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Her silence spoke volumes.
“Go ahead and get a checkup done on the projects your father had spinning. I know one of them is close to being rolled out, but I’m not sure how close,” I said.
And with that, I held my head high. For the first time in quite a while, I felt as if I had a forward trajectory with my life. Our jobs were clear, the way the work in the company was delegated was clear, and there were tasks we both had to get done before the weekend arrived.
But the stomp in Stella’s foot as she left the meeting room told me she wasn’t happy.
It was going to be a long road.
Chapter Ten
Stella
The office space my father used was two blocks down the road from the main supplies store. My father set it up like that to keep him active, but Christian wouldn’t know that because he never came by when he was younger. While moving the office space right above the medical supplies store seemed convenient, it wouldn’t keep us active. My father was a proponent of healthy choices while aiding those who didn’t always make the best ones. He took care of himself while being in the business of helping others.
It was the dichotomy that ran the entire store, and Christian knew nothing about it.
I was unpacking my stuff into the space my father used as a meeting room for special clients. Sometimes, people wanted to talk privately with my father, and he had an entire setup for it. The room had a comfortable couch, three cushioned c
hairs, two vending machines, a plush rug, a beautiful window the sun could shine through, and shelves of books on every subject he thought would be necessary and comforting for someone to see.
There was no desk, and I preferred it that way.
I unpacked a few of my things and set the necessary items on the coffee table before I pulled out a picture of my stepmother and my father. The woman was a saint, putting up with some of the quirks my father had, and I realized I never cherished her as much as I should have. She was beautiful, she had been vibrant, and you could see it in the way my father looked at her that he loved her with every bit of his soul.
“They were a power couple, weren’t they?”
Christian’s voice startled me so much I almost dropped the picture onto the ground.
“They loved each other, that’s for sure,” I said breathlessly.
“You remember when that picture was taken?” he asked as he walked over to me.
“No. I honestly don’t,” I said.
“It was taken on beach trip we took during that massive storm,” he said as he plucked the picture from my hands.
“Oh, I remember that. The one we thought would completely wash out the hotel,” I said.
“It was an anomalous storm that no one knew what to do with,” Christian said. “Mom was petrified.”
“ And Dad was excited to ride the damn thing out,” I said, giggling.
“Remember all the jokes he made about being on the East Coast and finally getting a taste of how they felt during hurricane season?” he asked.
“Remember how pissed your mother was that he was making all those jokes? She kept saying—”
“‘—Lives are lost in those storms, Charles. Not in front of the children,’” we said in unison.
“They took this picture right after the storm cleared the coast,” he said. “Right there on the beach after that storm completely tore through it. Your father was astounded by the beauty that followed such a violent event.”
“I’d like to think he wasn’t talking about the beach, but about your mother,” I said.
“Who’s talkin’ ‘bout my mama?”
Greyson’s terrible joke interrupted the friendly conversation Christian and I were having.
“Greyson,” Christian said.
