I waved to her from the porch while her words ricocheted around in my mind. I walked back into my dark, lonely home, and the thought of returning to my father’s book shook me with exhaustion. I pulled myself upstairs and flopped down onto the bed, breathing in the deep scent of the room while my mind ran away from me.
My eyes watered when a distinct memory of my father pulled to the forefront of my mind. It was the first time I could remember ever going to the store with him, and there was a woman in there with a cane that wouldn’t elongate as far as she needed it to go. She was complaining of pain in her back because of how far over she had to hunch when walking, and I watched my father pull every cane from the back store so the woman could leave with one that worked.
He spent over an hour with her, pulling cane after cane he had in his inventory. He would pull them out as far as they would go, the woman would walk a few steps, and then he would start the process all over again.
And all because she came into the store for back pain.
That was what I saw when someone mentioned ‘front end of the business.’ I saw customer service and care. I saw helping hands in a sprawling city that seemed heartless to those who needed it most. I saw a hands-on approach to medical supplies and a caring smile exchanged between two people.
But, most of all? I saw my father. Helping the people he loved the most in a city he held near and dear to his heart.
I sobbed into my pillow when I realized Christian would never understand that. He would never understand that because he never wanted to go to the store. Not when he was younger, not when he was older, and not now.
Not until the wills were read.
I needed to figure out what his mother had said to him in that letter, because something told me that was the key to taking this company back.
“I’ll fix this, Father,” I said. “I’ll fix this, I promise.”
Chapter Nine
Christian
The first day of work rolled around, and I realized I didn’t have anything appropriate to wear. Up until this point, the jobs I’d had only required jeans and T-shirts. The only suit I did own didn’t fit me correctly, nor did the dress shirt I had along with the one tie I’d bought on a whim. I looked ridiculous in the monstrosity I called a suit, but it was the only thing I had that was remotely acceptable for the job.
I skipped the morning coffee at Todd’s coffeehouse and went straight to work. I wanted to try and get there before Stella did to minimize the idea that I didn’t know what I was doing, but by the time I got there, she was already calling everyone in for a meeting. She looked very professional, with her blouse tucked into her black work slacks, and the look she gave me when I walked through the door told me she wasn’t impressed.
“Meeting in 10, guys!” she called out as I walked through the door.
“Hey there, Stella,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“I thought it’d be nice to get everyone together just for a short meeting. This isn’t just a transition for us; it’s a transition for them, too,” she said.
“Sounds like a good idea. Anything specific you want to touch on?” I asked.
“Not particularly. I want to reassure them I, oh, I mean, ‘we,’ have everything under control. Plus, we need to introduce you. They know who I am, but they have no idea who you are,” she said.
“Good idea,” I said. “See? We make a great couple already.”
“Is that the only suit you own?” she asked.
I saw her eyes looking me up and down, and I couldn’t imagine how ridiculous I looked. The bright yellow shirt against the brown tie in the large gray suit I was wearing was probably doing me no favors in the professional department. But, the way Stella was looking at me made me feel like we were back in our teenage years. Like she was looking down on me for something I was doing that she didn’t approve of.
“It is currently, but it won’t be once I can get established and get back out to shop,” I said.
“Yeah, you’ll need to do that. Just follow my lead in the meeting for now. Once you become more comfortable, you can take the reins,” she said.
“I believe I’ll do just fine on my own,” I said.
I watched her roll her shoulders back before she gave me one more look. There was something off about the way Stella was acting right now versus the way she behaved the last time we saw each other. The Stella from earlier this week had been sorrowful and vulnerable. There had been memories to regale and a confusion about her that she couldn’t kick. She was comfortable in her vulnerability and open to the idea of us working together. There had been a softness to her eyes, an openness to her tone of voice, and her smile had crinkled her eyes.
Today she was different. Her shoulders were tight, and her body was always slightly leaned away from me. The lilt in her voice reminded me of the tone from our teenage years whenever Stella would attempt to coach me on something she thought I didn’t understand. I noticed she was intentionally trying to put herself between my body and the employees that passed behind her to head to the meeting.
The Stella I was currently looking at was still pissed I owned the company.
“You coming?” she asked.
There was something in her voice. Something in the way it lightly scratched against my ears that was a dead giveaway. It was reminiscent of the same harshness she held in her tone when she stormed out of the lawyer’s office after the reading of her father’s will. It had the faintest twinge of the condescending t