Cowboy Baby Daddy

“Let me come in so we can talk,” I said.

“I’ve talked with enough men for now.”

“What does that mean?”

I watched her face, and for a split second, I saw that vulnerability again. Her statement about Daisy coupled with that comment gave me the notion that Greyson must’ve pulled some bullshit, and part of me wanted to drag it out of her. That rich goody two shoes thought he was God’s gift to the planet. He was one of those idiots that always boasted and flaunted his intelligence in every conversation he had with someone to make himself feel superior.

And, he was a complete asshole to Stella. Everyone except her apparently saw that, and none of us understood why she was still with the guy.

“If you let me in, I promise you’ll enjoy what I have to say,” I said.

“You’re giving me the company?” she asked.

“No,” I said.

“Then, I won’t enjoy what you have to say. Have a good day, Christian.”

“I want to hire you at the company,” I said.

She studied me with her eyes for a while from behind her doorframe. I could tell I had caught her attention; I just wasn’t sure how much. She stopped the door just shy of shutting it in my face, but I knew I was two ticks away from having it slammed on me altogether.

“For the love of everything, Stella, grow up and let your stepbrother in,” I said. “I’m the only one who even slightly understands what you’re experiencing. Stop shoving me away because you’re pissed.”

She huffed before she shook her head, but she turned away from the door without shutting it. I slipped in and took in the darkness of her home, allowing my eyes to adjust before I closed the door. I watched the tail end of her robe flutter down the hallway while I followed her toward the kitchen, and she began slamming mugs and ceramic containers around before she slid everything onto the table.

“You can make your own damn coffee,” she said.

“Never been one for people to hand me things,” I said.

“Until now.”

“Stella, I feel terrible about your father handing me this company. It’s thrust me into a position I’m unfamiliar with, and it’s brought a great deal of heartache to your life. I had no idea he was going to do that to you, to us, and I’m sorry,” I said.

I sat down across the table from her and really got a chance to study her. The bags underneath her eyes were heavy, and the redness around her irises told me she’d been crying. Her nose was puffy, and her cheeks were sunken in, and my heart broke as I looked at my stepsister. She was struggling with a lot of pain right now, and part of me wanted to take that away from her.

I wanted her to be alright.

“I need you to understand that if I wanted to do this on my own, I could. I’ve already been talking with the accountant about finances and making sure the company doesn’t have debt. I’ve checked on the projects your father had in motion to make sure they’re still coming along, and I’ve even had some plans drawn up to take the storage above the store and turn it into office space,” I said.

“Oh, goody,” she said as she brought her mug of coffee to her lips.

“But, you’re right,” I said.

“What?”

“You’re right.”

“Say that one more time,” she said.

“You. Are. Right. Stella, you are right,” I said. “I don’t have the kind of knowledge you do. I haven’t been groomed all my life for this. Much of this is very new to me, though many companies operate on the same basic premise. But, it takes more than a premise to run a niche supply store like your father has built, and I need your help.”

“The great Christian Gunn doesn’t need anything,” she said.

“I need you,” I said. “I need that knowledge, that intimate intelligence you possess for this company. Yes, I could make this company great, but you can make it spectacular.”

“You heard the letter. My father doesn’t want me anywhere near the company. Some bullshit about honoring him not being good enough or whatever,” she said.

“He just didn’t want you keeping the company in the past. He probably handed it over to me to give the company a fresh outlook. Your father understood things were changing drastically with the coming generations, and this was probably his way of admitting that.”