Page 51 of Need You
Colt gave his brother the middle finger. “I invented your strategy.” He reached across the table, grabbed a second Danish, and refilled his mug with coffee.
“Nice pants.” TJ gave them an assessing look. “Where’d you get ’em?”
“Delaney.”
“No kidding?”
Win came over to his end of the room to check them out, and let out a whistle. “I never saw those in Hannah’s shop, just dresses and handbags.”
“She was playing around with prototypes,” Colt lied.
“I thought she was high fashion,” TJ said. “She’s doing sports and athletic wear now?”
“I think she was experimenting. She made a pair of shorts first. I liked them so much I asked her for pants.”
TJ choked on his coffee. “You asked her for pants? You ever see what her stuff sells for? Even the off-the-rack clothes go for big bucks. It would be like one of our clients asking if we could get Jonny Moseley to give ski lessons. Something’s going on with you two.”
“Nah, she’s in a creative slump.” Colt doubted Delaney wanted anyone to know that, but his brothers wouldn’t spread it around. “I think she was just messing around.”
“Hannah said she’s having a tough time with her ex, who got to keep her brand,” Josh said.
“Well, I’d be interested in carrying those pants”—TJ cocked his head at Colt’s legs—“and the shorts at Garner Adventure.”
Everyone turned to stare at TJ, and Win asked, “We’re doing retail now?” They barely had enough staff to handle the adventure tours.
“There’s good money in merch. People have a great experience, they want to commemorate it with a T-shirt . . . or a pair of cargo pants. Maybe we even put our logo somewhere on the pocket and have our guides wear the clothes to market them.”
“Who’s going to run this shop of yours?” Josh asked the question they were all thinking. TJ liked to think big, but that often meant stretching the rest of the family and the staff to their limits.
“Since Hannah’s the retail expert, I was thinking she could help with the ordering and any kid could work the cash register. Hell, Darcy could do it.”
“My wife has her hands full with her own business and Darcy has enough to do with keeping the reservations straight. You’re doing it again, TJ. I appreciate that you want to grow the business, I really do. But we’re not robots.”
TJ started to argue and Colt put his hands up to keep the peace. “It’s a good idea, TJ. As far as Delaney designing clothes for Garner Adventure—not gonna happen. But I like the idea of T-shirts, sweatshirts, rash guards, whatever. Draw up a business plan, map out who’ll run the enterprise—not Hannah—list the kind of manpower we’ll need, and we’ll take it from there.”
That seemed to appease everyone.
Colt, who had lost track of time, glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to get to work,” he told his brothers. “I’ll leave you three to strategize.”
On his way out he said good-bye to his mother and to Darcy, who barely looked up from her computer monitor. When he got into the office, Jack was hanging around Carrie Jo’s desk.
“Something going on I should know about?” Colt asked.
“Pond Scum just delivered our kayak,” Jack said. “I’m not much of a kayaker but even I can tell it’s a piece of shit.”
It’s not like they had a chance of winning anyway. The mayor just wanted to mess with Colt.
“Where is it?”
“The garage. Maybe you and I should go out a few times, get a feel for it.”
When was Colt supposed to do that? “If I can carve out some time, yeah, sure.”
“Nice pants,” Carrie Jo said, and fingered the fabric. “They look new.”
“Delaney Scott made them.”
“You’re kidding. Doesn’t she make ball gowns and obscenely expensive purses?”
