He nodded, his eyes full of sadness. “Yes, we do. Ben had big plans for this place and I don’t think any of us want to let him down.”
“Definitely not.”
Beau had a wistful look on his face as he looked over my shoulder and out the window. “I remember when he first brought me this idea. I told him he was crazy. I told him there was too much competition with the big dogs. He was confident his train company would be better. Back then, people relied on trains a lot more than they do now.”
“You were with him at the beginning?” I asked.
“The very beginning. He and I spent hours and hours in my tiny apartment making plans. This was before either of us were married. We were two young men with a dream. Technically, I suppose it was Ben’s dream, but he got me pretty excited about it. The man had a vision. I will admit I didn’t see his vision, but he made it work.”
“With you by his side,” I said.
He shrugged. “I went back to school for my business degree. I offered my two cents when I thought he needed it.”
“He obviously liked your two cents. You guys have built something amazing together.”
He let out a long sigh. “We did. I’m proud of it, but I still give Ben all the credit. Even when technology began to take over and people no longer thought of trains as the first method of transportation, he made it work. He kept the company relevant. That is not easy to do. This company will be one of the last ones standing.”
I shook my head. “I’m going to do my best to make sure it stays standing for a long time. As technology moves along, we will too. In fact, that day in his office, he was talking about some new locomotives. He was going to send me the details. He never got the chance.”
“I know what he was talking about. I’ll get the information sent over to you. I was looking into the tax breaks.”
I leaned forward. “Who is taking over?” I asked him directly. “Will it be you?”
“No, no,” he said. “I’m not looking to take over the running of a company at my age. I want to begin my transition out of the workforce. I’m ready to spend my days golfing and sailing.”
I felt a shiver of apprehension trail down my spine. Without Ben or Beau, the company would flounder. I would be out of a very good job. I liked my job. Mostly, I liked working for Ben. Maybe I wouldn’t like my job as much with someone new at the helm.
“What’s the plan?” I asked. “Who will take over?”
“I imagine one of Ben’s kids inherited the company.”
“I hope you are going to tell me Ben had a secret lovechild because neither Oakley or Cora is ready for this. I know for a fact the very last thing Oakley wants is to run this company.”
Beau softly chuckled. “I’m not sure what his plan was. I don’t think he was planning on dying this early.”
“What do we do?” I asked. “When will we know?”
“We keep doing what we are doing, and when the new CEO is named, we do what we have always done.”
“Which is?”
“We support them. Me and you, we know the ins and the outs. Whoever takes over is going to need us to guide them through the transition. You will do what you have always done and handle the operations. I will continue to advise on the financial side of things. If it’s Cora or Oakley, we have to support them. It’s what Ben would have asked us to do. We have to respect his choice.”
“Of course,” I agreed.
In the back of my mind, I was trying to picture Oakley sitting at Ben’s desk. No matter how hard I tried, I could not make the image work. Oakley would be miserable. Ben would have known that. I couldn’t imagine him burdening his son with a company he didn’t want. And Cora? Shit, she was fresh out of college and had only been working at the company a month. She did not have the experience to handle it. Not yet.
“Anyway, I came in here to see if I could convince you to go down to the yard and figure out what the hell is going on.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I got a call from one of the yard mechanics. He’s my sister’s son and has my direct line.”
“Your spy, you mean,” I teased.
He chuckled. “It doesn’t hurt to have eyes and ears in places you can’t be.”
“What’s going on?”
“He says there is a train ready to go but it hasn’t left yet. He tried to talk to the foreman but was told to mind his own business. It should have left yesterday. I don’t know if it’s an engineer problem or something else, but Jason assures me it isn’t a mechanical issue.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I said. Getting out of the office sounded like a good plan. I wanted to get away from the sadness I could feel in the air. As it was, I was struggling to keep my spirits up.
“I knew I could count on you.”
“So, Beau,” I started. “How long do we do this?”
“Do what?”
“Operate with no captain at the helm?”
He offered a small smile. “I’m sure we’ll know something in the next day or two. For now, I think we both have plenty of work to do.”
“Got it,” I said with a nod.
He stood up and gave me a funny look before smiling. “I have to say, I’m sure as hell glad it’s you holding down the fort with me. I can’t imagine trying to do this with anyone else.”
“Thanks. I feel the same way. I’ll let you know how it turns out.”
He waved a hand. “I know you have it covered.”
He left the office while I grabbed my keys and phone. I slid on my sunglasses and walked out of the office. I shuddered as I stepped into the elevator. The sadness was uncomfortable. I was going to take my time at the railyard. I was not looking forward to going back in.
My truck bounced down the dirt road that led to the yard. I parked in front of the office and scanned the area. There was a crew working on one of the engines, but I didn’t see the foreman. He was the man I wanted to talk to. We couldn’t afford to have any slips in service. With Ben’s death, our clients were already feeling a little anxious. Delivering late was not an option. I would act as the engineer myself if I had to.
I walked up the ramp into the office which was nothing more than a single-wide trailer. I was immediately hit by a blast of cold air. The secretary who basically ran the place looked at me and grimaced.
“He’s in his office,” she said. “I warned him.”
“Thanks, Vida.”
I walked down the narrow hall to Derek the foreman’s office. The door was propped open. I walked in and gave him a look. He sighed, barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes when he saw me.
“I suppose my little tattletale told you there is a delay?”
“That tattletale might have just saved the company a small fortune. What is going on? Why isn’t it moving?”
“I have a client that wants their shipment to go out today. It’s going to the same destination. I thought we could save ourselves some money by putting it on the same train.”
“And where is the shipment?”
He winced. “It didn’t show up.”
“Then get that other load going,” I ordered. “The client that didn’t get his shit delivered can pay full price. I’m not going to screw over one client because we are trying to save a few bucks.”