Sharing Hannah

BOOM.

We all looked up as the elevator gate slammed open hard. We were all so wrapped up in our conversation, we hadn’t even heard the car come up.

Dante came rushing in, flinging his coat off as he flew toward the kitchen table. Adam shook his head at his friend sadly.

“Sorry man, if you’re here for the Sicilian it’s all gone.”

But Dante’s smile still hadn’t faded. His enthusiasm was infectious, lighting up my own face as he grinned and held something up with one hand.

“Oh I’ve got something much better than Sicilian,” he said, shaking it at us.

Fifty

BROOKE

Chloe’s face was a mask of sarcasm as I pushed into her office for the third time in two weeks. She rolled her eyes, and tried as always to look ready for anything.

But she wasn’t ready for this.

“This is getting a little old, don’t you think?”

She was wearing her three-button skirt-suit. What I always referred to as her ‘power suit’, which meant she had a board meeting today.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “This won’t take long.”

She’d sidelined me after our last meeting. Given me a week of ‘mandatory paid leave’, with which I was supposed to mull things over while reflecting on my wrongdoings. I’d spent most of the last week in bed with three guys. Screwing myself silly, while celebrating certain recent events.

“You shouldn’t even be here, Brooke,” she sighed, trying her best to appear aggravated. “You’re defeating the very purpose of your punishment.”

“Ah, so this was a punishment?”

My boss shrugged. “I thought that was pretty clear.”

“Not to me,” I said innocently. “Actually, I think you referred to it as a ‘cooling off period’.”

“Whatever,” Chloe seethed. She folded her hands on her desk, a little gesture she used to try and convey that she was bored. “What is it that you want, anyway?”

“An apology for starters,” I said. “Not that I expect you’ll finally give one, but there’s always a first time.”

My boss laughed. Genuinely, truly laughed out loud, as I stood there facing her across her desk. When she’d finished smiling and overacting, and wiping tears from the corner of her eyes, she looked back at me once more.

“And what in the world makes you think—”

“This.”

I slid my phone across her desk, face up. The screen was fixed on a movie, frozen at the beginning. Chloe squinted down, acting stupid.

“Go on. Play it.”

She took so long, I almost reached down and did it for her.

With an exaggerated sigh, she finally mashed the button. The movie began playing. Figures began moving across the screen.

“What exactly am I looking at?” she asked, annoyed.

“Your idiot brother,” I said, pointing downward. “Right there, on the left.”

“I’ve seen this already,” Chloe said dismissively.