Neil scowled but shrugged in reluctant assent as he took his seat. “I’ll listen,” he grumbled. “Though I can’t think of any reason in the world why your father wouldn’t go berserk at the news. As for your suggestion that we could keep Scarlett’s parentage a secret from the rest of the family? You’re kidding yourself there, Jack. All you have to do is look at her and notice the resemblance to my mother, my sister, and Hannah. Everyone is going to know she’s related to me. And how in hell am I supposed to break the news to everyone that I have a twenty-one year old daughter? Not just your father - though he’ll be the worst - but what about my wife? My parents? My daughter?”
“You mean your younger daughter,” reminded Jackson quietly. “See, that’s the biggest issue here, Neil. You don’t even consider Scarlett your child. You probably even wish that she didn’t exist, or that you could wave a magic wand and make her disappear. I honestly don’t know how you live with yourself, how you can sleep at night. I get that she represents a time in your life you regret, but that’s never been her fault. And she sure as hell doesn’t expect to have a relationship with you. Frankly, after the way you ignored her all those years I sort of doubt she’d want to have anything to do with you. But that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t get to know her grandparents or her half-sister. And I’m going to see to it personally that the two of us don’t have to keep hiding our relationship. And whether you like it or not, you’re going to help me refine these plans I have. You owe me big time, Neil. What’s more, you really, really owe this to your daughter. Your other daughter. The one you’d prefer to pretend doesn’t exist but who isn’t about to disappear quietly.”
Neil looked equal parts furious, exasperated, and resigned. “Fine. Tell me about these stupid ideas you have. Though I can tell you right now, Jack, knowing your father and what a bastard he can be, there’s no way any plan - no matter how well thought out - is going to prevent him from going ballistic once he learns the truth. I just hope you’re ready for the fallout.”
Jackson grinned. “More than ready. In fact, you might even say that I’m looking forward to it. Now, here’s plan number one.”
***
Berkeley – three weeks later
Scarlett was speechless - a rare occurrence for her - as Jackson finished presenting her with his idea.
“Omigod,” she finally uttered, her blue eyes wide in disbelief. “You’d really be willing to do all of this? Because of me?”
“Because of us,” he corrected, taking her hands in his. “Because I’ve been wanting to strike out on my own for more than two years now. And to be honest it wasn’t just concern for Hannah that held me back. I was afraid to make a move like this, Scarlett. Afraid to confront my father and deal with his anger and threats and potentially being cut off from my family. But mostly afraid that I’d fail.”
“Are you kidding?” she shrieked. “You? Afraid of failure? Jackson Gilmore, you are without a doubt the most confident, competent person I’ve ever met in my life. You give off those sort of vibes just by walking into a room. So, yeah, maybe I get the part about not looking forward to pissing the family off. You’re a good guy, so even though your father’s an ass you still don’t want to fight with him, or alienate your mother and siblings. But I definitely don’t understand how you can be even the tiniest bit afraid of failing at a business venture like this one. I mean, I’m not exactly a business major but this plan you’ve laid out looks pretty damned solid to me.”
“That’s what I’m hoping,” he replied. “And fortunately the prospective investors I presented this proposal to are all excited about it. Of course it will still take some time for them to review everything with their legal and financial people, but overall the initial reaction was way better than I’d hoped for. So we’ll keep our fingers crossed. Hopefully I’ll be able to wrangle a firm commitment from the investors in another month, maybe less. That’s when I plan to tell my father about you. The whole truth. Who your father is, the fact that you were the donor for Hannah. And that I’m crazy about you. And if he blusters and swears and threatens to fire Neil’s brothers and brother-in-law, that’s when I’ll spring my business plan on him along with my promise to hire the three of them on.”
Scarlett smirked. “I notice you didn’t mention hiring Neil.”
“You’re right,” agreed Jackson calmly. “Afraid he’s on his own. Though knowing him, he’ll find a way to sweet talk my sister into sticking up for him. One way or another that bastard always lands on his feet. But he won’t have my help in doing so this time.”
Scarlett read over the plans one more time - the plans Jackson had laid out so concisely and thoroughly about starting his own business. A business that would design, construct, and install the very same sort of tiny homes that she’d been obsessed with for several years now, the sort that she was basing her senior design project on. It was literally a dream come true opportunity for her, the chance to see her own designs brought to life. She would still have to complete a year’s internship prior to taking her licensing exams, but she figured that having a guaranteed job waiting for her at the end of that year might go a long way in securing her that internship.
“You don’t mention anywhere in this proposal about where you’d headquarter this business,” she pointed out.
Jackson shrugged. “Haven’t figured that part out yet, to be honest. I thought you’d want to have some input about the location.”
“Almost anywhere but Arizona,” she retorted. “Not that I’m anxious to separate you from your family, but if you were that close geographically to your father I just can’t see him staying out of your way. Or not finding some way to make trouble for you. Sorry, I don’t mean to sound pessimistic or to keep dissing your father but - ”
“No, you’re right,” interrupted Jackson. “He would definitely keep finding ways to butt in or get in my way or set me up for failure. Though he doesn’t have quite as much influence in the state as he once did, and nowhere near as much as he thinks he does. A lot of the higher-ups who smoothed things over for him - county and state officials, building inspectors, those sort of people - have mostly retired or passed on or moved out of the area. And my father has pissed a lot of people off over the years, too, called in one too many favors and made more than a few enemies. So I seriously doubt any sort of trouble he thinks he might be able to cause for me is going to materialize.”
“I hope not. But if you don’t base the company in Arizona, how would you be able to employ my uncles?” she asked worriedly.
“Just because the headquarters aren’t based in the state doesn’t mean we can’t have a branch office there. And for a contingency plan I’ve already made a few discreet inquiries with friends in the business. Pretty sure I could find all three of them - Neil’s two brothers and his brother-in-law - jobs with rival companies if they didn’t want to join up with me. Though of course I’m still hoping it won’t come to that, that my unreasonable father will actually be reasonable for once in his life.”