“No, she’s not. She’s just being friendly.”
She rises from her seat, tossing her empty coffee cup in the trash can. “Whatever. You’re clearly in denial, or maybe you just have it bad for someone else.” She winks but doesn’t give me a chance to respond to her comment before she keeps talking. “Still want to get lunch today?”
“Yeah, sounds great, Kels. I found some things I wanted to get your opinion on. I’ll swing by your office around noon.”
She nods and exits.
Being back home, as much as it pains me, has its perks—spending time with my sister is one of them. Kelsey and I settled in a corner booth at the little bistro around the corner from the office.
“I don’t know how Dad managed with all that chaos in his office. I feel like I’ve spent my whole time here organizing the madness and making sense of it instead of getting actual work done.”
“I tried to help, but you know how Dad had his ways of doing things.” Kelsey shrugs. “Why fix something that’s not broken,” she says in her best impression of our dad. We both chuckle for a moment before the mood turns somber.
I sigh heavily. “Well, we need to make some changes around here, starting with a reorganization of basically everything. I spent most of the night reading some of the proposals floating around on his desk and shoved in random folders.”
I have no fear when it comes to my clients—customer service was one of the top qualities that Nathanial and Michaelson saw in me all those years being employed by them. They were sad to see me go, but they understood that family came first to me.
“You’re the boss man,” my sister jokes.
“Don’t do that—we’re in this together.”
She shakes her head. “No, this is now your company; I just work here, bro.”
I roll my eyes. We agree to disagree. I only decided to fully take over on paper, but we’re a team all the way.
“So what did you want to talk with me about,” Kelsey asks.
“I was going over all these papers I found in one of dad’s desk drawers in an unmarked folder, and there were a few open-ended. Did you know he had a proposal to the local schools about updating the playground equipment? Some of his plans are pretty extraordinary, to be honest.”
Kels gives me with a blank stare. She wipes her mouth with the napkin. “No, actually, I had no clue. I mean, he had mentioned something once about how he wished kids had something more, but I didn’t know that he had gone through drawing up plans.”
Interesting.
“Well, when we get back to the office, will you sit down with me and look it all over. I think Dad may have been onto something. It could be something good for business.”
“Yeah, sure.” Kelsey takes a sip from her water. “So we’re just going to avoid the elephant in the room, then?”
“Kels, I love you, but yeah, we are. There’s nothing to discuss—I saw her, we danced. I told her I missed her and wanted more than one dance, and you know what she did? She ran away, as in literally ran away. She left her own brother’s wedding to get away from me. I’m not sure how to deal with that. Maybe it was all a mistake and we weren’t meant to be. There’s nothing I can do but finally try to move on no matter how much my heart is telling me I never will. She’
s the one. I didn’t need that one dance to tell me so; it just made me even more crazier to know I can never have her.”
Kelsey stares intently at me. “Who are you, and what did you do to my brother?” Her hazel eyes are dark and full of fight.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Her question throws me off.
“It means that my older brother Finn has always fought for what he wanted and has always gone after his dreams. Are you trying to say that all that talk with Dad at my wedding was bullshit? Yeah, I heard all of it, Finn. You were in rough shape, and I went to check on you because seeing you like that broke my heart—it still does. You need to fight for her. It kills me to see you just giving up. If there are two people are meant to be together, it’s you and Lauren.”
I’m not sure Lauren believes that though. I run my hands over my face, exhaling loudly.
“I just don’t know what to do when she clearly doesn’t want to talk to me.” I don’t mean to raise my voice at her. She’s not the one I’m mad at; I’m frustrated with the situation, with Lauren, with myself. Kelsey is just trying to help.
Kelsey reaches across the table and places her hand on top of mine, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Then you figure out how to talk to her. Just don’t give up, Finn.” I nod. “And definitely don’t give in to any of Natasha’s flirting. There’s a reason her name spelled backwards is Ah Satan.”
I bellow out a laugh. Trust me, even if I wasn’t hung up on Lauren, the last person I would try to get with would be my secretary. You never mix business with pleasure. I still think Kelsey is crazy for thinking Natasha flirts with me. Yeah, she dresses up a little too much for an office setting, but I’m sure she’s harmless.
Lunch is silent after that, and we head back to the office so that I can focus on things I can change and figure out, like this job.
Adjustable wrench.