"What… and that's all he said?" Mark asked in disbelief as he eased back into the comfortable couch in Callie's luxurious office.
"Yup… I know right… I thought it was weird too… do you think it's some kind of trick? Should I be worried that he is up to something?" Callie asked cautiously as she handed Mark a crystal glass with a finger of scotch before sitting down herself and taking a first sip of her own scotch.
"I think Esme slipped something in his morning coffee!" Mark scoffed. "didn't he tell you on Friday that he would be billing you for all the amendments and was going to make you pay back what you spent on the company card?"
"Yeah that's what I don't understand… why say one thing and then change your mind? When have you ever known my Dad to change his mind where money is concerned" Callie asked seriously.
"Mija, I see you took our meeting seriously and are working hard for a change" Carlos scoffed as he entered his daughter's office to find her practically laid lounging on the couch chatting without a care in the world.
"Daddy I can't focus. You need to tell me the truth… why did you change your mind between Friday morning and this morning… and don't you dare tell me to just say thank you and not do it again… I need answers!" Callie whined.
"Why does it matter Mija?" Carlos asked seriously as he poured himself a finger of scotches and joined the duo on the couches with the decanter which was placed on the coffee table between them.
"I can't explain why it matters so much, it just does… please just tell me what changed your mind" Callie pleaded and battered her eyelashes sweetly.
"You changed my mind Mija… you were right the whole time and I was too focused on the dollar signs and completely ignored everything else. You made a promise to Arizona, and that promise gained us the project, I should never have tried to go against that promise. T.I. was never meant to be just a money maker, it's a family business and it has values which I turned my back on and it took you kicking my ass to remember what those values were" Carlos took a small sip of his scotch before laughing at the two slacked jaws and wide eyes pointing at him.
"Look… I know you think I'm a god Calliope but I'm only human I make mistakes too, what's important is that I own up to my mistakes and fix them or make amends. My mistake was to only consider finances in my decision… I took the decision away from you because I didn't think you could look at it objectively and instead I made a decision based on one thing, and that was wrong of me. We should have discussed it together and made a joint decision and like YOU said we should have been looking at how our decision would impact the economy, and the urban area, and the facility users, and the public image. We did promise to keep community center and you were right I did teach you to keep your word, just as your Abuelo taught me the same lesson. I should have seen all this a lot sooner" Carlos offered wisely.
"What make you realize it though?" Mark asked with interest, Carlos Torres was not a man to concede defeat or admit to fault, he was a great man, a better father to him than his own biological father could ever dream to be, he was an outstanding mentor... but he was stubborn as a goat.
"Honestly son? Yesterday when the love birds arrived to pick the boys up for their day out… I saw how happy they were together, how happy Arizona makes my little girl… and then I watched three of my four children hang off of Arizona's every word like she is the answer to every single question in the world… the three of them are besotted with her and it made me think that perhaps I had put money before family... and then I realized that Arizona is such a honest, kind and sweet person and the boys especially can sense that in her… then I thought about the things Calliope had told me about Arizona as she was yelling at me and I just thought… if there is ever a time to switch up how your doing business then it's now… Arizona deserves that community center. She bends every which way for everyone else and never asks for a dime in return… this is the only thing she has ever been selfish about I think… it was the right thing to do" Carlos advised.
"She is pretty great… for someone Cal is interested in anyway" Mark mocked.
"Oh I know son… it's like she's had a blow to the head and can finally see eligible women" Carlos snorted.
"Sitting right here!" Callie whined causing the two men in her life to bark out laughter.
"Next time you think I need a lesson Mija… don't do it with the credit cards ok, it's not fair to the people who rely on us to pay their wages every week... if I'm wrong scream and shout and do whatever you need, just keep the company finances out of" Carlos chided as he poured another finger in each of the three glasses.
"Yes Daddy" Callie smiled sweetly.
"Cal did you forget to give…" Arizona stopped in her tracks as she looked up from the file she was reading to see the three most senior people in the company lounging in Callie's office drinking scotch at one in the afternoon. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt your meeting" Arizona smirked knowingly.
"Come in and shut the door blondie before anyone else spots us relaxing for a minute and starts hounding us" Mark scoffed.
"I would love to… however someone forgot to find Alex on Thursday and didn't give him the message and now I have the environmental agency on my back saying that 'The Wharf' is a no go because the demolition of the old building is going to create too much pollution in the waterways… which makes me question if they even know about the amended proposal for the environmentally friendly removal technique that we wanted to trial" Arizona eyed Callie suspiciously as the brunette smiled guiltily and shrank into her seat.
"Any confessions to make Calliope?" Arizona prompted when Callie remained silent. "Nothing at all that you want to add here?"
"In my defense… I was looking for Alex but Erica cornered me and wouldn't shut up and I forget and then you started stomping around in a jealous rage, and then Mark reminded me and as I got up to go find Alex again and Daddy called and dropped his bombshell and after that my every thought was in fixing it and looking for a way to keep the community center" Callie sighed.
"So you admit, you did forget to do the ONLY thing I asked you to do, and to do it as a priority?" Arizona asked carefully as she fought to keep her face straight.
"Well technically yes but I did manage to get the… you know what I give up, yes Arizona I forget… hand it over" Callie frowned, it was obvious that Arizona wasn't buying her excuse so why bother, nothing got past her girlfriend when it came to work.
"Hand over what?" Arizona smirked.
"My punishment… whatever it is just hand it over and get it over with" Callie smiled when Arizona laughed and shook her head.
"Nice try! How about you get off your ass and go find Alex and get things sorted so the paperwork can be submitted before it's too late to fix it and you get another bollocking from your dad because he has a block of land he can't build a tent on!" Arizona raised an eyebrow when Callie remained seated and smirked at her, instantly Callie jumped up with a sigh and marched towards Arizona, grabbing the file and making her way to find Alex.
"Oh Calliope?" Arizona smiled sweetly as she watched the brunette's ass swaying out the door without shame.
"Yeah?" Callie asked, waiting for more orders.
"Don't get lost on your way to find Alex this time" Arizona winked to show she was just playing around.
"Why don't YOU get lost!" Callie shot back over her shoulder as she stepped up her pace to escape her frustratingly adorable girlfriend.
"Calliope?" Arizona called again, smirking when Callie stopped in place and spun to look at her girlfriend expectantly.
"You may want to put a bit of spice in your step, tick tock!" Arizona grinned, laughing when Callie's middle finger saluted her before she marched away with purpose.
"Nicely done blondie, I don't think I have ever seen Cal move so fast!" Mark smirked as Carlos nodded his agreement before motioning for Arizona to join them.
"Thanks oddball, you just have to know how to handle her" Arizona grinned as she dropped into Callie's vacated chair and picked up the half drunk scotch and sipped at it. She couldn't help but laugh as she saw Mark glancing at Carlos hopefully with a pout on his lips.
"Don't look at me like that son, if you call her blondie then she get's to call you oddball!" Carlos scoffed before chinking his glass against 'Arizona's' glass. "and that pout and fluttering of the eyebrows has no effect on me"