Page 17 of The Right Guy

HUNTER

“Focus, dude. Remember the plan.”The harsh bite from my older brother Xavier fails to snap me out of my Catherine induced spiral. I’m back at my small apartment on the outskirts of town, an hour removed from the awkward conversation with Catherine.

I stare at the phone and don’t miss his quick eye roll thanks to the 4k high-definition camera on his phone. Very little of what we do these days remains hidden. Xavier is only a year older than me, but he acts as if he’s ten years my senior. “The first one is always the hardest.” He continues, pulling me back to the real reason I’m in Mesa, Arizona, hundreds of miles away from home. “Besides you’re the one that wanted to go that far west,” he piles on, his voice filling with that unique older brother I told you so tone. This time he would be right.

Me and my siblings have all followed our dad into the family business. We identify mismanaged, financially distressed, undervalued assets and fix them. Most of them we apply what we’ve learned from years of study and successes in other businesses. My dad started a best practices handbook for nearly every area of business. Every family member has contributed to the updates – it is now a living, breathing guidebook.

We assess and identify problem areas and then work up plans to address them, improving the company in the process. We target and remove weak leadership, strengthen the operations, remove bottlenecks, empower people, and get businesses back onto the road of efficiency and profitability. Once they are back on solid ground, we sell the business for a profit. A small handful of businesses we keep–adding them to our growing portfolio of diverse businesses. These businesses almost always have a common theme - during our acquisition we’ve developed an emotional attachment and refuse to walk away.

I don’t foresee that being an issue in Arizona.

Dad has mentored each of us, starting with our oldest sister Melody. They partnered on a couple of deals before she executed her own solo deal. She quickly mastered the process and can now execute it in her sleep.

Once Melody was standing on her own two feet, Dad’s focus shifted to Xavier and me. I’ve partnered with both Melody and Xavier on deals up and down the east coast. Dante, our youngest waits in the wing, his turn coming.

This is my first solo acquisition, and all eyes are on me, especially given my location.

“Did you wear the jumpsuit?” Xavier asks with a sneer on his face. The outfit a remnant from my dad’s early days when he started in the janitorial services department of a company that took him ten years to climb up the ladder and eventually purchase.

I nod. “It might as well be Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak.” I share our family inside joke. A black man in a maintenance suit can go anywhere in any building without getting challenged. The dirtier the uniform the more invisible you become. A grimy jumpsuit will allow you to position yourself in the corner of conference room with thirty executives that will say things they would never say in public. “Their financials are in worse shape than what they’ve stated publicly. The surprise is the degree in which they’ve stretched the truth. The property is run down, and they are only surviving on the dwindling reputation that the retired owner built over thirty years.”

“This is all good news. You’ll be able to leverage this information when you revise your offer.” Xavier lifts a glass of brown liquid to the screen and tips it in my direction. “How are the people?”

For the first time he sounds like Pop. Dad has instilled in us that we aren’t vultures - not everything is about dollars. Every business, even businesses failing spectacularly, have valuable workers. People who just happen to be in the wrong place, their voices muted, their suggestions suppressed. The failure of leadership not a reflection on their worth.

But my mind races to one person. A spark in the desert night, someone who has me thinking about anything and everything but the crisis in Legendary Hall.

“Whoa, little brother, if you smile any wider it may crack my screen.” Xavier lowers his glass and pulls his phone closer. “You met someone?”

My head shakes yet the grin remains. “Not really.”

“That look in your eyes tells me, really. What’s the deal?”

I continue to shake my head but start anyway, “A woman came into the hall and her ex, a total douche, shows up out of nowhere and starts berating her.”

Xavier raises a hand to the screen. “Stay away. Domestic issues are intense and complicated.”

“It’s not like that. She doesn’t even live here. They’ve been broken up for years,” I explain, the words clearing up the whirlwind I’ve felt since Catherine and I spoke. “While he continued to berate her, she spotted me, called me over, and then introduced me as her boyfriend to mister ass wipe. She kissed me and everything to sell it.”

“Daaaammn! That must’ve been some kiss if it has you still cheesing.”

I don’t dare respond with my first thought, the greatest kiss in my life. “Her name is Catherine. We hung out after and Xavier, she is the coolest. Smart, driven, beautiful… and her little sister is just as incredible.”

“Whoa, did you say sister? You met her sister? Slow your roll Hunt, what is your play here? You have a job to do. You’re not out there to play house. Besides, if this ex is such a douche, you don’t want to make him your enemy. Things could get ugly. He has the home turf advantage. Why risk it? Was the kiss that earth-shattering?”

“Bro, shut up.” I spit the words to avoid thinking about the kiss. The one I haven’t stopped thinking about all day. It was more than earth-shattering. It was a turn your world upside down kiss. A rip up the plans and flip your priorities type of kiss. I can’t say these things to my older brother. It sounds insane.

I can’t say them to Catherine who just told me that we have to break up the minute the wedding is over. And I most certainly can’t admit it to my brother. The grief he’ll instill from this day forward will be endless. “I met the sister as part of our ruse. I’m going with her to the wedding her ex will be at. So, we have to maintain this thing until then. Once it’s over, so are we.”

Xavier tilts his head, his dark brown eyes attempting to bore into me like they did when we were kids. “Should I be concerned? Do I need to book a flight to Arizona?”

“Chill. I got this. Two more days of reconnaissance, a few hours at a wedding, and I’ll have an offer for Franklin Senior that he can’t refuse. By this time next week, I’ll have my first property under my belt, and it won’t be through any of the family connections on the east coast.” I throw in the last part to remind Xavier why I felt the need to travel this far from our home base. Both he and Melody leveraged family ties when branching out. Each of them staying in major cities back east, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, Charlotte, Tampa, and such. I’m the first Farro to venture west of the Mississippi and I’m doing it alone and on my terms.

“Okay, I’ll back off but remember affairs of the heart are not something to be toyed with. Melody is discovering this herself up in Philadelphia. Logic and love aren’t always a winning combination.”

“Says the eternal bachelor,” I kid him about his relationship status. Xavier enjoys the spoils of his business success with a revolving door of women in his life. Mom has given up on him ever settling and now focuses her attention on the rest of us. Dad, for his part, doesn’t stress any of us, content to raise four kids whose focus has been on business.

Despite Dad telling us love can wait, he married his high school sweetheart. He and Mom are inseparable.

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