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“Zoe is away, and even if she was here, there’s still the matter of clothes.” I wanted to smack him.
Eduardo, who had the habit of listening in on all conversations in the office if he was at all able, spoke up. “You can stay with me if you need a place to go tonight.” Too bad he said it rather loudly.
“I heard that,” Martin informed me. “So it’s settled, then?”
I stayed quiet and glared at Eduardo. He would get payback in a minute.
“Brooke?”
“Yes, Martin?”
“So I’ll see you at six. I’ll text the address when we hang up.”
“Wait. I don’t have my black-and-whites with me.”
“What are you wearing right now?”
If Martin were in my line of sight, he would be writhing in pain from my death stare. “I have on a chartreuse-and-emerald-green blouse with a black skirt and over-the-knee boots. Totally inappropriate for serving. I can’t do it as I’ve said.”
“So you go buy a white blouse on your lunch hour and wear the boots. It’s some sort of corporate celebration and most of the guests will be men. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the boots over your beautiful long legs.”
Ewwww. What a grotty little arsehole. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just make a sexually suggestive comment about my performance on a job and move along to payment, shall we, Martin?” Serving in heeled boots wasn’t going to be easy, plus I’d be out the cost of a new shirt as well. If Martin didn’t like it, then he could fuck on off.
Eduardo giggled and gave me two thumbs up.
“Double time, Brooke, just be there.”
As much as I wanted to decline, the extra money would be helpful right now. “Fine, I’ll do it, but Martin, if you want me in future—give me some notice so I can make arrangements for the night.” If there would even be a next time. Maybe a job search was a good idea.
After I ended the call, I pointed a finger at Eduardo and gave him only a slightly less violent version of my death stare. “You are in trouble in case you didn’t realize. You are to go tell the bosses we are leaving to shop for a blouse for me and will return with their lunch. And you get to pay for mine today.” I then smiled sweetly before getting up from the desk to put on my coat.
“Yes, my condesa,” Eduardo sang before bolting up to the second floor to get Jon and Carlisle’s lunch order.
While he was busy upstairs, I needed to let Nan know I wouldn’t be over to see her tonight. She would get a kick out of me having a sleepover at Eduardo’s place, though. I tried to see her every evening for a short visit and didn’t want her wondering where I was when I didn’t show. My call went through to the front desk, which wasn’t a surprise. Nan rarely stayed in her room, especially when there were activities going on.
“Blackstone Therapy Center, Lilah speaking. How may I assist you?”
“Hi Lilah, this is Brooke calling.”
“Your grandma is in a painting class right now, working on a seascape.”
“Ah, sounds lovely and I can’t wait to see it. Can you please let her know I’m working for Martin tonight? She will understand, and tell her I’ll visit tomorrow as usual.”
“Sure thing, Brooke, and thanks for letting us know so she doesn’t worry, because she would you know.”
Placing Nan in a temporary nursing facility while she recovered from a knee replacement had been our only option. She couldn’t be left alone in the cottage all day trapped in a wheelchair while I was working in Boston. She never complained, but I knew she would rather be at home, as anyone would.
I wished she could have in-home nursing care and that I could provide it for her, but it just wasn’t possible on her very fixed income, or mine. Once the Blackwater estate closed and she was forced to retire, her money had to be carefully managed to make ends meet. She wasn’t old at only sixty-one, and I suspected she missed her job very much, as well as the camaraderie with her workmates. In fact, the fall that resulted in the need for her knee replacement had happened after she’d lost her job, while she was bored stiff all alone in her cottage. Thank God her friend Sylvie was due for tea later on that day and discovered Nan at the bottom of her cellar steps—frightened and in terrible pain.
I often wondered if the Blackstone family who’d employed my nan bore any kind of conscience at all to dismiss a loyal servant after more than three decades with hardly a thank-you and good-bye. No pension or departure compensation—nothing at all. Deplorable came to mind. Selfish arseholes did as well. There was no defense for their behavior. None at all.
Blackstone Island was primarily a place where a few very rich people, with oceanfront vacation homes worth millions of dollars, came to play at summer holidays. Unfortunately, it was also a place where a great many poor people worked very hard to serve those same rich people and had little to nothing to show for it.
Caleb
The last thing I wanted to do at the end of my day of shit was go to a client appreciation reception for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres with my face looking like it did from being smacked by Janice’s Valentino. All day long I’d fielded the concerned inquiries from people who weren’t assholes along with the jokes and harassment from the people who were most definitely assholes. I don’t think many of them bought my lie about slipping in the shower and colliding with the marble soap dish. What they didn’t know was I couldn’t care less what they thought of me in my personal life. As long as they respected me in business, I was good. I could make money grow from just about anything. So what if I had terrible emotional skills when it came to relationships with women. I just didn’t feel anything for those women like I probably should if I cared about them for more than sex. But I’d never felt anything beyond an admiration for their beauty, along with the desire for some shared pleasure if they were interested in the same. I wasn’t stingy, either. Before we were done, I made sure they were well satisfied. I didn’t know how to operate any differently, and until I figured my shit out, I should just stay away from women altogether. It made the most sense.
The fact it was my father’s law firm hosting this gathering was the only reason I’d set foot inside the door. There was a part of me that still wanted to make him proud, even though I’d made my own successful career apart from his. Now that he was gone, I’d taken on his business as well, and I knew his peers were watching closely to see how I would do. My brothers had their own interests and money, as well as a share in Dad’s holdings, but they weren’t involved in the day-to-day management like I was. Lucas lived like a hermit on the island, designing game systems, and Wyatt divided his time between LA and New York doing his thing, which nobody seemed to know much about. Being the oldest child, followed by identical twin brothers, and then five years later by another set of twins, but this time girls and fraternal, I was the odd man out. Willow was engaged to her Ivy League professor, and Winter was in grad school, so everyone was focused on their own goals as they should be.
