The Sticky Cowgirl (Lone Star Sweets, Book 2) (13 page)

“People should love what they do and they shouldn’t expect to get rich. Most never do, but I didn’t get into this for money. I did it because I love to bake and I wanted my grandma’s sticky buns to reach as many people as possible. They always made me happy growing up and now they make others happy too.”

“I see that. It’s why I want to help others who are in business for themselves or who are wanting to go into business.”

“I don’t even know what to say. I’m totally floored.”

Samuel winked and reached for her hand. “You should be. I’m a changed man.”

“What does all this mean for us?”

“It means, if you’ll have me, that I want to be with you. For good.”

Samantha didn’t know what ‘for good’ meant and she didn’t know if she wanted to ask right then. But she’d take him, no matter what it meant. She’d missed him. She’d never tell him that because that would go to his head, but she’d show him. Later on when she got him alone, at her place, in her bed.

Chapter Fourteen

“Brandt? What the hell are you doin’ out here?”

“Hello Jock. I thought maybe we should try to talk.”

“I got nothin’ to say,” Jock groused and proceeded to close the door.”

“Daddy,” Samantha hissed, coming to the door just in time. “Stop that. Mr. Worthington? Please come in.”

“Thank you.” Brandt tipped his head toward her and stepped over the threshold. “I hope I’m not interrupting dinner.”

“We’re just finishing up. Please have a seat.”

“I won’t take up much of your time.”

“Good,” Jock gruffed.

Samantha wrapped her hand around Jock’s forearm and squeezed lightly. “Daddy…”

“You were right about her. She’s the spitting image of Marie. She even sounds like Marie. Jock, can we talk somewhere more private?”

“Nope.” Jock walked into the front room that housed the family seating and television. Ever since Jackson and Jock had mended their fences, they spent a lot of time together, some of it watching ball games. It had been good to see them getting along again. Jock settled in a worn, brown leather recliner. “We can talk right here in front of everyone.”

“Still stubborn as a jackass,” Brandt remarked, drawing a chuckle of agreement from Jackson.

“Takes one, old man.”

“Who’re you callin’ old man?” Brandt bit back.

Behind her Samuel and Jackson both laughed and she couldn’t even figure out how to tell them to stop it because the version of Brandt she’d met was different than the one currently in the house.

“What do you want? You’re interrupting my dinner.”

“Samantha said you were done.”

“Don’t mind him, Mr. Worthington. He’s afraid he’ll miss dessert and if he keeps being a snarling dog, he will.” The last was said pointedly with a stern look in Jock’s direction. There was clearly something between the two older men and behind the polished businessman, Brandt Worthington could sink or rise to the level of Jock Dawson.

It was entertaining.

“Speaking of dessert,” Cass piped up. “Mr. Worthington, was it? Would you like to stay for some and a cup of coffee?”

Samantha was the one who needed to hold back the snicker this time. Jock turned into a thundercloud. “He will not be staying.”

“I would love some, thank you,” Brandt replied graciously.

“You’re not welcome in this house.”

“Marie would tell me that I am. I helped build the house.”

“My Marie isn’t here and I don’t have to be as nice as she woulda been.”

“You never were.” It was like watching two kids fighting, but neither knew what they were fighting over. Jock was usually a man of few words. Not in this instance.

“You helped build the house?” Jackson asked. It was new to both brother and sister.

“I did.” Brandt took a couple of steps and stood just inside the dining room. “I helped raise the walls and fix the ceiling beams. I even hung the chandelier.”

“That makes you a…Thompson?”

“On my mother’s side, yes. Jock and I were in our teens when your grandfather started on the house here and we pitched in. That was when we both found out the other had designs on your mother. Made our friendship difficult.”

“You and I remember those times very different. Why the trip down memory lane, Brandt?”

Brandt sighed at Jock’s sharp, impatient tone. “I didn’t know she was your daughter,” he said. The words held conviction and defiance and Samantha smiled. She didn’t know when she’d begun to feel bad for everyone involved in what was supposed to have been a simple business transaction between Samuel and herself. She’d made it as difficult as anyone.

Stubborn as a mule. Just like her brother, and her father. Her mother had had patience and while she would dig her heels in from time to time, she knew when to let go. Samantha hadn’t inherited that trait.

“Would it have changed anything if you did?” Jock’s words were forceful, confrontational. Is that how they’d been when they were younger? Did they bicker back and forth like children, one always trying to get the upper hand?

“I don’t know.” There was resignation in Brandt’s voice. “But we’re too deep into this to get out of it now. It’s not personal, Jock and that’s the damn truth.”

“Now that you know, if you don’t find a way to stop, then yes, it is very personal.”

“Marie wouldn’t want us fighting over your daughter like this. Just like she didn’t want us fighting over her all those years ago.”

Jock was up and out of his chair in a flash, moving quicker than Samantha had ever seen him move. He took several long, angry strides forward, coming toe to toe with his old friend. “Stop bringing Marie into this.”

Brandt sighed again, the sound weary. “You know it’s true, Jock. I loved her, but for all my money and my love, she loved you, you stubborn, old goat. There’s no reason you should still be so bitter about it. It was years ago. You won.”

“But that didn’t stop you from trying to take her away, did it? You still worked to steal her from me.”

“And looking at your two children, we all know it didn’t work. She walked away from me and stayed with you. She didn’t want to leave Texas. You and I did, but she didn’t. In the end, it didn’t matter what you or I wanted because everything began and ended with Marie.”

“Then let this shit with my girl, go. You can go buy any piece of property you want, anywhere you want. You don’t need her tiny little building.”

“I own the land it sits on,” Brandt shot back.

That was news to Samantha and brought her out of her fascinated stupor. She spoke up. “You do? When?” She turned to Samuel, who was still seated at the dinner table with Cass. Jackson had gotten up and stood in the doorway separating the dining room from the foyer. He had a clear view of everyone. “Did you know?” she asked Samuel. Before he could speak, Brandt answered.

“No. He didn’t know. I was in the process of it when we parted ways.”

“So, that means you really do own my building too.” The defeat in her voice must have carried. “If you own the land it sits on, then essentially you own it too.” There was nothing left for her to do. That she’d come to the decision to give in, to sell if Brandt didn’t go for Jock’s idea of incorporating the building into his plans. She just hadn’t gotten around to telling anyone yet, didn’t even matter now. The final choice was taken away from her. Samuel had warned her that first and foremost, Brandt Worthington was a businessman and that once he decided on something, nothing could change his mind.

“I’m sorry,” Brandt said. “I didn’t plan to tell you this way.”

Samantha nodded. If she opened her mouth, she’d crack and crumble and end up in tears. She wouldn’t do that in front of any of them. It may not have started out as personal and she may have done exactly what her daddy had said she always did, diggin’ her heels in… It was definitely personal now.

“That’s that then,” Jackson said. It was exactly what she’d have said. It was exactly what their mother would’ve said. It wasn’t about giving up, it was about giving in when you knew you were beat. It was about beginning the process of figuring out how to move on.

“Baby?” Samuel was at her back and he wrapped his arms around her from behind. He was the one who’d first verbalized this whole mess, the one who’d walked into her shop, handsome as the devil and uttered the words that would eventually come true.

He was also the man she fell in love with on that same day. She didn’t like him at all, but she loved him with every bit of her heart. Jock had always said the first time he saw her mother, he’d known she was the one. They hadn’t spoken. They hadn’t been introduced. He didn’t know anything about the spitfire, as he’d called her, but he’d fallen in love at first sight. Samantha hadn’t believed something like that was possible and that her father was just being fanciful and trying to make sure they knew his memories of Marie Dawson were fond from the start, The moment Samantha saw Samuel Stevenson, she realized Jock had been telling the truth. Love at first sight did exist and it had hit Samantha right between the eyes and straight in the center of her heart.

“Sammy girl,” Jock said softly, cupping her cheek in his rough, cracked palm. That hand had wiped so many of her tears away over the years, starting with the first time a horse bucked her to the day her mother died.

“I’m okay, Daddy,” she whispered.

“See what you did?” Jock hissed over his shoulder to Brandt. “Get out.”

“No, Daddy. We all knew this was going to come sooner or later. We all know I couldn’t fight this indefinitely. I know when I’m beaten.”

“I’ll buy it from you.” Jock was standing toe to toe with Brandt again. “How much?”

“You can’t afford it.”

“Your boy over there made the mistake of underestimating the value of my land.”

“I’ll add my savings in too,” Samuel added.

“Is this why you showed up here? To deliver the final blow? Marie wouldn’t be proud of you right now.”

“There are a lot of things I’ve done over the years that Marie wouldn’t have been proud of me for. This is most definitely one of them. You’re right about that.”

“One more chance for you to get out of my house before I kick your ass out.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Jackson stomped his boot on the floor. “Think the two of you can stop acting like children for a few minutes? Sam is the one who’s being hurt in the middle of all this.” Jackson was the only other one who’d be able to tell their father he was acting like a kid. There were times that having a big brother was a good thing. This was one of those times. She knew she and Jackson would stay up late into the night trying to find a solution of what she should do. He had great ideas and had met some amazing people through his cupcake truck. He’d help her find a place to re-open
The Sticky Cowgirl
and she’d bounce back.

“Brandt?” Samuel tried for his attention. “I have the plans you told me I could work on. I have it all out in my car. Will you at least look it over? It would work.”

“I also said this wasn’t how I’d intended to tell Miss Dawson that I owned it. I had planned to come talk to Jock first, to clear the air, to show him I wasn’t as awful as he’s thought all these years. If I’m still welcome for coffee and dessert, I had come here with a proposition.”

“One dollar? That’s it? You’ll sell the land to me for one dollar?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Does there have to be a reason?”

“With you there’s always a reason, Brandt.”

“Fair enough. I heard you on the phone in your old office the day you were cleaning it out. I overheard you tell someone about an idea for helping small business start-ups. I liked it. The purchase of the land had already come through and when I told you that I would consider Jock’s initial idea, I had meant it. I know it would work and I want to see the plans, but I started thinking about space for your venture. I think a small business center or however you plan to work it would be well housed near a very profitable one.” He pointed to Samantha. “Hers.”

Samuel turned to look at Samantha. She turned to him in that same moment. Her eyes were bright and her skin was flushed with excitement. “What do you think?”

“I have internships in my bakery. You could open a learning center, a place with resources, legal advice and counsel. I could help.”

“We could all help,” Cass offered. “And I could benefit from something like that.”

“You said you weren’t my son,” Brandt said, calling Samuel’s attention back to him. “But you are. I’m not affectionate. I’m not emotional, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care about the people closest to me. I love your mother and I love you. You are my son and if this is what you want for your life, then I want it for you. I never asked before, but I’m asking now and asking how I can help you do what you want to do.”

Samuel didn’t know what to say. He never knew he needed Brandt to tell him he was loved or that he was considered a son or that what he wanted even mattered. He’d needed those words for more years than he could count back to though.

He cleared his throat and squeezed Samantha’s smaller hand when she twined her fingers through his. “I want this chance to make a difference, to help people find what Samantha and Jackson have found and to help Cass find it too.”