“Of course we do,” Nash and I both said at the same time.
“If I go now I think I can be back here in an hour and a half. Or I can try.” She looked at me with a little trepidation in her eyes. “I feel like we need to have one last check-in to make sure we’re all prepared, because this could be important.”
Blowing out a breath, I nodded and turned to Nash. “She has a point.”
“Okay, I’ll call him back,” Nash’s reply was immediate. “I’ll ask if he can make it after lunch instead. He pulled out his phone and then looked at us both. “Let’s hope he’s a good man underneath the suits and the money.”
I hoped so, too, but something told me the fight for our town’s land wasn’t going to be that easy.
When Nate Jenkins asked us to meet him at Rafferty’s bar in Clementine Hill I thought he was joking. The man was a multi-millionaire. I expected to at least be seated in the library of his huge mansion, assuming he had a huge mansion. As we were meeting him in a bar I was surprised to see him walk in wearing a suit, albeit without the tie at the neck of his crisp white shirt.
“He looks very serious,” Cassidy whispered next to me.
He was also a good looking bastard and instinctively I placed a hand on her thigh. As he approached our table we all stood to greet him. Nash was first to hold out his hand.
“Nash Miller, good to meet you.”
“Hey, Nash, great to meet you, too.” Jenkins flashed us all a smile and then held his hand out to Cassidy. “You must be Miss.Turner, the one who provided such an impassioned and well-thought out argument as to why I shouldn’t develop the land.”
Pride for my girl had me grinning until my cheeks ached. He was right it had been well-thought out and impassioned.
“Wilder Miller.” My youngest brother hung one hang from his hip while Jenkins shook his other.
“And so, you must Gunner. The middle brother.”
“You’ve done your homework.” His handshake was strong and his palm cool. They were two positives at least.
“I’m a great believer in knowing who your opposition is.” He smiled but it was flat and that was a negative.
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” Nash said in a low voice.
“Exactly,” Jenkins agreed. “Now, shall we sit. I asked Milo, the owner, to reserve us a table out the back where it’s quieter.”
I looked around the bar, with that familiar odor of beer and cleaning products, to see there were only two other people in there. One of them was the barman counting bottles of beer. It couldn’t be any quieter unless it was closed.
Jenkins moved past us, and as he did Cassidy shrugged her shoulders as if she was asking me what I thought. I held out my hands, palms up, silently telling her I didn’t know what to think.
“Let’s keep our powder dry folks,” Nash said quietly as we followed to the back of the bar. “Only discuss what we’ve documented and don’t be drawn into any other conversation about any other part of the land. Anddo notlose your tempers.”
Wilder smirked and saluted him. “Sir, yes sir.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, Nash followed our host to a room with a pool table and three or four other tables dotted around. One of them had a jug of water on it and five glasses. There were also five glossy booklets.
“Looks like he’s come prepared, too,” Cassidy whispered.
“Yep, sure does.” I took her hand in mine and gave it a squeeze. “We’re ready for him, though, sweetheart.”
A little while later my personal impression of Nate Jenkins had changed somewhat. The man was passionate about his work. More importantly he was passionate about the environment. Which begged the question why he was building a damn meat packing factory. A question that I was about to ask.
“You strike me as a man with principles, Nate.” He’d insisted we call him that just as Cassidy started to discuss our report that she’d written. “Which is why I’m amazed that you’re building an industrial unit so close to the wildlife.”
His expression darkened, his jaw going tight. “Yes, I did receive the report from Ms. O’Neil from the County Environment Department.” He cleared his throat. “And as you say I am a man of principles, but I’m also a businessman. If you read the booklet that I’ve provided then you’d see it’s going to be environmentally friendly. From the power to the packaging.”
“There’ll still be pollution of some kind,” Wilder stated. “Why should we have to deal with that?”
“You’d rather it be built in a town. Let them deal with it.?”
“Call me selfish,Mr. Jenkins but yes, I would.” Wilder leaned his forearms on the table. “I don’t believe anything can be totally safe for the environment. Is the meat organic?”
