Billie Bob Jones
Clyde's office often felt huge no matter who we were having meetings with. The large window opposite the door brightened up the space instantly and often added a calm and serene atmosphere.
Although this time the space felt oddly claustrophobic. His cologne flooded the whole space that I could barely remember how the space smelt before he entered. His scent reminded me of ginger, a touch of cinnamon with an undertone of musk.
I had never smelt anything like it and I found it distracting. Did he use the whole bottle to ensure he could harass my nostrils every time I breathed in?
It did not help that I was sitting directly next to him. There were so many seats around the boardroom table that I found it ridiculous that he chose to sit next to me. Plus the heat his body radiated made it uncomfortable, the air conditioning barely did anything either making me slightly sweat under my shirt.
I blamed Clyde, I was not the semi-formal type.
I had taken off my hat as soon as we entered the office but left my sunglasses on. It allowed me to observe the man next to me without him noticing.
Clyde led most of the meeting whilst I just sat there and waited for a question to be directed to me.
"Your financials look good to me," Benedito nodded as he paged through the file Clyde had handed him. "I believe if we make some changes we could really get this to be one of the top ranches in Texas."
"That would be wonderful, maybe Bobby and I here can give you a tour of the ranch?"
"Please," he attempted to smile again making me extremely confused. Why was he pretending to be so friendly?
We all stood up and I put my hat back on. We agreed that Benedito and his guards would follow us as Clyde and I hopped into his red Dodge Ram truck.
"Do you know him from somewhere? You seem to have something going on," Clyde raised his eyebrow as he quickly looked away from the road to look at me.
"He's kind of Delilah's boss at the café," I mumbled as I stared out the window.
"And you don't like him?"
"He's a bit of a jerk."
That made him chuckle, "what did he do?"
"He stared at me like I was an inconvenience in his life. I don't understand why, I have never even uttered a word to him. I've only spoken to his friend Ronaldo."
"Are you sure it was just his friend? Maybe that's why he's been giving mean looks," Clyde seemed not to take me seriously as he would not stop laughing.
"Trust me they are just friends. I don't care though as long as he is interested in throwing money into the ranch I'm happy," I sighed already feeling the headache set in.
"Very well, try to be more interactive Bobby. For a minute I forgot you were even in the meeting. A kind smile can really go a long way."
"I'll try," I made no promises though.
When we arrived at the first barn where we kept all the feed for the cattle and horses I pulled up my big boy pants. If this deal was going to be successful I had to pull up my big boy pants and charm my way through it.
"Bobby is the one to handle the labour side of everything on the ranch," Clyde explained as we entered the cool barn.
"Have you thought of fully grass feeding your cattle?" Benedito asked as he eyed the food pellets.
"We always could but the cost of fully grass feeding is very expensive. We'd have to not only focus on the wellbeing of the cattle but now focus on the landscape," I explained.
Benedito nodded but seemed rather thoughtful, "As an investor my job is to not only throw money into this but to help your business grow. These days everything is organic, that means no chemicals, no lab based products and everything has to be eco-friendly. I can guarantee you if you make the switch to something more organic and green you'll get a lot more customers not just from Texas but all over America.
"You could supply organic based restaurants which are booming right now, supermarkets and a lot more."
"Well I'll need to be trained on this new way of ranching, I've never really dealt with this before," I smiled.
"I'll handle that," the right corner of his lip turned up as he low key smirked.
The tour around the ranch took nearly two hours as he was very thorough about everything we did. He wanted to understand the business down to the bone and that was what made him distinctively different than all the other investors that had come here.
I found myself enjoying how he spoke about business. He had never ventured into the world of ranching but one could tell he had done his research before he came here. That pleased me and I started to dislike him a little less.
He respected our way of life and I did not expect that from someone like him. It was obvious he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth but he did not treat people like he was some spoilt snob. I could admit I was wrong when it came to that.
We ventured back to the office and I could tell Clyde was buzzing even though he tried not to show it.
"After the tour and everything I've heard I would really like to invest," Benedito placed his hands on the table as Rosalia pulled out a thick contract. The man definitely came prepared, "I would like to make an invest of one million dollars for a share of twenty percent of your business." I swore Clyde's and my jaw nearly hit the ground. "My legal team has already drafted a contract that you can read in your own time then if you agree to the terms and conditions we can get started immediately."
"Thank you so much Mister Pereira, this- this is amazing," Clyde stood up to shake his hand. "I'll make sure to go through the contract and get back to you as soon as possible."
"Excellent, thank you so much for your time," he gave us both a tight lip smile and shook my hand as well. We walked him out and watched his cars leave.
As soon as he was out of sight Clyde and I screamed then hugged each other in excitement.
"I can't believe what just happened!" he was close to tears.
"Me either, Clyde you're going to be rich!" I shook his shoulders as reality sunk in.
"We're going to be rich Bobby, none of this would have been possible without you. You're the greatest son anyone can ask for," he hugged me tightly and I tried my best not to get emotional. I loved Clyde just like a father and at times I really wished we were biologically related.
We marched all the way back to the house where Ma was already pacing up and down the porch. One could tell she was nervous by how she bit her lower lip and constantly rubbed the palm of her hands on her skirt.
When she saw us approach she climbed down the stairs two at a time. "How did it go?"
Clyde and I looked at each other with sombre expressions before both screaming, "We got it!" Ma immediately burst into a fit of tears as she threw herself in Clyde's arms. It felt surreal that we had finally gotten this moment to celebrate.
The rest of the day was spent on cloud nine. By the end of the week after Clyde had spoken to his lawyers who went through the contract with him, some minor adjustments were made and the contract was signed.
Despite feeling more comfortable about Benedito I did my own research. I was shocked to find he was the second richest man in the world! And even though his name was a household name sightings of him were extremely slim.
Not many knew his background, where he had exactly grown up in Brazil, his family, if he had any siblings and his dating history was a complete mystery. Sightings of him were limited to five times a year including functions and any parties.
It was like he was a ghost whilst simultaneously being in everyone's face. I wondered why he chose to live his life in such secrecy. Most people worked hard so they could be well-known and famous. He chose the exact opposite. He did not want to be known nor did he care about the fame and status.
There was hardly any bad news about him because everyone had nothing to report, only that his new deal with NASA went through or he was breaking records in technological research.
He was like all the great technological minds combined and it amazed me. It explained why he was so good at breaking down his vision for even a normal person like me to understand.
I just hoped him and I got along after the first impression I had of him.