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10
Patrick’s was packed for a Wednesday night, which was something Chris had expected. He and his friends didn’t come here often, but since a couple of Chris’s high school buddies were in town and nobody felt like heading to Providence or Boston, Patrick’s seemed like a good choice. It was in Bristol, close by, chill, and the drinks were practically free compared to some of the other bars they normally frequented.
Chris had invited Austin last-minute, not knowing if he was going to actually show up or not. He also invited his twin brothers Ben and Harry, but they had a double dinner date planned, and they weren’t about to give that up for a night at Patrick’s.
Chris had talked to his father about his conversation with Austin, not giving too much away, or breaking the brother code, but his father had specifically asked Chris to stay on top of Austin and check in on him. His dad didn’t want it to look as if he was coming down too hard on him, but he wanted to make sure Austin fully understood that it was time to become part of The Oxford, full-time—he would get vacation time like everybody else. His dad thought he was the best person to talk some sense into Austin. The only other person who could tackle the job would be his wife, and she caved when it came to just about anything to do with Austin. He would always be the baby in her eyes, and that was part of Austin’s problem.
“Your brother just walked in,” Chris’s buddy said, motioning toward the doorway of Patrick’s. “Man, he looks like a fish out of water here,” he chuckled.
Austin stood in the doorway, looking for his brother. He was dressed in a navy cashmere crewneck sweater, slim-fit jeans, brown leather loafers, and a gray blazer. “He looks like he just walked out of a Ralph Lauren ad,” Chris’s other buddy joked.
Chris turned toward his brother and waved him over. One thing about Austin was that he never went anywhere without being dressed to the nines. He appreciated fine clothes and loved showing them off. Chris had a wardrobe that he’d invested an obscene amount of money on, but he took every chance he got to ditch the corporate look for more casual clothes. Tonight, he wore slim-fit jeans, a Nike hoodie, a baseball hat, and sneakers. This was his version of dressing down.
“If it isn’t Austin Drew, fresh from the beaches of Florida,” Chris’s buddy said as he got up to give Austin a hug. “We were just saying that you look like you stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad,” he smiled.
“What, these old things?” Austin joked as he winked at Chris and his brother’s two friends.
“I wasn’t sure you were going to join us,” Chris said, looking down at his phone. “You never got back to me.”
“I was heading home from The Oxford and thought I’d stop in since it was on my way,” Austin smiled as he took off his blazer and placed it neatly over the back of his bar stool.“Just so you guys know, I do own hoodies myself, and I don’t send my t-shirts to the dry cleaners,” he added with a touch of sarcasm.
“Wait a second,” Chris joked. “You were at The Oxford later than I was today? Are you OK? Somebody get this guy a beer!”
“He was probably doing what he does best; wining and dining a lady friend,” one of the buddies joked as he waved down the bartender, and held up his beer bottle and four fingers, signaling a new order.
“All right, you guys, calm down,” Austin replied, amused by the banter. “No lady friends, although I could have arranged something,” he laughed. When he saw two attractive women approach the bar, he completely ignored Chris’s buddies.
“Anyway, I had a few things to check on for this event we’re doing at The Oxford, so I got held up a little,” Austin remarked to his brother.
“Cool,” Chris smiled as he nodded his head up and down. He was glad to have a moment with his brother to talk about work without his buddies in the conversation. “She’s already got you working hard, huh? What has she got you doing?”
“Um…” Austin answered, looking over at his brother with a cocky face. “I wasn’t given anything special from anyone, thank you very much. I was taking some initiative and researching some stuff we discussed on a conference call today.”
“Well,” Chris added, “what can I say? I’m glad to see you hard at work and, joking aside, this wedding is going to be a doozy!”
Austin chuckled to himself, knowing it wasn’t exactly hard work to call a few local vendors and get quotes on the things Molly had mentioned. He was used to dealing with high-profile people and situations, so the ideas that Kat and Mike had requested through Molly didn’t seem crazy or outlandish to him. Money got you what you wanted in life; he knew it, and they knew it.
Austin reached over and grabbed one of the beers on the bar, taking a nice, long swig. This beer tasted like gold after the long day he’d had. It wasn’t that he didn’t like being at The Oxford - it was actually the opposite. As much as he knew his family might not believe him, he thought it was kind of cool seeing his dad, mom, and brothers throughout the workday, all involved in the same business. He had always been close with his family, and he loved the fact that he knew just about everyone who worked at The Oxford. He got a kick out of the fact that he could bullshit and chat pretty much all day with someone in the office.
He also didn’t mind the wedding thing that he had been thrown into. Jane was a super tight-ass, and he’d have to get used to her, but he knew she wanted to get the job done perfectly. For him the toughest part was trying to process the fact that his father wanted him in the family business, no questions asked. No more getaways. No more floating around. It seemed surreal to him that all of a sudden the brakes had pretty much been pushed, and he seemed to be the only Drew bothered by the sudden stop.
“You good?” Chris asked as he watched his brother out of the corners of his eyes. “You know I just like to give you a hard time,” he winked as he nudged his brother.
“Yeah, I know,” Austin answered, looking at his older brother with knowing eyes.
“And normally, nobody gives it back better than you,” Chris said jokingly, but he really meant it.
“No, honestly. I’m good. I’m still kind of processing everything,” Austin remarked as he rubbed his eyes. “Thanks for telling me you guys were here. My house is a mess, and I didn’t feel like going home to deal with it. I have a food delivery coming tomorrow, along with a cleaning team, so this was a good distraction for me rather than heading home.”
“I don’t want to talk too much about work, but I should tell you that you just missed seeing your boss,” Chris said in an amused tone. “She was in here with her sister.”
“Who?” Austin asked.
“Jane,” Chris answered, looking at his brother like he was an idiot, “you know, the Director of Events.” Chris stared at his brother like he was nuts, “the woman you’re working with.”
Austin was horrible with names, which was terrible in business situations. Her name was an easy one to remember, though. One syllable. Simple name. The last thing he wanted to do was forget her name in front of her. That would make for a really tough work environment. She was already annoyed with him, and he didn’t want to make it worse.
“She’s gone though, right?” Austin asked, looking around at the restaurant, hoping he would not have to deal with her again today.
