26. Anthony
ANTHONY
Two weeks later, the jazz competition was finally completed.
It had officially finished three weeks ago, but I always waited for the music execs to actually sign the winners before analyzing the event.
Over the years, a few tried to dick around, and I was having none of that.
I’d finally gotten the last executive to understand why we weren’t charging a fee for those who participated.
He seemed to have thought it over while Daisy and I were in North Dakota, and when I called him back, he was more reasonable.
As I sat at my desk, my phone lit up with an incoming call from an unknown number. Some people preferred not to take them, but I didn’t mind. Besides, I rarely got any spam calls.
The second I answered, Dorothy’s voice came through. “Hey, Anthony. Sorry I’m calling you from a new number, but I lost my phone this morning.”
“Do you need help replacing it?”
“I’m on it already. Don’t worry.” She hesitated for a second. “So, listen, I got a call today from Samantha.”
I blinked. “Who?”
“The recruiter we’ve been using to find assistants. ”
“Right.” I’d almost forgotten that we were still searching for an assistant.
“She asked if you’d be willing to provide a reference for Daisy, since you’re her current employer.”
I stilled. “Daisy got a job offer?”
“Yes. She didn’t give me any details except that it’s in North Dakota. Anyway, I thought I’d pass on her request. I figured it would be no problem, but I didn’t want to agree to something before checking in with you.”
It wasn’t easy to stun me into silence, but right now I couldn’t even form words. A few seconds later, I snapped out of it. “Of course. We can send her our usual stuff.”
Dorothy laughed. “We don’t have any recent standard recommendation letters for assistants. Need I remind you that none of your previous assistants wanted to put you down as a reference. I think they might have been afraid you would make them look bad or something.”
“Jesus, I sound like an asshole when you put it like that.”
“No. Far from it. Anyway, I was so hoping Daisy would stay on.”
“Me too,” I said honestly.
Fucking hell! She truly was considering a job in North Dakota?
She’d mentioned it at the farm, but I didn’t think she’d follow through.
I thought we were actually going to be together—I’d been even thinking of rings.
What had I missed? Besides, things at the farm were going well according to Annelise.
I could come up with a hundred other solutions to help her family that wouldn’t include Daisy moving to North Dakota.
“Tell Samantha that we can give her whatever she needs.”
“Perfect.”
For the next few hours, I couldn’t stop thinking about Daisy. She hadn’t mentioned this to me.
It doesn’t matter, Anthony. It’s a personal decision.
But I just couldn’t get behind that. All my life, I’d been adamant that my brothers were too pushy when it came to getting what they wanted. But now I understood that impulse. I didn’t want her to leave.
I wanted to burst into Daisy’s office, throw her over my shoulder, and take her straight to my house, where I’d convince her to stay for good. Yeah, that was right. That was what I wanted. Not just for her to stay in New Orleans but to live with me. Be with me.
I had half a mind to cancel the meeting with my brothers, but that wasn’t fair to them.
At six o’clock, I went to the meeting room. Chad was sitting next to Julian. Beckett was on the other side, Xander sitting a few chairs away from him.
“Where is Zachary?” I asked.
“He can’t make it. By the way, you’re late to your own meeting,” Xander chided. I knew he was only half joking, though.
“What can I say? Showing up on time has never been my forte. So, did everyone have time to look at what I sent you?”
“Yeah, we did,” Chad said.
Julian whistled. “Bold expansion, brother. But I think it’s a very good idea. In fact, I’d like to chip in too.”
I laughed. “You know, I was going to pitch that to you eventually. There are a lot of synergies between bars and music, and we need to utilize them more often.”
“I agree.”
“The financials look good,” Xander said, immediately sliding into CFO mode. “Your cashflow will be limited for some time, but you’ve got enough reserves. It shouldn’t be dangerous.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” I could always count on Xander to give me the truth. He didn’t sugarcoat anything.
“Perfect. Then I’ll start working on things.”
We discussed some more pros and cons to my idea, and Julian came up with some excellent suggestions.
I couldn’t wait to work more closely with him.
We’d make a great team. Julian would set up temporary bars at each venue, keeping them flexible and easy to install and tear down for the length of each event. It was genius, if I did say so myself.
“Where is Daisy, by the way? I figured she’d be your shadow,” Chad said once we finished business talk.
“She’s working from home today.”
“Things went sour between the two of you?” Beckett asked.
I frowned at him. “No. Why would you even ask that?”
He shrugged. “You look like someone pissed in your coffee. I took a wild guess.”
“No, nothing’s wrong between us.”
“That sounds more like a question,” Chad said, sitting a bit straighter. He and Julian were both looking at me.
“Samantha, our recruiter, called,” I said.
“Oh, come on, dude. Don’t tell me that things between you and Daisy didn’t work out professionally,” Julian said.
“Why is everyone suddenly assuming the worst?” I asked.
Beckett eyed me. “Like I said, you just give off that vibe today.”
“No, she just asked if I’d be willing to give Daisy a reference.”
“She found another job. That would explain the sour expression,” Julian said.
Beckett was frowning too. “I don’t get it. You always knew she’d only be your assistant temporarily.”
“Because the job is in North Dakota,” I explained.
No one said anything for a few seconds. Then Chad snapped his fingers as if he’d just had an aha moment. “Because of her parents’ situation, I take it?”
I nodded. “Yes. She mentioned this in passing when we went to visit, but I didn’t realize she’d actually meant it.”
“That’s insane,” Beckett said. “She was just saying at the fragrance shop how much she enjoys living in New Orleans. And that it’s the first city where she sees herself settling down.”
She’d told Beckett that? Hope suddenly surged through me .
“I don’t think she necessarily wants to move, but she believes it’s necessary,” I said.
“Just putting it out there, but you did offer to help her parents, right?” Julian asked.
I bristled. “I am helping. Her parents and I hired two additional employees. But her mom and dad didn’t want Daisy to know. They thought she wouldn’t seem comfortable with the idea.”
“What the hell?” Beckett said. “That’s insane. Have you spoken with her yet?”
“No. I haven’t had a minute—I spoke to Dorothy and then came to this meeting.”
“Which is now over,” Chad cut in, “so you can go and focus on your woman. You should’ve canceled this meeting, you dick.”
“That’s right,” Julian said. “Since when does my brother hesitate?”
I laughed, looking around the table, specifically at Xander. “You going to join them with that advice or what?”
“Yes, obviously,” he said, then added, “Dipwhistle.”
I jerked my head back. “What even is that? I didn’t expect that from you.”
Xander was always the most calculated out of all of us. I wouldn’t say cold—that would be unfair to my brother—but he’d definitely prioritized business over his personal life for many years. Until Bailey.
“You’d never postpone a meeting unless there was a crisis,” I told Xander.
“I think issues with your woman qualifies.”
I instantly felt cold. When he put it like that…
“Fuck,” I exclaimed. I needed to know how seriously Daisy was considering this, and I couldn’t wait another second.
Daisy
As soon as I finished my workday, I reread the job offer Samantha sent me. I’d been shocked when she emailed me saying that she had a very good offer for me in North Dakota. She seemed extremely excited by it. I, on the other hand, had been fretting ever since she sent me that email.
I honestly never thought she’d find anything. It wasn’t exactly a hotspot. But they’d even attached a draft of the contract.
“They’re seriously considering you just based on your résumé. Apparently, it’s not easy to find talent like yours in that area,” Samantha had said.
Well, that was certainly true. It was for a company producing rain cloaks. I didn’t even know they were located in North Dakota. The pay was nice—nothing like what I’d get in Chicago or New Orleans, of course, but living costs were also much lower there.
I read the job description at least five times, trying to hype myself up. The job itself was exactly what I was looking for, but my heart wasn’t in it. It was two hours away from my parents, so I could realistically only help them out on weekends.
Why the hell did I even tell Samantha to look for jobs there?
I needed to talk to my parents. As a kid, I’d always asked for their input—even when I got the offer from Cornell.
They’d fully expected me to enroll in a community college near home.
They’d been thrilled and shocked by my news, but they were 100 percent supportive.
I decided to FaceTime Mom and Dad before I fretted any longer.
“Hi, Daisy,” Mom said.
“Hi, Mom. Is Dad around too?”
“No, but I can go to the bedroom and put him on speaker. ”
“Yes, please do that.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to determine the best way to approach this. Then I decided to just rip off the Band-Aid.
She turned on the camera, too, so I could see both of them. Dad looked much better.
“Have you been out in the sun?” I asked. His skin was slightly tan.
“Yeah, the Tanner boys stopped by today, and they helped me outside. I’m starting to get sturdier with the sticks as well.”
“Dad! The doctor told you to take it slow so your ribs heal.”