Baby For The Mountain Man

“Dad’s trying to purchase some land in the area in order to lay a gas line through it. The company isn’t budging,” Finn said.

I blinked at my brother as my blood ran cold. Did he just say what I thought he did?

“What?” I asked.

“Ava, you’re not that stupid,” Lorenzo said. “Dad’s company is trying to purchase part of Kettle in order to lay a gas line through it. He wants to develop the town. Bring it up with his name written all over it. Why did you think we were here all summer?”

“I thought this was a fucking family vacation,” I said.

“Oh, language. I like it. Sass looks good on you sis,” Hunter said.

Holy shit. Our company was the company threatening Travis's family. My father was the one who was wanting to tear up the mountainside and lay that stupid gas line. He was the one using all of the strong-arm tactics in order to get Travis's father to budge.

I was shocked, but the sad thing was that I wasn't surprised.

“How long has Dad been going at the lawyer like that?” I asked.

“Fifteen minutes. Apparently, Dad’s company is trying to get the government to play in our favor and he can’t. He has to establish the fact that this company has a monopoly of some sort or is going something illegal, and he can’t. He’s trying to find other ways to get them to sell,” Finn said.

“Why can’t Dad just lay the lines around the mountains?” I asked.

“It’ll cost him millions more,” Lorenzo said.

“So the fuck what? The company has the money. Why does he have to destroy the beauty of this place just to get shit done cheaper?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?” Hunter asked.

I looked back at my father, who was red-faced and irate. The entire reason Travis was so upset was because of them. Because of us. Because of me. How in the world was I going to explain that to him? Especially after this morning? I had no idea if I was ever going to see him again, and I was never going to get a chance to explain myself. I didn't want my father tearing up the mountain side and I wanted things to be okay with Travis. It was too beautiful and I had too many precious memories in this town to see it disappear.

But between my father's disgusting business antics and the fact that Travis wouldn't even talk to me about what we were, I had no idea how to resolve this. I wasn't sure I could. But I knew I ha

d to try. My voice was all I had, along with the business knowledge I had acquired from my books, so I was going to use it.

No matter what it cost me.

“Okay,” I said. “I will.”

“Wait, what?” Lorenzo asked.

“Are you out of your mind?” Finn asked.

“Daddy?” I asked.

The conversation stopped and my father turned his angry gaze onto me. His eyes raked up and down my body as the lawyer sighed with relief, glad he was no longer being yelled at. I knew how he felt. I knew what it felt like to be berated and bombarded by the booming voice of my father. I stepped away from my brothers and into the room, praying that I was making the right choice.

Maybe this would win a conversation with Travis.

“And where in the world have you been?” my father asked.

“Out. Listen, I don’t think the gas line is a good idea,” I said.

I felt everyone in the room staring at me as my father snickered.

“And what makes you think that? You know, since you’re so knowledgeable and independent now,” he said.

“For one, taking out the mountainside creates a risk for rockslides. Someone getting hurt laying that pipeline is going to run you an exorbitant cost with regard to medical claims. And that risk doesn’t go away once you level part of the mountainside. You create unstable fissures with the explosions to the side of the mountains, and if rockslides form or if part of the mountain collapses, it could crack the pipeline and leak thousands of gallons of gas into Kettle,” I said.

I watched as a grin appeared on our lawyer’s face.