ASTONBlake and I walked around the lobby. Every so often, he would point out something we needed to do or change. Being the dutiful manager I was, I noted down all of his suggestions in the spiral notebook I used to manage and document staff meetings.He was pointing at a flower arrangement, telling me we should look into cutting costs by ditching the fresh flowers we had delivered weekly. But I’d already made a note of it. I would bring it up at the meeting later.I couldn’t really concentrate on what he was saying anymore. Not because he didn’t have good ideas or because I didn’t appreciate his help, but because I was too wrapped up with second guessing myself and the choices I’d made.While I didn’t regret sleeping with him, I was really starting to question what exactly it was he did at this point. Whenever we talked about it, he was intentionally vague. A finance guy who did quality assurance when he had to, that was how he explained it to me on our first date.Back then, he exp
Aston“He cares about me,” I said quietly. “That’s what he told me the other night.”For the first time since her tirade started, Tiffany paused. “Now that makes more sense. A lot more.”Her girly side reared its head when she leaned in closer to me. “Those are the kind of details I want more of. I can’t believe you won’t just tell me all about it.”“I told you this morning, we’re at work. For whatever reason, Blake chose to share those numbers with me and I think we’re in real trouble. The kind of trouble that could cost us our jobs if we don’t figure it out.”She sighed. “True. Fine, I’ll wait for the juicy details. For the record, you’re going to pay for making me wait—with very specific details. Nothing is off limits, got it?”“Got it.” I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I also needed her to drop the subject. Right now, since Blake had turned around and looked like he was getting ready to end his call. “For now, can we please focus on using the help he’s offering to try and save
BLAKEThree straight days of working nonstop with Aston and her team was paying off. Breakfast on Saturday morning was packed and people were still streaming into the lobby. I sat on one of the new couches, waiting for Aston to finish up with a meeting.We still had a lot of work ahead of us, but I was satisfied so far. California had a lot of potential. I didn’t know why we hadn’t paid this kind of attention to it before. Three days of focused, driven promotion of the branch and there was already an increase in traffic.And the company hadn’t even really thrown its weight behind the branch. Not yet, anyway. In my next report to my father, I was definitely telling him that this could, and should, be one of our biggest branches. With Aston at the helm, this branch could make a turnaround for sure. Fuck making cuts here, we should be looking at increasing their capacity instead of decreasing it.The increased traffic made Aston a lot busier, but I enjoyed seeing her on top of her game.
BlakeOnly if she called my father an angel. He was a cool guy, sure, but he was far from being an angel. And my brother sure as shit wasn’t. As the other main reason I was here, he was the furthest thing from an angel I could think of.“Let’s just call it luck, shall we?”She pouted playfully. “Call it whatever you want, but it’s just flat amazing.”“It sure is.” I wished more than anything I could ask her to lunch and tell her she got the promotion. To finally come completely clean and tell her who I was.But none of those things could happen. I knew she was too busy for lunch, I had to discuss the promotion with Dad before I could say anything, and telling her who I was now would derail our speed on the work front.I considered throwing Dad’s rule about not making any promises about the promotion out the window. She had it in the bag as far as I was concerned and I was sure I could make Dad see things my way.The results from Dustin’s investigation would be coming in any day now. W
ASTONThe hotel was insanely busy and I loved every second of it. I finally felt like I was doing my job and not simply being a placeholder management used to keep everyone happy.I was making a difference, and trying to save people’s jobs. It was an amazing feeling.As curious as I was about how Blake knew everything he knew, I couldn’t deny that I would never have pulled this off without him. He was not only the one who brought the need for these changes to my attention, but he was also the one who was instrumental in making everything happen. With everything going on, we hadn’t had a chance to talk yet.Since he’d asked me to lunch, I was hoping we could take the little bit of time we would have to finally get to that talk. There were a couple of things I had to check on in my office before I could give him an answer about lunch though.Pulling up my emails, I checked on the arrival time of the new coffee we’d ordered to stock the rooms with. Blake somehow made a deal where we got
AstonTiffany pouted her lips, disappointed in my lack of indulgence of her theatrics. The fact she had even asked set me on edge. “Seriously? I do some major super sleuthing and you don’t even care about the process.”“I don’t, just tell me. Please. He just burst in here, told me he had to go back to the office and then practically ran out the door. I’ve had enough drama for one day. What is it?”Tiffany frowned at the wall in the direction of the outside exit door. “I hope he’s okay. For more reasons than just because you’re into him. We could all be in trouble if he’s not.”“Business has been doing amazing the last few days, so don’t worry about whatever trouble we might be in and just tell me already.” Maybe I wouldn’t miss her that much. I hoped I wouldn’t, but if she didn’t tell me soon, I was going to explode.There was a severe shortage of creative murder weapons in my minimalistic office, so my bare hands would have to do. “I swear Tiff, if you drag this out any longer I’m no
BLAKEIt was late by the time I landed in Florida. My mind was in a daze. It felt like I was stuck in a bad dream. I replayed the morning over and over again in my mind, trying to change the way it ended. But it never changed.All I could hear was Danny’s voice telling me our father was in the hospital. That he’d had a stroke and I had to come home. To my dad’s home, anyway. I didn’t really have a home anymore. I guess I thought of Florida as home because that was where my father was.If anything were to happen to him—my throat threatened to close up. Breathing was hard enough as it was without those kinds of thoughts.It felt like it took ages to get to the hospital, but in reality it was only a matter of hours. Unless my watch was broken and it had, in fact, taken as long as it seemed.The roads were quiet this time of night around here. Dad’s neighborhood was one of the quieter ones and the hospital Danny told me they were at was right on the outskirts.It was dark except for the p
BlakeA white haired man stood next to the bed. He looked up from a clipboard he was holding when I entered the room. “You must be Blake. I’m Dr. Richards. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”I wondered how many people he had said that to. And how many of those family members left the hospital with only memories of their loved one.On auto pilot, I shook his hand. “How is he?”The doctor gave me a grim smile. “He’s not good, son. I won’t sugar coat it, he’s in bad shape. We’re doing all we can for him, of course.” My heart stuttered. “Of course. Do you have any information about what happened yet? My brother said it was a stroke.” The doctor nodded. “It was definitely a stroke. We won’t know the full extent of the damage until he wakes up, but with the test results we have, things aren’t looking too positive.”I blinked. This wasn’t possible, but plenty of evidence that it was all too real was right there in front of me. It was absurd. Surreal.There was a clenching