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The server stopped by to drop off the potato skins and take Alice’s drink order. When he left, I turned to her. “I’m serious, though. If you want to take some more time to think about it—”
“No,” she said, interrupting me before I could give her another out. “It’s like that Jerry Maguire movie, where I’m Renée Zellweger and you’re Tom Cruise, except we don’t end up together because you’re like my big brother, and that would be gross.” She shot my mother an enthusiastic grin, and my mother blinked back uncomprehendingly.
I hid my laugh with another sip of beer.
“Seriously, though, JT, I’m excited. Half the reason I stayed at Fortress so long was because I learned so much from working with you. And we’re gonna kick ass together, I just know it.”
Mother finally put two and two together. “Wait. Wait just a minute.” She held up her slender hand, the giant diamond and sapphire rings flashing in the low lights over the table. “Are you… Jonathan, are you considering opening your own business?”
“More than considering, actually.” I grinned. “I already have a plan in place, and Alice has come on board to help me make it a reality.”
“You’re looking at the CEO of Rainmaker Holdings.” Alice swept a hand toward me proudly. “The newest, most exclusive distributor of consumer products in the northeast.”
I laughed. “The smallest distributor, more like. And none of the paperwork has been submitted yet, so it’s not official.”
“Not yet,” Alice agreed. “But I’m gonna get the ball rolling this week. Harrison Yang already sent Fortress packing, and when I called to set up an appointment with him for this week, he was freaking thrilled.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Rainmaker is about to sign Archdale Vineyards as their first client.”
“Our first client,” I corrected.
My mother beamed. “And this will be happening…” Her voice caught. “…inHoneybridge?”
I nodded. “It’s home,” I said simply. “I don’t need to go looking for success anywhere else. I can stay right here and build it for myself.”
It had taken me a really long time to figure that out, but now that I had, I was committed.
“Even if things don’t work out with your Mr. Honeycutt?” she ventured.
I swallowed hard. Theywouldwork out. I trusted Flynn, and I believed in us. But I also knew what she was asking.
“This isn’t just about Flynn. It’s about running a business I can be proud of. It’s about believing in myself. It’s about…” I broke off, searching for the proper word.
Mother studied my face for a long moment, and then she lifted her wineglass in a toast. “Passion,” she said in a satisfied tone.
“Exactly,” I agreed.
And when I fell asleep that night, I felt more confident than I had in a long time, not because I thought I had everything figured out, but because I’d been reminded just how many people I could rely on to support me through any storm that came my way.
I only hoped that, wherever Flynn was, he knew he could trust me to be that for him, too.
ChapterEighteen
Flynn
By the time I found my brother in Boston in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, I was dirty and exhausted, not to mention out of my mind with fear. During the drive to the city, I’d convinced myself PJ had been snatched out of a dark alley one night and left for dead by criminals who had the false impression he might have money on him.
When I finally found him, after hours and days spent roaming the streets, showing PJ’s picture to every random stranger I met and trying to get the police to take my missing person’s report seriously, I wasn’t that far off.
“PJ? What the hell?” I raced over to the too-skinny, too-dirty kid who vaguely looked like my baby brother. He was sitting in the flickering yellow light of a restaurant service entrance alcove that a homeless woman had pointed me to, with his bony arms wrapped around his knees. He looked over at me through the predawn gloom with a confused crinkle between his eyebrows.
“Flynn? Is it really you?”
“Shit,” I said, closing the distance between us and skidding to a halt in front of him. I crouched down and pushed a dirty hank of hair out of his face. “Bro. Oh, thank god. I thought…” I broke off, not wanting to give voice to all the nightmares that had haunted me in the few hours of sleep I’d caught over the last three nights. “What the fuck is going on? Are you high?”
“No,” he said firmly. “I don’t do that stuff.” But he shivered as he said it, like maybe he’d had a closer call with it than he’d have liked. “You always told me not to, and I listened, Flynn. I tried to make you proud.” Tears filled his eyes.
I grabbed his chin and tilted his face toward the light. There were dark circles under his eyes and a faded bruise along his chin. “PJ. What happened, buddy? What the hell’s going on? Your roommates said you moved out two months ago because you couldn’t afford rent anymore, but that’s not possible, unless—”
A tear slid slowly out of one of his eyes. “I lost it,” he whispered. “The money.”
