Page 25 of Taming the CEO

My brother had more on his plate than I did. He'd added a bar to his distillery a while ago, and it was booming, which was great. But a growing business was time-consuming. We all liked to make fun of our grandparents overdoing it, but truth be told, none of us were good at scheduling downtime.

As we continued the game, I thought back to my visit with Gran at the park and Samuel telling us about Cami's favorite trees. I needed to talk to him and understand more about it.

Even though I was only half focusing on the game, we still won.

"Damn, this is a good day," I exclaimed, not even bothering to hide how smug I felt.

Spencer was grinning from ear to ear. "Nothing like winning to make my day better."

Cade shook his head. "I’d tell you to stop rubbing it in our faces, but I know we’re going to do the same thing next week."

I burst out laughing. "Sure, keep thinking you’ll beat us."

This playful rivalry in our family was all in fun, and I liked that. It motivated us to give our best no matter what.

After I'd freshened up and left the club, my mind went back to Samuel. I called him as soon as I got in the car. He answered after a few rings.

"Hello, Maddox," he said.

"Samuel, good morning. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, not at all. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

I decided to be completely honest with him. "Look, you probably know that Cami and I didn't exactly hit it off."

"Sure didn't, son. My daughter was not a fan of the sale before talking to you. But after that, and especially your second visit, she's even more determined to convince me to keep the park."

"I'll be honest. I screwed up."

He chuckled. "I like someone who can admit that. I was stunned when I heard that you two got into an actual fight at the restaurant. Cami didn’t even tell me."

She didn't, huh? That's interesting. But Essex was small. Word more than likely got around.

"I'll have you know, my daughter is usually very calm. I don't think I've ever seen her combative with anyone."

Fantastic! I'd managed to piss her off more than 99 percent of the people she met.

"I came on very strong," I admitted. "I thought she was holding back because she wanted to negotiate a higher asking price."

"Son, you're barking up the wrong tree here," he said as I stopped at a red light.

"I figured that."

"Cami..." He paused. "This wasn't even what she was planning to do with her life. After my wife passed away, I shut down for months. If she hadn't taken over the reins, this place would have gone bankrupt right then. It's been my life's work. My wife and I took this over from my parents. Cami practically grew up here in this reception building. We all spent more time here than in our actual house. This place is important to both of us, but I think it actually might mean more to her than to me. My wife loved those trees just as much as Cami."

"I understand."

"Hmm... not sure you do. My wife journaled while sitting against that big tree quite often. And sometimes she took Cami there too. They played fairy games and whatnot. Even now, Cami sometimes spends time there by herself.”

When she'd accused us of wanting to level the park, I’d figured she was simply looking for a reason to pick a fight. I’d been wrong. Cami wanted to preserve the park, the trees, and the vegetation as much as possible. This was nostalgia to her, memories of her childhood and the loss of her mother. No wonder she was passionate about keeping the business. And here we were planning to knock down many of the trees. The architect insisted it was the most efficient way, but now that I could finally put two and two together, I was certain he could come up with something else.

I was about to ask Samuel if he had any other tips for me, but my phone beeped with an incoming call from Gran. Maybe it was for the best because I didn’t want to push Samuel too much, and he’d shared enough with me already.

"Thanks a lot for your input, Samuel. I've got to go. Gran is calling on the other line."

"It was wonderful to meet her," he said. "Tell her I said hi and that she's welcome to come here again anytime she wants."

"I'll tell her that," I said.

---