Chapter 30
30
Brandt took her on an actual date one week later. It had taken him that long to have some free time. He'd had meetings at his new house with the contractors—Martin Tyler's company—and had had to fly to New Orleans to handle something with a property he owned down there. Meyra waited the two days he was gone, preoccupied.
She missed him the entire time he was gone.
When he made it back to Masterson, he was busy talking to the foreman who was going to be running the properties in Masterson for him. He wanted to diversify, but he wouldn't be able to spend much time at each business running it himself. But he wanted to know how every business worked from the ground up. He was financing a construction company, a twenty-percent investment with some of the Tylers she knew, he was buying up several really small ranches to unite them under a Barratt umbrella, and he was talking about buying commercial properties to rent out, too.
Now she understood why he had been in and out of Masterson so many times. Brandt was a very busy man—his investments took up a lot of his time. Like the Talley Inn, diner, and catering took up a lot of hers. They were going to have to find a way to make things work—when they got a chance. So they could do the things they needed to do but still have a lot of time together, too.
But he had asked her on a real date . To the pizza parlor and arcade. Meyra had enjoyed herself. Especially when he pulled her close right in the middle of the restaurant and kissed her. Really kissed her.
When she pulled back there was applause. From the Tyler twins Reese and Kaece and their friend Logen Hauffman and his brother Mateo. They were there with Clancy Grady and Em Tyler and Nora Masterson and Lori Beth Hodson—but they weren't dating or anything. It was just friends. They invited Meyra and Brandt to join them, but Brandt declined.
He said he had other plans for her. Em had said she just bet he did and told Meyra to enjoy herself.
Those plans ended up being a trip to see the house he had bought from Morris Preston. He wanted her opinion on what he should have Martin Tyler and his contracting company do to remodel the really large house. It had eight bedrooms and was very beautiful.
It was where Morris Preston had lived. He was a monster, but his house looked like just about every other house that was built around the same time as the inn—it was just big and expensive looking. "Why did you buy this house?"
"It was right where I wanted to be. I am planning to live in the house once it's remodeled, but there are two-hundred-seventy-six acres of workable land with the property. I'm going to partner with Fletcher and Gil Tyler and Travis Worthington-Deane—he's a family connection—and make those acres profitable. I also have a few other businesses in mind. I'm going to build my branch of the Barratt Holdings up here. I'll end up being a very wealthy man."
She laughed. He'd puffed up his chest and said it very dramatically. He was funny. And she suspected he liked to make her laugh. "Aren't you already?"
"That's family wealth. Generational. I am such a trust fund baby. I want to see what I can do, little one. What I can do. I want to leave my children the wealth I built, not just their forefathers."
"I think you will do great things."
"I'd like to think so. But most of all, I want to be here. With you." His hands slipped around her waist. Meyra leaned up.
She liked kissing him. And when they both felt the time was right, she was sure she would enjoy doing more than just kissing him. "I'd like that very much."
They walked back into the lobby of the inn she'd called home for as long as she could remember.
And all of their plans were put on hold in an instant.
With another call from Finley Creek.
Within an hour, Brandt was gone, meeting a chartered jet. To get back to his family. Before it was too late.
His family was in trouble, and no one knew what had happened.
Then he was just gone. His family needed him.