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“You missed a delicious lunch, Luc. If you’re hungry, I think there may be few leftovers.” My brother Finn’s girlfriend, Emily, held an almost empty plate and stood in the hall.
“I’m good. I had a smoothie an hour ago.”
Emily rolled her eyes. I liked to tease her about the healthy smoothies she drank. Secretly, I had adopted the practice. They tasted better than the store-bought variety. Plus, if blending counted as cooking, I could totally cook. Anything else was a little tricky.
“I’m going for a quick run. I’ll raid Mom’s fridge later,” I said.
“Suit yourself, but you may regret it.”
“What I regret is Finn snagged you first.” I winked.
“The best man won.” She shrugged and gave me a mock, pitying expression.
I dramatically clutched my chest. “I’mgoing to be the best man if he ever gets off his ass and asks you.”
Emily’s cheeks blushed, and her eyes glittered, obviously in love. Finn was just as bad. He bought the ring a few weeks ago. He said he was giving her time, waiting for the right moment, whatever that meant. Marriage wasn’t on my radar, but Finn and Emily were a match, and sometimes seeing them together made my chest ache in a weird way.
I wasn’t lonely. I had plenty of female company, especially here entertaining lovely tourists wanting a little vacation fun between the sheets, on the table, or in the shower. But seeing the way Emily and Finn laughed and touched and leaned on each other made me wonder if I could have more.
Women finally noticed me practically overnight during my junior year in college. My intake of sweets was at a record high that fall with late nights in the computer lab or goofing around with code. I worked out hard to combat the stress and the candy. In the spring, girls appeared and started talking to me. It was more like a fluke than anything to do with me and the few pounds I managed to shed. The man I was hadn’t changed much. I spent more than a few passing moments wondering when they would all leave my orbit as quickly and magically as they had entered it.
Emily glanced up from her plate, hesitancy in her eyes. “How are things going with the investigation?”
“Still going on.” I shrugged. I was home for a while because I quit my tech job in Seattle. After several years as a software engineer for a major tech company, I’d worked as a consultant these last couple of years, helping broker deals between entrepreneurs with big ideas and venture capitalists with big money. And I was good at it. Really good.
But my recent consulting project was canceled right before the holidays when a key player, the entrepreneur, came under investigation for stealing intellectual property. IP infringement was serious legal business. Your ideas and your code were all you had, so they were protected fiercely.
I wasn’t part of it, but perception is reality in the tech world, so I stepped away to let things blow over. Laying low was the best way to protect my reputation. I wasn’t going to be assigned point on any new deals for a while, and it was good to be helping here after Dad’s heart attack last fall. In a few weeks, I’d head back to Seattle for a better tech job with better deals. The entrepreneur, Cole, was the worst douchebag brogrammer I ever met, and that was saying something.
Tech-bros were usually young entitled guys who encouraged the toxic environment of working hard, then partying their asses off and being generally sexist every chance they had. Harassment, blackballing women, and even rape jokes were all too common and often overlooked in the male-dominated industry, particularly in Silicon Valley. It turned my stomach, and I wanted no part of it. Women speaking out lately was making a dent in the behavior, but the real bros, from engineers to CEOs, didn’t change. They were just careful to not get caught.
“I heard from Detective Rivers yesterday. No ETA on when the investigation will wrap. So, who knows when I’ll be back in Seattle?” I let out a heavy sigh. It was a new habit since this whole thing started last month. My life was on hold, and that sucked.
“What’s in the city that beats all this?” Emily panned her arm across the room, contentment shining on her face.
I loved this farm and my family, but I had been eager to leave and start my own life after high school a decade ago. The idea of being here again felt like a step backward, even if it was temporary.
“Work, restaurants, shows at the Paramount, live music at Neumos, the list goes on,” I said.
I rattled off that list by habit. Truthfully, I couldn’t remember the last show I saw at the Paramount or band I saw at Neumos. My favorite restaurant, Hill & Ocean, wasn’t the same anymore. There was Bakery Nouveau on Capitol Hill, but baked goods weren’t a reason to live somewhere, even for a guy with my sweet tooth. Work. My work was there, and that was more important than anything else.
The simple truth was that Seattle was still a center of gravity for tech, so I needed to be there. Before this deal fell apart, I was known in the industry, respected, and sought after for my ability to make impossible deals with impossible people. And I loved the rush of it. Practically lived for it. The money was good, but I didn’t need more money. It was the challenge. Nothing compared to the feeling of doing what others had failed to do before me. I was king of the world.
“My life is there. My job. There are big problems to solve, and the impact is huge. I’m one of the guys who can solve those problems. I have a responsibility to do it.” Some days it felt more like a calling than a choice.
“I think your life could be here, too. Plus, it’s nice having you here. Finn gets a little growly when you’re around. I like that sound.”
“Oh, good. I’m glad my brother’s excessive possessiveness is a turn-on.”
She chuckled. “Finn says the business side is already running better with you here.”
Since I was here letting the dust settle back in Seattle, I was playing the role of resident IT guy, upgrading software and the Wi-Fi, as well as helping my brother take over our family’s tulip farm and build his passion project, a yurt-style resort catering to mountain bikers.
“Thanks. Em.” I gave her a quick side hug.
“Put your business brain and tech-savvy together with Finn’s green thumb and vision, and you two together could do a lot around here.”
Energy pinged inside me when I heard that. Finn was the heir apparent to the farm, despite being my younger brother. It made sense. All things plants were second nature to him. I was interested in computers. To my parents’ credit, they didn’t push me into the family business, but I always felt a little on the outside.
