Owen
Book Fifteen of the Farraday Country Series
Chapter One
Some days Owen Michael Farraday wished that he could simply tap his shirt and tell Scotty to beam him up. Of course that meant that the family ranch in Oklahoma would have to be the mothership. Ideally, the beam me up concept would work more like that TV witch who twitched her nose and instantly was somewhere else. Then commuting between two states wouldn’t be such a drain.
The long hot shower had been a small slice of heaven. After the almost seven hour drive to the family home in Oklahoma, his back had let him know that despite the comfort of his nice new pickup, driving back and forth between Oklahoma and Texas was getting beyond old. The modern world had advanced to talk to computers with no need of a keyboard, communicate anywhere in the world instantly via cell phones, or if they preferred, see the smiling faces with video calls, and a slew of other sci-fi realities. How hard could inventing speed travel be? Except, if he were honest with himself, living and working in Texas and leaving the Oklahoma projects for someone else to manage held growing appeal over driving back and forth and trying to keep his mother happy while he was at it.
In the meantime, though he preferred handling business from an ergonomically comfortable chair—yeah, somewhere he’d become that old – at least thanks to all the wonderful advances of modern technology, he’d been able to knock out several phone calls to unruffle some feathers on two of the Oklahoma renovations underway while driving. The Farraday Brothers Construction crews were some of the best, able to accomplish the world without him or his brothers having to micromanage them. If only he could say the same thing about some of their subcontractors.
One in particular had been at the root of both of those phone calls. One of the interior designers they used had a nasty habit of going over budget on her work. The woman had no sense of numbers at all, but she had to have lost her mind on the Chez Gerard renovations. One of the most exclusive velvet rope restaurants in the entire state of Oklahoma, Farraday Construction had managed to beat out five of their best competition for the project. The numbers had been tight and unlike most of the projects, the contingency budget was next to nothing. His brother Neil had insisted Constance Swenson was the right choice. Considering how many times Owen had had to do battle with her over numbers, he was less than convinced the fit was right. After multiple calls with their bookkeeper, the furniture gallery, and the logistics company responsible for the delivery of the imported chairs—from France, no less—he wouldn’t mind wringing her pretty little neck. Except that was one thing his mother and Aunt Eileen would agree on—they’d both kill him.
Now it was up to him and his brothers to find a way to offset the unexpected expense of imported restaurant chairs. Towel drying his hair, he shook his head wondering, what was wrong with Made in the U.S.A.?
Booted heels stomped up the wooden steps of the old ranch house. He’d always thought his family home a comfortable place, but it didn’t hold a candle to his Uncle Sean’s spread.
“About time you got here.” His identical twin brother Paxton’s voice boomed from down the hall. “We don’t have all day.”
As his brother crossed his room in a few long strides, the same towel now wrapped around Owen’s hips, he flung open the bathroom door. “For what?”
“Tomorrow’s design meeting on the new ghost hotel has been pushed up to today.”
“We really have to find a new name for the place. You can’t keep calling this segment we’re filming of the ghost town renovation, Ghost Hotel.”
“Don’t see why not.” Pax shrugged. “Anyhow, Neil is still in Tuckers Bluff, so you’re going to have to meet with Harriet. Fortunately, this is only the prelim gathering. Going over the plans Neil drew up and the budget you’ve laid out as well as sharing a few photos of the not ghost hotel, and discussion of the direction we’re going in.”
Thank heaven Neil hadn’t insisted on that woman who had given him a headache the size of Texas. “Why me?”
“I told you. Neil is still in Texas and you’re here.”
“So are you.” Why his brother wanted him to meet with the design team was beyond him. He was just a numbers man. “You’re a landscape designer and she’s an interior designer. The two of you probably speak the same language.”
“Plants and wallpaper are unrelated.”
“You’re both creative. I’m all about numbers and spreadsheets. You speak her language.”
“If I didn’t have to pick up the order for the downtown project I would, but last time the nursery stuck us with too many substandard plants. If they botch this, they’re done. Even if it means driving to the next county for a decent nursery, but I don’t have time to drive back and forth if they try it again today, so I have to go with the crew for pick up. Show the nursery who they’re dealing with.”
All right, he’d give his brother a pass. This wouldn’t be the first or last time a vendor put their best foot forward until they thought the Farradays were no longer checking. Still. “Why the rush? Why not tomorrow as scheduled?”
Paxton shrugged a shoulder and flashing a lopsided smirk intended to be a smile, Owen knew before his twin opened his mouth that he was not going to like what Pax said. “Something about a standing appointment for a mani-pedi and not wanting to lose her slot.”
Had his brother really just said that to him? Paxton wanted Owen to piss off his mother and do Neil’s job because the lady wanted her toes polished?
“Don’t look at me that way.” Paxton held his hand up. “I don’t argue with a woman and her beauty routine.”
“Harriet is as old as Mom. What beauty routine?”
“Ours is not to reason why…”
Lord love a duck. He hated it when his brother quoted Tennyson. Inevitably it always meant he was about to get suckered into something he didn’t want to do—like today. “Ours is just to do or die.” If you can’t beat them join them.
“If it makes you feel any better, Tammy doesn’t have the time to commute to Texas but she is going to be in on the meet.”
That brought a smile to his face. He and Tammy had been friends for so long he’d lost track and with this renovation of the old ghost town for the Construction Cousins Reality TV series he and his brothers had committed to, he hadn’t seen her in a month of Sundays. They’d tried dating a time or two, but always came to the same conclusion; they made better friends than sweethearts. “It’ll be good to see her.”
“So you’re going?” A sincere grin pulled at his brother’s lips.
“You know I will, but you also do realize Mom is in the kitchen cooking up every favorite food I ever mentioned liking. She expects me to spend the rest of the afternoon with her. If I leave now she’s going to be beyond pissed. I don’t even want to think about her reaction when she finds out that I’m only staying in Oklahoma a few days. I have to be back in Tuckers Bluff on Monday to go over the council changes with the film crew and then I have to finalize the details with Neil for the Ghost Town Palooza. You know how fired up Mom is over all the time we’re spending away from home. Since learning we’re hanging out in Tuckers Bluff she’s almost impossible.” He hadn’t told any of his brothers how often his mother had been texting him with excuses why he needed to come home quickly. He had no idea why she had picked him as the brother to approach, but as far as he knew, she wasn’t saying much of anything to the others.
Wrapping his hand around his neck, Pax shook his head and sank onto the corner of the bed. “I swear, something about Texas brings out the worst in our mother. She spent twenty minutes carrying on about Neil and Morgan abandoning her and I won’t repeat the things she said about Tuckers Bluff.”
“Nothing we haven’t heard a thousand times before.” Though he really did wish someone had a clue why their mother resented Texas and the other branches of the Farradays more than income taxes.
Pax pushed to his feet. “Now that we’ve settled that. You’re meeting with Harriet and I’m off to the nursery.”
“Not so fast.” He grabbed a shirt out of the closet. “I may be stepping in for Neil, but you’re telling Mom I have to leave.”
“Crud.” Pax sighed. “Fine. But you’ll owe me.”
Owen merely rolled his eyes and tossed the towel into the hamper. What else could possibly go wrong today?
****
“Oh man, that’s a beauty.” Standing in her friend and coworker Tammy’ office, Connie admired the barley twist mahogany table that Tammy had found at an estate sale. Every so often they’d stumble onto the perfect item at the most unexpected places. “I absolutely love it when we find a bargain that’s just spot-on. That horrible silver candelabra that Mrs. Benson is so fond of will look great on that table.”
“Thank heavens. I freely admit I was struggling with how to display that gaudy piece without making the whole room look like a bad set design for a horror movie. But mostly I’m just happy this will help balance out the overages. The budget allowed a thousand dollars for this piece. Now I can shift the unused eight hundred to offset the cost of the chandelier.” Tammy spun about and pulled out a silver shopping bag. “Since I didn’t have to spend all afternoon scouring the city for that piece, I stopped a few minutes at the new boutique on Fillmore Street.”
Connie had been so wrapped up trying to give that arrogant French chef everything he wanted, rob Peter to pay Paul, and convince everyone that she had all the spending for Gerard’s fancy restaurant under control, that she’d not had a single moment to go check out the newest shop on what was slowly becoming the hot artsy area of town.
“What do you think?” Tammy held what would no doubt be a short, snug fitting dress in the most gorgeous shade of azure blue.
“Oh my.” She reached out to finger the delicate beading.
Tammy frowned. “Is that good or bad?”
Good. With your figure, that dress will look gorgeous on you.”
Her coworker’s face lit up with delight. “Thanks!”
“As a matter of fact, I just might borrow this little number from you one of these days.” There were benefits to having good friends the same size as you. From time to time she and her friends had been known to lend out formal dresses through the years. A gesture her budget greatly appreciated.
Holding the dress against her, Tammy twirled in place. “Now all I need is someplace to wear it.”
“I hear Owen Farraday is in town again. I doubt it would take much persuasion to get him to take you someplace worthy of that dress.”
Tammy’s forehead crinkled before she sighed. “I suppose, but it would be a shame to waste this dress on just a friend. This puppy deserves an honest to God date with a guy who will kiss you goodnight and curl your toes.”
“You’re telling me Owen’s a lousy kisser?” Connie found that hard to believe. All those Farradays were chips off the same block and many a woman would kill to get them alone. Then again, being good looking was no guarantee of anything else.
“I didn’t say that, but for me there’s no spark, no magic. It’s almost like kissing a brother.”
“Ick.” Connie hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but the words just gave her the chills and not in a nice way. Though, she’d always thought that Tammy still liked Owen more than she’d let on and that it was Mr. Penny Pincher who had ended their brief romantic liaisons. Another reason not to be thrilled with Mr. Owen Farraday.
Tammy chuckled and shook her head, more proof that she still carried a torch for the guy. Twirling one more time, Tammy slipped the dress back neatly into the bag. “Some day. What time do you have to be back at the restaurant?”
“I don’t.” The last minute reprieve from yet another meeting with the restaurant people and probably the Farraday bookkeeper was a true blessing. Chez Gerard had proven to be one of the most challenging jobs she’d done in a very long time. Not that this project was any different than any other commercial endeavor, it was just that she was learning the hard way that the French had a different perspective on life. Sometimes it was kind of fun, but others, like the fiasco over the chairs, not so much. “Apparently there’s a bug going around and he’s down to half the kitchen staff, so they have twice as much work to do and Gerard does not want anyone who doesn’t cook taking up space.”
“Taking up space?” Tammy chuckled. “Nice of him.”
“Well, he might have said it a little differently, but I got the message nonetheless.”
“I have to admit, I don’t think I care for that man very much.” Tammy shrugged. “But then again, it’s no secret that they don’t care much for us. So I guess that makes us even.”
Connie chuckled. “That’s one way to look at it.”
“Darn it.” Now on all fours, Tammy was in front of a cabinet in her office, pulling the contents out from the shelves and placing them on the floor beside her. “I know I shoved those swatches in here somewhere. They’re in a plastic bag from the Design Loft.”
“Let me help.” Even though the cabinet Tammy was searching through was in her office, it was shared by all the staff for storing product samples and project leftovers.
The problem, of course, was that with each project that ended, the stash of goodies in the wall of lower cabinets was replicating at an alarming pace.
Tammy pushed to her feet. “You’d think Harriet could afford to use pull out shelves. I’m getting too old to be on my knees searching for a needle in a haystack.”
If Tammy, five years Connie’s junior, was too old, then Connie was S.O.L. “Just where is Harriet?”
“She ran out to grab a burger. Should be back any minute.” On her feet and dusting off her hands, Tammy sighed. “Maybe they’re in the break room.”
“Good idea.” Still on all fours, having moved to the next cabinet, Connie waved at her friend. “Search in there and I’ll keep digging here.”
“Sounds like a plan. Thanks.”
Her head buried deep in the lower cabinets, tossing out paint chips, grout samples, wood flooring samples, vinyl floor strips, Connie was convinced any second now she would come across a kitchen sink.
“Well, hey there gorgeous.”
The deep male voice was unexpected. She’d barely managed to ease herself a few inches out of from the cabinet when a very large hand landed smack on her derriere, snapping her upright and smacking her head hard against the top of the cabinet. What the hell?
Some days Owen Michael Farraday wished that he could simply tap his shirt and tell Scotty to beam him up. Of course that meant that the family ranch in Oklahoma would have to be the mothership. Ideally, the beam me up concept would work more like that TV witch who twitched her nose and instantly was somewhere else. Then commuting between two states wouldn’t be such a drain.
The long hot shower had been a small slice of heaven. After the almost seven hour drive to the family home in Oklahoma, his back had let him know that despite the comfort of his nice new pickup, driving back and forth between Oklahoma and Texas was getting beyond old. The modern world had advanced to talk to computers with no need of a keyboard, communicate anywhere in the world instantly via cell phones, or if they preferred, see the smiling faces with video calls, and a slew of other sci-fi realities. How hard could inventing speed travel be? Except, if he were honest with himself, living and working in Texas and leaving the Oklahoma projects for someone else to manage held growing appeal over driving back and forth and trying to keep his mother happy while he was at it.
In the meantime, though he preferred handling business from an ergonomically comfortable chair—yeah, somewhere he’d become that old – at least thanks to all the wonderful advances of modern technology, he’d been able to knock out several phone calls to unruffle some feathers on two of the Oklahoma renovations underway while driving. The Farraday Brothers Construction crews were some of the best, able to accomplish the world without him or his brothers having to micromanage them. If only he could say the same thing about some of their subcontractors.
One in particular had been at the root of both of those phone calls. One of the interior designers they used had a nasty habit of going over budget on her work. The woman had no sense of numbers at all, but she had to have lost her mind on the Chez Gerard renovations. One of the most exclusive velvet rope restaurants in the entire state of Oklahoma, Farraday Construction had managed to beat out five of their best competition for the project. The numbers had been tight and unlike most of the projects, the contingency budget was next to nothing. His brother Neil had insisted Constance Swenson was the right choice. Considering how many times Owen had had to do battle with her over numbers, he was less than convinced the fit was right. After multiple calls with their bookkeeper, the furniture gallery, and the logistics company responsible for the delivery of the imported chairs—from France, no less—he wouldn’t mind wringing her pretty little neck. Except that was one thing his mother and Aunt Eileen would agree on—they’d both kill him.
Now it was up to him and his brothers to find a way to offset the unexpected expense of imported restaurant chairs. Towel drying his hair, he shook his head wondering, what was wrong with Made in the U.S.A.?
Booted heels stomped up the wooden steps of the old ranch house. He’d always thought his family home a comfortable place, but it didn’t hold a candle to his Uncle Sean’s spread.
“About time you got here.” His identical twin brother Paxton’s voice boomed from down the hall. “We don’t have all day.”
As his brother crossed his room in a few long strides, the same towel now wrapped around Owen’s hips, he flung open the bathroom door. “For what?”
“Tomorrow’s design meeting on the new ghost hotel has been pushed up to today.”
“We really have to find a new name for the place. You can’t keep calling this segment we’re filming of the ghost town renovation, Ghost Hotel.”
“Don’t see why not.” Pax shrugged. “Anyhow, Neil is still in Tuckers Bluff, so you’re going to have to meet with Harriet. Fortunately, this is only the prelim gathering. Going over the plans Neil drew up and the budget you’ve laid out as well as sharing a few photos of the not ghost hotel, and discussion of the direction we’re going in.”
Thank heaven Neil hadn’t insisted on that woman who had given him a headache the size of Texas. “Why me?”
“I told you. Neil is still in Texas and you’re here.”
“So are you.” Why his brother wanted him to meet with the design team was beyond him. He was just a numbers man. “You’re a landscape designer and she’s an interior designer. The two of you probably speak the same language.”
“Plants and wallpaper are unrelated.”
“You’re both creative. I’m all about numbers and spreadsheets. You speak her language.”
“If I didn’t have to pick up the order for the downtown project I would, but last time the nursery stuck us with too many substandard plants. If they botch this, they’re done. Even if it means driving to the next county for a decent nursery, but I don’t have time to drive back and forth if they try it again today, so I have to go with the crew for pick up. Show the nursery who they’re dealing with.”
All right, he’d give his brother a pass. This wouldn’t be the first or last time a vendor put their best foot forward until they thought the Farradays were no longer checking. Still. “Why the rush? Why not tomorrow as scheduled?”
Paxton shrugged a shoulder and flashing a lopsided smirk intended to be a smile, Owen knew before his twin opened his mouth that he was not going to like what Pax said. “Something about a standing appointment for a mani-pedi and not wanting to lose her slot.”
Had his brother really just said that to him? Paxton wanted Owen to piss off his mother and do Neil’s job because the lady wanted her toes polished?
“Don’t look at me that way.” Paxton held his hand up. “I don’t argue with a woman and her beauty routine.”
“Harriet is as old as Mom. What beauty routine?”
“Ours is not to reason why…”
Lord love a duck. He hated it when his brother quoted Tennyson. Inevitably it always meant he was about to get suckered into something he didn’t want to do—like today. “Ours is just to do or die.” If you can’t beat them join them.
“If it makes you feel any better, Tammy doesn’t have the time to commute to Texas but she is going to be in on the meet.”
That brought a smile to his face. He and Tammy had been friends for so long he’d lost track and with this renovation of the old ghost town for the Construction Cousins Reality TV series he and his brothers had committed to, he hadn’t seen her in a month of Sundays. They’d tried dating a time or two, but always came to the same conclusion; they made better friends than sweethearts. “It’ll be good to see her.”
“So you’re going?” A sincere grin pulled at his brother’s lips.
“You know I will, but you also do realize Mom is in the kitchen cooking up every favorite food I ever mentioned liking. She expects me to spend the rest of the afternoon with her. If I leave now she’s going to be beyond pissed. I don’t even want to think about her reaction when she finds out that I’m only staying in Oklahoma a few days. I have to be back in Tuckers Bluff on Monday to go over the council changes with the film crew and then I have to finalize the details with Neil for the Ghost Town Palooza. You know how fired up Mom is over all the time we’re spending away from home. Since learning we’re hanging out in Tuckers Bluff she’s almost impossible.” He hadn’t told any of his brothers how often his mother had been texting him with excuses why he needed to come home quickly. He had no idea why she had picked him as the brother to approach, but as far as he knew, she wasn’t saying much of anything to the others.
Wrapping his hand around his neck, Pax shook his head and sank onto the corner of the bed. “I swear, something about Texas brings out the worst in our mother. She spent twenty minutes carrying on about Neil and Morgan abandoning her and I won’t repeat the things she said about Tuckers Bluff.”
“Nothing we haven’t heard a thousand times before.” Though he really did wish someone had a clue why their mother resented Texas and the other branches of the Farradays more than income taxes.
Pax pushed to his feet. “Now that we’ve settled that. You’re meeting with Harriet and I’m off to the nursery.”
“Not so fast.” He grabbed a shirt out of the closet. “I may be stepping in for Neil, but you’re telling Mom I have to leave.”
“Crud.” Pax sighed. “Fine. But you’ll owe me.”
Owen merely rolled his eyes and tossed the towel into the hamper. What else could possibly go wrong today?
****
“Oh man, that’s a beauty.” Standing in her friend and coworker Tammy’ office, Connie admired the barley twist mahogany table that Tammy had found at an estate sale. Every so often they’d stumble onto the perfect item at the most unexpected places. “I absolutely love it when we find a bargain that’s just spot-on. That horrible silver candelabra that Mrs. Benson is so fond of will look great on that table.”
“Thank heavens. I freely admit I was struggling with how to display that gaudy piece without making the whole room look like a bad set design for a horror movie. But mostly I’m just happy this will help balance out the overages. The budget allowed a thousand dollars for this piece. Now I can shift the unused eight hundred to offset the cost of the chandelier.” Tammy spun about and pulled out a silver shopping bag. “Since I didn’t have to spend all afternoon scouring the city for that piece, I stopped a few minutes at the new boutique on Fillmore Street.”
Connie had been so wrapped up trying to give that arrogant French chef everything he wanted, rob Peter to pay Paul, and convince everyone that she had all the spending for Gerard’s fancy restaurant under control, that she’d not had a single moment to go check out the newest shop on what was slowly becoming the hot artsy area of town.
“What do you think?” Tammy held what would no doubt be a short, snug fitting dress in the most gorgeous shade of azure blue.
“Oh my.” She reached out to finger the delicate beading.
Tammy frowned. “Is that good or bad?”
Good. With your figure, that dress will look gorgeous on you.”
Her coworker’s face lit up with delight. “Thanks!”
“As a matter of fact, I just might borrow this little number from you one of these days.” There were benefits to having good friends the same size as you. From time to time she and her friends had been known to lend out formal dresses through the years. A gesture her budget greatly appreciated.
Holding the dress against her, Tammy twirled in place. “Now all I need is someplace to wear it.”
“I hear Owen Farraday is in town again. I doubt it would take much persuasion to get him to take you someplace worthy of that dress.”
Tammy’s forehead crinkled before she sighed. “I suppose, but it would be a shame to waste this dress on just a friend. This puppy deserves an honest to God date with a guy who will kiss you goodnight and curl your toes.”
“You’re telling me Owen’s a lousy kisser?” Connie found that hard to believe. All those Farradays were chips off the same block and many a woman would kill to get them alone. Then again, being good looking was no guarantee of anything else.
“I didn’t say that, but for me there’s no spark, no magic. It’s almost like kissing a brother.”
“Ick.” Connie hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but the words just gave her the chills and not in a nice way. Though, she’d always thought that Tammy still liked Owen more than she’d let on and that it was Mr. Penny Pincher who had ended their brief romantic liaisons. Another reason not to be thrilled with Mr. Owen Farraday.
Tammy chuckled and shook her head, more proof that she still carried a torch for the guy. Twirling one more time, Tammy slipped the dress back neatly into the bag. “Some day. What time do you have to be back at the restaurant?”
“I don’t.” The last minute reprieve from yet another meeting with the restaurant people and probably the Farraday bookkeeper was a true blessing. Chez Gerard had proven to be one of the most challenging jobs she’d done in a very long time. Not that this project was any different than any other commercial endeavor, it was just that she was learning the hard way that the French had a different perspective on life. Sometimes it was kind of fun, but others, like the fiasco over the chairs, not so much. “Apparently there’s a bug going around and he’s down to half the kitchen staff, so they have twice as much work to do and Gerard does not want anyone who doesn’t cook taking up space.”
“Taking up space?” Tammy chuckled. “Nice of him.”
“Well, he might have said it a little differently, but I got the message nonetheless.”
“I have to admit, I don’t think I care for that man very much.” Tammy shrugged. “But then again, it’s no secret that they don’t care much for us. So I guess that makes us even.”
Connie chuckled. “That’s one way to look at it.”
“Darn it.” Now on all fours, Tammy was in front of a cabinet in her office, pulling the contents out from the shelves and placing them on the floor beside her. “I know I shoved those swatches in here somewhere. They’re in a plastic bag from the Design Loft.”
“Let me help.” Even though the cabinet Tammy was searching through was in her office, it was shared by all the staff for storing product samples and project leftovers.
The problem, of course, was that with each project that ended, the stash of goodies in the wall of lower cabinets was replicating at an alarming pace.
Tammy pushed to her feet. “You’d think Harriet could afford to use pull out shelves. I’m getting too old to be on my knees searching for a needle in a haystack.”
If Tammy, five years Connie’s junior, was too old, then Connie was S.O.L. “Just where is Harriet?”
“She ran out to grab a burger. Should be back any minute.” On her feet and dusting off her hands, Tammy sighed. “Maybe they’re in the break room.”
“Good idea.” Still on all fours, having moved to the next cabinet, Connie waved at her friend. “Search in there and I’ll keep digging here.”
“Sounds like a plan. Thanks.”
Her head buried deep in the lower cabinets, tossing out paint chips, grout samples, wood flooring samples, vinyl floor strips, Connie was convinced any second now she would come across a kitchen sink.
“Well, hey there gorgeous.”
The deep male voice was unexpected. She’d barely managed to ease herself a few inches out of from the cabinet when a very large hand landed smack on her derriere, snapping her upright and smacking her head hard against the top of the cabinet. What the hell?
E-Books
|
|
|
|
|
