"Bugs, what the hell is going on with you?" I said raising my voice as I grew more irritated with his evasiveness.
"Look, we have to get this deal in the can, Wallace," he said lowering his voice to barely above a whisper. "We've got exactly five days to sign the contract or they're going to go with the Harvard team."
"What do you mean they're going with the Harvard team?"
"While you've been down there dancing through fields of gold or daisies or whatever it is those people do, I've been up here fighting to keep them interested in this project," Bugsy hissed into the phone. "I told them we wanted to do an initial run of twenty turbines with another hundred likely within the year."
"You did what?" I yelled into the phone. "Who in the hell authorized you to promise something to utterly asinine as a hundred turbines?"
"Calm down, calm down, buddy," Bugsy said. "I had to promise them something, Adam!"
"But a hundred goddamn turbines? Are you out of your fucking mind?" I yelled. Behind me I heard the door slam, and I turned to see Verity disappearing into the living room. I winced when I realized what I'd said.
"I'm not out of my mind," Bugsy replied raising his voice. "I'm doing my best to salvage a deal that you have done your best to completely sink! If we lose this to the Harvard team, it'll be your fault for being such a complete and total dumbass! Who crashes a Mustang on a back road in a place where the nearest auto shop can't get parts? Tell me! Who does that kind of dumbass shit?"
I could tell that Bugsy was dangerously close to losing his temper. I was, too. I took a deep breath and tried to think logically.
"Bugs, we have a problem, but I think we can fix it," I said as calmly as I could. "We've got a plan to bring the community together so that I can do one big sales pitch next week. If this works, we might be able to exceed our initial twenty, but if not, then I think I can at least secure the first set."
"Good," he said following it with, "Oh shit, gotta jet! Later, man!"
The line went dead. I pulled the phone away from my ear as a second call came in. It was my mother, so I sent her straight to voicemail and headed in to see if Verity needed help with lunch.
"Who was on the phone?" she asked as she added flour to the bowl in front of her.
"My business partner," I said as I watched her add the flour with one hand and knead the dough with the other in a way that reminded me of artists and their clay. "He was giving me the run down on what we need to do and when."
"So, you have a deadline," she said sifting a little more flour into the bowl. "What is the deadline?"
"Five days," I said looking out the back door and wondering how we were going to pull this off in five days. "We have to sign the contract agreeing to manufacture twenty turbines in five days or we lose the deal."
"So, we need to make this happen quickly," she said calmly.
"Yes, we do," I nodded. "I'm just not sure how we're going to get to enough people in time. Especially now that your uncle has forbidden everyone from having anything to do with me or your family."
"I have an idea," Verity replied. "Grace is not going to like it, but if it works, then we'll all get what we need. Let me get my bread dough in the oven to rise, and then I'll explain it to you."
For the next hour, I sat at the table as Verity explained her plan. I wasn't certain that it would work, but I was certain that Grace was not going to like it one bit. But by the time the bread had been fully baked and lunch put on the table, I had to admit that if it worked, it would be a major coup for both the family and for me.
After lunch, I called the shop and asked when the Mustang would be ready, and was told that I could pick it up after three the next day. I told Verity and she said she'd hitch up the buggy and take me into town when she went to check on the store. With nothing left to do but wait, I headed out to the barn to see what Danny and Honor had been up to.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Grace
"Heya, kiddo!" Mike said when I walked into his office. "How was the ride back to town?" The ride back to Chicago had been uneventful, but we'd hit traffic as we crossed onto the Skyway and I had arrived later than I'd expected.
"It was all right, a little congested on the south side, but all in all, not bad," I said pulling up a chair and waiting for him to tell me what he wanted done.
"Kid, I need you to go over the financials for Miter and see if there's anything we're missing," he said as he tapped the screen in front of him and brought up a chart that Jess had been working on. "This just doesn't seem right to me. Does it look right to you?"
"I don't know, can you give me a few hours to go over everything with a fine tooth comb and double check," I asked as I stared at the screen and immediately noticed that there was something very wrong with the chart. "Mike, that looks fishy to me. Where's the file?"
"It's on your desk," he said. "Go check it out and report back to me in an hour."
"An hour to do a rundown of all the financials?" I said shaking my head. "Can't be done."