When my eyes connect with a pair of unique blue ones I see that they belong to that of my enemy.
Burke Steele.
Okay, so maybe he’s not my enemy but he’s definitely a competitor to be weary of. For years Papa has been trying to buy his pecan orchard, but he stubbornly declines. He doesn’t have an incredibly large operation, but his trees are very plentiful and –dare I say– produce delicious pecans. But no matter the offer, he always refuses.
“Yes. Oh…Miss Leòn.” He turns around with a cocky smile which quickly morphs into boredom.
“Serena. And you just bumped me causing me to spill my drink. Good bourbon isn’t cheap.”
He lifts a brow and presses his lips into a tight line. “I hardly think the two dollars worth of bourbon you just spilled will put a dent into your millions.”
I set my glass down and turn fully to face him. “I don’t have millions.”
“Oh, sorry.” He holds up his hands and leans back. “$999,999.”
“What are you talking about?” I begin to grow annoyed with his passive aggressiveness.
“Your newly appointed title. MissCEO. Must be nice to have daddy just pass on a million dollar operation without having to put into the tough work.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yes, you said that already and you’re excused.”
I ball my fists and clench my teeth. “I worked hard for my new position. Did I get there faster because of my father? Yes. But tell me you wouldn’t do the same for Aster.”
His nostrils flare because he knows I’m right, but I highly doubt I’ll hear the wordsorryfrom him. I don’t know Burke well, but Papa says he’s stubborn as a bull and as prideful as a peacock. He’s as gorgeous as one, too. So much that it’s almost distracting. His eyes that, ironically, are steel blue, his tan skin from days spent in the sun, and his hair that has a dusting of grey and honestly, it only makes him more frustratingly handsome.
“Listen. I apologize for spilling your drink. I’ll pay for it.” I wave him off and he continues. “And…congratulations on your promotion. I wish Regal Nuts a bright future.”
I narrow my eyes at him, not sure if he’s trying to pull one over me or if he’s being genuine. Picking up my glass, I look at him over the brim and shotgun what’s left of it. I’m skeptical but I also may be overthinking it. I don’t know very well and maybe he’s having an off day.
I set my glass down and lick my lips. “Thank you. I wish the same to Steele Nuts. And, if you are interested in revisiting our offer, I’d be happy to meet with you.” His eyes turn cloudy and I quickly divert mine to see my lunch appointment walking in. “I see my lunch partner so I must go. Have a good day Mr. Steele.”
As I walk away, I can practically feel his stare burning the back of my head. Apparently the selling of his company is a touchy point. I make note of it and tell myself I should look into his situation a bit more. There may be something there that I can use to my advantage.
4
BURKE
“Let me know if you’d like to revisit my offer.” I mock out loud as I cook dinner. “No thanks, money bags. I’m doing just fine on my own.” Though I’m not.
Seeing Serena this afternoon was quite a surprise. Once again I was captured by her beauty, but the scowl she quickly wore had me forgetting about her gorgeous smile and thinking more about her ice queen attitude.
I tried to push it all away and recognize my own stand-offish approach and wish her genuine good luck, but she ruined it with her little dig at the end. I don’t think she has any knowledge of my current financial mess I find myself in, but it felt like she could see through my soul and tell something is wrong.
I’ve mastered hiding the problems over the last year, and every time I think it’s going to get better, I only fall farther into the sinking pit. The divorce took more of a toll on my financial status than I expected. I thought Justine would be fair in regards to assets and alimony, but she proved to be much greedier than I ever expected. The only way I was able to keep my orchard and not give her half was to basically sign over my checks to her.
She gets a hefty ten grand a month in alimony and child support. When I was actually making enough to support that amount of money leaving my account each month, it wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought. But when you add in a loss of product due to losing a third of your crop to pecan weevils, which directly affected the amount of workers I was able to hire for the picking season which, in turn, affected how much we harvested, it totaled a significant drop in my income.
I’ve asked Justine to revisit our agreement, at least until I’m able to recoup and get back up to full production, but she refuses citing that it would prove catastrophic to the life she has become accustomed to. The fact that she was unwilling to budge even an inch had me seeing her in a totally different light. And it wasn’t flattering. It’s horrible to wish, but I have prayed that her boyfriend would just hurry up and marry her so I could at least drop the alimony payments and just pay child support.
She would still get a pretty decent amount as Daisy still has but one more year before she’s off to college, and she doesn’t have to pay any college expenses. Between their college funds and scholarships, I’ve had to put in very little for Aster and Maggie. But that doesn’t mean there are still plenty of expenses to be paid for. Housing (Maggie refuses to live in a dorm so I’m left paying for an apartment), food, car, insurance, outings and all the extras that college aged kids require still does some damage to my wallet. Maggie says she is unable to work as it will interfere with her studies which would result in bad grades and ultimately the inability to get hired with a good company after graduation.
So when you add up all of that, the fact that I refuse to decrease my worker’s pay, I’m left with peanuts at the end of each month. I took out a second mortgage on the house just to buy Justine out of her equity because I really didn’t want to leave our home. Primarily because it was my parents and sits onthe same property as the orchard. Plus, Justine never liked the house anyhow, so she was swift in agreeing to taking the money. I’ve dwindled all of my resources for extra cash flow, and I am all tapped out. I’ve been the one to take the pay cut but still live the same lifestyle as when I did at my peak. I should actually say that the girls –all four– still live the same lifestyle. I’m the only one left suffering.
Today was just the fresh lemon juice in my gaping wound. Serena can just throw around the buy out of a company while I’m here contemplating if I should sell my home and live a true bachelor’s life in a one bedroom apartment.
“What are you mumbling about?” I startle when I hear my daughter’s voice, not realizing that I wasn’t home alone.
