Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
LUKE
I go into the meeting room and greet the board members and then we get down to business. As I’m well aware of what is to be discussed, I find my mind wandering when the vice chairman of the board starts speaking, and it lands on Louisa. I find it so strange that her and her sister don’t acknowledge each other at work. I mean I get that Louisa might not want to rub it in people’s faces that her father is on the board, but it’s not like everyone doesn’t know her name and they can surely put the pieces together. A simple acknowledgement is nothing, and there aren’t even any staff here to see any interaction between the two.
Still, as odd as I find it, someone else’s family dynamic has nothing at all to do with me and I’m not about to make a big deal out of it as Louisa put it. I can’t help but compare the two women in my mind either. Sophia is visibly Latina with lovely olive colored skin and brown hair and eyes, and Louisa couldn’t be further from that.
But the differences between them are not just physical. Sophia and Enrique are so similar, both outgoing, confident and head strong. Louisa on the other hand seems quieter and more reserved, less likely to rock the boat so to speak.
I wonder for a moment if maybe Louisa is adopted. It would explain her Swedish mom and her physical differences from the other members of the Sanchez family. But that doesn’t explain her totally different personality. Of course there will be some differences from person to person, but if Louisa was raised in the same house as Sophia, I would expect there to be at least some common ground and there’s nothing. Plus, surely, she would have said she was adopted when I commented on how different she is to her father, rather than say her mother is Swedish.
I tune back into the meeting in time to cast my vote on the issue at hand and then the vice chairman of the board moves onto the next bullet point and my mind wanders once more, and once more, it comes to land on Louisa.
I wonder why Louisa felt the need to ask me not to comment on her and Sophia not speaking to each other. I mean she must have known I wouldn’t be introducing her around and that I wouldn’t really expect her to be hanging around chatting to any board members. And even if I thought it was odd they didn’t acknowledge each other, I’m hardly going to draw attention to it and potentially embarrass Sophia in front of the other board members. Louisa must have known that I wouldn’t do it, so she must have felt really strongly about it to even bother to bring it up.
That’s when it hits me. What if Louisa is Enrique’s daughter with another woman. What if he has a whole second family. Maybe Louisa found out somehow and that’s why she was so adamant that I do not draw attention to her and Sophia because Sophia perhaps doesn’t even know Louisa exists.
It sounds crazy, like the plot of a far-fetched soap opera, but at the same time, it also feels like it might be the only logical explanation for all the little things that are bugging me about this scenario. And if that’s the case, is Louisa really spoiled, or does Enrique want me to be harder on her to remind her she’s second best, and not a part of his main family?
I don’t know if that’s true or not, but Louisa has done nothing to imply she’s lazy or spoiled here and I decide it’s time I start being a little bit nicer to her unless she gives me an actual reason to be harsh to her. There is a fine line between preparing someone for the real world and just being a dick to them and potentially making them hate their work.