Chapter 3
GINNY
“Did you grab the caramel apple cake?”
I have just set four pie boxes on my mother’s backseat. I straighten and look at her. “I have caramel apple pie.”
She nods. “Good, we need the pie. But we need the caramel apple cake, too.”
We are finally headed home after a busy morning in the bakery where I don’t think I said words other than ‘another’, ‘more’, and dessert types and dollar amounts.
I think I told my mother ‘good morning’ when we first met in the kitchen at the house, but that seems like days rather than hours ago.
I think we provided at least two pies for every house in town for Thanksgiving.
I’d jokingly asked my mother yesterday if people in Sapphire Falls had just given up baking for themselves, and she shrugged and said simply, “Business is good.”
I prop my hands on my hips. “We have pumpkin, pecan, chocolate silk—” I roll my eyes because who eats chocolate silk when you’ve got pumpkin and pecan? My brother Graham, that’s the answer. “And caramel apple pie. Why do we need cake of any kind?”
My mom is already headed back to the bakery with her keys in hand. “Everett doesn’t like pie.”
I sigh heavily and roll my eyes.
These men.
Not only does Graham prefer chocolate silk—mind you, he would eat any of the other pies but likes chocolate the best, so of course, Mom made him one—but now the friend he’s bringing home for the king of all pie holidays doesn’t like pie at all, so she made him an entire cake instead?
I lean against the side of the car to wait for her.
It’s definitely chilly, but it is not as cold as Thanksgiving could be in Nebraska and I’m enjoying it. I love the fact that summer lingered well into September and fall is taking its sweet time exiting my great home state.
Mom is back within minutes, carrying a cake box.
“You spoil them all, you know that, right?” I ask her.
She only grins. Of course, she knows that. She’s been doing it all of our lives.
“You’re going to love this cake,” she says. “It’s a spice cake with apple chunks in it and then drizzled with caramel sauce.”
Okay, I do have a weakness for caramel. But good Lord. I love pumpkin, pecan, apple, and yes, chocolate silk pie. I’m going to be fine.
I finally get her and all of our desserts in the car, and we head for home.
Thankfully, my brothers and their significant others are already there getting dinner going. I expect to walk into a house that smells like roasted turkey, stuffing, freshly baked dinner rolls, and a dozen other sides. I’m starving and intend to eat until I can’t move.
Harlow and Kaelyn are there supervising, but both Jefferson and Carver are very capable in the kitchen.
My dad is also perfectly able to follow directions and produce edible food, but the chances of him putting something in the oven and then going into his office and starting work on something and completely forgetting about the oven, that there are other people in the house, or even what day it is are about ninety percent so we don’t let him cook alone.
Hopefully, Graham, Margot, and Everett will be here soon. They were busy with work and not able to come in until this morning. Their plane was supposed to land in Omaha about an hour ago.
“So Everett is a picky eater,” I say conversationally. I am curious about this friend of my brother’s, but less because he’s Graham’s friend and more because he will be my new boss.
Well, one of them. My brother will be my other boss, I guess.
That has the potential to be weird.
He’s my little brother, though, and I know he respects me and trusts me. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble getting ideas past him or with having him hover or get in my way.
But I’m really curious what Everett is like.
Everett and Graham are business partners, and if Everett is the people-person, as I suspect, he is probably a little more controlling. Graham needs that.
Graham likes to do his own thing. To be left alone. To exist in his own little bubble. He takes after our dad that way.
Everett is likely in charge of tethering Graham to reality, reminding him of deadlines, and outlining business plans. As CFO, Everett is in charge of the money, contracts, and things like that. The numbers, and probably the employees.
Graham is, of course, great with numbers, but not necessarily communicating them to other people or letting them dictate what he wants to do. If he thinks something is a good idea, he’ll want to do it at full speed and with no restrictions.
I’m sure Everett has to babysit my brother sometimes.
I just really hope he doesn’t intend to babysit all the employees too.
One of the reasons I was offered the promotion in Chicago was that I am extremely independent, self-motivated, and self-disciplined.
Meeting my new boss as a guest for Thanksgiving at my parents' house is going to be interesting.
But Graham assures me I have the job, and I can’t screw it up just because we’re all going to be hanging out, stuffing our faces, probably drinking, and playing board games.
Fingers crossed that’s true.
I just need Everett to be slightly laid-back and able to have some fun.
“I’m sure if we didn’t have cake, Everett just would skip dessert,” my mom says easily. “It’s not like he demanded cake instead of pie.”
“But what kind of sociopath doesn’t like pie?” I ask.
My mom rolls her eyes, but then smiles. “Graham said he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth at all.”
I gasp. “And we’re letting this man sleep in the guest room?”
Mom nods. “Oh, I even bought fancy new sheets and a sound machine for the guest room.”
I look over. “You did not.”
“Oh, I did. I want him to be totally comfortable here. He’ll be staying with us when he comes to oversee the building project.”
“The guy is a multimillionaire. He can afford a hotel room if he doesn’t like our guest room.”
The guest room that used to be Carver’s bedroom.
Now that he and Kaelyn are married and live here in Sapphire Falls, they, of course, don’t need a bedroom at my parents' house. If there were any such occasion, Kaelyn’s parents also live in Sapphire Falls.
Of course. We’re just one huge, happy, crazy family.
“Yes, but he’s going to be working with your father, and he’s already your brother’s partner and best friend. He’s part of the family, Ginny. Family doesn’t stay at hotels,” my mother says.
“I’m just saying he could if he’s going to be picky,” I say.
“You need to be a little bit more welcoming and accommodating. He’s our guest and your brother’s friend,” my mother says.
Yeah, well, accommodating is not a word that people often use to describe me. If I’m too nice, my friends and family will think I’m sick.
“I intend to be fully professional and friendly enough,” I say. “But he’s going to be my boss. It would be totally inappropriate to be too friendly.”
That’s another thing I am concerned about.
Working for my brother already raises the potential for other employees to think I’m getting preferential treatment.
But if my co-workers find out that our CFO is sleeping at my parents' house just down the hall from me on a regular basis, that could cause all kinds of problems.
I’ve been in a similar situation before. I’m not doing that again. Stephen and his betrayal at work was not my first time having a professional conflict that fucked up a job for me.
Prior to the pharmaceutical company, my college roommate’s father hired me at his company in the marketing and PR department.
I rose quickly through the ranks because I was damned good at my job, I’m a hard worker, and I’m fucking intelligent.
But when one of the guys who hated women and specifically hated women who got jobs he thought he should have, found out about my personal connection to Mr. Stern, he started spreading rumors.
And, like all the best rumors, there were pieces of truth in them.
Things like the fact that I spent New Year’s Eve in Mr. Stern’s New York penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park, and that he took me on a Hawaiian vacation.
Yes, technically both of those things happened. I spent New Year’s Eve in George Stern’s penthouse apartment with his daughter Kammy. He wasn’t there.
I also went to Hawaii as Kammy’s guest. George was there that time, though we didn’t see much of him.
Should Mr. Stern and I both have realized it wasn’t a good idea for me to spend personal time with his family?
Maybe. Did I get considered for the job initially because of Kammy?
Yes. However, I earned all three promotions on my own.
Mr. Stern didn’t award them. I never saw him at work.
He had nothing to do with my job assignments or evaluations.
But…the time I spent at his home and socializing with him didn’t look good.
I’ve been determined to avoid that going forward.
One thing that will help with that at IES will be that Graham will be in Denver, and I will be here in Sapphire Falls.
Everett, I assume, will also be based in Denver.
But when he comes to Sapphire Falls, if he’s close to my family, it will be obvious.
My family, and all of their friends—okay, really, this entire town—has a hard time hiding their feelings.
For better or worse. If my family knows Everett well and loves him, everyone will know that, especially anyone they hire from Sapphire Falls.
I blow out a breath. I am so tired of men being problematic in my workplace.
I probably shouldn’t work for Graham.
“This job with Graham is a bad idea, isn’t it?” I ask my mom as we pull into the driveway.
I have to remember that my mom and dad don’t know that Graham owns the company with Everett. Still, it’s a fair question even if Graham and I are just working for the same place.
There’s a rental car parked to one side, so Margot, Graham, and Everett are apparently here.
My mom looks startled. “Why would it be a bad idea?”