“Sounds great to me,” Blake answers immediately.
“You’ll have to work, Blake,” Logan says in a stern voice. “There will be no favors.”
Blake rubs his jaw. “Relax, I got it. I’d love to start in whichever department has the most beautiful women.”
Sebastian, Logan, and I all stare at him.
Blake merely shakes his head. “Man, things here need some shaking up. You’re lucky I’m joining you. No one can even joke with you.”
“You’ll start in my department,” Logan tells him. “Finance.”
To his credit, Blake appears to be looking forward to it. “Excellent.”
“Welcome to Bennett Enterprises, brother,” I tell Blake. He breaks into a grin, and of course, I hug him. A long time ago, Logan and Sebastian sat with me at a small round table, welcoming me to the company. We were in a different location, on the outskirts of San Francisco, in a one-story building with small windows. The team consisted of ten people, and my brothers asked me to be the eleventh. The company was doing well enough to support the family, but Sebastian and Logan had dreams of international fame, which meant that costs had to be kept as low as possible, so the profits could be used for expansion. They told me that each member of the family has shares in the company, regardless of the choice of work they’d do. The goal was simple: make sure our family never suffers from financial hardships again. There’s no better motivator in the world. The three of us worked like there was no tomorrow to turn the company into a success.
As the years went by, Max and Christopher joined us. Alice and Summer opted to do something else, which only left the other set of twins. I know that Logan and Sebastian are as proud as I am that Blake will be joining us at the company.
The sound of the door opening snaps me out of my melancholy. Ava and Nadine slip inside the room, big smiles on their faces.
“Well, hello, handsome Bennetts,” Nadine says.
Logan’s face lightens up instantly, as does Sebastian’s. He takes his wife’s hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it gently.
“We already talked about Blake’s first placement,” Sebastian tells Ava.
“Aaaand that’s my cue to leave before I become a sixth wheel,” Blake says, before slipping out.
I’m about to follow, having no wish to become the fifth wheel, when Nadine suddenly asks, “How was lunch at the office the other day?”
I chew the inside of my cheek, wondering for a brief moment why she’s bringing this up in front of my brothers. Surely they’re going to throw a fit and flex their protective muscles. But they both look at me curiously. That’s when it hits me.
“Wait a minute. You’re all in on this, aren’t you? Trying to bring me and Eric together?”
“Well,” Logan says patiently, “I wouldn’t say Sebastian and I are in on this, but the girls are scheming, and we didn’t… disapprove.”
I snort despite myself. “As if they need your approval. They’re both badasses.”
“Why, thank you,” Nadine says.
The sound of the door opening startles the four of us, and Alice peeks inside. “Nadine, Ava, I need both of you out here.”
The girls hesitate but join my sister outside, leaving me in the room with only Sebastian and Logan.
“Pippa,” Sebastian says in his most gentle tone, “if you’re uncomfortable about this, we can ask the girls to back off.”
“Rest assured, we can convince them,” Logan adds.
“I’m not….” I take a deep breath. “I like Eric. We hit it off at the wedding, and every time I’m with him, I’m happy.”
“That’s good,” Sebastian says gently. “You haven’t been happy in a long time, and you deserve to be.”
“I’m afraid,” I answer. “And he’s only here until Julie’s school starts again in the fall.”
“You don’t have to go into every relationship thinking it must lead to marriage,” Sebastian continues.
“You have to give yourself a chance, get back in the game,” Logan adds. I can’t help but smile at this. About six months ago, I made an attempt to date someone. Midway through the date, I panicked and asked Logan to come pick me up. I usually like to lick my wounds on my own, but I felt like such a failure for not being able to make it through a date that I couldn’t stand being alone.
“All we’re saying,” Sebastian concludes, “is that you shouldn’t close yourself off to anything.”