Chapter 24
chapter twenty-four
Caleb
Living in my childhood house with my brothers is like being a kid again in so many ways.
For one, it’s loud. The thunk of footsteps going up and down three flights of stairs in this old house at all hours of the night.
The beep of the microwave, the gun blasting sounds of the PlayStation.
After graduating high school, the three of us older guys moved out and started lives.
Max and Owen never moved out, but they’re still in college.
Now we’re all back here, responsible for keeping the place clean, and running a business together.
It’s fun being an adult with adult responsibilities, but having all my brothers here like the old days.
Ethan taps on my open bedroom door. “Got a minute?”
I pause the TV. “What’s up?”
He walks in my room, and Ranger leaps off my bed, doing a big stretch in his direction, then waiting patiently for pets. Ethan obliges.
“I’m about to put myself back out there,” Ethan says. He gives Ranger a good belly pat.
“What do you mean?” My first thought is that he’s quitting Alden K9, but then the sheepish look on my oldest brother's face tells me he’s talking about women.
“I want to start dating. I’m finally over that last… nightmare of a relationship. So it’s got me thinking about everything. I love you guys, but I’m not sure I want to bring a woman home to this.” He gestures toward me.
“What’s wrong with me?” I ask.
“Not you, just that. Everyone is shirtless all the time around here.”
I laugh. “Man, I’m not going to steal your girl.”
“I know, but this is like a frat house. I’m getting old and I want to look into settling down and shit. Having kids and all that.”
I lift an eyebrow. “First of all you’re twenty eight. Secondly… What's the problem? We want you to have a family. No one’s going to stop that.”
“Look, I’ve been thinking. And crunching the numbers,” he says, wrapping one hand around the other. “The business is doing well. This whole dog boarding/grooming/training thing we’ve got is working. And believe it or not, Max the shirtless dog groomer has brought in a ton of business.”
“Really?” I snort-laugh.
“Oh yeah,” Ethan says with a nod. “Grooming profits have increased a lot. Women are driving like two hours to get their dogs groomed. Boarding is up, too. Our online reviews are great and people trust us to care for their dogs. I know this sounds cocky but I think we should sell merch. Like Alden K9 t-shirts and stickers and stuff. People ask for it.”
“That’s amazing.” I’ve been so focused on the foundation part in recent weeks that I haven’t even looked at our financial books. “So we’re actually turning a profit?”
“A good profit,” he says. “I think it’s time to start paying ourselves salaries.”
“Fantastic.” I reach over and high five him. “So why are you still looking so stressed?”
“I have an idea.” Ethan rubs his hands together, much to the annoyance of Ranger who paws at him for more pets.
“The far west side of the property. It’s about one by three acres of empty land.
What if we built houses? Four or five would fit, and this house could be like a guest house, or one of us could keep it.
It’ll give us our own space to keep living and working together, but also be able to start families. ”
“Damn, you really don’t want to bring a new girlfriend around us, huh?” I tease.
He chuckles. “I’m serious, Caleb. We don’t have to do anything now, but we need a gameplan. Five grown ass men can’t just live in the same house forever. We’re not a TV sitcom.”
I nod. “Yeah, I get it.”
It’s an issue I’ve thought about a lot. It’s no secret that getting all my brothers on board for the business was easier because we were all single. But what happens when wives and children come into the mix?
“We need our own spaces,” I say. “Maybe we look at building your house first, and over the next few years, we’ll figure out the others. I really don’t see Max and Owen living apart any time soon.”
My phone lights up. I glance over and see Charlotte’s name on the screen. It’s eight at night—a little late for a call from my event planner.
“Shit,” I say, picking up the phone. I hope nothing is wrong with the gala.
“We’ll talk later,” Ethan says, walking to the hallway. “Thanks for hearing me out.”
I answer the call. “Charlotte?”
“Hey,” she says, voice soft. “I know it’s late. Um. Can I come over?”
“Always,” I say.
I watch Charlotte’s headlights turn onto the long driveway. Outside, the sun is setting, casting a deep orange glow over the horizon. I love the longer days in the summertime. Crickets chirp in the air, and in the distance Rex barks once. He probably recognizes her car by now.
I meet her at her car. “Hey,” I say, closing the door for her after she gets out.
Her hair is twisted into a high bun and she’s wearing black leggings and a tank top, the total opposite of her daily work attire.
I like it. All of her curves are on display, and without any makeup she looks like she just woke up.
It’s the version of her not everyone gets to see.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
She nods. “This isn’t about the gala.”
“I don’t care about the gala. What’s wrong?”
Tears glisten in her eyes. She blinks them away. Takes a deep breath. Her palms press to her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, I feel so stupid calling you and coming here.”
“Charlotte, what’s wrong?”
“I’m just having a bad day,” she says with a weak smile.
“I had no reason to come over and work here today since everything is set and ready to go on Friday, and I was just eating a pathetic microwaved dinner at home and thinking about how I always feel better when I’m at the Alden farm, so I just wanted to come over. I wanted to see you.”
Holy crap my heart lights up in a way it’s never done before. The most beautiful woman, the most talented kickass woman I’ve ever known, wanted to see me. Don’t be a jackass and say something to ruin the moment, my brain tells me.
“First of all,” I say, taking out my phone and searching for a number. “Taco Crave is open late and delivers. Give me a second.”
She watches, bemused, as I call Raul and order us some tacos and chips and salsa. “Okay,” I say, clapping my hands together once. I really want to wrap them around her so this is how I restrain myself. “While we wait for dinner, tell me about your day. What happened, and how can I make it better?”
“Tacos will help.” She smiles up at me. “Is that a porch swing?”
“It is. There’s three of them, actually. Let’s go.”
The faint sound of video games escapes from the living room window, occasionally punctuated by Max or Owen’s yell of victory or defeat.
I take her to the porch swing on the far edge of the house.
The wraparound porch goes all the way around the house and Mom put a swing on three sides of it.
The east-facing swing is the newest so you won’t get splinters in your butt, and it faces the neighbor’s corn field.
Not exactly a great view, but not a bad one, either.
“Talk to me,” I say, sitting down and patting the spot beside me.
She sits cross-legged on the swing, hands in her lap. “I’m a really good event planner,” she says, gazing out into the corn field.
“Yes.”
“So, the news thing? Not only did my boss love it, but she also used it to get herself a raise.”
“What?”
“Jenny made this whole thing about it, telling corporate that she assigned me to get more media coverage even though I had nothing to do with that. Ethan secured the news coverage, not me, but I’m in it, and the news mentioned Perfectly Planned in their article and now Jenny came to work today with cupcakes for everyone to celebrate being promoted! ”
“Wow.”
“You know, I’m the lowest paid party planner there?
” she continues. “I’m tier one, which is entry level because I’ve only been there a couple years and everyone else has more experience but you know what that means?
It means they get to pick and choose the easiest events for themselves and all the crap ones get put on me.
And I’m great at what I do, but they get paid more than me!
And I turn the crap events into awesome events because I’m freaking amazing at what I do. ”
I get the feeling she just wants me to listen, so that’s what I do.
My foot keeps a gentle swing going while she vents about her boss, who sounds a lot like bosses I’ve had in the past. People like that don’t rise to the top because they’re good at what they do, they rise to the top because they sit on the backs of hard workers.
“I’ve been applying for jobs,” she says, turning to me. “Most event planning companies are in the big cities, so I’d probably have to move. I don’t want to be far away from my mom, but I can’t just stay here at Perfectly Planned.”
“Put me as a reference,” I say. “I’ll give you a recommendation so glowing that you’ll get hired for any job in the world.”
“I know it sounds crazy but I keep thinking about just going out on my own. Making my own event planning business.”
“Yes!” I say, pointing both fingers at her. “You should do it. I already plan on requesting you for every event I have for the rest of my life.”
“It’s not that easy. I have rent to pay, bills, health insurance…and there’s no guarantee that I’ll get any clients.”
“Sometimes the risk is worth it,” I say.
“Yeah…” Her teeth dig into her bottom lip as she stares out at the vast horizon. That overwhelming urge to kiss her falls over me again. It happens more and more lately, and it’s agonizing. I want her but I can’t have her.
I straighten my shoulders and snap myself out of it. “What if you ditched your apartment and moved in with family, or your boyfriend? That would save on bills.”
Her gaze whips to me so fast, some hair in her messy bun comes loose. “Boyfriend? If I had a boyfriend I would have already moved in with him and quit this job a long time ago,” she says with a snort laugh.
“Wait. What do you mean?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend. Why would you think that?”