hours together, and she’d never been so relaxed. She hadn’t eaten so much food since…never. She’d never laughed so much, never had someone who could listen to an idea and then one-up her.

  They thrived on trying to one-up the other. She lived to hear Cole yell for Paul to type up a proposal.

  Maggie parked in front of the ranch house and sat in her car, thinking she’d never had such a fun week. She hadn’t wanted to come home.

  She looked at the old bricks and storm shutters and thought it looked different. It didn’t look so much like home anymore.

  She nearly knocked on the front door before entering, then shook herself. She’d only been gone four days.

  She went straight to her bedroom, needing a shower in a stall bigger than a refrigerator before heading to the office.

  Ginny followed her in a few minutes later and her eyes went into a flurry of blinking when she saw Maggie. “What are you wearing?”

  Maggie looked down. “Just jeans.”

  “Is that a zombie on your t-shirt?”

  Maggie laughed, shrugging. “I thought why not? Who’s going to see me?”

  “Cole?”

  “He wanted one. Kept trying to see if this one would fit him.”

  Maggie laughed again, rummaging through her closet trying to find something to wear to the office. She didn’t need a man-killer outfit but she did need to look professional.

  Maggie said, “I’m going into work for a little while and then over to Cole’s.” She grinned at her sister over her shoulder. “Video games.”

  “You’re not staying here tonight?”

  Maggie pulled out a white wrap top, loose tan pants, then paused. “It’s weird, right? I should need some time to myself.”

  “Not weird. Nice.”

  Maggie shook her head. “No. I’ll call him, tell him I’m not coming over. He could probably use a break, too.”

  Although he hadn’t acted like he needed a break. He’d tried to give her his house key so she could get in if she got done before he got back.

  Ginny said, “Do you want to be alone tonight?”

  She didn’t. She wanted to play video games and sleep with Cole on a bed large enough to experiment on.

  Maggie sat down, laying her clothes out neatly beside her and smoothing her hand down them.

  She said quietly, “I’m forgetting. I think I already forgot. I promised him forgiveness, but I was supposed to remember. He’s not a friend.”

  “If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, maybe it is a duck.”

  “Do you really think Cole has friends?”

  “Uh…do you have friends?”

 
; Maggie snorted. “Okay. Point taken.” She closed her eyes, sighed. “That’s what this is then. Friends. Friends who have to watch their backs.” She opened her eyes. “That’s fair if he has to watch his, too.”

  Ginny shook her head, looked up to the ceiling. “Maggie. I don’t think he’d hurt you again. I think you can trust him.”

  “Well, I may have forgiven him. I’ve probably even forgotten. But trust? Trust Cole Montgomery? That sounds stupid, and I’m not stupid.”

  Ginny scrunched her face up in pain, picked at her nails, and said quickly, “I sold my shares to him.”

  Maggie jerked her head back. “What?”

  “Tanner needs funds. My shares are all I have left.”

  Maggie opened her mouth and then just sat there.

  She finally said, “Your shares aren’t worth anything right now.”

  “You’ll make Caldwell profitable again. I know it. He knows it.”

  Maggie’s heart contracted and for a second she thought she just might be having a heart attack. She whispered, “You gave Cole half of Caldwell?”

  “No. I sold it to him. And it wasn’t half, it was thirty percent. I still have proxy voting for half of Daddy’s shares, like you.”

  “And are you going to sell Daddy’s shares when you get your mitts on them, too?”

  “If I need to.”

  Maggie thumped her chest, tried to get it started again. Tried not to feel betrayed.

  She said, “You can’t sell your shares without my approval.”

  Ginny nodded. “I know. I thought Cole was a reasonable solution. But if you don’t want him owning Caldwell, I can find someone else.”

  “I’ll buy the shares.”

  “How? With what? You know you can’t divert any cash right now. And Tanner needs it now.”

  “Ginny… Tanner…”

  “There’s nothing you can say that I don’t know already.”

  Maggie closed her mouth.

  Ginny said, “I know who he is. And I know he needs someone who can see the quicksand because all he can see is the pot of gold. Between the two of us, I think we can do this. And if we can’t, then we’ll fail together.”

  Maggie closed her eyes and just sat there. Sat there, clutching her stomach.

  Maggie said, “When? When did this happen?”

  “Monday.”

  Maggie opened her eyes to glare at her sister. “And you don’t think I have to watch my back. Because you sold him half my company on Monday and I’m just finding out about it now.”

  “It’s thirty percent. And maybe he was waiting for me to tell you.”

  “He was waiting for me to never find out. I want to see it. The contract.”

  “It was verbal.”

  Maggie shook her head, a hysterical laugh pushing past her lips.

  Ginny said, “He gave me a check.”

  Maggie stopped laughing. She held her hand out and Ginny sighed. “I deposited it. I have a copy, I’ll get it.”

  She left to get it and Maggie bent over. The horror of Cole owning any part of her company, thirty percent of her company, threatening to force her lunch up.

  She’d happily worked with him but own with him? He had a say in what Caldwell did now?

  No.

  Never.

  No.

  Ginny came back in, dropping to her knees beside Maggie. “Maggie, I love you. You’re my sister. But I’m not a Caldwell anymore. I need to stand by my husband. He needs me more than you do.”

  “I don’t understand you.”

  “I know you don’t.”

  Ginny showed her the copy and Maggie looked at it, at how much Cole had paid, and knew she couldn’t undo this. She couldn’t make her sister give that money back. It was more than the shares were worth.

  If Ginny and Tanner were careful, if they were lucky, it was a good chance at a new beginning.

  Especially if they had no debt hanging over their necks.

  She let out a long sigh. She’d always known Ginny didn’t care for Caldwell like Maggie did. To Ginny, it was just a company.

  To Maggie, it was her birthright. It wasn’t just a duty, a job, it was the physical embodiment of everything her family had ever worked for.

  Her grandfather had risked everything to come out west and he’d been rewarded for his sacrifice. He’d been lucky and had used that luck to build a dynasty for those who came after him. He’d passed it on to his son, who’d passed it on to his daughters.

  And half of his daughters didn’t know what that meant. Half of his daughters didn’t realize it was her duty to pass it on to her children.

  Maggie sat up, looking into Ginny’s eyes, knowing there wasn’t going to be any children for her to pass it on to.

  Maybe that was the difference.

  Maggie had sat and cried with her sister, but she knew she still couldn’t really understand what no children meant.

  Maggie wasn’t sure about children herself but she knew she had the option. An option that Ginny didn’t have.

  Maggie said softly, “That’s more than I was expecting.”

  Ginny licked her lips. “I knew he’d want it. If he thought it was available.”

  Maggie looked down at the copy again, saying, “Don’t let Tanner have all the fun.”

  Ginny wrapped her arms around Maggie. “Thank you, Maggie. If I really thought Cole was a threat, I wouldn’t have ever offered them to him.”

  Maggie patted her back and stared at the opposite wall. “I’ll handle Cole. It’s only thirty percent.”

  She pushed Ginny away, gripping her shoulders. “Do not sell any of Daddy’s shares. If you need more money, come to me. I can’t have minority share of my own company.”

  Ginny nodded. “You know I’ll always vote with you.”

  “No. You’re supposed to vote for what’s best for Caldwell.”

  Ginny smiled. “And you always do what’s best for Caldwell.”

  Maggie tried, at least. Failed miserably sometimes. But she tried.

  She nodded to the paper. “What’s your plan for it?”

  “We’re going in with Harwood. It actually looks like a good deal. Good return, acceptable risk.”

  Maggie nodded, rising and heading for the shower, and Ginny said, “Maggie–”

  Maggie turned to find her sister looking torn.

  “Is everything else alright?”

  “I just wanted you to know…” Ginny looked behind her, out the door. She finally looked back at Maggie. “I just wanted you to know that Tanner got really sick. He tried to stop drinking. He’s going to see a doctor next week, we’re going to see a doctor.”

  Maggie nodded, saying simply, “Good. I’ll do anything to help.”

  “He has to do it himself. But maybe no alcohol in the house?”

  “Of course. Sounds like a good idea anyway.”

  What really sounded like a good idea was to go find a bottle and then go find the bottom of it.

  But she couldn’t do it. She didn’t trust her stomach with alcohol still. It hadn’t hurt in quite some time but right now it was roiling and cramping.

  Instead, she was going to go to work. And then she was going to find the new owner of Caldwell Holdings.

  And try not to kill him.

  Tanner laid on his bed and tried not to think. Tried not to think about Maggie finding out about them buying Harwood’s loans before it went through. They’d worked out the terms, Tanner getting better than Cole required. Better enough that there would be a nice chunk of change coming to Tanner. And Ginny.

  Tanner wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her negotiate before. Hadn’t ever seen her eyes glow like that, like she knew she had the upper hand. Like she knew Harwood would rather pay than have to worry about another visit from Cole.

  She’d sat at Harwood’s desk and told him Cole wouldn’t ever work with him, that Harwood wouldn’t want to work with Cole. That he was better off cutting all ties to Maggie and Cole.

  And in the end, Harwood w
ould have paid to get rid of Maggie’s loans if that’s what Ginny had wanted.

  In the end, Tanner was half afraid Cole was standing outside the room waiting for his vengeance.

  He knew the Caldwells got what they wanted, he’d just never seen it before. Is that what she’d done to marry him? To her daddy?

  But now, with the income from Harwood’s deal and the difference from Cole for the loans, there was money coming in at last.

  Money. Real money.

  Almost as importantly, success.

  And he hated feeling this way but it was true nonetheless, it was success for Tanner Beaumont, not Caldwell Holdings.

  Tanner and Ginny Beaumont.

  He still couldn’t believe she’d sold her shares

  For him. For them.

  Ginny opened the door, walking back in, and Tanner said to the ceiling, “Did you tell her?”

  “No. He’s helping her, not hurting her. She’s not going to like it but…” She took a deep breath. “And I said I’d choose you.”

  Tanner closed his eyes, trying to make himself believe that being noble was better than being successful. “You can tell her. You don’t need to feel like you’re betraying her. I’m not even sure she could stop it now.”

  Ginny crawled into the bed, fitting her head into the crook of his shoulder, shaking it against him. “She’s mad enough about the shares.”

  He opened his eyes. “Is she going to stop that?”

  “I already told you no. She wouldn’t.”

  “I don’t own any shares. Your mother didn’t even own any shares. I was expecting your sister’s head to spin all the way around when she found out.”

  “Maybe I know my sister better than you.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re telling me she didn’t start screaming?”

  She said quietly, “She just stared at me like she couldn’t believe it.”

  He saw the tears shimmering in her eyes and he hugged her close.

  She said through a voice choked with tears, “I’m glad Daddy doesn’t know. It was bad telling Maggie, it would be worse having to tell him.”

  “We’ll find some other way. Go tell her you change your mind.”

  She shook her head, hid her face into his chest. “It hurts but it has to be done. I’d do it even if Daddy was awake to yell at me. It might be easier, actually. Anger might be easier to deal with than shocked disbelief.”