Page 5 of Bargain With the Boss

Oh, I’d gone out to help my brother with his long-lost son. The mother hadn’t bothered to tell Jude about the baby until the child was inconvenient for her. I couldn’t fault Jude for taking care of his responsibilities, but he could have raised Owen here in Seattle.

But his defection had never really been about Owen’s hometown.

He’d learned that our mother had another family before ours. And that he was only my half brother.

That was the real impetus for his leaving.

He wanted to get to know his other family. The family that wasn’t me.

“Are you listening, Sydney?”

I blinked out of the mental detour. “Yes, of course. You’re considering my proposal.”

My dream had always been to build a new branch of the company. My own arm, with my own ideas. I’d earned the right to show the board of directors my proposal and get a true vote.

Not that it really mattered when my mother controlled 51 percent of the vote.

She always had the last say.

I knew that if I just had the chance to show them my ideas they’d see A Garden You Love was a great idea. We’d have specialists who cultivated plants depending on the zones the store was in, teachers to help people with anything from picking plants to pest control, and designers who could help our customer’s vision come to life.

With the advent of YouTube, there were plenty of videos to help. But what if you didn’t know what questions to ask? What if the customer was too nervous to put their hands in the dirt? Heck, what if they didn’t even know what dirt to have?

I knew there was a hole in the market, and I was determined to fill it.

If my mother would just release her Herculean hold on every rein in the company.

My mother laced her fingers together on her spotless leather blotter. “Yes, but I have a counter proposal for you.”

I frowned. “Mother, I’ve more than earned the chance to make this project a reality.”

“Ah, but time in a job means absolutely nothing when it comes to business. It’s all about opportunities. And if you want a chance to make your little garden company a reality, you need to do something for me.”

I lifted my chin. “Some sort of quid pro quo?”

“Now you’re getting it.” She twirled her pen through her fingers idly, but her icy blue eyes were sharp. “The board ofdirectors wants a united front for the merger with Sophisticated Spaces. This nonsense with Crescent Cove is leaking into my plans. I need your brother back here, and you get your proposal to the board with my support after you implement my changes.”

The words pinballed around my head.Withher changes. As if my ideas were lacking. I pushed that down, focusing on the main part of this scheme. It was always about Jude and the business. Never about me. “Mother, he has a family in New York. That’s not possible.”

She tucked a lock of her auburn hair around her ear. “That’s what planes are for. He can bring that simple girl back here and set her up in a house. At least he married her when he got her pregnant.”

I was used to my mother’s vitriol, but that was a lot even for her. “Maddie isn’t a simple girl. She’s actually one of the warmest and sweetest people I’ve ever met.”

“Just because she has a soft heart, doesn’t mean she’s intelligent, Sydney. Jude made his bed there.”

I pressed my lips together, swallowing the urge to defend Maddie Masterson, now Keller. And quite possibly Hamilton if Jude got his way with changing his name.I could only imagine what she’d say about Jude’s plans to change his name.

Not that it mattered right now, she was already forging on with her plan.

“You get Jude back here at A Home You Love,andresiding in Seattle, then you get your chance.”

I shouldn’t be surprised, and yet my heart ached with the realization that she wouldn’t offer me the capital to start A Garden You Love on my own merits. She expected me to convince the board and just maybe she’d back me.

I opened my mouth to tell her to go to hell.

No deal.

“Oh, and if you don’t succeed in getting your brother to return, your entire team will lose their jobs.”