18. Have To Tell Her
18
HAVE TO TELL HER
“Y ou’re in a good mood for someone who had to come into the City on a Friday,” Laken said to him the next day.
“How is that?” he asked.
“You’re not frowning. By now most are running for cover.”
Foster rolled his eyes. “I play nice between working hours,” he said. “Remember. Those are the rules.”
“But there are no employees around. It’s just family.”
“Speaking of family,” he said. “Where are West and Braylon?”
“West is in the Hamptons,” Laken said. “Braylon is on a call, but I’m sure he’ll come and say hi. Just like you came to say hi to me. See, not in a bad mood when normally you come here, do your business, and leave.”
Foster had to be on site today to install a new server and software. He had employees to do this shit, but because the server was for upper management files only, he was the person that dealt with it.
While he was here, he’d talk to the rest of his staff in person whom he didn’t see often.
More like desktop support and two network guys.
“Maybe I wanted to talk to my older sister,” he said.
Laken got up from her desk and went to shut the door. “Something is going on with you and Charlotte,” Laken said. “Tell me.”
“I’m not talking to you about this,” he said.
He barely talked to his brothers about those things. Which reminded him he had to call Elias before his brother heard it from someone else.
He hated that petty shit, but it happened all the time.
“So that means something did happen,” Laken said. “Be honest. Do you have a girlfriend?”
“I’m out of here,” he said.
She ran in front of him and blocked the door. “Stop,” she said. “I won’t pick on you. But, Foster. We’ve all been there and worried about the same thing. Right?”
He didn’t have to say what it was. Laken knew. “Yeah.”
“Does she still not know who you are?”
“She doesn’t know my last name,” he said. “I told her I was named after Mitchell Foster. Mom reversed it.”
“You said it like that?”
“I just said my mother liked surnames and different names. And my parents reversed it.”
“So she thinks your name is Foster Mitchell, not Foster Mitchell Carlisle.”
“I don’t know what she thinks,” he said.
“Don’t give me that crap. At some point, you’re going to have to tell her. If you like her enough, what’s the big deal?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”
“If the bridge doesn’t collapse before then.”
“Very funny,” he said.
“We’re going to want to meet her if it gets to that point,” Laken said. “A point where you don’t feel as if you’re being used.”
“See,” he said. “You know that. You understand it. We’ve all had to deal with it. Well, not Braylon. Lily knew right away who he was.”
“Jamie knew who I was,” she said. “Don’t play that.”
“But Abby had no idea who West was. And you and Braylon worried too. Braylon got lucky because Lily didn’t care about that. The wealth actually made her want to go in the other direction.”
“Do you think Charlotte only wants a wealthy man? I know you finally broke down and said that she had a history of dating older wealthy men and said she was done.”
He was surprised he’d said what he had. He was careful because if things did get more serious with Charlotte, he didn’t want his family to judge her. He’d told West who Charlotte’s brother-in-law was, just so his brother had that information.
He was right. West did have some dealings with the Bonds and had met Drew before. Said they were very down-to-earth people who didn’t flaunt their wealth.
Meaning they weren’t dickheads.
“I don’t think she does,” he said. “She was actually laughing when she found out I was a year younger than her and admitted that she needed to change her outlook on life. I asked her if she was testing things with me. If I was her experiment.”
“Of course you asked that,” Laken said. “Good for you for being straightforward.”
“Why play games?” he said. “I don’t like them.”
“What did she say?”
“She seemed appalled that I’d ask that and then said no. I’m not sure what is going on with us, but I’m taking her on the boat Saturday.”
“You never take anyone other than family on your boat,” Laken said. “To me, that is very telling.”
“Not telling enough,” he said. “Baby steps. And I’ve got work to do so I can get the hell out of this place.”
“Bye,” Laken said. “I’m sure Braylon will be down to see you in the caves.”
Laken always called the server rooms the caves.
Hours later he was thrilled to be out of the City. Or trying to be out of it. He’d cleared most of the traffic in his eyes.
He shouldn’t have waited until Friday to do this, but he wanted to do it when he had the weekend to run it if there were any issues.
Braylon had stopped down to see him and not brought up one thing about Charlotte. Either Laken hadn’t had a chance to talk to his brother or Braylon was being considerate and not chatting like a chick. Braylon was laid back enough that he wasn’t so nosy.
It was a good enough time to call Elias and he hit the button on the dash.
“Hey,” Elias said on the second ring. “What’s going on? Do I need to get out of my computers or something?”
“No,” he said. “You’re good.” Elias had people on site dealing with issues, but the servers were in Merrick with most of the other ones.
“Then what’s up? You never call.”
“I don’t,” he said. “Just thought I’d check in.”
Elias started to laugh. “Dude. You never check in. Now I know there is something wrong.”
He waited a second and finally said, “I met someone.”
“I heard,” Elias said.
He should have figured. “From Laken?”
“None other,” Elias said. “She was just fishing for information, but I had nothing to give.”
“There wasn’t much to say. What do you know?”
“She’s your neighbor, about your age, just moved there, and you’ve saved her a few times. Oh, she doesn’t know who you are.”
There was laughter to that. “You do the same thing,” he said.
“Not like you guys. No one puts our last name with West here,” Elias said.
His brother had a point.
“I’m not sure what is going on with her, but it’s something,” he said.
“And she has you twisted,” Elias said. “Why?”
“I’m not her type at all,” he said. He explained it to his brother.
“That isn’t a bad thing,” Elias said. “She doesn’t sound like your type. You aren’t one to go for the fancy party type.”
“That’s the thing,” he said. “If she didn’t tell me that about herself, I’d have no idea. She dresses like a normal person does who works from home. I don’t even know if I’ve seen her with much makeup on or if she wears it.”
“You haven’t tried to search her?” Elias asked. “Someone who is dating older wealthy men has to have pictures out there.”
“No,” he said. “That’s not my way. She’s been pretty open about things. I know where she came from and that no one takes her seriously, but she’s smart. I can see it. She has a willingness to learn too. She doesn’t want people doing things for her but just showing her so she can do it herself.”
“Which fits right into your personality,” Elias said. “You’re all about teaching a person to fish rather than handing them the lobster.”
He laughed. “That’s not the saying.”
“Nope,” Elias said, “and you laughed at it so that means you’re pretty relaxed for someone who is confused. And you don’t like being confused.”
“I don’t,” he said. “I’m taking her on the boat tomorrow.”
“Which is huge for you,” Elias said. “I’m assuming she’s been in the house?”
“Yeah. I had to hide the pictures. I left one out of Mom, Dad and me. I hadn’t realized it was there.”
“Be honest with me, how do you think she’ll react if she finds out West Carlisle is your brother?” Elias said.
“I don’t know. Maybe pissed. But it’s not West she is getting to know, it’s me.”
“And there is your answer on how long you should keep it a secret.”