AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Feel free to go get a water or something else instead. I just wanted to thank you for all your help to set up the doctor for Charlotte and all the gatekeeping you must have done to allow me to have such a quiet week working from home. This afternoon’s coffee run is yours as usual though, I promise.”
“It was my pleasure. It was very chivalrous of you to drop everything and take care of your ‘nuisance of a roommate’ I believe is what I heard you call her to Preston not that long ago?” Her kind smile turned smug. Her tone told me she could see right through me.
“What can I say, us Brandt boys were raised right,” I deflected.
Leslie shook her head, but thankfully let the subject drop.
“Speaking of Brandt boys, Duncan would like a video call before your 9:00 a.m. It’s the only time he has today.”
“No rest for the dutiful and chivalrous, I suppose,” I said, walking to my office and opening the door. “I’ll see you after my first meeting then, hopefully no later than ten-thirty.”
“You’re meeting with Ferguson and Mathes from IT, and you’re the Chief Information Officer who disappeared from the building for four days. There’s no chance I’m seeing you before eleven,” came her response, accompanied by the clicking of keys, as Leslie returned to her work. She didn’t even acknowledge my groan as I entered my office, shutting the door behind me.
I got settled quickly at my desk and pulled up our video conferencing software, hitting my brother’s name from my contact list. The program rang once before the call connected and Duncan’s face appeared on the screen.
“Hey, Dunc. Where in the European world are you today?” I asked, smiling at seeing my brother’s face. It seemed we had communicated mostly through texts and emails since I started at Brandt Investing International just over two months ago, and while him being away allowed for my current living arrangements, I missed the guy.
“Today’s the first of three days in Paris. This background isn’t fake, you know.”
I looked away from his face and noticed the blue sky with the black metal of the Eiffel Tower rising behind him. Scoffing, I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. “Show-off.”
Duncan shrugged, which after thirty-one years of brotherhood, let me know he had, in fact, moved out onto the balcony to take my call. The noise from the street would bother him in any other scenario in which he wasn’t showing off to one of his brothers.
“And what about your background, Hayden? Pray tell, are you actually in the office? Wave your arm behind you, so I can know that isn’t a green screen set up.”
I did, making sure my middle finger was the only one pointing up on my left hand as I waved it behind my head.
“Fuck you. So I worked from home unexpectedly last week. The report on the Polanski merger got submitted ahead of schedule, and I’m suffering through a meeting with both Ferguson and Mathes as soon as we hang up since I canceled on them both last week. I’m paying my price.”
Duncan laughed. “Yeah, if they’re in the room together, you’ll be there for at least two hours, half of which will be them arguing with each other. I suppose that’s as good a punishment as any I could dole out. So, everything’s all good on the home front?”
I nodded. “Charlotte’s feeling a lot better. She headed back to work today too, so I knew my time sloughing off was over.”
“And should I make any comments about how you rearranged your entire work calendar to stay home and play nurse to a woman you once called ‘a walking nuisance of white wine and bubbly energy’?”
Remind me to never introduce Charlotte to any of my brothers—ever.
“Nope, I don’t think anything needs to be said.”
“Okay, well, how about telling me about the large donation the company made to the”—Duncan glanced down at this tablet—“Independent Book Alliance’s Bookstore Future Fund’s Storybook Ball Gala? Want to tell me anything about that? Including why they couldn’t name it something snappier?”
I paused, wondering how I should play this.
“You had threatened me with charity committee duty not that long ago, so I figured they might need a little direction. Their budget has a surplus compared to donations from last year, so I thought it was a good cause. You know Margaret loves Ridge Reads. She would be supportive.”
Duncan stared at me for a moment, and I started to sweat, even though he was thousands of miles away from me.
“Yes, Margaret does love Ridge Reeds. Ridge Reads, owned by the Reid family—mother, Lillian; father, Jackson; and daughter, Charlotte. The same Charlotte who’s working for the Independent Book Alliance this fall, living with you in my condo.”
“What? Did you run a background check on her?”
Duncan smiled like a cat with a canary.
“Turns out, Bethany didn’t leave any details of her arranging for Charlotte to stay in the place. She did, however, manage to run a background check and leave it in a file she opened when they first worked out all the arrangements. Once you texted about Charlotte being in the condo when you moved in, I reviewed it myself. Margaret may have made the arrangements for her to stay at my place, but she’s a shrewd businesswoman. I knew she’d understand if the background check returned anything suspicious or iffy before I let her keep the keys to my DC kingdom.”
I caved.
“Okay, fine. Charlotte’s working directly for the fund during her internship, and they had a huge donor pull out of the gala last week, the day she got sick. I do think it’s a good cause, but I also knew that if the donor money was replaced, she’d be more likely to stay home and rest, instead of throwing herself back into work too soon trying to find a way to replace it. The longer she was sick, the more likely it was I would have gotten sick, so really, I was just looking out for myself.”
