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“Frankie and I are flying to Chicago. There’s a private investigation firm there that has an excellent reputation. I doubt Dad thought to pay off anyone up there. He’s always been a think locally kind of guy.”
“You could call them.”
“I did, and they’re taking the meeting which is a good sign. Frankie and I have the police files from Finn. He kindly gave us copies, plus the two items that Piper has as well. She wanted to come but she’s committed to doing a livestream on macarons or something like that. She’ll try and join us later if we don’t come back right away.”
“What about Frankie? Shouldn’t she be getting ready for the U.S. Open? She’s already missed Wimbledon.”
Cooper gave Zack a look that said his brother thought he wasn’t terribly bright.
“Is the injury that bad? How long will she be out?”
“She’s not going back,” Cooper explained. “It’s bad.”
“She told you that? Maybe a second opinion? I know some people in New York—”
“She’s had several opinions. It’s not going to change. And no, she didn’t say that she was never going back, but I can read between the lines. Competitive tennis is over.”
Tennis had been Frankie’s entire life for as long as Zack could remember. His sister had been driven as hell, clawing her way up into a career as a world class tennis player. It’s the only thing Frankie had ever wanted to be. When other little girls were playing princess and wearing tiaras, Frankie had played at holding up the Wimbledon trophy over her head.
“What is she going to do?”
What his sister had said to him about understanding his issues now made sense.
“I don’t know. She doesn’t know. You don’t know either. Brother, it’s okay not to know what you’re going to do every minute of every day. Frankie will figure it out, and so will you.”
“I know that,” Zack replied defensively. “That’s what I’ve been doing while I’m here. Relaxing.”
“You’re the most tense relaxed person I’ve ever met. You think something is wrong with you when you don’t know what to do. Are you going to take that job offer? Go back to the city?”
To be honest, Zack had barely thought about the job offer. Too much had been going on here for him to spend any time on it.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m being honest. I just don’t know. I know the guy, and I think the offer would be a good one. But going back…”
His voice trailed off. He didn’t really know how to express what he felt inside about returning to the pressure cooker that was Wall Street. Sure, there might be more work-life balance in the new position, but there was still stress. There would still be weekends and late nights. It was the nature of the job. There just wouldn’t be quite as many.
Yet, it was all he knew. At one point, work had been his life. He was damn good at it, too. He’d been lavished with bonuses and praise. Plus, the adrenaline rush had been heady. A guy could easily get addicted to something like that.
Am I addicted?
“Change doesn’t have to be a scary thing,” Cooper replied. “Hell, you might even end up happier. You never know.”
“Or I could end up miserable.”
“That’s true,” his brother agreed cheerfully. “You act like either state is a permanent situation. I can assure you that it’s not. Nothing ever is. You know the great thing about decisions? You can make new ones.”
“There are some you can’t change. Like if you have kids or something like that.”
“That isn’t a decision you’re facing, though. You’re just deciding on whether you want to be rich and content or whether you want to be even richer, busy as hell, and maybe happy every now and then. Sounds like a first world problem to me.”
“What would you do?”
Zack couldn’t help but ask Cooper.
“You know what I would do,” his brother laughed. “I’d take my ill-gotten gains, buy two tickets to Fiji, and take Lucy on a tropical vacation for a month. But that’s just me.”
“You’d take Lucy to Fiji?”
“If I were you. If we’re talking about me, I’d take myself.”
