"Jobs," Luke said. "That's why Simmons is king out here. He buys hay in massive quantities for the cattle. We don't need to since we grow our own. He hires local truckers, usually living in town or related to someone who does. He's hired most of the young men out of school who are sticking around, giving them a way to stay 'home,' which their parents love."
"He keeps Cats Peak running," Darnell mumbled. "Fuck! We need a damned good plan."
"Blaze is coming," Violet said softly. "He'll help with that."
"So is Cobalt," I told her. "And Cess has him on a tangent about the local cops. Said it looks bad for his district."
Luke wagged his finger between us. "I'm going to make a wild guess that those two aren't friends."
That caught me off guard. "What? Why?" I asked.
"The guy who makes laws and the one who breaks them?" Luke asked.
I moved to the counter, then leaned over beside him. "That's not how a rainbow works. Orange and blue might be opposite colors, but they're still a part of the rainbow. We're all very different, but we all have one thing in common."
"We got a second chance," Darnell finished for me. "When push comes to shove, that one thing hangs over it all. This place is home because it's where we learned how to not be fuckups. We all did different things, and we have shitty reasons for it, but at Southwind, we learned that first impressions aren't always right."
"That's it," I realized. "Darnell, you're a fucking genius."
"I am?" he asked.
I was nodding. "Our first impression got screwed. The bully has targeted us. People envy us because we're rich - " I pointed at myself. "- Or beautiful - " To Violet. " - Successful, happy, or anything else." My eyes raked across Darnell, Cy, and then Luke, making my point. "It's just like when we showed up here as kids. We came in as thugs and left as upstanding citizens. So, the first thing we need to do is make sure that Southwind is seen as an upstanding citizen too."
"Hence the money," Violet realized. "Make the place beautiful, safe, and then welcoming."
"Yep," I agreed.
"Which will only make them hate us more," Cy pointed out. "The fancy house on the hill, not just the big one."
"With jobs," Luke added. "The place that can afford to look good and still hire people. See, that's the thing. People out here are broke, but they will make sure you know that they aren't poor. Poor is what happens when they're lazy, and we sure aren't. We work hard, so it's not our fault that we haven't made it big yet. We just need to get to know someone who can help. Often, someone with money, and trust me, folks around here know just how much it costs to paint that many feet of pipe and cable fencing, how pricey it is to clean up the barns, rebuild the cabins, and so on. If you're throwing out money to people..."
"Fuck," Cy grumbled. "Sounds like we need to hire some people to paint the cabins after all."
"Landscaping," Darnell suggested.
"Fence repairs," Luke added, ticking it off on his fingers, "and hauling the hay we sell, maybe having them resell it for you. So many things, and each one is a job. Each one is another ally."
Cy just lifted his cup and took a long sip of coffee. "We're not starting any of that without both Cobalt and Blaze on board. So for today, we need to focus on the front gate and the dog yard, because I'm taking Faith to get that puppy tomorrow. We promised, and more than anything else, that is not a deal we can risk backing out of."
"I'll need some time to get money arranged anyway," I assured him. "Banks get a little twitchy when you start shifting millions around. There's a little verification time."
Luke looked over at Darnell. "Willing to help me with the gate?"
"And me?" Violet asked.
"You," Darnell told her, "need to talk to Teal. This place needs to be unhackable. We're going to have children's information."
"And security cameras," she added.
All of us were leaning over the kitchen bar, our heads pointed at each other, but now we had a plan. A crappy one that wasn't well thought out, and it wouldn't do much yet, but from the looks on everyone's faces, it was helping. It at least gave us a direction to work toward.
"So," I drawled, looking over at Luke, "is this where we all put our hands together and yell 'break' or something?"
"Fuck," Luke said as he pushed out of his chair. "It's a good thing you're cute, because you don't know shit about football."
"The World Cup?" I offered.
He rolled his eyes and tilted his cup back to drain the last of his coffee. "That's soccer."
