Jack bought the house from Ian’s father six years ago, and according to the court docket, Jack sold it to Katie last year.Okay, if they got past that timeline, what was he supposed to say about her business venture?Great job, incredible how you expanded and landed nationwide shelf space?At what point would he drop in the truth.Yeah, I hear you have an investor.How do I know?I’m that guy.
No, he couldn’t do that.Not yet.But when the business started to struggle and she couldn’t meet demand, Christine Desantro contacted him, giving him the opportunity he’d been waiting for...
Katie wants to know if there’s a way to get more money so she can expand the facility.She can’t meet production needs and she thinks it’s due to lack of capacity.
That had been his opening.Maybe that’s true, but we won’t know that until we do an efficiency study.
Agreed, but who’s going to conduct the study?Do you have any recommendations?
He kept the emotion from his voice when he spoke.I do.Me.I’m very good at analyzing processes, making improvements, and increasing efficiency.It’s what I do for all of my investments, but I backed off of this one.Until now.
Okay, but how would this work since she doesn’t know you’re the investor?Or will you finally tell her?
Ian had sidestepped the question with a vague,Guess I’ll have to own up to it at some point, but not right away.That’s how he’d landed in Magdalena, but unfortunately, Katie was out of town for three weeks.What the heck was he supposed to do until she got back?Of course, he wanted to visit the factory, poke around and do some research, but how would he do that without creating suspicion?Nope, he had to wait for her to return.
The first night in Magdalena, he landed at O’Reilly’s Bar and Grille, struck up a conversation with Nick Borado and got himself a part-time bartending gig.He could make a killer old fashioned and could identify a mixed drink after one sip.Not that he overindulged these days, but he knew his way around a bar and it was fun, even if the customers were more of a beer-and-shot crowd.
Ian decided to wait out Katie’s return serving beer and listening to stories about the people of Magdalena.Nobody cared about his long hair, full beard, or tattoos.When they learned he was staying at Max and Grace Ruhland’s house, they started asking a lot of questions, and almost made Ian wish he’d kept his mouth shut.Ian had known Max quite a few years, did contract work for his performance racing company, and made an insane amount of money doing it.Max was a no BS guy who’d been on the cover of several magazines for his entrepreneurial attitude and advancement in performance racing design.But give the man an engine and a wrench, and he was no different than any other motorhead…
9
Ian had dined at a lot of great restaurants, but Harry’s Folly was one of his favorites.Of course, the food was superb, the atmosphere intimate, the drink selection top-notch.But it was the owner who made the restaurant stand out because nobody was like Harry Blacksworth; jovial, sincere, fun-loving.
As Ian waited for him to circle back for his order, he unfolded the paper he’d brought with him and studied the spreadsheet.Katie’s Soups should be cranking out serious quantities of product right now, and yet it wasn’t.The shifts were off, the delivery time was late, and the company was not meeting demand.Why?What was going on?
He jotted a few notes on the side of the spreadsheet, pulled out his phone, and made a few quick calculations.Throwing money at expansion wasn’t necessarily the answer, not until he conducted an efficiency study.Did he want to be the person doing it?No, absolutely not, especially when Katie had no ideahewas the silent investor.But he was very good at scale, efficiency, and helping companies go from red to black.
Whatever was going on with the company had to be corrected—fast.If fulfillment issues continued, Katie would slowly lose business, and the company would suffer.He couldnotlet that happen, and that’s what made him go back on his vow to stay away from Magdalena and let Katie live her life.
Despite what he’d told Christine, maybe he could get in and out of town without Katie discovering he was the silent investor in Katie’s Soups.But there was a tiny part of him that wondered if maybe after all this time, she might forgive him, especially when he told her he’d been forced to leave.It’s not like his father could do anything to her now because she owned the cabin.As for Ian, his father wasn’t interested in having him join the company.Tattooed longhairs were not part ofthe culture, even if their name was Finneganandthey knew how to make money.
Ian let out a sigh and pushed thoughts of his father aside.He had to find a way into the facility so he could observe and assess areas that required improvement.Once he had his recommendations in place, he’d gently suggest them to Katie.If she bought into the changes, then the need for an on-site engineer visit would go away, and she’d never have to find outhewas the engineer.
But even as he told himself this plan was no more complicated than building a performance engine for Max’s company, G-Racing Technologies, he knew that wasn’t true.Convincing Katie Layton to let him into her building?That was going to be a real challenge.He rubbed his temples, considered his predicament.When had anything involving this woman ever been easy?
Ian folded the spreadsheet, stuffed it in his jacket pocket, and wished he were working on an engine instead of navigating a relationship landmine that might blow at any moment.
“Hey, Ian.”Harry Blacksworth placed a beer on the table, picked a piece of lint from the arm of his dark suit.“Damn white napkins.”He checked the other arm, brushed a hand over it three times.“If it were up to me, I’d switch the napkins and tablecloths to black.”
“Greta said no, didn’t she?”Ian took a pull on his beer, waited for Harry’s response.
An eye roll and a shake of his silver head.“Seems black doesn’t go with the feel of the place.Can you believe it?”Another head shake and a frown.“My own wife is questioningmytaste?We had a few words about that.”His voice shifted, turned as soft as the whipped butter this place served.“She had a point, but Greta’s a crafty one.That’s why she offered a ‘compromise’.”
“A compromise, huh?”Apparently, compromise was a big deal in a relationship.There’d been a time when…
The hearty laugh burst through his thoughts.“She bought me a box of lint rollers—” his blue eyes twinkled, “—andoffered to use the roller on my suits before I leave the house.I keep a few here, just in case.”One more quick inspection of his suit.“Looks like I need one.”
“Sounds like a solid plan and a decent compromise.”Harry sure loved his wife, and if she were willing to lint roll his suits for him?Yeah, that was probably pure love because he didn’t know anyone who’d agree tothat.
“Anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask you something for a while.”Harry lowered his voice, leaned toward him.“What happened to the clean shave and the polo shirts?Ten years ago, that was you.Now?”Curiosity blended with what sounded an awful lot like suspicion.“You act like that T-shirt’s the only one you own, and the jeans and boots?Probably picked up from the thrift store.And why the hell would you land here working in a bar?”The raised brow and narrowed gaze said he expected an answer.“None of it makes sense unless you blew through your inheritance, and my gut says that’s not it.So, what’s the truth, and what are you hiding?”
Ian lifted his beer bottle, took a long swallow.There’d been a time when he preferred scotch, but that’s when he was trying to be somebody else…trying to prove something.He liked beer, and he was done pretending he didn’t.But that didn’t mean he was hiding from anyone—especially himself.Apparently, Harry didn’t agree.“No idea what you’re talking about.”
The laugh said he could try again, but the words that followed told Ian the man might smile and welcome strangers, but he was no fool.“I’ve been watching you since you landed in this town.Not the first time around, because you were just a kid who liked to eat my food.”Pause and a quiet “But you’re not a kid anymore.”
Ian worked up a smile, saluted Harry with his beer bottle.“Maybe I’m still trying to figure everything out.Ever consider that?”That was a half-true statement that pulled another laugh from Harry Blacksworth.
“Sure, tell that to somebody who hasn’t been around the block fifty-three times.I’ve lived your life.I’ve pretended, played games, and refused to take a good look at where I was and where I was heading.I couldn’t get out of my own pathetic way.”He placed both hands on the table.“Not until I met Greta.”
