Ronnie was already there, talking to Jake at the counter. I nodded as I walked up to them. “Gentlemen.”
Jake nodded. “Carter.”
Ronnie grinned. “Ain’t no gentlemen here.”
“Fellas, then,” I said, which got a chuckle out of them.
“For a guy without a farm, you spend a lot of time at my store,” Jake said, not unfriendly, just curious.
I held up my hands. “I’m not here for you today, Jake. I’m here to see Ronnie actually.”
“Yeah, he’s here to see me,” Ronnie said. “Important business.”
“Oh yeah?” Jake eyed us both.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m investing in Ronnie’s dairy farm. Now I want to talk marketing with him.”
“Sounds boring,” Jake said. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Ronnie and I walked over to one of the tables set up in the back, where the old-timers congregated for coffee and checkers. The crowd was pretty sparse that afternoon, which would allow us to talk in private. It wasn’t top secret or anything, but the less people who knew I was from Allory, the better.
We sat down and I turned toward him. “Tell me, Ronnie, you ever been in front of the camera before?”
Ronnie leaned back and scratched his chin in thought. “Well, not really. I mean, there was that one anniversary when Leanne wanted to try something different?—”
“Okay, I’ll stop you there,” I said quickly. “I’ll take it you’re not camera shy.”
“What do I have to be shy about?” he asked.
“You know, that’s a great attitude.” We were off to a good start.
Next, I asked if he would help me out with some of the PR stuff on social media. He said he had no problem having the team go out to his farm and shoot some footage. He said it sounded like fun, that life on the farm could get monotonous.
When he told me that, I felt a lot more confident about my second idea.
The investments in his dairy farm would be used for improvements around the property, and I asked if he would be willing to document that journey online. The social media teamcould show him some tips when they were out there, getting him comfortable setting up shots around his farm.
It would be good PR for Allory, but more importantly, it would get the word out about Ronnie’s cheese. We would be expanding his operations, although not all at once. We would scale it up in steps to make sure he could keep the quality up.
The two of us got excited talking about the future. It was a stark contrast to when I’d been fixing the Idaho deal. That had been work. An obligation. This felt more like fun.
Seeing the joy in Ronnie’s eyes helped. The man had worked hard and he made an amazing product. I had no doubt we would make a lot of money together. I was even considering scrapping Allory’s investment and putting up my own money for the venture.
Either way, Ronnie would retain total control of the business. But if I used my money instead of the company’s, we would never need to worry about outside interference. The board couldn’t pressure us and my father would be nowhere near it.
“Hey, Ronnie, did you sign all those papers yet?” I asked him.
He shook his head apologetically. “I’m about to. As soon as I get home.”
“Hold off on that for a second. Let me put together a better proposal for you.”
He shrugged. “I look forward to it.”
We shook hands and Ronnie left the feed store a happy man. I had a hop in my step as well. Shelby was rubbing off on me. I wanted to make sure Ronnie was protected in this deal, and keeping Allory out of it seemed like the best way to do that.
I stopped at the counter where Jake was sitting on a stool. “You have time for a beer?” I asked him. “I feel like celebrating.”
“You’re a terrible influence,” Jake said, but he was already getting up. He told one of the other employees he was leavingand we walked out into the late afternoon sunshine, tinting toward gold as the sun sank in the sky.
