Page 18 of Marrying My Moth Lady

But what if I came down with a case of greed? An evil smile stretches my lips. Greedy bastard is a role I can play. I’m halfway there in my natural persona—just channel my passion for endangered species to money. No problem. I pour the contents of a random manilla folder onto the floor and fill it with the contracts.

“Coming through, coming through,” I yell as I push the door into the crowd pressed against it. Bodies bounce and jostle as they back out of the wild arcs of my flags. The lady with the rodent face shoves a pen and some form in my face. “If you are my staff, go home and live your life. If you aren’t my staff, go away and bother someone else,” I yell as I step around the mob.

As I stomp down the hall, a crowd of grumbling people follow like salmon swimming upstream to spawn. The office doors decrease as the suites grow in size…and their inhabitants increase in importance. What did they have to trade for the legroom, bookshelves, and conference table? A kidney for awindow? I hate corporate politics, but I must be on my best behavior.

Millie depends on me.

“I mean it,” I shout with an abrupt stop. Several people slam into my back, sampling the stream of sweat along my spine. I press my fists against my hips to keep from swinging. These minions are worse than swarms of mosquitos. “Buzz off!”

I wait for them to clear out before walking the final ten feet to Eli’s office suite. His receptionist's desk is thankfully empty. Finally, someone who understands that their crappy job will be here tomorrow. Amber’s office must be the door to the left because someone graffitied a picture of a skull and crossbones under the nameplate.

Pirate or Grim Reaper?

I’m sure she’d be delighted to tell me the next time she corners me…I mean, the next time I am graced with the attention of my darling fiancée.

Mimicking the behavior of the cube farm vermin, I peek into the sidelight of Eli’s door. His back is to the door, but his silhouette holds a cell phone in one hand and a dripping cheeseburger in the other.

Stomach? Do you rumble in jealousy or disgust? If I sent a cheeseburger down my gullet, I’d hear about it for the next twelve hours,so don’t even think about it.

I knock when Eli lowers the phone to his lap. “Mr. Carter, Mr. Carter, can I have a minute?” I yell through the door before I try the handle like a moron.

He waves me inside with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

“I won’t take but a moment,” I grumble, as the unlocked door opens easily. “I—”

“Come, come, son,” he says. “Are those more coal fly plots or wedding venue pictures?”

“Neither. I—”

“Ultrasound pictures! Come and show Grandpappy his little babe-burrito,” he says in a baby talk voice that will play in my nightmares.

I can’t ruin this warm reception, so I rush forward to sit in one of the cushioned chairs in front of his desk. Great, now I’m like an errant child in the principal’s office. I jump up, hoping my confidence will rise with my height towering over him.

“Phew! You jump around like those critters you chase. Do you need a potty break?” He asks in a whisper loud enough to be heard in my hometown across the Ohio River.

“I’m nervous,” I snap before I can adjust my tone. No, I don’t need apotty…unless the meeting goes south. “I had hoped my joining with Amber would bond us closer. You are someone I’ve always admired.”

“You are like a son,” he says, with a grimace that gives away his true feelings.

“I thought I would apprentice under you once we returned from our honeymoon. Someday, you will want to retire to help Amber with all our children. We plan on having a whole soccer team. Wouldn’t it be ideal if the company stays in the family, and I operate it just as you do?”

“Family is everything…”

“Since I know the forest like the back of my hand, I thought I would start with the conservation center, but I feel I can do more. I had hoped to manage the forest mining operations on behalf of our family business.”

Shock drops his jaw.Yeah, I know. Complete one-eighty. Stay with me, Eli.

“I noticed I only have surface rights to the forest land,” I say, opening my manilla folder on his desk and pointing to the clause. “I can’t dig on behalf of our family without the mineral rights. Please give me the chance to prove myself as business savvy as you.”

“You can’t prove I’m mining coal,” he says quietly, with increasing space between the words. His mind is spinning in one hundred directions, trying to find my angle.

“I can hear the bulldozers following me,” I say, setting the construction flags across the contract pages. “Why not cut out the middleman? I find the coal fly leks and radio to the construction crew their next GPS coordinates. We can follow veins of coal without downtime between infusions of data. No wasted time between following the bugs, compiling presentations, and involving the Winged Wildlife and Abundant Earth Foundation. I’ll just report on the monarchs and spongy moths to them.”

“You’d do that for Carter Mining?” He asks with a bushy, grey eyebrow disappearing into his hair.

“Well, I’d like to think I’m part of the founding family,” I say to my lap, so he doesn’t see me gag. “I want to impress you with my ability to find the coal.”

Tears gather in his eyes. Bile surges up my throat.

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