I'll Burn With You (MXM)

Chapter 12 : The Upcoming Departure

It had all happened too fast. Two letters. Two letters in a week and a half, and Jack had purchased a rail ticket for some distant town he had never heard of. He packed light, only planning to stay the afternoon; certainly, he was not opposed to staying longer if she asked him. Jack straightened himself out in the wardrobe mirror hundreds of times before finally settling on something. He practiced his smiles. He practiced what he wanted to say, even if he knew it would be woefully inefficient when the moment came.

"There is a station in Mill Creek," Ms. Price had written. "Will you meet me in the waiting room? How will I know it is you?"

"Why did I write that?" Jack asked himself again, running his hands through his hair; he immediately fixed it. "'I will know it is you'? Good God, I will never find her." He could hastily throw together another letter, explaining he would be wearing a red carnation on his lapel. That he'd be wearing his straw boater hat. That he'd be holding a bouquet of flowers for her, though Jack had planned on bringing flowers, regardless. "I...could..." he wondered aloud, glancing to his writing desk. "Would it even get to her in time?" Jack groaned again, wishing to travel back in time, to push his elated past self from the letter and write something more...appropriate, directions for having Ms. Price to find him more manageable.

Jack glanced out his window towards the black smoke still rising in the distance by the lake. He swallowed and packed his bag, slipping in some paperwork to read through on the train. Tucking it to the side of his wardrobe, he departed from the room.

His father called him into the library before he could pass to the front door. "You are off?" he asked. "Do you need anything?"

Jack shook his head. "No, my train is much later tonight, but I thought I could enjoy the restaurant at the station instead of rushing out during supper." He paused. "I believe I have everything, though."

"And..." Mr. Byrd Sr. stood. "Why Mill Creek? It is a nowhere river-stop market town."

He licked his lips. "I...need to investigate it," Jack whispered. "It...could potentially be our answer to exporting to the south without the use of railroads."

"We dropped that expansion plan some time ago," his father noted, a frustrated glint in his eyes. "You might not remember. You were nodding off through most of the meeting."

Jack straightened up a little. His throat burned. "I am aware, but it is still worth pursuing. We can always pick it up later, right?"

The older man raised a brow. "I, understand that, Jack, but..." He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Mill Creek? Why did you not consider any other city along the river? Davenport is closer than Mill Creek, and twice the population. Even St. Louis should be considered."

"The Allisport & South Western railroad operates out of Mill Creek's union station, which is also gives us access to the Princeston, Roosevelt & Port Lindsay railroad network, offering us access right to the Atlantic. Since it's less developed than Davenport and St. Louis, we could purchase land for warehouses for much less, build right up against the railroads for ease of loading and unloading of materials. If we were to expand south and west, as well, Mill Creek is ideally situated for a population, and industrial, expansion." Jack took in a breath. He had rehearsed this far too many times for it to sound inauthentic anymore; he offered his father a hesitant but disingenuous smirk. He tried ignoring the feeling in his stomach the more he spoke of the work. "If things work in our favor, that could also mean we could become beacons of the community there, too. Not just in Allisport."

"Jack, I admire the drive – "

"We are still beacons, aren't we?"

"In our own community, yes, but not Allisport as a whole." His father sighed. "I...Jack, I admire the idea, but we are not looking to expand south anymore. The board has decided it is too risky and financially unviable in the present climate – "