“So, Ron, Jacob, Anne, Elizabeth, David, his wife, and your dude…probably.” “Elliot wants to invite the girls over as well. So, add their parents if they want to come. Maybe Frank and his family?” Mike nodded, scrolling through his phone. “I’ll send out the invite. I already have the girl’s number from the last family day.” “Thanks.” Another knock on the door and Mike went out. He came back, followed by Ron and Zach. Elliot didn’t acknowledge either of them. Ron ruffled his hair, but Zach looked upset. “Hey kiddo, you alright?” Zach came up behind him and went to rub his back but Elliot moved away. “El…” I started but he huffed and grabbed his book. “I’m going to read.” Jumping out of his seat, he disappeared through the doors and I could hear him walk up the stairs. The door to the bedroom slammed shut and I winced. I held my cup of coffee tight in my hand. It started to shake until I finally couldn’t take the frustration. Throwing the mug at the cabinets, the ceramic shatter
“Mike, I don’t think Jacob knows.” I spoke up after we broke apart and I served everyone a glass of lemonade. “Knows what?” Jacob looked from me to Mike. Mike’s smile rivaled the Cheshire Cat. “I don’t believe he does. Should we tell him?” I hummed. “Maybe we show him?” Mike nodded. He went over to the shelf and grabbed the bag of French flour. I bit my lip from giggling. This was such a rare chance and it had me giddy. “This whole reason why we closed down today.” Mike set the bag down gently and caressed the top of it. Jacob came over and his eyes grew wide. “Fucking hell. Holy fucking hell. Make me a line and I’ll do it right now on the counter.” We snickered and I patted him on the back. “What should we do first?” “What shouldn’t we do? Bread? Cakes? Pastries? I mean…the possibilities!” Laughing, Mike slapped him on the back much harder. The three of us were what was left of our culinary class friends. This was a huge deal for us. Having access to this particular French f
***Zachary’s POV*** Looking out the window, I stared out the side of the plane. It hurt to be flying away from them. The longer into the flight we got, the more I wanted to fly right back. I knew I needed to help Adrian, though. The transition would probably not be as smooth as I would like. He had sent over the documentation with a few alterations while I was in LA, but now that it was signed and submitted. On Sunday at 11:59 p.m. my time as CEO of Anderson and A. Wright Group would end and it couldn’t come soon enough. I also needed to tell Stacy and Jason. Adrian had requested for them to stay, and even though I wanted to take Stacy with me to DV, I didn’t want to upend her life in New York. Plus, her work was exceptional enough for the Anderson Group. DV was small and seemed a little beneath her at this point. There was a huge list of things I needed to get done and I had made a schedule for myself to do all of them in between helping Adrian. The worst would be the press conf
Stretching, I leaned back on the couch in my old office. Adrian had taken over the office already and all my stuff had been sent to the office in LA. It had been chaos for the past three days. Projects getting moved and adjusted while debriefing Adrian on all of them. The lack of their CEO didn’t seem to be part of the talk. It was mostly that Adrian was now going to all the meetings. My father had noticed it too, but I just brushed him off. My phone buzzed and I looked at the caller ID. Brow furrowing, I stood up and walked over to the window. I leaned against them and held up my phone at eye level, answering the video call. “Evie?” “Dad!” A smile filled my face as I saw the bright look from my son. He seemed like he was sitting on the bathroom floor from the background. “What are you doing with your mom’s phone?” “She won’t notice. She is talking with Uncle M. I said I was going to read.” Sighing, I shook of my head. “It’s not good to lie to your mom and sneak around, Elliot.
Pulling up to my parent’s house, I sighed. Stacy and Jason were also with me, since they had been added to family dinners long before they entered the company. Waiting for a moment, I stared up at the looming shadows of the house. “Zach, you okay?” Stacy put her hand on my arm. I nodded, but didn’t look back at her. “There are two ways I can play tonight. One, I can be straightforward and upfront with them. Explain everything as best I can and just walk out of there. Step up to my father man to man and have an adult conversation with him.” Jason snorted. “Please. You fucking hate the man. You could never just sit and talk with him.” Smiling, I looked up at the two of them. “Or I can go in there and throw everything in their face. I can make the biggest scene I can and show them I don’t care about anything they say.” “At this point, I think balls in is the only way to go. They destroyed you, destroyed your happiness. I think it’s time they get a taste of their own medicine.” Jason
A pin could drop and it would shatter the windows with the sound of it. Those who didn’t know, their mouths were wide open. Those who did were smirking. I lifted up my hand and spun the ring around my finger. How it still managed to fit perfectly still boggled my mind. I always meant to ask Evie more about her father, but she wouldn’t say much about him. I always figured it was still a loss she felt deeply. She had more time with her father than I did with my mother, but he was also all she had. He was a single father and that made him all the more important in her life. Looking up, I smiled. “Jennifer, have you ever been to Greece?” “Once or twice.” “There is an island, Zakynthos. My parents have a summer home there, it’s lovely. The beaches are beautiful and it’s just an all-around experience. I went there for three weeks for my honeymoon, and it was spectacular. I would highly recommend it.” Jennifer spit out the wine she was drinking, coughing slightly. I looked over at my pare
I looked at myself in the mirror. It had been a while since I was in a full three-piece suit and tie. It felt uncomfortable. I looked like my father. Sighing, I asked to see another tie. The associate disappeared and I wondered where Stacy was. Usually, she was my style compass when it came to these sorts of things. All I wanted to do was to wear the jeans and button-up shirt that I had gotten used to lately. “If that’s what you are going with, I wonder if anyone will take you seriously.” My eyes widened and I whipped around, watching Evie walk toward me. She was smiling brightly and I nearly dissolve into tears right there. She was wearing dark jeans and a shirt with a band I didn’t know; her usual combat boots on her feet. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, no makeup, and she looked like the goddess I knew and loved. “Dad!” Elliot came running up and jumped into my arms. I caught him and planted a kiss on his cheek. He was wearing jeans and a dinosaur t-shirt with a backpack, h
While Stacy, Elliot, Evie, and I drove together, Stacy and I went in the back way to the office, meeting up with Jason and his full security team. Evie would enter through the front and find a space to watch the press conference. Elliot wanted to see it, since I refused to tell him what was going on in the company beforehand. He had asked his mom multiple times to check her phone to see the stock prices of A.A.W., as he called it. Taking a deep breath, I pulled up my talking points on my tablet, choosing to not go with a prompter because it just seemed silly. Adrian was worried about it, but he just wasn’t used to being in the limelight. Not while I was around. Looking around, I tried to find Adrian, but he wasn’t anywhere. “Where is he, Stace?” “I don’t know! I called Nicole but she said he left at six in the morning, and she hasn’t heard from him either.” Cursing, I looked at my watch. We did not have time for this. We were supposed to go out in five minutes. I wanted to go over