“Everything all right in here, Toby?” he asked.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I got up to retrieve my hat from the chair it landed in, Charlotte’s chair, and sat back in my own.
My father sat down in the other chair and kicked out his legs.
“I thought you had that meeting with the marketing woman. Did it not go well?” He smirked as he said it, so I knew he’d heard something through the wall.
“No, it did not go well,” I growled. “We had a misunderstanding, and she was rude, but when I tried to punish her for it, she got all outraged and said she couldn’t do business with me. Me! Can you believe it?”
Indignation swept through me that some barely-making-it marketing lady would sever ties with the head of one of the area’s oldest businesses. The nerve of her! But before my ego could get even more spun up, my father’s laughter drew my attention.
“What are you laughing at?” I snarled, not seeing anything funny.
“You tried to punish a woman you just met? A woman who was here for a business meeting with you?” He chuckled again, then sobered. “Seriously, Toby, what if she tells people what happened? How’s that going to look for the farm?”
“It’s Walker’s Grove, Dad. That’s the way things work around here,” I said, dismissing his concern.
“This woman has made you lose your mind, Tobin,” he barked. That made me sit up and pay attention. “For one thing, not everyone in Walker’s Grove incorporates discipline into their marriages and families. Sure, a lot of people do, but we’ve had quite a few new folks move into town over the last five years, this woman being one of them. Second, are you or are you not trying to rebrand the farm and grow our sales outside the area? How would it look if people found out you tried to spank one of our vendors? Do you think those fancy businesses in Ellicottville or the bigger stores in Olean will want to do business with us? They’ll probably be concerned you’ll assault any woman they send out here!”
Though he wasn’t yelling, each word came out harsher than the last, drilling what he was saying firmly into my brain. Even though he’d given me control of the farm a few years ago when he partially retired, he was still an integral part of the business, and I took his opinions seriously.
As my father continued to list all the ways I’d screwed up, I began to wonder if I would even still have a business left after Charlotte Winslow told people what happened earlier.
“How could you do this, Tobin?” he asked once he’d finished his tirade.
That was a good question.
“I don’t know. I was attracted to her and had planned to ask her to dinner after our meeting, so I guess I was looking at her as a potential girlfriend and not a business associate.”
“Even if you wanted to date her, you still don’t spring discipline on a woman the first time you meet them,” he replied incredulously. Like I was an idiot.
“Don’t you? You always said to make it clear how I want things from the beginning, so I don’t waste my time,” I shot back, knowing I was being argumentative for no reason. I knew he was right, even though I didn’t want to admit it.
My father had never looked more exasperated with me in all my twenty-six years of life. Not even when I’d backed the tractor into the barn.
“Not before you even have a conversation! The poor woman was barely in here for ten minutes before I heard her storm out and run to her car. And you don’t try to punish a woman who hasn’t consented to it. That’s not how it works.”
I knew that.
I’d been with a girl from Walker’s Grove in college. She knew what I expected from the get-go, so while we talked about it and she agreed, it wasn’t a big deal. It was just how things were. But I knew consent was the most important thing. Otherwise, it wasn’t discipline, it was abuse.
“Oh, god,” I groaned, rubbing my hands down my face as the full ramifications of my actions set in. “What did I do?”
“You saw a pretty girl and got cocky, that’s what you did. What did she do that you wanted to punish her for, anyway?” Dad asked, calmer now, but I could tell his mind was working out how to solve this problem.
“I startled her, and she copped an attitude. Then she assumed I was a farmhand and got all rude and snotty with me,” I explained.
“And you didn’t immediately tell her who you were so she could dig her hole deeper?” he guessed.
“Yeah,” I admitted because that’s exactly what I did. I could have introduced myself right away, but instead I’d let her believe I was just a random employee until I could do a surprise reveal of my identity.
“Jeez, Toby, you really screwed the pooch on this one,” Dad said with a sigh and then went off on another rant. “Once again, your ego has gotten you in hot water. You are not king shit just because our family has been around Walker’s Grove from the beginning. You are not god’s gift to women just because you’re attractive and smart. You’re just a man, like any other man. I thought you would have learned that by now.” We sat in silence for a few minutes—well, he was pacing the office while I studied my desktop—until he spoke again. “There’s only one thing to do here.”
He came to a halt in front of my desk.
“What?” I asked, rubbing my eyes before focusing on him.
“You have to apologize to her. Beg her for forgiveness and try to get her to work with us again.”
I groaned. “Dad, you didn’t see her. She was so angry, and then so—I don’t even know what she was when she left. Scared, maybe. She wouldn’t even look at me.”
He sighed in disappointment again. “Well, you’re going to have to try. Tell her you made assumptions you shouldn’t have because you were struck dumb by her beauty or something.”
“That’s pretty much what happened,” I said under my breath, though my father had hearing like me, so he probably heard.
“Be the man I know you are, Tobin, not the man you sometimes act like when you’re all full of yourself. Admit you made a mistake and promise to be nothing but professional from now on.” He paused and gave me a stern look. “And, Tobin, do not flirt with her, ask her out, or do anything more than what you need to do so she can do her job. You said you were impressed with her ideas?”
“Yes. She’s the best one I’ve spoken with so far, who’s actually in the area.” I didn’t want to hire someone from the city. They were too far away and too expensive. Charlotte was reasonable and accommodating and talented. At least she was the first two before I messed everything up. Now she’d probably be just the opposite.
“Give her the night to cool off and then go see her tomorrow.” Dad clapped his hands together and stood, like it was a done deal.
“Dad, she might not agree,” I warned. “She was furious when she left.”
“Just go talk to her, Tobin. I’m sure it will all work out.” He opened the door and then paused, spearing me with a glare. “And stop acting like an asshole. It was annoying when you were a teenager, but now it’s ridiculous and rude. Lose the attitude, Toby, or you’ll never get a decent woman to look twice at you.”
He headed back into the barn after throwing out that brutal tidbit of wisdom, seeming confident in my ability to sort out the mess I’d made. But I wasn’t so sure. Charlotte had a fiery temper hidden inside that little body, and I had no doubt I’d have a long road ahead of me if I wanted to earn her forgiveness.