“And I plan to be riding that wave, you can count on it.”
“I can’t believe how quickly the stock shot through the roof. They were relatively unknown a few months ago.”
The weary expression Alex wore disappeared when Topaz rejoined the group.
She could feel his penetrating gaze follow her every move, but commanded herself to disregard it.
“Simon, I’m leaving,” she whispered, hooking her hand through the crook of his arm.
“You okay?” Simon asked, turning to face her.
Topaz responded with a nod, but clearly she was drained.
“I’ll take you home,” Simon decided.
“Oh, Simon, no,” she declined, pressing her hand to his forearm, “you don’t have to do that. I have my car, remember?”
“Well, I’m worried about you.”
Topaz regarded him closely. “Why?”
“Topaz, this is me,” he reminded her, laying one hand against the center of his chest. “I know how much you loved that garage and we’re here at a party to honor the entrepreneurs ...”
Topaz couldn’t mask her sadness. “I’ve thought about the fire every day since it happened.”
Simon kissed her forehead. “I know you have and I’m concerned by it. Now why don’t you let me drive you home?”
“It’s important for you to be here. I don’t want you to leave.”
Finally, Simon grimaced and bowed his head. “I’m at least walking you to your car.”
Alex’s stare was trained on Simon and Topaz as they left the party. He made a silent decision that it was time for Simon Whitley to excuse himself from Topaz’s life. Alex shook his head then. He certainly had no right to decide such a thing when he couldn’t even be honest with her about his past.
“Guys, please forgive me. I’m so sorry for being late,” Topaz feverishly apologized when she entered the president’s office at White and Webster Contractors.
Horace waved toward his partner and the other remaining owners from the block. “It’s no problem, Topaz. We weren’t gonna start without you.”
“Well, since Ms. Emerson is here, we can begin,” Stan announced.
“What’s this all about, y’all?”
“Yeah, why this emergency meeting?”
Horace waved both his hands, urging silence. “Y’ all give us a minute and we’ll answer all your questions. We’ve discovered why the property on this block is such a hot commodity.”
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense.”
“To make a long story short, we’re sittin’ on a gold mine.”
Silence followed Horace’s announcement as everyone fixed him with blank looks.
“What the hell are you talkin’ about?”
“This ain’t no time for jokes!”
Stan stood and pushed his partner aside. “We decided to investigate!” he shouted over the mixture of raised voices. “We decided to investigate our own land. We hired a surveyor. He was able to conclude from the condition of the soil and other tests he ran that there’s a wealth of petroleum flowing beneath us.”
“Petroleum?”
“In this area?”
Stan nodded. “Which could very well explain why that fire at Topaz’s shop was so destructive.”
“Do those bastards tryin’ to buy the land know about this?” someone asked.
Horace shrugged. “There’s a chance they’ve already done their own study of the property.”
“What in the world made you guys look into this?” Topaz asked, fiddling with a lock of her hair as she spoke.
“After that sit-down with Beaumont Harris, a friend suggested we look into why these clowns were willin’ to shell out so much cash,” Horace explained.
“So what do we do now?”
“Horace and I think we should all take time to reevaluate this Weston deal,” Stan slowly stated.
Of course, everyone was a bit more eager to “reevaluate” their options in light of what they now knew. Still, no one could deny what they knew of Weston Enterprises—the strong-arm tactics they’d used with their former colleagues. Amid the melee of conversation, Topaz waved her hand and stood.
