Chapter Four #2
The last part was hard to admit. Aiden and I had always been closer than cousins. Closer than most brothers. I owed him. I knew it. But I couldn't start paying him back if he wouldn't even talk to me.
Charlie's eyes were guarded as she said, “Do you want me to talk to him?”
I shook my head. “No, Charlie, but thanks. Aiden and I have to work this out ourselves.”
“Then what do you want me to do?”
“I know you're not working at the company anymore,” I said.
“But you still know almost everything about Winters Inc.
A hell of a lot more than I do after being gone over a decade.
I have a lot of catching up to do. I know you're busy, with the wedding and with the house you and Lucas just bought, but if you could find some time here and there to get me up to speed, I'd appreciate it.”
Charlie's words were careful when she spoke. “You know all of my information is six months out of date.”
“It's a lot more accurate than mine,” I countered.
“I'm headed out today to get a new phone, laptop, everything I need to get back into normal life.
I've kept up with the company on a superficial level, but if I'm going back to work, I need a much deeper grasp of the company's holdings, plans for expansion, everything. I can do a lot of the research on my own, but I need your help, Charlie.”
Charlie leaned forward and braced her elbows on her knees. Her ocean blue eyes were intent when they met mine. “You need to give Aiden time,” she said.
“I know,” I started to say, but Charlie cut me off.
“This isn't a guilt trip, honestly. I was too young when my parents died to judge anyone else. But Aiden was so alone after you left. He needed you. All this time he understood why you were gone, but he's missed you so much, and then we thought you were dead—”
Charlie blinked and swallowed hard. On and off over the years, I’d felt guilty for leaving, but never as much as I did just then. I was a selfish fucking asshole who'd abandoned my family. I sighed.
“I don't know how to make it up to him,” I said. “To all of you. But I'm home now, and I'm not leaving again.”
“Not leaving would be a start,” Charlie agreed. “I'm just trying to say be patient with Aiden. He wants you here. And I know he wants you back at Winters Inc. He does. He just needs time.”
“We've got time. And I don't expect him to hand me one of the executive suites.
I'm not looking for your old job. I'm not remotely qualified at the moment.
I got a degree in economics while I was in the Army and I started my MBA, but then my schedule got…
unreliable and I had to put the MBA on hold.
I wasn't thinking about coming home back then, so it didn't seem like a big deal.
I'm going to look into transferring into a program here, but I haven't walked through the doors of Winters Inc. in over a decade.”
I suddenly felt like I was in a job interview. Charlie studied me thoughtfully. For a minute, I thought she was going to turn me down.
I would've understood if she had. Aiden was pissed at me, and Charlie adored Aiden. She loved all of us, but Aiden had practically raised her. Then, surprising me, she leaned back in the armchair and grinned.
“Did anyone ever tell you why I left Winters Inc.?” she asked. I realized no one had.
“No. I guess I just assumed you were tired of the corporate life and wanted something new,” I said.
An explosive laugh burst from Charlie. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and bent forward, her shoulders shaking with the force of her mirth.
When she had her breath back, she said, “Oh, hell no.
I was working eighty hour weeks. I had zero life.
A lot like Aiden, actually. He kept telling me to slow down, stop working so much.
But there was so much to do, and I didn't want to leave him alone with the company.”
“I know, I'm sorry,” I started to say, guilt a heavy weight in my gut when Charlie laughed again and waved her hand in the air, dismissing my apology.
“Not the point,” she said. “So one day he calls me into his office, sits me down, and fires me. Fucking fires me. Complete with security escorting me from the fucking building.”
A giggle escaped, and Charlie wiped away a tear. I stared at her, dumbfounded.
“He can't fire you,” I protested. “You have an equal share of stock in the company. And you worked your ass off. You could've gone to the board and—”
“I know, but I wasn't going to go to war with Aiden over my job. The bitch of it was I never liked working for Winters Inc. I only did it because I thought I should, because I thought it was what Aiden wanted. And Aiden fired me because he thought it was what was best for me. Bossy asshole.”
“That was why you stole his whiskey,” I said, putting the pieces together. Charlie grinned again.
“So totally worth it,” she said. “And that was when I met Lucas, so it all worked out, but I haven't forgotten Aiden turning my life upside down because he thought he knew what was best for me. I owe him one.”
“So you'll help me?”
“I'll help you,” Charlie agreed.
“I know you're busy. With the wedding and everything, if you want to wait until after the holidays we can do that.” I didn't want to wait. I wanted to start taking my life back right away. To my relief, Charlie shook her head.
“A lot of what you have to do, you'll do on your own, anyway.
Just off the top of my head, I can think of piles of research you need to get through.
You can review what I give you and then we'll go over it together.
By the time I'm done with you, Aiden won't be able to put you off anymore.
He needs you back at the company, even if he doesn't want to admit it. This time, I know what’s good for him, and he's going to suck it up whether he likes it or not.”
I got up from the armchair. Charlie stood with me, and I pulled her into my arms, kissing the top of her head. “Thanks, sweetheart,” I said. Her arms wrapped around me and squeezed tight.
“We all missed you so much, Gage. I know things are crazy right now, with the weddings and the holidays and Aiden being an ass, but we're so glad you're home.”
“Me too,” I said, speaking the truest words that had ever passed between my lips.
Not a day had gone by that I didn't miss my family, miss Winters House. Wrapping my arm around Charlie’s shoulder, I turned us to the door of the library.
My stomach growled, and I hoped there was enough of whatever was on the tea tray Mrs. W had brought Sophie and Amelia to tide me over until lunch.
An idea occurred to me, a fucking brilliant idea, and I said, “Give me a job. Wedding stuff,” I clarified. “I'm not doing anything else right now, other than whatever homework you have for me, so let me help with the wedding.”
Charlie stopped dead in the doorway of the library and stared at me, her blue eyes wide, brimming with amusement and relief. “You want to help with the wedding? Even Lucas doesn't want to help with the wedding.”
“Doesn't Lucas have a new job? And you guys bought a new flip house? Sounds like he's got his hands full.”
Charlie slipped her arm through mine, and we started toward the living room again.
“He does. He seriously does. And he's not a wedding stuff kinda guy. Not that you are either, but if you’re willing to help, I'll take it.
The wedding planner squeezed us in last-minute after I begged and she doesn't have time to manage everything the way she normally does.
I've got lists coming out my ears. I don't know why coordinating a renovation feels like fun, and throwing together a wedding is making me crazy, but it is.
We probably should've waited, but we just wanted to be married.”
“Consider me at your disposal then,” I said, as we walked into the living room. Helping Charlie with her wedding would ease some of my guilt at asking her for her time when she was slammed with her own commitments.
That it would give me an excuse to be near Sophie was just a bonus.