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Ray shook his head. “Sonny, you’re almost forty. You should be thinking of settling down, thinking about my future.”
He turned to his dad. “Your future?”
“Hell, yes,” he said with a gruff laugh. “You’re my only kid, and I want to be a grandpa before I’m too old to enjoy it.”
E. J. brushed that off quickly. “Don’t even go down that road.”
“You’re quite a catch, Sonny. Even that dang magazine listed you as one of the most eligible men in the state last year.”
“Sure, and so was that singer with the shaved head and a lobster tattoo,” he muttered.
“It was a scorpion,” Ray said.
“Whatever.”
“I’m glad you’re doing this,” his dad said.
He glanced back at Ray. “Doing what?”
“The deal with LynTech, you getting back on track with Ford after the fiasco of the leaks.”
Ray hadn’t given him any feedback when he told him he was thinking of scaling down his holdings or when he’d told him about the mess last week. “Why?”
“If you have less work to do, maybe you’ll have more time to start looking around for someone to have those grandkids with.”
“What part of ‘that’s not going to happen’ don’t you understand?”
Ray frowned. “Never say never, Sonny. You’ve got a few months before you’re forty.”
E. J. laughed at that. “And you’ve got a few months before you’re sixty-five.”
“So?”
He crossed to the dressing room and disappeared inside to get his leather jacket, then came back into the bedroom. “So? Why don’t you get married again? You’re still quite a catch.”
Ray shook his head. “Don’t have no desire to do that. Your mother was the one woman who—”
“Could rope your heart,” E. J. finished for him as he put his wallet in his pocket and crossed back to the bed to get his suitcase. “I know.”
“She sure did,” Ray said.
He’d heard that since he was five and his mother had died. That was it for Ray. There had been women now and then over the years, but as Ray said, “None worth bringing home.” He faced Ray and nodded to the door. “I’m leaving.”
“I’m walking you out.”
The two men went together through the sprawling main house, their boot heels clicking in unison on the terra-cotta floors of the heavily beamed, adobe-walled rooms.
“You want me to come with you?” Ray asked as they crossed the great room, which was done in a southwestern decor and took up the center of the house and cut toward the back of the building.
“No, just take care of things here, and don’t volunteer me for anything else.”
“There was one other thing,” Ray said as they got to the side exit, the one that led across a stone patio to a helicopter pad beyond a breadth of rolling lawn. “But it can wait.”
E. J. didn’t open the door, even though he could hear the throaty vibration of the helicopter ready to take him to Houston. He turned to look at his father. He didn’t remember much about his mother, except her voice when she sang to music, but Ray had been the rock in his life. They’d been in the oil fields together, worked side by side, and when he’d “struck it rich,” Ray had been there. But over the years, he’d learned to never let a casual “one other thing” pass unchallenged.
“Spill it,” E. J. said.
“You gotta go, Sonny. You said you didn’t want to be late for the meeting this morning.”
“Don’t call me Sonny,” he said tightly. “And I’m not going until you tell me everything.”
Ray shrugged. “I sort of told them you might be able to get some of your friends to come to the ball.”
E. J. rolled his eyes and sighed with exasperation. “Dad, for the love of—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Ray said quickly. “I can make some calls and ask them to—”
“No,” he said quickly.
“But they’ll expect—”
“No! Just tell me that’s it, that you didn’t offer me for anything else.”
“Just that you’ll participate in a few things.”
This was going from bad to worse. “Like what?”
“An auction they’re going to have.”
“And?”
“That’s it. Everything.”
“Nothing else?”
Ray spread both hands palms-up to his son. “I swear.”
E. J. shook his head. “No more volunteering me for anything. Got it?”
“Got it,” Ray said.
“Okay, I’ll be back in a few days. If anything comes up—” he paused, looking his dad right in the eye “—anything, you call me.”
“Absolutely,” Ray said with a nod, then held out his hand. “Can you leave the key to the SUV? My truck’s acting up and I need to do a few things while you’re gone.”
“Sure, but get the spare key from the drawer in my dressing room. I can’t find the original anywhere.”
“Okay. Have a good trip, Sonny,” Ray said.
“That’s the plan,” he said as he opened the door and the throaty engine of the helicopter made the air around them vibrate. He hurried out onto the patio and jogged toward the waiting helicopter. Damn it, he loved his dad, but he never knew what he’d get them into. Or get him into. This had turned out to be a rough deal, from leaks to miscommunication, and probably the decided perception the top brass at LynTech had about him. Truth be told, if Jackson Ford hadn’t been there to talk him into reinstating the negotiations, this would have been over long ago.
He ducked low, climbed into the passenger seat of the helicopter and nodded to his pilot, Rick Barnes, who handed him a headset. He slipped it on and spoke into the mouthpiece. “Any word from Martin?” he asked Rick.
“He’s in Houston already and will meet you at the car when you get there. He’s got all the papers.”
E. J. nodded, then, as the motor’s rpms increased and the helicopter took off, he glanced back at the house. Ray was still there, lifting a hand toward him, and he waved back. Ray’s assurance that there were no more surprises waiting for him in Houston hadn’t rung true, but he hadn’t had the time to dig. When he got back, he’d straighten everything out, including his dad.
SARA HURRIED INTO THE BACK of the restaurant, past Hughes’s office and into the small room used for employee lockers. She quickly changed from her waitress uniform to jeans, a pink T-shirt and running shoes. “Wear something comfortable,” Mary had told her last night when she’d called to check to make sure Sara would be bringing Hayley into the center before going to the restaurant for her shift. “Nothing good. Fingerpaint tends to find its way onto everything.”
Sara had dropped Hayley off at the center before her shift, and was relieved when her daughter had been thrilled with the array of toys in the playroom, a wonderful climbing tree in the center of the space, with “tree houses” off in each corner. She’d squealed at a huge black-and-white pet rat in a fancy cage decorated with ribbons and with the plaque reading Charlie that hung over the door.
The three-year-old had barely spared Sara a hug when Sara had said she was leaving, but she’d be back. “She’ll do just fine,” Mary had said with a smile as Hayley ran off with a group of kids. “And we’ll see you when your shift is done.”
Sara had fought the urge to check on Hayley on her break, but now she was anxious to get over to the center. She tugged the pins out of her hair, freeing it from the knot, then she turned to the mirror by the stand of metal lockers. She was shocked to see she was actually smiling. It seemed forever since she’d smiled for no reason. She smoothed her hair, tugged the T-shirt down, then gathered her things, pushed them in her backpack and headed out of the room.
Ten minutes later, she was entering Just for Kids. At the moment it was a quiet space, with soft music playing through hidden speakers. In the main playroom, murals of children holding hands and laughing hung on the wall, and soft carpet covered the floor where the real children lay on colorful pads at the base of the huge, handmade, paper tree. Mary was sitting on the floor with her back against the trunk, her eyes closed. A large storybook lay open on her lap. The child was lying on her stomach on a bright pink pad, sleeping.
Mary must have sensed Sara’s presence, because her eyes opened, then she held a finger to her lips. She got to her feet and smoothed her navy dress. “Nap time,” she whispered, crossing to Sara and smiling. “We don’t want to shorten it in any way. Hayley just wore herself out, but she had a good time, I think.”
Sara looked at her daughter, a tiny child for three, with blond hair, slightly flushed cheeks and dressed in pink overalls. “I bet she did.”
Mary glanced at a helper Sara had met before, a sixteen-year-old girl, who wore black jeans and a black top with Whatever splashed in gold across the front. Even her hair was black and caught in two pigtails. She was helping at the center during her summer break from school, and was a daughter of one of LynTech’s executives. “Mallory, keep an eye on things?” Mary asked in a hushed voice. The girl nodded and sat down where Mary had been.
“Come on into the office where we can talk,” Mary whispered, then turned and led the way to the back of the room and down a short hallway. “We can talk in here,” Mary said as she closed the door to Lindsey Holden’s office and crossed to a desk that was over-flowing with papers.
She sat down and motioned for Sara to do the same. “What a mess,” she said, looking at the papers that littered the desk. “This charity ball is nothing but work,” she said.
“It sounds very grand,” Sara said. She’d heard all about the fund-raising event sponsored by the center through LynTech, to benefit the new pediatric wing at the hospital and the center itself. “And it should bring in a lot of money.”
“Hopefully,” Mary said with a sigh. “It’s growing to gigantic proportions, though. The mayor will be there, a senator might show up. EJS Corporation offered the use of an estate on the outskirts of the city, and get this, the main house has an actual ballroom in it. We got very lucky and Marigold Events is donating their party-planning services for it. It’s the premier party-planning company anywhere, from what I’ve heard, and Marigold Stewart herself is heading the staff.”
“Marigold?”
“That’s her real name, from what I can find out.” She sat forward. “The reason I’m telling you all this is because we’ve been thinking that you could really be of use to all of us if you’d be a liaison of sorts between Marigold and the center.”
“I thought I was going to be working here.”
“Oh, you will be. All that means is, Marigold will contact you instead of me or Mrs. Holden, or Mrs. Gallagher, the other LynTech CEO’s wife who also works at the Center. You might have to make a few trips out to the Sommers estate, maybe check out a few things, but other than that, you can do everything from here until the actual ball.” She motioned to the office they were in. “Everyone uses this room, so you can, too.”
She’d never planned more than Hayley’s birthday parties, but she’d give it a shot. “Okay, just tell me what to do.”
Mary pushed a stack of papers toward her. “Start here, and if you have any questions, holler.”
Sara looked at the papers and saw floor plans and lists of everything from donations to attendees. The mayor was right at the top of it, and under it was E. J. Sommers. “This E. J. Sommers owns this place?”
“He sure does. And he’ll be there. We have a promise of his appearance.”
“He’s important?” she asked.
“Important? Oh, I forgot, you’re not from Texas. The man’s a legend, dragged himself up by his bootstraps and made tons of money on some oil thing. He apparently does things his way and has fun doing it…with any number of women.”
“Let’s hope he’s not married,” Sara muttered as bitterness rose in her throat.
“Oh, no, he’s not married. He’s been tied to Heather McCain, the daughter of a big political family in the state, for a while. You know the type, tall, pretty, rich? Maybe she’ll bid on him at the ball.”
“Bid on him?”
Mary leaned forward and tugged a sheet out of the stack. “A bachelor auction.” She tapped the paper with her fingertip. “You know, pay for spending the evening with an eligible man? He’s agreed to do it, and we’re hoping he brings in a lot of money.”
Sara picked up the paper and saw a minimum bid of two thousand dollars next to the man’s name. “Well, I hope he’s worth whatever he brings in,” she said.
“From what I’ve heard, he is,” Mary said with a grin.
“I HOPE THIS IS WORTH IT,” Zane Holden, one of the two CEOs at LynTech, said as he sat forward and eyed E. J. on the far side of the huge conference table. “After all this work, it had better be everything Jack and Matt think it can be. We’re here on good faith, all of us, and I hope that’s the way you feel.”
E. J. sat very still, waiting, knowing that whatever he said probably wouldn’t fully satisfy Zane Holden. His mind was blurring from long hours of discussions that seemed to be going in circles. Between Ray’s surprises and the hardball negotiations in this room, he was tired, but now he was back in the fray and in it for the duration. He had never been a patient man and he wanted this deal nailed down today or tomorrow.
Finally he said, “Of course, that’s a given. We’re all here on good faith.”
Jackson Ford, sitting by Zane, had seemed vaguely distracted today, but even so, when he spoke, he hit the mark. “Okay,” he said, his dark eyes narrowing as he ran his fingers through his deep-brown hair. “Let’s just agree that we all want what’s best and that we want this settled as quickly as possible. The figures are there. The rules haven’t changed.” He looked right at E. J. “The ball’s in your court, so what are you going to do?”
Martin shifted in his seat next to E. J., but didn’t say a thing. He wouldn’t until he was asked to, even though E. J. knew he was itching to get in the middle of the fray. “I need a break,” he said, and stood.
“Good idea,” Zane said, and stood, too. The others started to get to their feet, and Rita, a woman who seemed to be the right arm to more than one of the executives at LynTech, closed her notebook and said, “Drinks are over there,” motioning to a built-in bar by the windows.
As she turned to speak to Zane, E. J. saw Martin head for the bar and pour himself a drink. E. J. flexed his shoulders, then left his paperwork on the polished conference table. He saw Ford say something quietly to Zane before he ducked out, then Robert Lewis, a spry-looking man, probably in his sixties, in a neat navy suit that was in direct contrast to his almost white hair, came around the table to where E.J was standing. Lewis, the founder of LynTech, was there as an adviser.
“I’m pleased that you showed up here today in person, instead of sending a hired hand.” He glanced at Martin, who was by the bar talking to one of Lyn-Tech’s accountants. “No offense to anyone, but it’s always better to do business directly, rather than going through too many people.”
E. J. looked back at Robert. “I’m glad you’re here, too. You had the original vision for this company and I like the way you did business, being up front about everything.”
Robert nodded. “In that vein, I’m interested in why you’re selling off a piece of your company.”
Damn, he liked this guy. No games, no oblique comments. Too bad Ray wasn’t as straightforward. “I’m doing it because I want to, sir. My life’s too complicated and this will simplify it.”
“An excellent reason,” he murmured.
E. J. inclined his head slightly. “I thought so.” He glanced around, then said, “I need to stretch my legs. I’ll be back in…” He looked at his watch. “Half an hour.”
Robert said, “Make it an hour. We all need a break.”
E. J. nodded, then turned to find Martin next to him again. “We’ve got an hour.”
“Good, we can go over—”
“No, I should have said, I have an hour. I need to get some fresh air and think.”
“But, if you—”
