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Chapter 26
Brodie
For the firsttime in a long time, I had some clarity. I called my broker to liquidate a big part of my investment portfolio, so I’d have the cash to buy out my partners. It was hard to do, but it wouldn’t break me. Then I called my lawyer to put things in motion.
“Joe. Thanks for taking my call,” I said.
“Always happy to hear from my favorite client. Hey, the guy you hit dropped the charges against you.”
“Great. That’s a relief. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. It wasn’t hard to get him to do. Funny how fast he changed his mind,” Joe said.
It wasn’t funny to me, but my attorney didn’t need to know that.
“So what else is happening?” he asked.
“I’ve decided what to do about Evershire and Wooten. I’m going to buy them out,” I stated. Hotel Vertigo was part of my family, and part of me. They weren’t taking it away.
I heard a low whistle. “Now you’re talking. Let’s take them on.”
Relief washed over me. I hadn’t been sure Joe would support the move.
“All right. Can you start with filing the paperwork? I’m getting the cash together right now,” I said.
“Sure thing, buddy. I’ll round up the team and we’ll get right on it.”
“Thank you. I can always count on you.” When everything went down with my dad, Joe was one of the people who stuck by my family. You keep people like that around.
“Brodie, how long have I known you?”
“Long time, Joe.”
“How about since you were a little kid? I’d do anything for your dad, or for you. You know that.”
I choked down a lump in my throat.
“Thank you,” I said simply.
“Now you know what you need to do. Get the actuary going on valuing the business. Everything else will fall into place.”
I hoped he was right.
* * *
Next stopof the day was to make another situation right. I had the limo take me uptown to Nara’s office.
I walked into a typical tech firm, with walls painted a mish-mash of bright colors, cubicles for miles, and cheap Ikea furniture. It was textbook perfect.
A cheery receptionist greeted me.
“Hello! What can I help you with?”
“I’m Brodie Harcourt to see Nara Kincaid.”
Her smile was blinding. “Does she have a meeting scheduled with you, Mr. Harcourt?”
“No. No she doesn’t. I’m a friend. I hope she can see me for a few minutes.”
That changed her demeanor, and she looked me up and down.
“I see. Hold on one sec.” She disappeared through a door. I could hear her on the other side of it. Her voice was muffled, but enthusiastic, nonetheless.
The door flew open. It was Nara, wearing her usual uniform, but with her hair piled on her head, held in place with a pencil. How did she do that?
“Brodie,” she said hesitantly. She broke into a smile and drew me into a hug.
Maybe I wasn’t in as much trouble as I’d thought.
“Could we go somewhere to talk?” I asked.
“Yeah. Let’s do that. I’ll grab my purse, and we can get a drink at Bella Stella.”
Ten minutes later, we settled into the bar where we’d met for the first time. It seemed like a year had gone by since then, even thought it had only been a few weeks. A lot had happened—for both of us.
I ordered us a couple drinks—bubbly for her, and scotch for me. But I didn’t even wait for them to be served.
“I wanted to talk to you,” I started.
Her eyes widened. “Funny. I wanted to talk to you, too. And then you showed up at my office.”
We looked at each other for a moment, not sure where to go next.
So I dove in. “I’m sorry I got involved with your Simon problems. I never should have done that. You’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself.”
Her mouth opened and closed a couple times before she could say anything.
“Oh gosh, Brodie,” she sputtered. “Thank you for saying that. I’m sorry I came down on you so hard. You did something I didn’t want you to, but you were only trying to help. Instead of losing my shit, I should have thanked you for caring. And then lost my shit.” She laughed.
