15. Some Kind Of Fate
SOME KIND OF FATE
“ Y ou’ve made it three days in a row,” Elias said to Talia. It was nine and his sister was in his office asking to be shown the packaging process.
“Did you think I’d give up already?” Talia asked. “That I’m afraid of hard work?”
It was the stubborn angle of her chin.
His baby sister was standing on her own and making him aware that she was tired of being babied.
Talia even stopped saying she wanted to move out of his mother’s home even though she was making money and could afford it.
Probably couldn’t afford what she wanted and nothing as nice as the basement apartment in the house West had built.
“I don’t think you’re afraid of much,” he said. “But I don’t think this is anything you’re interested in either. I want to make sure my staff and I aren’t wasting our time training you for you to go somewhere else quickly.”
She sighed. “I know,” Talia said. “I don’t want that either. I was talking to Nicole.”
“Nicole Masters or Nicole Rider?” he asked.
“Your community events person in the office,” Talia said. “I don’t know last names yet.”
He should have figured that out. “Masters,” he said. “What were you talking about? Is it events you’re interested in? We don’t do a ton. It’s a new thing.”
“That would be fun,” Talia said. “But it was more about community relations. She was on the phone with someone about what you did at Christmas. They discussed the donations you collected and how you divided them in the community.”
Something he’d done for years.
People could round up their purchases and that money would go to those less fortunate in the county. There were plenty.
“What about it?” he asked.
“Can I learn more about that? I got thinking, you know, Mom was alone with eight kids. And she never wanted help and I bet there were times she could have used it.”
“Yes,” he said. “West worked and helped when he could. Mom got some help.”
His mother didn’t want it known, but she got assistance with food and other utilities. His mother received the max survivor benefits, but it only stretched so far.
“I know,” Talia said. “Mom hated it all though.”
“It’s not like she could go out and get a job when she had you still home.”
“She worked part time for a bit when I was in school,” Talia said.
“She did. When she could. I think it was to feel as if she could provide too.”
“I know,” Talia said. “Where I’m going with this is that I’d like to learn more about that. Maybe give back. At one of my other jobs they had funds for local families and I would read the applications of those in need. It was depressing. I wanted to help them all. I asked if I could.”
He smiled. “I’m sure they didn’t have the funds for everyone.”
“No,” she said. “But I donated one of my paychecks so that I could help more.”
“Talia,” he said softly. “That was very sweet of you.”
“I wanted to do another one and they told me I couldn’t. I don’t know why.”
He didn’t either. “It could be a touchy thing,” he said.
“Sometimes being an owner or boss you’ve got to weigh the bigger picture.
We spent all the funds we collected for the holidays.
I don’t want to do any kind of drive now since we raised so much at Christmas.
Even those that donated have limits and I have to know when to not push at that. ”
Her shoulders dropped. “I know. I get it. But as sad as that was, I enjoyed doing it. I know you donate to a lot of things in the town.”
“I do,” he said. “I want the town to thrive. I pick businesses to support and help where needed.”
“Could you do a volunteer day?” Talia asked. “Another place I worked made their employees volunteer one day a year at a place of their choice. They got their full pay, but they had to do it. It was fun.”
He needed his staff to work all he could get but was raised to give back just as much.
“Not a bad idea,” he said. “And if it’s something you want to work on, I’ll let you come up with a plan.”
“Like a business plan?” she asked with a pained expression on her face.
He laughed. “Talia. You can’t just throw things together in the world. You need policy and procedures and rules. You need to line it up how you want it to work. I will not make it like a formal presentation as West would.”
“Thank God,” she said, shaking her arms out. “I don’t want to feel as if I’m in school again.”
“Let’s walk the building. I want to show you the packing process. How orders are filled. You know how they are taken.”
“I do,” Talia said. “I sat with your customer service staff yesterday. It was boring, but I get it. I need to know it all. I didn’t realize how much beer people bought.”
He snorted. “Good thing for me, isn’t it?”
“I suppose,” Talia said. “I only really like that one beer.”
It made him think of Phoebe. “I’ll make another for you since that was a good seller.”
“Will you name it after me?” Talia asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll call it Brat.”
“Not nice,” she said, laughing and lightly punching his arm.
“I’ve always been the nicest to you.”
His phone went off in his pocket and he pulled it out quickly, noticed the text from Phoebe, and put it away. He’d reply later.
“Is that a woman?” Talia asked.
He looked up sharply and saw the grin on her face.
“What? Why do you ask that?”
“You’ve got this sappy look on your face,” Talia said. “I’ve never seen it on you before, but I’ve seen it on my other brothers that now have wives or fiancées.”
Fuck.
Guess he didn’t hide that as well as he had thought.
“Maybe,” he said.
“And you don’t want me to tell Mom?” she asked.
There was the tilt of his sister’s chin again.
“I’d prefer not since it’s new.”
“What are you willing to pay?” she asked.
He squinted one eye at her. “Brat,” he said. “See. Are you blackmailing me?”
“Noooooo,” she said. “Just want to do more with helping people. Blackmailing is such a nasty word.”
He rolled his eyes. “I told you to give me a plan. That’s letting you do that. And until then, we are going to walk into the plant and you can see how orders are filled and brought out, then given to paying customers.”
“Fine,” she said, bumping her shoulder into his. “I can pretend I don’t know for now.”
Hours later, he was in his office, and his sister was helping fill the orders. She hadn’t put up as big of a stink about it as he’d thought.
He finally got around to reading the text from Phoebe asking how his day was going.
He’d been dying to see her but knew it wasn’t always so easy and they had done little more than a few texts each day since they talked on the phone Sunday.
He was missing her more than he thought he would.
More than he had any other woman he was interested in.
He could talk quicker than text but figured she was busy and replied that he’d like to tell her about his week over dinner if she was available tonight.
He put his phone back down and got to answering emails.
One was from his brother Foster stating they were going to be doing a software update tomorrow after hours.
If Talia knew then he had to make sure at least one of his other siblings knew he was interested in a woman too.
Foster hated to talk on the phone but would answer if Elias called.
“Hey,” Foster said on the fourth ring.
“Got a minute?” he asked.
“Sure,” Foster said. “I had just walked back to my office before I answered. Got a question about the software update? It won’t affect anything. They will complete it after business hours.”
They didn’t take orders before nine a.m. and they stopped at six p.m. This allowed for software issues to be resolved or updated but also didn’t let orders pile up overnight.
He changed his available beer daily and that was done at six in the morning once they saw what was available and the quantities.
It was a dynamic business model.
“I’m not worried about that,” he said. “I wanted to tell you something since Talia found out.”
“And she threatened to tell others if you didn’t?” Foster asked. “She’s been doing that since she first understood how to get her way.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I know. Not a big deal but still. I’m sort of dating someone.”
“Ahhh,” Foster said. “Got it. If Talia knows, she’ll tell Mom. Mom is normally the last to know.”
“That’s right,” he said. “I didn’t tell Talia anything. I got a text and suppose I smiled or something. She guessed.”
“And you weren’t smart enough to lie?” Foster asked.
“I’m not you,” he said. “I don’t tell people to mind their own business either.”
Foster laughed on the other end.
His once grouchy brother could still be that way but wasn’t as much now that Charlotte was in his life.
“You should learn to do that more,” Foster said. “Are you going to tell me much about her?”
“Her name is Phoebe. Her parents own a big law firm in Charlotte and she opened a satellite office here the first of the year.”
“Working fast then,” Foster said. “It’s only a few weeks into the year.”
He explained how they met. “It was funny,” he said. “In one week we kept running into each other.”
“Not hard there,” Foster said.
“No,” he said. “But then I found out it’s Ben Kelly’s sister. Mason Fierce’s brewmaster.”
“Wow,” Foster said. “Not sure what to think about how small the world is.”
“I know,” he said. “And if Mom heard she’d be talking about some kind of fate shit like she did with all of you.”
“You’re never going to change her,” Foster said. “You deal with Mom the most and know how to handle her.”
“I do,” he said. “Anyway, I wanted to let you know so I don’t get shit from anyone else about being Mom’s favorite and her knowing before them.”
“Got it,” Foster said. “How is it going with Talia?”
“It’s been three days. Not even three full days.”
“She still showed up though,” Foster said.
“She did. She’s got a good idea. I should say a good heart. I want to see what she can do with this and then if it works I might talk to her about something else with West.”
“Don’t be picking her career for her,” Foster said. “She needs to do that on her own.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m not picking it. I’m seeing how she does. I’m encouraging her and then I’ll talk to her more. If it’s a good thing, West needs to know anyway.”
“Tell me what it is,” Foster said. “I can’t see her wanting a brewing career.”
“No,” he said. He explained it to his brother. “West donates to charities. We all do things. Talia has to think big. Maybe this is something West would be interested in. Some foundation or something.”
“I see where you’re going,” Foster said. “But let Talia figure it out. Not you. You don’t have to solve this for her. You always complained in the past that you’ve had to deal with her the most.”
He had and felt bad about it now. “She was a pain in the ass, but she has matured a lot.”
“I saw it too,” Foster said. “Give her time. And go spend some time with Phoebe.”
“You’re giving me dating advice?” he asked. “Now I know the world is spinning and flipping out of control.”
“Ass,” Foster said. “Just do it.”