“He couldn’t come to me himself?” It figures. He always sends someone else to do his bidding. I know he’s technically the boss. But that doesn’t mean ordering everyone around because you don’t want to do it yourself.
“He’s in the middle of unloading bottles. I offered.” He didn’t. Peter is the only one who offers to do anything without being asked. He’s always trying to prove himself to our big brother. One day he’ll realize no matter what he does…it’ll never be enough. It’s just sad it’ll take so long for him to come to the conclusion.
“Give me a few and I’ll go see what he wants.”
He gives me a salute and walks out the door, closing it behind him. I really hate that everyone in the family, aside from Paula, bows down to Pierce’s every whim. It’s the only reason he continues to push everyone around.
I swear he’s like the bully in school that continues to pick on you until you finally stand up for yourself. The only difference is when I do it, he makes it more of a point to ignore anything I have to say. It’s infuriating.
A few minutes. That’s all I need to get myself put together and face him. The last thing he needs to know is I’m nursing a hangover. I’ll never hear the end of it. At least I didn’t come to work still drunk like a few of my brothers have on occasion. And what did I do? I took up for them because that’s what a good sibling does. At least, when it’s not hurting anyone else.
I slip my shoes on before leaving the office. Honestly, being able to hang out without shoes at work is one of the perks of handling the social media. Though, it’ll be nice if one day I’m able to turn one of these rooms into a studio for all of my ideas. It’s not like all the rooms in this old house are being used. Most of them are blocked off to the public and are sitting empty. It’s another idea I planned on launching, but I have a feeling it would go as well as the last meeting.
The walk from the main building to the production facility is a bit of a trek. My great grandpa wanted to be able to leave work at work. He didn’t want the temptation of going back out there when he should be spending time with his family.
I still think it’s pretty cool our main building was once their house. Rooms were added on as the family grew, and it’s a nice touch of Starlit Fields history we could add into our branding story. Maybe if I bring that up to Pierce, he’ll let me add it to the site. I can even find one of the photos of the house our parents have at their place. It makes for a great story and gives some insight into where our winery came from.
There are so many ideas bouncing around my head, and I worry they will never come to fruition because my brother simply doesn’t care. Or, he doesn’t care enough to make our company shine the way it could.
When I get to the production building, he’s unloading bottles and setting them on a shelf. They still need our labels on them, but he always waits to do it. He doesn’t want to make too many labels if we don’t have enough wine to bottle it.
“Parker said you needed to see me?”
He looks up from the bottles in his hand. “Yeah. We need to update the website and I need you to take some photos of the new wine.”
What is he talking about? I don’t remember him saying anything about a new wine. Although, I also tuned him out during most of the meeting yesterday. He might be a little right when it comes to me acting childish. It’s not that I do it on purpose. At least, not most of the time. Yesterday…I just couldn’t be bothered to give a damn about what he had to say.
“Do we have any of the new wine bottled up?”
“Yes.” He nods to the left. “We just need the usual stock picture and information about the wine.
“Okay.” I fail to see why he had me come all the way out here for that. He could have brought me a bottle when he was done unloading. “Is there anything else?”
He doesn’t say anything for a few minutes and keeps unloading bottles. He opens his mouth at the exact time Iturn to leave. “Next time you have an idea, you need to come to me before you ambush everyone in the meeting. It was unprofessional to go behind my back like that.”
Is he fucking serious right now? As if I haven’t tried going to him with ideas in the past. He shot them down in private and I doubt he ever took them to Dad. This time at least it was in a public setting so the rest of the family could see I have some perspective when it comes to the company. They’ll always see me as the person who does as she’s told and doesn’t do anything more than they ask.
Well, that changes now. I’m not going to let Pierce know because I don’t think he deserves the heads up. No, I’ll show up in ways that matter when it comes to the winery. Ones that will have proof and data behind it.
I know for a fact it’s the only way I’ll win our dad over. Even Pierce won’t say no to a suggestion Dad makes. This time I’ll gather what I need and go directly to him. Pierce isn’t the boss of Starlit Fields yet. I’ll take this time to remind him.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“No.” He moves to the other shelf holding the filled bottles and grabs one. “You need this to take the photo for the website.”
“Oh, yeah. Thanks.” I grab the bottle from him and hurry out of the building. He has more audacity than anyone I’ve ever met. Even Parker, who’s known to be over the top, would never talk down to anyone like that.
It never ceases to amaze me how we were all raised exactly the same, yet have come out so different from one another. Clearly, Pierce got hit with the asshole branch at some point in his life, and it shows every single day.
This time I’m taking the kill them with kindness approach. It’s what he’ll least expect. Who knows, maybe he’ll appreciate the work I put in.
One of the perks of working for the family, and handling minimal tasks, is I get to leave early if everything is done.
My phone dings with a message as soon as I get home.
Beau
Wanna hang out tonight?
