Justin glanced down at his dusty work boots, old jeans, and the black tee shirt he’d torn the sleeves off at some point. “Ah, but I like working outdoors in the dirt.”
Jordan rolled his eyes and laid his charcoal gray suit jacket across the back of his black leather couch before sitting down.
“You used to like it, too,” Justin reminded him.
“I grew up.”
Justin gave a short laugh. He moved to sit across from Jordan, but caught his brother’s frown and decided he’d better shower first. “Are you missing the ad agency already?”
“I didn’t get into all the construction stuff as much as you did when we were kids. After you left, I can count on one hand the number of times I stopped at Granddad and Dad’s offices, and it wasn’t in the past five years. It’ll take a little time before I’m used to all you boys and your toys,” Jordan said with a grimace.
“Granddad did pretty well with his toys.”
“So it seemed.”
His brother’s tone made Justin pause with his bottle halfway to his mouth. “Yeah?”
Jordan shifted. “The further I dig, the more it looks like Mom and Cassie got the better end of the deal.”
“How so? The company is worth a lot more than the half-mil each of them got. Why else would Dad be so pissed off about us inheriting instead of him and Mom?”
“The company is in the red, and if this year continues like it has, it’ll be bankrupt before July. Everything is mortgaged to the hilt.”
Without invitation, a picture of Marley Wade striding across the way-over-budget Forrester job site flashed in Justin’s mind. He willed her away. She had no business intruding. The job site, well, that was another matter.
“A month? That’s all you give it?” Justin asked. “Except for the site I’m on, I thought things were going well. With all the jobs in progress and the others lined up—”
Jordan shook his head. “Won’t make a difference unless we do some major restructuring or lock in a high profile project so our loans can be extended. Maybe even both if we want to keep the doors open.”
“So Granddad was just as good at keeping up appearances as the rest of the family.” Justin took a pull of his beer and acknowledged a disturbing stab of disappointment. His grandfather had done good for this city, and the state of Colorado. He’d been involved in charity projects for as long as Justin could remember, so what was there to be disappointed in? There was a difference between doing the right thing for the right reasons, and doing only what would make you look good in the public eye. Right?
“I hate to say it, but looks like Mom and Dad learned from an expert.”
Jordan’s comment added weight to Justin’s unrest.
“Speaking of family, Cassie called today. From Europe.”
Justin’s brows shot up, though he knew he shouldn’t be surprised she’d already jet-setted to the other side of the world. Every so often, he wished he and his sister were as close as he and Jordan. Unfortunately, they’d never quite seen eye to eye. “She’s not mad anymore?”
“Never was—or so she says.”
“I suppose not. If she’d inherited a third of Hunter, she would’ve had to work.”
Jordan laughed. “Picture her on a construction site.”
Justin pictured Marley Wade. He shook his head to clear the image. “That’s almost as funny as Mom on the job site—or in an office even.”
“Like mother, like daughter was written for them.”
Unfortunately, Justin wholeheartedly agreed. “You tell Cassie about the company’s troubles?”
“Hell no. She would’ve started gloating
.”
Justin tipped his bottle at his brother from where he’d leaned a hip against the chair he couldn’t sit on. “True, and that’s never been pretty.”
After a moment, Jordan asked, “You find anything out about Marley Wade?”