30: CHANGE IS OKAY
The cafeteria in Brayden’s office building was super nice. It wasn’t your average run-of-the-mill basic food. It had a personal chef that Brayden and Brent hired. He had worked in many five-star restaurants and was a master of several culinary options, offering different menus every day. Today was Brayden’s favorite, Italian. In fact, he was the one who had catered the food for them last night.
“Mmm…I love the smell of a brick oven pizza.” Brayden inhaled a deep breath enjoying the aroma that filled the cafeteria. “I know we just had Italian last night, but Jeffery’s pizza is the best in the city.” Brayden and Jackson walked over to the counter and placed their order. “You can also order and have it delivered up to your office if you are too busy to leave for lunch. I do that quite often.” Brayden said as they walked over to a corner table and sat.
While they waited for their lunch, they called Emma to check in on how she was doing. She was so full of excitement telling the guys about her morning. “I have missed my fur and feather babies so much. I think they might have missed me a little too.” Brayden and Jackson laughed at how cute she sounded.
“We miss our baby also.” Brayden’s voice was deep and husky making Emma blush on the other end of the phone. “Maybe the day will pass by quickly so we can hurry home.” They continued talking about their mornings until their pizza arrived at the table.
“You guys enjoy your lunch and the rest of your day. I will be right here waiting on you two when you get home. I love you both so much.” Emma said with sincerity.
After lunch Brayden and Jackson continued their tour of the office, going up another floor. The elevator opened into a large lobby with sofas and televisions playing the local and worldly news. Then to the center of the room was a desk and a beautiful receptionist who greeted them with a smile and her bright green eyes. She was ravishing as Jackson took in her slender waist and full hips when she stood to greet them. Her hair was a strawberry blonde that hung right below her shoulders, and her large breasts threatened to spill from her low-cut blouse.
“Good afternoon Mr. Smith,” the gorgeous girl said greeting Brayden. “Mr. Brent is already in the board room waiting for the two of you.” She turned looking at Jackson taking in his rugged good looks as she clearly eyed him up and down. Jackson cleared his throat hoping to break her intense stare that was starting to stir something in his pants.
“Oh gosh I’m so sorry. Courtney this is my cousin Jackson. He will be working hand in hand with Brent and I. Treat him like another boss. He and his wife Emma just moved here from down south.” Brayden wanted to clear the air between the two, adding an emphasis on him being married. He knew Courtney was a beautiful woman, and she was a bit flirtatious. He had to shut her down a few times. Brent however, Brayden was pretty sure he’d banged her a few times. He got that opinion after one day when he had walked into Brent’s office without knocking. Brayden was pretty sure he had caught Brent's knuckle deep inside Courtney as she stood on his side of the desk by his chair. They were too close to not be doing something and he heard a soft moan as he entered the room. They quickly scurried away from one another, and Brent acted as if he was giving her some papers to copy. Brayden wanted to make sure Jackson didn’t do anything stupid.
Courtney reached out her hand introducing herself, “Hello Jackson. My name is Courtney and yes if you need me to do anything for you just let me know. It is uncanny how much you favor both of your cousins.” Jackson shook Courtney’s hand thanking her. He and Brayden had both caught how she’d flirted.
“Come on Jackson, let’s go on to the board room with Brent. There are a couple of gentlemen I’d like you to meet.” Brayden pulled Jackson away from Courtney as quickly as he could. As they walked away Brayden whispered to Jackson, “Man, I know she’s hot, believe me, we have ogled at her for the last couple of years, but don’t go down that path. She is for looks only.” He patted Jackson on his back knocking out a breath he held.
Walking into the board room, they were greeted by a chipper and energetic Brent. He was sitting at the head of the dark-stained conference table. Two men sat beside him going over some blueprints of what Jackson thought looked like fields and farmland. The men looked to be older than the three of them, maybe in their fifties.
“Hey guys, Jackson this is Mark and Phillip. They head our research department. You will be working a lot with them.” Brent introduced the men as Jackson sat across from them. “Jackson is our cousin from down south that we have been telling you about. He has a hands-on, thorough knowledge of farming.”
“It is nice to meet you, Jackson. We look forward to working with you.” Mark shook Jackson’s hand and then turned to Phillip. He looked a little standoffish like he might not like a change to their ways of doing their job. Finally, he grunted a hello at Jackson and then he was right back to his work.
They sat for several hours going over different blueprints of locations they were considering buying. Jackson added in his comments and opinions whenever he saw fit. Phillip did not like it and did not hide the fact that he didn’t.
“Is there a way we can go and look at the locations in person?” Jackson asked.
Phillip huffed out loud, “Boy, there is no need to get our hands dirty doing this job. We have made it fine all these years not going out to the fields.”
Jackson was taken aback by the rudeness of Phillip and the hostility he felt from him. He nodded understanding where Phillip was coming from, but he disagreed. “I get what you are saying Phillip, but you can’t test the soil for its nutrients or see how the sun hits the land, by sitting behind this desk. Those things make a difference in how well your crops will grow or even which crops would work better in which field.” Jackson was confident in what he said, and Brent took notice of that. Phillip just huffed again with no additional rebuttals because he knew Jackson was right.
Brayden patted Jackson on the back, “And that’s why we thought Jackson would be such a great fit for this position. He did all this each year on his own fields.” He turned to Phillip feeling slightly frustrated with how aggressive he was acting towards Jackson. It made him question why they had noticed a decline in their crop growth numbers. Was Phillip sabotaging their business? “Phillip, I do understand your point, but we have had a decline in our production over the past year and this could be what helps us.”
Brent wrapped up the meeting. “I will call the field owners first thing in the morning and discuss a trip to look at each one. You just let me know exactly what you need for your research.” Jackson thanked Brent and they excused themselves to leave. Jackson hadn’t realized but the afternoon had flown by, and it was already 5 pm, time to go home. As he and Brayden headed back to the house Jackson couldn’t get the way Phillip had acted out of his mind. Mark had an open mind and seemed to love Jackson’s ideas. Philip however did not. He wondered what Phillip's story was.