Reservations

“Come on, grandpa, explain to me why your ways are so much better while you keep making excuses as to why this project fell so far behind.” He passed by the men, feeling the weight of their stare landing heavily on his back. After he’d walked a few feet away, he turned back to the two. “Don’t mistake this smile as humor. I need this remodel finished. You got thirty days or I’m exercising my option to begin deducting percentages from the final totals. Will that affect your bonus?” He paused for dramatic effect, then added, “Damn, millennials.” Thane even chuckled after he dropped that little bomb. He was seriously happy.

Midmorning Friday, Thane idly drummed his fingers along the conference room table while reading over the latest set of proposals to begin the expansion of the Reservations concept. This was a critical do or die meeting. He’d called in his own attorney, Reed Kensington, for the gathering. Arik Layne was also conferenced in through video link as they listened to various representatives from the Layne construction team talk about the logistics of building five additional clubs within the next year.

For Thane, this seemed a very cut-and-dry decision. He’d already committed to spend the money, and Reed rivaled Arik’s legal team in combing over the contracts, making sure everything was in place to represent his best interests. Yes, it was a risk, more so than any other venture he’d thrown his hat into, but Reservations Coronado was doing well. Better than expected. Even bringing members in from all across the world. His target clientele seemed happy with their offering.

Thane’s gut said they could easily repeat that progress nationally, perhaps even expanding internationally, and open the membership to any and all clubs they own. It could work, and he felt good about his effort. Absently, he fought a mischievous grin while wondering what role Julian might expect to play in this expansion. The guy would absolutely have to learn to delegate if he wanted to move higher in the company. No way could he hold such tight reins on all the restaurants, but he had a feeling Julian would try.

His gaze shifted as his cell phone began to rattle. Instinctively, he reached for the phone, leaning back in the seat. He tuned out of the Layne Construction contractor intent on painstakingly covering each of the finer points, probably because of all the ruckus he had caused with his corporate remodel.

When he opened the screen to Levi’s message, like normal, everything but the phone and Levi faded away as he read. “We’re friends, right? I just got notice from my landlord that my company’s paying our rent. It’s a kind, helpful gesture. We get six months of paid rent under our employee assistance program. How involved in this decision would the owner of the company be?”

Thane’s brows slid together as he tried to decipher the meaning behind this message. Where was Levi going with this question? Would he equate the EAP program to Thane paying him for their night together? Thane leaned farther back in his seat and let out a deep sigh. He hadn’t considered that possibility. Unsure how to proceed, he decided to ask directly. “Is this a negative or positive thing to you? Are you happy about the rent being paid?”

Thane waited maybe as much as two minutes. Just when he was afraid Levi wouldn’t answer, a new message arrived. “It’s positive. Very positive. I’m sitting my brothers down today and mapping out the steps to our move. I’ve got to see if Logan got approval to graduate earlier than planned, but I can sock all this money away now. We should be set. I haven’t even worked for the company that long. It’s really nice.”

Thane gave a genuine grin at the text. Levi had gotten very personal in that message. He’d mentioned Logan’s school, and the family’s financial state, all new things in their discussions. It made Thane unreasonably happy that Levi thought well enough of him to ask these questions. Not ever before had he shared such personal day to day thoughts with anyone. It seemed they got along outside the bedroom as well as they did between the sheets.

Before he got a chance to respond, another message came from Levi. “I just wonder if I should reach out and thank the owner or leave it to Julian. I’m not sure what’s appropriate with our not so great history. It’s why I asked. You seem to have all the best answers.”

Thane grabbed the opportunity and quickly replied. “Is this also the man you told me about? The one you spent time with recently that you enjoyed?” He pushed send, knowing it was a cheap attempt to get validation, but he took the chance to know once and for all if Levi had truly been talking about him.