Chapter 1
One
Parker
“As long as everyone is okay with it, Parker is our new events manager.” Pierce claps his hands together and stands up. “That includes programming and overseeing.”
I don’t miss the glare he shoots at me. He’s not happy about me leaving the valentines event early. But that was almost a month ago. I don’t understand why he’s not over it.
Skipping out halfway through was the best decision I made that day. Not only did I get away from all the relationships, but I met Jasmin. Only now I’m kicking myself for not getting her number. I tried, but she wasn’t having it.
“Is this cool with everyone,” I ask. Stepping on toes isn’t something I want to do. But I’m also not going to let Pierce push me around the way he does everyone else. So far there’s only one brother still somewhat under his control. Not that he really cares either way.
“You already know I am since I suggested it.” Piper beams. “I think it’ll be good. I already opened up a form for people to fill out if they want to hold events here.”
Pierce rolls his eyes. He knows he won’t be able to change our sister’s mind about anything she wants to do. He’s learned he needs to go with the flow when it comes to her.
Peter raises his hand like he’s in school. Our eldest brother doesn’t acknowledge him. I guess he’s still pissed at him for putting him in his place. Dude needs to grow up.
“Yes, Peter?” I ask since nobody else is going to do it.
“I’m fine with it. But I agree with Pierce, no ducking out early.”
Of course he would agree with that. He didn’t approve of it when it happened. Though, really, I think it was the reason he didn’t like. Not the fact I did it. The event was fine to run on its own. That’s the way Piper set it up.
“Yeah, yeah. I have to be there for all of it.” I nod along.
Doing events means tackling the marketing is off my plate now.
I’m actually okay with that. Some people can be difficult to talk to because they want to give me their whole life story, and I’m only trying to give them a sales pitch.
They either want to do business with us or not.
“What about you, Phillip? Are you okay with this adjustment?” Piper asks our last brother.
“It doesn’t affect my job. I don’t care either way.” Him and Peter do a lot of the manual work. Filling bottles and managing stock is their main job. They prefer it to interacting with people. That typically falls to me and Piper. We have a way of putting folks at ease.
“That settles it then.” Piper smirks. “Welcome to your new title as events manager, Park.”
“Thank you. Hopefully, it comes with a pay raise.”
Pierce shakes his head. “Let’s see how you do before we go that far. And if this little experiment works well.”
I side-eye my brother. But I can see his point. He doesn’t want me to do it and suck at it. Honestly, we all have equal pay in the company. Maybe it would be a commission type of situation depending on the events.
As far as this “experiment” working, only time will tell. We’ve only ever hosted one thing outside of our events, and it was something Paula handled.
“Sounds like I need to learn some new things.” I glance over at Piper. “You’re going to train me, right? Mostly, I need to know how you have the scheduling system set up.”
“Sure thing.” She beams at me. “As soon as the meeting is over, meet me in the office. I should be able to bring you up to speed before we open for the day.”
The rest of the meeting is about sales figures and projections. Not much has changed since last week, but I get why Pierce likes to cover it. We can get a clear vision of how we’re doing and when we need to add more inventory.
“You ready to learn all about forms and calendars?” Piper claps me on the back as she rounds the table.
“I guess. It’s not like I have a choice.”
“Please, you were made for a position like this.”
“How do you figure?” I know I enjoy talking to people, mostly. But sales and distribution would be a better area for that.
“With that charming personality and smile. You’ve got it in the bag. Plus, you can sell anything. This is just like that, but event times rather than bottles of wine. Though they’ll have to serve our wines during the event, obviously.”
I follow my sister out of the area we use for conferences and into her office. Everything is filed away, and the desk is tidy. She grabs one chair and sets it next to hers behind the desk before turning on the screen.
“I’ve set up an email to collect the forms. So, you’ll need to check it. It will also block off the time on the calendar for consultations.”
“How do you know how to do all this?” I’m not sure I would have figured out how to make it all connect.
“Videos and lots of cussing.” She laughs.
Over the next hour she shows me where all the information is stored on the computer. This is all great, but I’m not going to sit in here waiting for forms to come through. Not when I can be up front helping her.
“Is this only available on this computer?”
“No. We just have to download the stuff to your laptop. We can also set up alerts on your phone and tablet if you want.” She shrugs and clicks through a few more screens. “I just didn’t think you’d want a ton of notifications on your phone.”
“That is what do not disturb is for. I can flip the switch when the work day is over. Not all of us are workaholics.”
“When it’s fun, it doesn’t feel like work.” She glances at the clock. “I need to get the registers ready for opening.”
“I’ll help.” I stand and move the chair to the front of the desk. “I’ll come check out the computer during slow times and we can set it up on my phone later.”
“Perfect.” She must see the unease on my face because I feel like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. She wraps me in a hug, and I feel ridiculous being coddled by my baby sister. “You’ll do great. I know it.”
“Thanks.” I’m glad she has this much faith in me. I’m determined to make it a success because I don’t want to disappoint her.
Despite it being busy in the front, I feel like I’m not doing as much work as I was when I was in the marketing area. I still help Piper, but this position switch leaves way too much time on my hands. I don’t like being bored, and that’s what it feels like.
Right now, I’m helping Phillip and Peter get inventory together for the main house. Business picked up a lot after the Valentine’s event. Well, the wine side has. I still haven’t gotten any bookings for event consultations.
“Why are you out here?” Phillip groans. “You’re slowing us down.”
“See if I ever offer my help again.” I flip him off.
“We didn’t ask,” Phillip argues. “We have a system. And it’s nothing against you. We’ve kicked Pierce out, too.”
At least I’m not the only person they don’t want helping. Not that it makes me feel any better.
“Piper has nothing for me to do, and I need something to do.” Though a thought occurs to me. She mentioned needing to hire more people. I can always work on the employment applications. We don’t even have one made up because we’ve never needed to hire outside help.
“She really didn’t think this new position through, did she?” Peter laughs. “She should know by now that you can’t have too much downtime. That’s when you get into trouble. Idle hands and all that.”
Little does he know, I haven’t wanted to get into trouble.
I’ve been spending my time kicking myself for not getting Jasmin’s phone number.
I don’t have any way of contacting her, and I’d love to hang out with her again.
As friends or in my bed, it doesn’t matter to me.
We hit it off in both areas on Valentine’s Day.
But I need something to keep me busy. Otherwise, I’ll spend every free moment thinking about her, like my brother and sister think about their other halves. That’s so not my vibe, but I can’t stop her soft giggles from entering my mind.
“I’ll go find something else to do.” I don’t bother saying anything else. If they knew the real reason I need to keep my mind busy, they’d never let me hear the end of it. Especially Peter.
“Have fun and stay out of my warehouse.” Phillip calls to my back. Asshole.
My phone dings with the work alert sound, and I pull it out of my pocket to check the message. There’s a message in the email address for events. Finally, something for me to do.
I hurry to the main house and head to the office. Piper is behind the desk, and I motion for her to move.
“What’s the rush?”
“As if you didn’t see the email come through for an event consultation.” I roll my eyes at her. Playing dumb isn’t her strong suit. “But I’m glad you’re in here so we can make sure everything worked the way it’s supposed to.”
“Of course it does.” She crosses her arms. “Beau helped me set it all up after I almost threw the computer out the window.”
“I thought you said you did it on your own.”
“I did most of it. Now, are you going to complain or come see if this is working right?”
She’s so freaking bossy. She’s been this way since we were kids. I shouldn’t be surprised.
“Fine. Fine.” I move next to her and watch as she clicks the email and checks it against the form. “What do I do once I know those two things match?”
She moves the mouse to a little box at the end of the form. “Click this and it will send them an email that says their appointment is confirmed and you’re happy to meet with them.”
“Hold on.” I put my hands in front of me. “Does the email sound like me or you? If it sounds like you, that’s going to be a problem.”
She pulls up the email confirmation email. “I made sure it sounds like you. Professional but candid.”
I scan the email to make sure she doesn’t make me sound ridiculous. I’m impressed and slightly scared. She shouldn’t be able to mimic me this well.
“You did good.” Too good, but I don’t mention that part. “Looks like I have an appointment with Daniela Campos in two days.”
“It’s for a wedding, so make sure you brush up on your wedding lingo.” She taps a finger on the desk. “And don’t forget to suggest Whoopsie Daisy for the flower arrangements and Ashes for alcohol outside of wine.”
“Do I also recommend their food?”
“You can, but ultimately that’s up to them.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t be talking like we already have this booking in the bag.” It feels like bad luck. The last thing I need is for my consultation to be a complete bust.
“That’s the wrong way to look at it, Parker. You need to speak it into existence.” She smiles at me. “Now go get some research done. It’ll keep your mind off that girl you met last month.”
“How did you know?”
“Please, you haven’t been the same since that night. I knew there was chemistry when I was watching the two of you.”
“You should be a lot less creepy.” I don’t bother telling her it doesn’t mean anything. Me and relationships don’t go together. But I know she’ll argue her point.
I’m perfectly capable of wanting to spend time with someone without it turning into anything more. Too bad I’ll never see her again.