Greer pushed open the door, stepping in ahead of Dallas to flip on the row of light switches against the entry wall. The house instantly illuminated, lighting the entryway, adjoining living room and kitchen, all the way through to the backyard and swimming pool lights.
“It’s beautiful,” Dallas said, stopping Greer from saying more.
Greer went through his normal routine, tossing the keys and his cell phone on the center granite island separating the kitchen from the living room. Dallas went in the direction of the glass walls running the length of the back of the house.
“Thank you. Smaller is easier to sustain and feels homey to me. Plus, I grew up in one of those big sprawling homes. I found it’s easy to lose the love when you don’t have to deal with one another.” Greer rounded the island, going for the refrigerator. “Do you want a drink? I have just about everything.”
He had enjoyed his time with Dallas. He was comfortable and easy to be around. They’d shared an enchanting evening together and he wasn’t near ready to let Dallas go.
Dallas shook his head, causing Greer to quickly add, “It’s okay. I’ll get you home. You had Dallas Blonde at the grill. It’s Mac’s personal favorite, so I keep them stocked.” The open layout of his home made it easy to talk from just about anywhere in the main part of the house and be heard. “Besides, I’m not finished with my story. I told you it was long.”
“Yeah, I want to hear about that stolen identity.” Dallas strolled back into his living room, right where Greer wanted him.
He grabbed the can of beer and a can of water, shutting the refrigerator door with his elbow. “I came home from my vacation with a firm understanding that global warming was wholly a man-made problem. I understood that simple changes could reverse the damage we’d done to our planet. But I also understood the need for money to motivate people to make those changes. My twelve-year-old eyes were opened to a world that needed active conservation, and I saw big business as the earth’s best bet for survival.”
Dallas nodded until he gave a perplexing shake of the head. “Wait, what?”
“I know. What I saw so naively at twelve years old has taken me almost twenty years to even make a dent in. I still believe big business is the only way to save the world. They hold the excess capital needed to complete the thousands of projects currently working around the world to save our planet. When big business implements true change, they’ll hold their partners accountable to the standards they create. If they require change, it’ll trickle all the way down to the bottom. Every vendor, employee, and customer will eventually follow their lead. I’ve watched it happen.”
Dallas took the beer as Greer motioned them to his sofa.
“I see the look of disbelief on your face. I get we point a lot of blaming fingers everywhere, but for me, all I see is what created the problem needs to fix the problem. Have a seat.”
“You aren’t drinking?” Dallas asked, his forefinger hesitating on the can’s pull-tab.
“No, I’ve got precious cargo to get home,” he said and popped his top.
“Keep going, then,” Dallas encouraged. “I haven’t heard environmental cleanup explained quite like this before.”
Greer kept his distance, letting Dallas round the coffee table one way while he went the other. He counted it as a win when Dallas took the seat at the far end of the sofa instead of choosing the side chair. Greer sat in the middle of the couch, turning at a better angle to see Dallas.
“Here’s where things get a little dicey for me. I found my father’s credit card on his desk, and that started everything. I’ve always had a knack for understanding the stock market. I love numbers and negotiations. At twelve years old, I used his credit card to set up my first market account and began trading under his name. Things were different back then—it was almost twenty years ago. It couldn’t happen that way today, but back then, I made ten thousand dollars in my first few months.”
“Ten thousand dollars at twelve years old?” Dallas asked, stopping in midmotion of raising his drink. That astonishment had Greer chuckling. He sat back, completely relaxed with the secrets he’d shared.
“Yeah, I had quite a thing going until my father had some tax trouble. Even then, it wasn’t horrible. I’d given all the money I earned to non-profits in his name.” Greer chuckled again, then took a long drink of the cold water. His parents had been livid, and rightfully so, but not for the reason most people might think. His father had made his living in oil while Greer had donated thousands and thousands of dollars in his name to Greenpeace International. With such conflicting views, of course, he and his father were never going to see eye to eye.