I snicker. “You understand what I mean.”
He shakes his head. “I’m trying to set an example for Julie.”
“Very commendable of you.”
He steps forward, signaling to a cab approaching our spot to stop. The car pulls a few feet in front of us. Eric walks me to it, opening the back door for me.
I lean closer to him, dropping my voice. “This is by far the best anniversary I had.”
As I slide in the backseat, he says, “Glad I could be of service. See you tomorrow. Looking forward to talking more with you.”
He shuts the door and as the car lurches forward, it dawns on me that talking isn’t safe. Not at all. Talking, hearing him pour his heart out is more dangerous than dancing or touching. Tomorrow will be interesting, to say the least.
Chapter Five
Pippa
I wake up with a jolt the next morning, hugging my pillow, enjoying the lazy morning. But my happiness slowly morphs into uneasiness. I can feel it even in my state of semi-sleepiness. Something’s nagging at me—
“Shit.”
Sitting upright in my bed, I grab my phone from the nightstand and stare at the display. It’s ten past eleven. I was supposed to be at Alice’s restaurant for the family brunch ten minutes ago.
That was my conscience nagging at me. I send a quick message to Alice.
Pippa: I’ll be fifteen minutes late. Sorry.
Alice: Liar. You’ll need at least half an hour.
Being on time for family gatherings is on my bucket list. I manage fine in my professional life, but utterly fail when it comes to punctuality in my personal life. I shower quickly but spend an inordinate amount of time deciding what to wear. I’ll be going directly to Eric’s after this and choosing the right dress is crucial. I need something that can spell out the message No flirting better than I can. In the end, I go for the most unflattering dress I own. A grayish mumbo jumbo that’s large enough to be a tent. I have no idea how it ended up in my closet, but it’ll save the day. Summer and Alice will make fun of me for weeks to come for wearing this.
The entire clan will be there, and I can’t wait to see them, especially Christopher. He lives in Hong Kong, overseeing our operations in Asia, and is only here for a short time. I dearly hope he’ll follow Max’s lead and return home soon. Max was in London for a few years, but returned to San Francisco before the wedding, resuming his old position of International Operations Manager.
My sister’s restaurant is high up one of San Francisco’s hills, and the view is to die for. When I arrive, I linger outside for a few minutes, my eyes sweeping over the hills in front of me. The sun shines brightly, turning the foliage covering the hills a vivid green. Up here, San Francisco seems to be a different city than downtown. Nearby, birds sing happily, and I’d like to think they agree with me; it’s a perfect early July day.
Walking inside, I expect everyone to already be stuffing their faces. Instead, my siblings are sitting at a long table with Sebastian heading it. Logan, Alice, Summer, and Daniel are on one side, with Blake, Max, and Christopher on the other. I hug Sebastian tightly before taking my seat between Max and Blake.
“Is this an unofficial board meeting?” I ask, ogling the stack of papers in front of Sebastian and ignoring Alice and Summer’s incredulous stares at my hideous dress.
“Yes,” Sebastian answers.
“Well, let’s start. Everyone’s here, even both of the nice brothers,” Blake says.
Max chuckles.
The friendly rivalry between the two sets of twins is always fun to watch. Christopher and Max are the older set. They ended up with the nickname ‘the serious brothers’ while Blake and Daniel are ‘the party brothers.’ While the moniker completely fits Blake and Daniel, Christopher and Max aren’t serious. They’re the biggest pranksters in the family. But they work hard with us at Bennett Enterprises, while Blake and Daniel don’t have steady jobs. They do projects of their own from time to time, living off the dividends they receive from the company.
I straighten up in my seat and rest my elbows on the wooden surface. From across the table, Alice and Summer flash a smile, shaking their heads at the twins. I sneak a glance at Christopher and Max. For the millionth time, their resemblance strikes me. If they didn’t have slightly different haircuts, I couldn’t tell them apart. Maybe this makes me a bad sister, but it’s always been like this. Now I finally accept it. When they were about ten, they started hating their likeness, so they made a point to always dress differently and get wildly different haircuts. Later they turned into teenagers and realized they could use being identical twins to their advantage. The year they turned fifteen will forever be known in our family as ‘the year of the pranks.’ They kept this up until they went to college, and even then, they liked to do a number on us from time to time. A dull ache settles in my chest at the thought that Christopher will leave again soon. I really want him back here. I need more brothers to hover over or simply to annoy.
“I want to run something by you,” Sebastian says. “Ava’s birthday is coming up, and I want to gift her shares in Bennett Enterprises. I will give them away from my own part, so your shares won’t be diluted at all, and neither will your decision power.”
There is a beat of silence, after which Logan says, “Great,” which sums up how I feel in the best way possible.
“Brother,” Blake tells Sebastian, “I don’t give a fuck about dilution, but that’s the most unromantic present ever. And that’s coming from the least romantic brother in the family.”
Blake winces at the word ‘romantic.’ Ah, one of these days I will plot his downfall as well. That will be an interesting challenge.
“Yes, but it’s the perfect present for Ava,” I say. The shares are distributed exclusively among our siblings and parents, and extending that courtesy to Ava… Well, I know how much family means to her. I look at Sebastian with renewed admiration. He certainly knows how to make gifts. Almost two years ago, he surprised my parents by buying them the ranch where we grew up. My dad had built it with his own hands, and my parents sold the ranch when Sebastian needed capital for Bennett Enterprises. The new owners didn’t put it up for sale until two years ago, and my brother immediately snatched it.