Page 40 of Flights and Sights

His brows were drawn together and he looked worried, mouth set in a tight line. “Hey there. Is everything okay?”

“Mostly. I’ll explain everything. Come on in.”

Soon enough, we were seated on opposite ends of my couch as I reiterated the situation to him. “Wow,” he said quietly. “Such a quick turnaround.”

“It is. And… they want you to come along. They said you’d be an asset to the conversation.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”

“It’s not a dealbreaker, they said. But you’re invited. If you want to go, I mean.” I hesitated for a moment before adding my own opinion. “I’d like it if you were there, too.”

Callum gave me a soft smile and nodded. “When do we leave?”

Relief flooded through me. “Tomorrow evening, I guess. And we can head back on Thursday. Is that okay?”

“Of course.”

I suppressed a sigh of relief. “I’ll let Jade know.”

“Perfect. Now in the meantime, we should do some research on this investment group.”

“Research? Like what?”

“What other companies they’ve invested in. What happens when someone signs an agreement with them, like what to expect. You want to be prepared to make an educated decision.”

I nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“Do you have a laptop?”

“Yeah, of course. I don’t live in the Dark Ages.” I got up and retrieved my laptop before returning to the couch and placing it on the coffee table in front of us. “Now what?”

Callum took charge of my laptop and started searching for info about the Carson Group. He tried a few different search terms before he found something he seemed to think was worth reading.

“Here.” His gaze darted back and forth as he read the article he’d found. “This one talks about their successful projects. It looks like they’ve got a decent number of breweries and wineries under their belt.”

“That’s good, right?”

“It could be. It means they know what they’re doing.” He read a little more. “Let’s see if we can find anything from the owners of the places they’ve invested in.” A few more strings of search terms and he’d found an interview he was interested in. “Here.”

I read it silently, nerves building inside me. The interview was with a former brewery owner who’d accepted investment funds—former being the key word. He’d accepted the investment funds, and the Carson Group had required controlling interest, and then made several major changes to the business before buying him out completely. My stomach went sour and I tried to assure myself it was just one person’s experience.

“Here’s another one,” Cal offered a few moments later, passing me his phone.

I skimmed the article, which said much the same. “Wow. Do they always take controlling interest?”

He tapped a few things into my laptop and then slid it to me. Another article, but this one was more optimistic. They hadn’t taken a majority share, but had still influenced significant changes at the winery.

We continued to research, alternating between our phones and my laptop as we both searched for more information and shared it with each other. Most of the articles and interviews were similar—no matter what, big changes were made once the Carson Group entered the picture. Sometimes owners stayed on in the same role, sometimes they turned into management staff, and sometimes they left altogether. Every single thing we read ended the same way though—no matter who ran the business, once the Carson Group’s changes went into effect, profitability went through the roof.

Finally, I’d had enough. I turned off my phone screen and put it face down on the table before leaning back and letting out a long sigh. It was nice, working with Callum together, researching and sharing information like a team. Maybe a little domestic. Something about it made my chest warm. I could imagine evenings like this, where we worked together on something, sharing information back and forth, planning and discussing and trying to come to a conclusion together. I could see us working on mead flavors or researching suppliers or distribution channels.

My chest tightened as I thought about it. I swallowed hard and took another long, slow breath. I needed to shake off the comfortable domesticity of it all. I couldn’t let myself start to get too attached. Not when he was leaving in a week.

Chapter 20 - Callum

One thing I was grateful for about this trip to visit the Carson Group investors was that it was a road trip, as opposed to a flight. We took my rental rather than Paxton’s pickup truck, and it wasn’t long until we’d made ourselves comfortable and were heading southwest to Santa Clara. The drive was only a couple of hours if traffic was on our side, and once we were in my car and on the road, time seemed to pass quickly.

“What are you thinking? I mean, about the investment opportunity,” I asked, glancing at Paxton as I drove.