"Okay, I'm here", Mitch said, storming inside the Heartland ranch house where Jack and Tim were already waiting for him in the kitchen. He started removing his coat and hung his hat on the mud room wall in a hurry. "Sorry I'm late."
"Had somewhere more important to be than in a business meeting with your partners?" Tim needled, stuffing muffin bits into his mouth. The good thing about Lisa making goodies for the Dude Ranch guests was that there were freshly baked muffins for them to have over their meeting too - which Tim personally appreciate very much.
"Well, actually, Amy asked me to cover for her. The Dude Ranch guests wanted to have a trail ride, so I stepped in while she went to take care of something in town", Mitch explained. "I came as soon as I could."
His cheeks were rosy and his nose runny from being outside for few hours, so it felt nice to be inside for a while before he had to go back to take care of the rest of his chores.
"Okay, since it was for Amy, you are forgiven", Tim said, giving him the absolution.
"Have a seat", Jack said as he took out a cup for Mitch from the cabinet after pouring himself some coffee already. "Coffee?"
"Yes, please", Mitch said, taking a seat from the table.
It was so different to walk into the ranch house instead of conference room and just have this type of casual business meeting when it came to his business. Mitch had never really liked wearing a suit for work and carrying around laptop and paperwork to make sure everything was kept in order with everyone involved. He could still do it, but Mitch preferred to run things like this, very informally. He was happy to have partners who agreed with that.
"So, you said you've been talking to Garland. Everything okay?" he then asked, feeling a little nervous. So far everything had went smoothly with the guy, but maybe there was a cause for concern if Garland had contacted them directly.
"Yeah, actually... it's good news", Tim informed him while Jack brought Mitch his coffee and then sat down with them. "Garland Foods would like to increase our order."
Mitch almost chuckled with delight. "That's not good news - that's great news!"
"Hold on." Jack wasn't ready to cheer yet. Mitch looked at him, wondering what the catch was if Jack wasn't immediately pleased. "That would mean we would have to expand the herd."
"Obviously - but that's not a problem", Tim said, a little bit annoyed with how slow Jack was. It almost felt like to Mitch they had had this conversation before and the takes on it had been the same back then too. "We can just add more bulls to the herd. What's few more heads, right?" the man simplified the whole thing.
"I think you're forgetting that we need a land for them too - and the last time I checked, you sold yours", Jack pointed out, drilling Tim. "We have the right capacity for my acres, we can't just add more cattle and hope for the best. Anyone with the slightest understanding of math can figure that out-"
"You're still going on about Big River?!" Tim rasped.
"I don't care what you do with your land - it's your land", Jack talked back, even though it bothered him a little he had only found out about it after the fact, "but don't come to me and talk about expanding the herd to meet the demand when I'm the one that has the land and gets the bum end of the deal-"
"Okay, but also - don't forget Mitch and I are doing most of the herding, old man, so you can rest your bones while we are out there in every weather. It's not like we are freeloaders! We are all equal partners", Tim defended himself. He then turned to Mitch. "You agree with me on this, right, Mitch?" he checked, but before Mitch could do more than open his mouth, Jack interfered.
"The brand has Heartland's name on it. I'm not planning to take any risks by biting more than we can chew. I want to keep the ranch's reputation clean so I have something to leave for the next generation-"
"What next generation?" Tim yelled, spreading his hand as if to present him something. "You're literally driving Amy out of the farm because you don't give her any room to expand. What do you think will happen after you die? That Lisa's going to take over? Or that Lou and the girls will be back from New York when they are busy building their lives over there? You can't possibly talk about the future when you're living in the past and demand everyone else to live there with you. This deal is the future! No one's going to live off from a legacy. People need money!"
"There should be quality over quantity!" Jack spoke over him.
Tim wasn't listening as he was still bothered by Jack attitude. "You really think, now that Ty's in jail for few years and Amy's finally free from one ball in chain that she's just gonna stay under your command like some little girl and accept whatever little arrangement you have going on here-"
"This isn't about Amy", Jack said back, shaking his head.
"You made it about Amy yourself!" Tim scoffed. "That was your reasoning, remember? The next generation, blah blah blah! Amy's already looking for a way to get out of here. There will be no one left to pick up your legacy."
"Okay, hold up, hold up, both of you. I have a proposition", Mitch said, getting up from the chair and putting his arms between the older men to keep them separate even though the argument was more verbal than physical. "The other day, I was chatting to the old man McMillan next door and he was talking about retiring. I could call him up and see if he would be willing to sell some of his land and herd to us. That's almost your land anyway, right, Jack? That way the transition would be easy for everyone. Even the bulls."
"I don't feel comfortable selling cattle we haven't raised ourselves", Jack said, attempting to calm down but still trying to get his point across.
"And I get that, but... eventually the cattle would be one we have raised ourselves", Mitch pointed out. "We just have to get the ball rolling now - sooner rather than later - if Garland wants to do more business with us."
"That's actually not a half bad idea", Tim said, impressed by Mitch.
Jack glared at Tim. "Oh yeah? And are you going to pay for it?" he challenged his ex-son-in-law again.
Tim stared back at Jack as the older man surely knew he was helping out Amy with her dreams and his money was tied to that project, but this was his way of keeping Tim a little bit more humble. "I can help out with what I can. And... we could ask some kind of advance from Garland-"
"And what happens when that's not possible? We are back to right where we started from", Jack scoffed.
"Or", Mitch interrupted again. "I'll buy the land."
Jack and Tim both stared at him. It was somewhat a surprise for them to even consider that Mitch could be the one to do it. So far they had only seen him as a rookie, but now as they were looking at him, it dawned on them maybe it had become his time to step up.
"No offence, but with what money? You live in a trailer", Tim said.
"Exactly. There's hardly any expenses", Mitch pointed out. "I've been saving money for years now. I was going to use it for a house, but I guess business will do too. I mean, I'll just make the money for the house through business, so..."
Tim let out an impressed noise and then looked at Jack. "Well, I'll be... - What do you think, Jack?" It was like Mitch's interference was the solution to their problems.
"Like you'd care what I think..." Jack murmured. It made Tim scoff.
"Stop moping. Like Mitch said, we gotta give Garland an answer sooner rather than later - or he'll go with someone else", Tim said. "You want legacy? This will be your legacy."
Jack's mustache quivered on the top of his lip as he considered it. The two younger men waited for his response.
"Let me sleep on it", he finally requested.
"Well, I have to ask McMillan first anyway, so I'd say we talk more tomorrow", Mitch suggested. "Can you give Garland a call and let him know we are thinking about the offer?" he asked from Tim.
"Yeah, sure, whatever", Tim said, getting up and taking a muffin with him. Before he left the house, he turned on the door. "I'll see you two tomorrow at supper."
Jack sighed, knowing this was typical Tim; inviting himself to the table under some disguise but really just wanting to take part because of the free food.
Mitch looked at the man next to him and felt guilty for siding up with Tim even though to him this seemed like the most logical thing to do.
"I do get your side of things too, even if it might not seem like it..." Mitch wanted to say. "But like Tim said, I also have to think about the future. I think we have a pretty good idea what we are doing, so we don't have to worry so much about that anymore. We are still going to keep it reasonable with the additions to the herd."
"I guess..." Jack said with a tone that made him sound defeated or crushed, but to Mitch he just seemed tired and he wasn't sure if it was because of this, Tim or something else.
"Is... everything okay?" he had to ask.
"It's just Tim", Jack tried to explain. "He is always ready to fight and it's hard to relax when I know he's about to drag something up. I'd appreciate if he'd just talked about things instead. I don't know why I ever agreed to have a business with him, knowing all this..." He waved his hand dismissively.
"I could talk to him about it", Mitch offered.
"Thanks, Mitch, but I don't think he's going to change. He's always been like that and my guess is he will always be like that too", Jack said. "Don't worry. I get your ambitions, I do... It's just hard for me to change mine. I'm an old man and I've come to the conclusion that I'm not here to please anyone. Life's too short for that. Like I said... I'll sleep on it."
"I appreciate you even considering", Mitch tried to soften the blow of the hurricane called Tim Fleming. "Anyway. I should get back to work. I'll talk to McMillan, and we'll see tomorrow."
"Alright. Here, have one for the road", Jack said, handing Mitch one of the muffins.
Mitch accepted it and smiled, feeling a little bit better about their situation. Just because Tim and Jack could both be explosive, didn't mean he wanted to be - not that he even really was to begin with. Maybe it was his part in this partnership to mostly keep the two off each other's throats and offer some middle ground.
It seemed to do the trick - for now.
