Chapter 3
THREE
1 Week til Christmas
“Hudson Thomas MacGregor, you will be at our house for Christmas this year.”
“Ma…” I sat back in my chair then swiveled to look out at the Chicago skyline from my office. I rarely had time to take a look at my impressive view these days. I’d worked my ass off to get this spot.
And I never looked up from my damn screen.
In the five minutes I’d been on the phone with my mother, my emails had increased by eleven to add to the other 87 waiting for me when I walked in the door. Whenever it hovered at triple digits, I got itchy. “I have a few more days yet.”
“No, you’ll just make excuses not to get on the plane. I know you all too well.”
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. I’d been on my way out the door to catch my flight last year, and Bradley’s January launch had gone sideways.
Something always went sideways when it came to advertising and major name brands. Bradley’s had been a particularly ugly moment for my firm, Eden Advertising. It wasn’t our fault, but that didn’t matter when it came to the opening of a store on 6th Avenue in New York City. Especially when I was a junior executive.
I’d been clawing my way up the ranks of Eden and my ingenuity in dealing with that catastrophe last Christmas had netted me this office.
However, being the youngest senior executive meant even more work.
I reached over to mute my computer as another five email notifications rolled in.
“I know, Ma. This time, I’m coming no matter what. I have to see the new house you guys bought near Callum’s house on…”
“Crescent Lake.”
“Right. Crescent Lake.” Callum was my older brother. He’d bought the interesting house on the lake after he’d met his wife, Ellie, and had his first kid. Somehow—and I didn’t want to think about it too closely—my parents had gone through a late-stage unplanned pregnancy. The fact that my little sister was a toddler was too mind boggling to think about. Just the idea of starting all over again with a new kid after raising all of us made my head spin, but it had only bonded them even more tightly to Callum.
Evidently, the bonding had only increased when they purchased a plot of land close to Cal. They’d finished building the house and moved in this summer—another thing I had missed.
The pang hit a little harder since I’d been so damn buried, I’d missed my father’s birthday, as well.
“All of your brothers are coming.”
“Even Len?”
“Especially Lennox.”
I rolled my eyes. I was one of triplets and my other brothers loved to show me up. Probably one or the other had sucked up to mom with a lovely bouquet of flowers or something.
I picked up my pen and scribbled a note to send her something. Or maybe I’d finish that illustration of my new baby sister, Cara.
It had only been in my drafting folder for…eight months.
Cripes. How?
My assistant filled my doorway. She was a stern woman between forty and seventy—I was afraid to ask—with a helmet of ash blond hair that brushed her shoulders, a festively red suit, and sensible pearls at her ears. And she was staring a hole through my head.
Had I missed a meeting?
Quickly, I tapped my keyboard to pull my computer out of standby mode and clicked on my calendar.
Hell.
Office Holiday Party was in bright red at the top of today’s box.
“Ma, I gotta go.”
“Hudson—”
“Not to work. I have to go play nice with my co-workers. Today is our holiday party.”
“Oh.” Her voice brightened as a cry sounded in the background. “Well, Cara is up. Please come out early if you can. We miss you.”
“I miss you too.” I glanced at Ginny, who was tapping her slim gold watch. “I’ll try.”
“Try hard, sweetheart.”
“I will.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.” I tapped my earbud to hang up and stood. “Sorry. I forgot.”
“I know you did. Even though I reminded you last night and this morning,” Ginny said primly.
“I have a million things to do. I’ll just skip it.”
“You don’t have a million things to do. The Kelly account was closed up last night and you have already done all the pre-work on the Jerome brief. Go and get out of this office. Have a plate of lasagna.”
“Lasagna?” I asked with interest.
“Yes. We have an Italian spread for the party. I highly advise tasting the antipasto if there is any left. The party started an hour ago.”
And my co-workers were vultures.
“Which I’m going back to. Go into your bathroom and spiff up. Don’t make me come back up here to find you again.”
“Yes, Ginny.” I reached into my drawer for a slim box. “Merry Christmas,” I said as I handed it to her.
Her brown eyes widened. “Mr. MacGregor…”
“It’s just a little something. I noticed you keep taking on and off your watch.”
She glanced at the scratched face. “I’ve sent it out to be fixed three times.”
“Time for an upgrade.”
She flicked open the box and her fingers went to her necklace, then she lifted her head to meet my gaze. “It’s lovely.” She closed it and gave me a sweet smile. “I appreciate it.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“Don’t think this will get you out of the party.”
I laughed. “I’ll be right after you.” I picked up my tie off the corner of my desk.
“Good.” After she left as quietly as she’d arrived, I headed for the small bathroom I shared with my neighbor, Paul. The hall was crazy quiet.
The Eden ad agency was a busy one. Thirty-four floors of executives, designers, and paper pushers. They did take care of us at the holidays. I had a tidy bonus check in my bank account from the eleven projects I’d worked on this year.
Eleven projects that had left me with not a single date, or even time for a drink with a woman all year.
I slipped into the bathroom and winced at my tired eyes staring back at me in the stark overhead light.
I took care of business, washed my hands, and took a minute to find my dopp kit in the cabinet for my contact solution. I honestly couldn’t remember how many days I’d worn these single day wear lenses.
I popped out my lenses and put in a new pair, my eyes practically sighing in relief. I added drops to help me look like I hadn’t been on a three-day bender. December had been a long haul and there had been many a morning where I found myself shaving after an all-nighter in the office.
I wish I could say I played as hard as I worked, but I didn’t have the headspace for it.
I’d had a brief fling with another executive over the spring. To be honest, it hadn’t been exciting enough for either of us to chase after the other. Casey Alexander had been fun, but she had her eyes on the big offices on the thirty-third level.
I was a lowly twentieth-floor graphic designer and good for a bounce or two, but not much else in her eyes.
I was barely hanging on to the overflowing inbox I already had. I wasn’t looking to add more work for myself.
Hell, I was just tired all-around.
When I’d gone to school to be an illustrator, I’d tacked on graphic design just to make myself more marketable.
Now I barely did any work with a pen or a brush these days—digital or physical.
I gripped the edge of the sink. “You do need to go home.”
My tired brown eyes had baggage enough for five people under them.
With a sigh, I shoved my kit back into the cabinet and retied my scarlet tie before heading back to my office. Today really had been more performative than work-heavy when it came to the eyes of the big wigs. My emails would always be waiting for me, but nothing was truly pressing until January.
Maybe I could slip away for just a little more than the long weekend I’d planned.
I’m sure my mother would be happy with that. I did miss her and my dad. And I couldn’t complain about extra TLC from my mom. Maybe I’d spend some time getting to know my little sister, Cara.
Hell, I had a niece about the same age.
Family sounded really nice after the last four years of work insanity.
“Fuck it.” I shut my computer down, ignoring the now 111 emails, then I grabbed my phone, suit jacket, and overcoat before I headed out of my office.
I shut off my light and glanced over my shoulder at the darkening skyline of Chicago before locking the door behind me.
I made a quick trip down to the lobby and found everyone buzzing about something. I ran into Paul in the food line.
“What’s got everyone so happy? Did they let us have alcohol back at the holiday party?”
Paul laughed. His long ebony fingers held two plates, one full of pasta and the other a whole lot of chocolate confections. “No such luck. Where were you?”
“Still working.”
He rolled his eyes. “You never stop. We got free food, and you missed the gifts.”
“Gift card to O’Henry’s?” I guessed. A familiar pub a block away from our building that many of us ended up at for quick and easy food or an after-work drink.
“Yes.” Paul laughed and pointed to one of the white and black garbed tables that had taken over the lobby of the building. The whole space had been decked out in a silver and gold winterscape to cover the multitude of religions that made up the different choices of the Eden employees. “But I also won a sweet espresso machine. I’ll even share since I’m setting it up in my office.”
“You better.” The scent of really good sauce had me grabbing a plate and joining the shuffle of people around the stenos full of food.
“The best part,” Paul said as he nipped a bon bon off his plate, “is that old man Eden announced he’s closing the offices for the next two weeks. We can work remote, of course, but he’s encouraged us all to take some downtime.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Is someone sick?”
“No.” Paul shook his head and popped the cocoa powdered treat in his mouth. “Think his wife convinced him to go to some island. He was feeling benevolent.”
I hacked off a healthy piece of lasagna and a few garlic knots, snaked a Coke out of the cooler, and followed Paul back to his table. A few people were lingering around the raffles that took place every hour, but most were just chatting amiably with each other.
Jack Eden put on a helluva spread, and we all enjoyed the free food.
What he wasn’t overly generous with was time.
“Are you sure he offered us all time off?” I asked as I sat down.
When a hand came down on my shoulder, I turned to find the man himself behind me. “I sure did, MacGregor. You especially earned it.”
“Sir. Thank you, sir.”
He squeezed quickly and waved me off when I started to stand. “You’ve gone above and beyond this year. Don’t think it went unnoticed. The board and I are talking a few things over. Rest up, things will be changing in the new year.” He wandered off, his booming voice lifting to call to one of the head executives across the room.
My chest tightened and my heart rate spiked.
What the hell did that mean?
Paul’s dark eyes were bugging out of his head. “Man, are you up for another promotion?”
“No. Not that I know of.”
He leaned over his plate, resting his forearms on either side of his bounty. “Making us all look bad.”
“I am not.”
Paul stabbed at his stuffed shells. “You’re in that office before me and after me every day and I work seventy hours a week, pal.”
I sat back. Suddenly, the spicy red sauce turned my stomach.
I should want this.
Shouldn’t I?
Since I’d started this job fresh out of college. I’d worked like a damn demon. I’d interned during my senior year and had lucked into an entry-level appointment because I was a team player.
Actually, I was used to being part of a team—being one of identical triplets meant I was never alone throughout my childhood. And technically, being the youngest by mere minutes had always given me the urge to prove myself. The MacGregor family was full of overachievers.
My older brother, Callum, was a professor of mythology at a college near Crescent Cove and an up-and-coming painter, of all things. He’d always had a secret notebook going full of sketches, but I hadn’t realized he’d been all that interested in art.
It had always been my thing, though I was more of a digital artist to his messy paints.
Lennox, my oldest triplet brother, was a lawyer in a fancy firm, Bailey, Brontis, and Equinox, located in a suburb of Syracuse, a midsized city not far from Crescent Cove.
Also known as near where we’d grown up.
And Finn, two minutes older than me, was a famed architect. I wasn’t even sure where he was based now. He seemed to live everywhere and nowhere, hopping around as the whim moved him.
I’d always been chasing after my overachieving brothers. I got along well with everyone and had excelled at collaborating, but I never thought I’d be in advertising.
And now I was maybe moving into more corporate work.
Advancing further from what I’d originally dreamed of. Illustrative work in damn near any medium. Hell, I’d almost gone to pastry school after working at a bakery one summer. But in the end, I just wanted to draw on a freaking cookie, not learn all about patisserie.
“Hudson?” Paul frowned at me. “I was only kidding about being pissed, man. You’re one of the best guys I work with in this shark-infested place.”
“I know.” I slapped his arm and picked up my fork.
This was a good thing.
Whatever it was.
Everything I’d worked for. I had to remember that part.
“Guess I get to see my folks a little earlier.” I pulled out my phone and logged into the airline app I’d used to book my flight over the summer.
There were openings for flights tonight. I paid the fee to swap seats and even got an upgrade option, thanks to all my points.
First class back to Syracuse, New York.
I pushed thoughts of whatever Jack Eden had in mind for me away.
A few weeks of family rest would set me up for whatever was coming.
I’d feel better about it with some rest.
At least I was pretty sure.