23. Falling Into Place

23

FALLING INTO PLACE

“ P hoenix Westerly,” he said, answering his phone ten days later. He didn’t recognize the number, but that didn’t mean anything. He had a business line that would roll over to his cell, but that hadn’t happened this time either.

“Westerly Carlisle,” his cousin said quickly on the other end.

He burst out laughing. As kids when they saw each other, it was a joke they shared since his cousin was named after West’s mother’s maiden name.

“West,” he said. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so quickly. First of all, congratulations on the engagement.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Biggest coup of my life. I had to make sure not to mess it up.”

Phoenix knew all about the fear of messing something up. It’s why he’d anxiously stared at his computer while he drafted the email willing his finger to hit send. After ten minutes, he did it and walked away and hoped it all turned out right. “I heard it’s been official for a while but just quiet.”

“Yes,” West said. “We hadn’t set a date on releasing it, but a picture leaked around Christmas of Abby with her ring on.”

He’d heard that too but just shrugged it off. There was so much in his life that he had to deal with that he wasn’t getting involved in his cousin’s problems.

“Sounds like it’s all falling into place,” he said. Just like most of his cousins’ lives did.

Then he had to remind himself that wasn’t true. West worked his ass off to get where he was and just because Phoenix was struggling with so much on his plate didn’t mean someone else had it easier.

Many would say that Phoenix had an easy life.

Though he was the oldest of nine kids, his father had a successful law firm and paid for all the children’s education.

That was a huge feat, but he’d been told that the year each child was born, his father took a percentage of a settlement he’d receive in that year and put it into a college fund to let it roll.

Some of the kids used all their funds up, others didn’t. Phoenix didn’t. He got a lot of scholarships and, what was left, he knew went to one of the triplets.

“It is,” West said. “But there were bumps in the road. Nothing is ever easy or simple even if others think it on the outside.”

A reminder he needed to hear. “I’m sorry to be reaching out about this.”

“Nonsense,” West said. “I knew you started a business and I’d heard you might be struggling. I’m glad you reached out. I’ve been looking into things and I’d like to talk.”

He’d sent a bunch of material to West when he’d bitten the bullet and put it out there as if he could use a bit of help to see what he might be missing.

The final straw was another retail outlet wanting a huge order and he didn’t have the cash upfront to prepay for the production. He’d reached out to another vendor for this order, and since he was new, had to front more than half.

Could he take the money from Elsie’s accounts? Yes, but he refused to do that again and have it become a crutch.

“I don’t want you to do that because we are family,” he said.

West laughed on the other line. He didn’t remember West laughing as much in life. And everything he’d read about his cousin online said he was a hard ass.

“I don’t do anything just because someone is family. At least not from a business end. I’d like to meet. You’ve got something good here, but you have to be open to what I’m suggesting if I’m going to invest.”

“What?” he asked. “I just thought maybe you could point me in the direction of something.”

“No,” West said. “I could and would for family, but as I said, there is something here that I wish I had known about a year ago or more. I’d like to fly in with Braylon and Laken if you can meet. I know you’re on a time crunch. When do you need to get back to that retailer?”

“I’ve got a week, but it’s been a few days. So three more days. I said my lawyer is looking it over,” he said.

“Your father advised you to say that and buy time. Got it,” West said. “I can be there tomorrow if you’re available.”

It wasn’t that long of a flight on West’s private jet.

“I’ll be here. You just let me know what time.”

“Why don’t we say ten,” West said. “Send me the address where you want to meet. I’m assuming not the business just yet.”

“No,” he said. He wouldn’t put his cousin in that position. No reason to draw attention to what might be going on and scare some of his employees in the process. “We can meet at my house. Elsie will be in school.”

“That’s right,” West said. “I should have led with that and how sorry I am about Maryn.”

“Thanks.”

“My mother keeps us all informed. Life gets in the way.”

“It does,” he said. Between both families, there were seventeen of them. Phoenix barely talked to his siblings more than a text a week, if that, so he sure the heck didn’t keep in touch with his cousins.

“We’ll see you tomorrow,” West said. “You can have your father on the call if you want unless he can get there tomorrow, which might be hard.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I appreciate it. I’ll give him a call.”

He hung up with his cousin and then called his father, but it went to voicemail and he left a message.

He got back to work and then realized, oh shit, he’d have to let Crystal know what was going on since they’d be at the house.

He could just say it was a business deal and hope she wasn’t around. She’d stay up in her room anyway if she wasn’t out running errands. She never bothered him during the day.

This was different now. Crystal wasn’t just his employee, but his girlfriend.

It’d been a few weeks and what they had might be different than a normal dating couple, but it was real.

More real than he’d had with another woman.

They’d even gone out on a date last weekend. Crystal left first, about ten minutes before the sitter showed up, and then he left after that.

It’s not as if Crystal actually left, but she went and sat in his car. Elsie wouldn’t go in the garage to know Crystal’s car was still there and she’d been sleeping when they returned.

An hour later, his phone rang and he saw it was his father and answered. “I got your message,” his father said. “That’s great West is coming tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure what it’s about. I mean I know. He said he wants to invest, but I don’t know what that means. I thought he’d give me some pointers.”

“Your cousin doesn’t throw money out to anyone. If he liked what he saw there is a reason.”

“I don’t want to feel like a charity case,” he said.

“Don’t. I’m going to tell you something. When West was starting out, one of the first businesses he invested in was a tech company. The one he sold that bankrolled the rest of his empire.”

“I know the story,” he said.

“What you don’t know is that I wanted in on it. He’d told me no. That I had a lot of kids to support and he didn’t want to risk my money when it could go to better use.”

“I didn’t know that,” he said.

“I offered to help my sister over the years too and was told the same thing. But I wore your cousin down and he let me invest. I told him I wasn’t an idiot and believed in him. I think he needed to know someone did when he was being rejected so much prior.”

“Damn,” he said. “So you hit it big too?”

“Not like you think. I didn’t have a lot to invest, but it was enough. I earned back plenty and put it right into more investments on my own. Over the years I’d reach out and see if he had anything good going on and he’d laugh. I’d heard the same story, that I had a lot of mouths to feed.”

“At that point, you really did,” he said.

“I invested in you,” his father said. “Because I believed in you. I used the money that I earned from West. Maybe this is coming full circle. The guy knows what he’s doing. Go in with an open mind. You might not like what he has to say, but hear him out.”

He sighed. “I’ve built this company. I don’t want to lose what it stands for.”

“Hear him out,” his father said again. “That is all I’m asking of you.”