Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Harrison
If I were the type of guy who easily found things amusing, this would make me chuckle. Hell, years ago, I would have outright guffawed, maybe even had a witty joke to tell.
Our six and a half foot, stocky former Division I college football linebacker, Lenny, sits stuffed behind the small reception desk. He’s the first person someone encounters coming into our building.
I don’t laugh, though. That quiet but fun-loving and lighthearted boy is long gone, and the man I am now doesn’t find much comical. I force away the twinge of sadness that accompanies thinking about the past.
Things change. Life gets hard. People you love die. People you love sometimes die because you’ve failed them.
I mentally slam down the barrier behind which I keep those memories. It’s the only way I can function. Emotions need to be in check.
I lift an eyebrow at Lenny and give him a questioning look as I walk up to the desk. He groans.
“Sally had a doctor’s appointment this morning. Asked me to cover until nine-thirty,” he says. “I look like a giant sitting here and have banged my knees on the underside of this dollhouse desk three times already.” He chuckles at his situation.
Now it makes sense why he’s sitting here. I smile at him.
Sally was Henry’s nanny, but now Layla is six and in school all day, and Lena, who is still a toddler, usually goes to work with my sister-in-law, Tillie, in the mornings. Sally takes over for her in the afternoon and picks Layla up from school.
Having Sally here from nine in the morning until she leaves to get the girls is a godsend. The number of general phone calls we get between the warehouse, our enormous mill, and for Henry and me would be unmanageable without her. It almost is when she leaves for the day.
“Well, it works out perfectly then. I was going to come find you when I got here today.”
I reach into my bag and hand him one of the pastry boxes I brought back from my trip.
“What’s this?”
“Open it and see.”
When Lenny opens the box, his eyes widen as he stares down at the dozen specialty cannoli.
“Boss, you didn’t have to do this. Wow, I don’t know what to say. Do you have any idea how happy this will make my Janice?”
“My pleasure. If I have to travel for work, something good should come from it. San Francisco was nice, but I prefer our quaint Aron Falls any day.”
Lenny and his wife, Janice, grew up near San Francisco, and they met in the Italian bakery where I bought these cannoli for them. Lenny loves to tell people he went in for cannoli and came out with a wife. He told me all about it before I left for my trip.
“Just enjoy them with your wife. Have a good day, Lenny.”
“Thank you so much for this. You have a great day as well.”
I turn away from him and make my way to the stairs that lead to the second floor, where our offices are. We’ve got two main areas up there—one that houses offices for our administrative staff, and the other side is where Henry, Holden, Hayden, and I have offices.
“Sir?” Lenny calls just as I’m about to step onto the first step.
I glance over my shoulder. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just wanted to say that you’re a really great boss and a nice guy. It’s okay to let other people see it.”
“Nah. I have a reputation to protect. Keeps everyone in line.” My tone is teasing and light. I wink at him, and he smiles while shaking his head. I pivot my head forward and continue my climb up the stairs.
I’m aware that the four of us brothers who work here at the company full-time each have distinct reputations.
Henry is the fun-loving Mr. Personality, most of the time.
The only time—besides when the girls’ biological mother left—that I’ve seen him go a little off the wire was when he still hadn’t admitted to himself that he was in love with Tillie. He acted like a total fool.
Holden—well, we have a strict rule that he’s not allowed to date anybody who works for us. We don’t have a ton of female employees, but Holden always enamors the ones we hire with his good looks and happy-go-lucky personality. The man almost can’t stop himself from flirting.
My brother Hayden has always been quiet and reserved, but kind and polite. He’s definitely got a darker aura around him now since his wife left him, but prior to that, he was approachable for most staff.
Then there’s me.
Somehow, I have a reputation for being the grumpy boss.
When my brothers first told me the staff didn’t want to approach me, it bothered me a lot—not that I’d tell anybody that.
I don’t need to be everyone’s favorite. I’m the one who sometimes has to lay down the law when we make decisions or if there’s an employee issue.
Someone needs to do it. It doesn’t mean I’m a jerk.
In my book, if you’re not an asshole, I’m not an asshole.
When I get to the top of the stairs and turn left into our office area, Henry jumps up from a chair randomly placed at the entrance to our workspace.
He’s holding two cups from Ella’s bakery, and I presume it’s coffee.
He knows I love this coffee. In fact, I usually have just a shot of espresso in the morning because I don’t like most coffee, but Ella puts something in hers that makes it taste amazing.
I take the cup, but I eye him warily. I feel like something is coming. He follows me as I walk to my office.
“What’s the bad news?” I ask.
“There’s no bad news. Thanks for going to another conference. I know you hate them, but I’m pretty sure Tillie would’ve killed me if I left two days after our wedding to attend. How was it?”
I smile. Tillie is good for my brother. More importantly, she’s great for my nieces. Layla and Lena’s mother left when Lena was a baby, but Layla was about four, I think, and remembers her leaving. When Tillie came into their lives, it was immediately clear she was a positive presence.
“It was fine,” I say. “I recorded some sessions, brought back notes, and made a few contacts out west. A couple of people approached me about our log home style retreat centers — Tim Merrick was one of them.”
Henry’s jaw drops.
“Tim Merrick? As in the Tim Merrick who owns, like, fourteen boutique hotels across the West Coast?”
“Yep. I set up a meeting for us. It’s in the next few weeks, but I can’t remember right this minute when. You’ll see it on your calendar marked as ‘hold.’”
Henry grins like a kid in a candy store. Then he gets that glint in his eye that comes right before he tries to sell me on a new idea.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if we had an assistant for that stuff?” Henry's face says we’re revisiting that conversation. “You’re the company attorney. You shouldn’t be trying to coordinate schedules and making appointments.”
“Yeah, yeah. Is Ruthie still around?”
Henry releases an exaggerated groan and tosses his head back dramatically.
“Yep, for a little longer. I’m not sure if Tillie lending her to us was to help us or to give herself a break. Ruthie gave me shit the whole time you were gone—but in a disarmingly lighthearted way.”
He grins, and his eyes brighten.
“Remind me to tell you about the Whitaker meeting. Old man Whitaker asked for her number.”
I freeze in place. “You’re fucking lying.
” I can’t help but smile, imagining the smoky-voiced seventy-something Ruthie.
She left a job she’d held forever to work with Tillie and her friend Shannon when they opened an accounting firm.
It’s on the opposite end of town from Aron Family Builders and Restoration.
“Nope,” Henry says. “Plus, she was totally herself. She wore a turquoise jogging suit and those strange fuzzy boots that everyone wears, but hers had rhinestones. Old man Whitaker must’ve liked what he saw. They flirted like no one else was in the room.”
“Jesus,” I mutter. “I don’t want that visual.”
“Anyway,” Henry continues, “She’s about to wrap up here. I’ve hired a long-term temp for the assistant position, and Ruthie will finish training her this week. She caught on so fast that Ruthie can go back to working with Shannon and Tillie full-time, and she’ll help us cover when the temp is out.”
“So, I’m gone a week and a half, and you’ve already got someone in and mostly trained? What did you do, hire her before I left?”
I’m being sarcastic, but the guilt on his face tells me I hit the mark.
“Really? Nice, Henry. Way to be a team player.” I shake my head and lean back in my chair. “I won’t require anything of her. I can handle my stuff. I’m assuming you hired her part-time since only you need help?”
“First of all, we both know that I’m not the only one who could use a hand keeping up.
Anyway, she really needed full-time hours, and we almost lost her to a company in Meadow Creek, which was offering her that.
So, I gave them to her. If you don’t want her to do your assistant stuff, I can have her support Holden, maybe even Hayden. ”
“That’s fine. Give her to the twins.”
“We’ll see. Just don’t be a dick to her.”
“I’m not a dick.” Irritation rises in me.
“I didn’t say you are one, I said don’t be one. Did you not hear Layla at the wedding? If you wear your grumpy face, I’m telling her.”
“Oh my God, Henry. Let me work. I won’t scare off your new Ruthie.”
“She’s nothing like Ruthie.” He chuckles.
“I assume you mean she doesn’t have Ruthie’s eccentricities. No one does. But the old bat has grown on me.”
“Yeah, me too,” Henry says. “And she’s protective of Tillie and the girls. She doesn’t hesitate to give me hell, but she’s part of the family now.”
A deep sigh escapes Henry.
“Anyway, back to our temp. You still need to be nice to her, Harrison. Maybe try to be more… approachable. Relax a little.”
“I’m relaxed,” I object. I’m really not. “I’m not an asshole or rude to people. I’m just busy and don’t usually have time for idle small talk with someone who doesn’t affect my work or isn’t someone I love from our inner circle.”
Henry sits, leans back, and crosses his legs. Great, he’s planning to stay a while.