“Daisy?” he asked.
“Stella’s best friend,” I said.
“She hot?” he asked.
“Shut up.”
“Just asking! Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he said. “What did you say to the dick?”
“I gave him a few updated statistics on the number of women who were CEOs of companies and how many jobs those women have created as well as how much revenue women-owned businesses bring to the country’s overall GDP,” I said.
“And you say you’re not fit to run a company,” he said with a smirk.
“I don’t like him. I have no idea why the hell Stella’s fucking around with a guy like him.”
“Well, that’s a first,” he said.
“A first what?” I asked as I jumped for the pull-up bar.
“I’ve never heard you be a protective stepbrother before. It looks good on you. Keep up the good work.”
“Thanks,” I grunted.
I finished my second set of 20 reps of pull-ups before I hopped down. Todd got his set in before the two of us sat down on the bench, but my mind was no longer focused on the workout.
It was focused on the next day of work.
“I know that look,” Todd said.
“What?”
“You’re thinking about work,” he said.
“Not a chance. It’s the weekend. Any parties we should be getting into?” I asked.
“You’re thinking about work. It’s official. You’re the owner of a company who’s doing this ‘adult thing’ right,” he said.
“Whatever, man.”
“Let’s finish up and get you home so you can have more thoughts about what work will bring next week,” he said, grinning.
“I’m not thinking about work!”
“You can lie all you want! I know what thinking about work looks like,” he said.
“Because you do it all the time, of course,” I said.
“Oh, that hurts. That hurts deep, man,” he said.
We finished up our workout with a decent run around the track before we parted ways. He was right; my mind was whirling with things from work. Numbers and figures and designs for the offices. Stella had yet to get me the information and dates for the projects already in the works, so I was planning how I would approach her Monday. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t living in the present. I was worrying about the future and what it would bring, and I didn’t like it.
Todd was still living his life just as carefree as he could, and I was chained to a company I didn’t know shit about.
I walked through the doors of my house and went straight to my refrigerator. I stood in front of my mother’s letter, scanning it with my eyes again as I reminded myself why I was doing this. Everything in my body wanted to hand this company over to Stella. I had no passion for running it, I had no passion for improving it, and I had no desire to be chained to it.
But, every single time my eyes read that one sentence, it would remind me of why I was doing this.
“Please forgive me, my sweet baby boy. I never meant to stunt you in any way.”