“I’m taking the zoning commissioner out for some golf, which should help to speed up the review process. We haven’t broken any laws and I’ve reviewed the injunction they filed against us.”
“Are we in the right?”
“We haven’t done anything yet so technically we’re fine. There is a zoning provision to keep the marketplace as part of the community. I think this committee will satisfy that.”
“Good. Then there’s no problem?”
“Cam, bureaucracy runs slowly. And you want everything finished yesterday. We are going to be lucky to have a ground-breaking at the tenth anniversary party.”
Nate shook his head. “Cam, are you going to stand for that defeatist attitude?”
“Shut up, little bro,” Justin said. “We have to be realistic.”
“I don’t have to be,” Cam said. “I have you to do that. I think I will be on the committee with you and we will get as many local business owners involved with the anniversary celebration as we can. Once they have a vested interest in the celebration they will help make things happen.”
“I agree,” Justin said. “I have a young deejay who I can get to play at the marketplace ground-breaking—he is Tomas Gonzalez’s grandson.”
Cam nodded over at him. “You’re already taking steps to make this happen. Keep us updated on your progress.”
“I will. How’s everything else going at the club? Do you need anything from me?” Justin asked.
“Just get the approvals for that ground-breaking taken care of, we can handle the rest,” Nate said.
“I will. I’m going to take a few days for a staycation,” Justin said.
“What? You can’t take any time off,” Cam said. “Not now.”
“I guess I’m explaining this wrong. I’ll be working every day but at night I’m going to be staying at the Ritz,” Justin said.
“Why?” Nate asked. “I mean the Ritz is nice but why not stay at your home?”
There was no way he was going to tell his brothers that this move involved a woman. “I just haven’t had a break lately and staying at the Ritz will give me one.”
“As long as you are still working, it doesn’t matter to me,” Cam said.
“I might have you check in on some friends who are staying down there,” Nate said.
“I don’t want to have to check in on your celebs.”
Nate ran with the celebrity crowd—all friends he’d made back when he’d been a major league baseball player. And Nate still used these connections for the club, even though he was recently engaged to Jen Miller, a dance instructor at Luna Azul. They were a cute couple and very happy together. Justin was surprised that his playboy brother had fallen for the pretty dancer and her quiet lifestyle.
While Justin was glad his younger brother had kept in contact with the glitter set, the last thing he wanted was to have to socialize with them.
For the most part he had nothing in common with people who traded on their looks or talent to get by in the world. He’d always used hard work and determination.
“Fine. We can have drinks tomorrow night when I’m down there.”
“Why do we have to?” Justin asked just to needle his brother.
“Because you are making me drive down there. And you’re buying!” Nate said as his cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen and then excused himself.
Warm breezes blew across the rooftop patio. “I like this place,” Justin said.
Cam arched one eyebrow at him. “I’m glad to hear it, considering you helped me build it.”
Justin nodded. “I know. I wonder how different it could have been if we had real community support?”
Cam took a sip of his whiskey and then rubbed the back of his neck. “In the early days it would have made a big difference. I hate to think of what it was like before Nate got injured and came home … do you remember that first summer when he just sat in the back of the club and his baseball playing friends visited?”
“Yes. You wanted to turn the club that we’d invested every last penny in, into a sports bar.”
“Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time,” Cam said.
“It was a good idea, I’m just glad we didn’t have to do it. By the way, Selena suggested calling the marketplace the Mercado. I like it.”
“Yes, I like it, too. Who is Selena?”
Justin took a deep breath. It didn’t matter that he and Cam held equal positions of authority in the company; Cam was always going to be Justin’s big brother. “She’s the lawyer the Gonzalezes hired. She’s also their granddaughter.”
“Pretty?”
“Breathtakingly beautiful,” Justin admitted. “Can you still be objective? If not, we can use one of your junior managers to take the lead on this.” “No,” Justin said. “I’ve got this under control.” “Is she staying at the Ritz?” Justin just nodded.
“I’m not sure how under control you have this,” Cam said.
“I’m not going to let you down or do anything to hurt the Luna Azul.”
“I know that,” Cam said. “What about yourself? Are you going to do anything to harm you?”
Justin finished his drink with a long, hard swallow and then got to his feet. “I’m the Tin Man, Cam. No heart. So nothing to be hurt by Selena.”
Justin walked away from his brother and wished that it wasn’t true. But he had learned a long time ago that women and love never really touched him on a deep level. True, this attraction to Selena was intense but it would burn out like all things did.
Six
Justin walked through his house, pausing beneath the portrait of his family that had been done when Cam graduated high school. They looked like the perfect family. Picture-perfect, he thought. On the outside they’d always made sure to present a front that others would envy.
And what a front it was. His father, the pro golfer, who traveled to tournaments in his private jet, and their socialite mother, who moved in all the right circles and made sure that her sons were successful and dated the right kind of girls.
He glanced up at his mother, really staring at the blonde woman with her perfectly coiffed hair, and wondered why she’d never been happy with their family. No matter how well he did in school or how well Nate had played baseball, she’d never been pleased with them. She’d never smiled or shown them any real signs of love or affection.
He’d often thought that all women were that way but he’d seen his brother fall in love with Jen and therefore got to see a different side to women. Jen had cracked through Nate’s doubts. Justin was still a bit cynical but seeing how Jen and Nate had worked together to make their relationship successful … well, it made him wonder why his mom hadn’t tried just a little bit harder to make it work with his dad.
“Mr. Stern?”
He glanced over his shoulder and saw his butler standing there. “Yes, Frank?”
“I have your bags ready. Do you want me to drive you to the Ritz?”
“No. I’m going to take the Porsche.”
“I will park it in the circle drive. Do you need anything from me? “
“No. You can take the next two weeks off.”