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“What does that girl of yours say about all this? Was she with you last night?”
Girl? Shit. That's right. At the last family dinner, something my uncle insists that we do every other week, I had lied and told him that I had gotten serious with a girl that I met in college. Totally bought into all the second chance shit. That we dated way back then and now we had rekindled our relationship. I have no idea how he bought that. It was the only way for me to get him to shut up about the fact that I refuse to settle down. And now here it was, biting me in the ass. Why did my lies always catch up with me?
“No, she wasn't there. She doesn’t know anything about this.” Wasn’t that the truth, because didn’t fucking exist.
“How doesn’t she know anything about this? Didn't you call her?”
“No. You are my one phone call, so in prison that's a real thing. It wasn’t like I was playing Candy Crush on my phone while I was sitting there waiting for six hours for you to come pick me up.”
I watched as a small smile crossed his face. Of course, he had made me wait, that bastard. And there I was sitting in the drunk tank with some guy who was singing 80s ballads like it was his job. Not exactly my idea of a good Friday night. Sure the first half of been fun. I walked down to the dock with a bottle of Petron and I got myself drunk. And then I decided to drive a boat, one where I knew where the keys were. So what if he was an investor? I'm sure that he had done things in his youth that he could see that I needed a release, a moment away from it all.
Hell, didn't I need a release.
I hadn’t fucked a girl for at least two weeks, I think that was a new record for me. It was time to move on, Sasha, my real ex-girlfriend had come to me because she didn't think our relationship was “going anywhere”. I don't know what kind of bullshit that was but I was over her real fast. Except I hadn’t gotten a pussy since. So instead I stole a yacht. It wasn't like I even really stole it. I knew the keys were, I only took a few miles out from the dock, and it wasn't like I could get anywhere anyway without a crew.
Word of advice don't ride around on a 64-foot Catamaran by yourself. Everybody got their panties all up in a bunch about it, and the freaking Maritime police had to go and put me in the slammer for the night. I never did find out why rock ballad dude was in there, I'm guessing because the singing was that horrible.
“I've had enough of this Cole, your antics, your lawlessness.”
“What is this the Wild West? I made one mistake!”
He raised an eyebrow at
me and I watched as his arms crossed his chest. He was in the navy suit, like always. Navy suit, red tie. My father always wore navy suits and robin's egg blue tie.
And then there was me, I hated suits. It was one of the reasons I joined the Army. So I could get away from all of this, from the life that they wanted to build for me. I guess that's what happens when you're sixteen and your parents die in a helicopter crash. Find ways to move on. People to move on with.
“You act like it is! Listen this is the last chance I'm giving you. While you use some of that military background you invested so much time into. You gave them ten years Cole, why don’t you utilize some of your skills?”
“What the hell does that mean? Is there somebody that you need shot?”
Truth was, I was a good shot. But that wasn't what I was trained for.
“No. I have a better idea. You use your medic skills. Aren’t you a doctor?”
I sighed heavily. “You know that I am. I finished med school as part of my training. Why?”
“Because that's what you're going to do. You have one month, one month that you will completely dedicate yourself to the children's hospital downtown. For free, and you have one month to get that girlfriend of yours to agree to marry you. If you don't, I’m cutting you off.”
My mouth dropped open. Could he even do that? All that money was willed to me in my parents’ estate. Sure I had been spending a little bit since getting out of the service, but it wasn't his to take away. “What are you talking about?”
“I'm going to put it in a trust. All of the money that was willed to you is shares within this pharmaceutical company. It was one of the reasons that your parents wanted you to become a doctor. At least that part of what they wished for you came true, even if you went about it in different means than they were planning.” He was referring to the fact that I didn't end up at some Ivy League school. Again, they died, I needed a new family. The military provided me that.
“So you want me to donate my medical knowledge? That doesn't just happen. I'm not just going to get some random free job for a month at the Children's Hospital.”
“Sure you are. I'm on the board, I can get you any job I want to. Maybe I should have you start as a nurse, clean bedpans for your indiscretions?”
My blood was boiling underneath my skin. How dare he do this to me? “And my girlfriend? You think I can just make this happen out of thin air?”
“According to you at our last dinner, it's quite serious. She may actually like it if you propose, show her and me that you’re ready to settle down and start acting like an adult.”
Fuck. Not only did I just get assigned the job that I would never want, but now I had to find a girlfriend, hell a fiancé. And as I sat in that gray office as the rain slid down the window outside I looked over the city and thought how the hell was I going to make it through the next thirty days?
Two
Addison
I curled my hair around my index finger just as I did every time I was nervous. It wasn't something I noticed in myself, but my sister, Elizabeth, always noticed and pointed it out.
