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She raises her eyebrows and frowns.
“Want to know what I think?” I say, breaking the silence. “I bet you make your first million before I do.”
Georgia scoffs.
“Think about it. Your business is so much easier to scale. And while I can’t charge more than a hundred an hour for my expertise, you can charge five times that much. And you can hire seamstresses who charge one-tenth your rate to do the sewing. Easy money once you get the clients.”
Georgia rolls her eyes but laughs. “Look at you, all Power Brokered up after just one meeting.” Then her expression changes. “I’m worried about how being rich will change us.”
“Yeah, Mr. Liu mentioned that I have a serious case of fear of success. I didn’t give him details about why. But you know, we’re not Dad. I promise on … all the bonsai in the world that I won’t ditch you once I can afford my own place.”
“This kind of change and this much money will definitely change things. I’m kind of freaking out,” she admits.
“The rocking and wide eyes weren’t a giveaway at all. I actually had the same reaction in front of Mr. Liu. That was fun.”
Georgia laughs. “Do you think he noticed?”
“Oh, he noticed! He clapped his hands in joy because I’d proved his assumption right.”
We sit in silence for many minutes. “We’ll be fine, Georgia. We will. And anyway, after taxes and expenses and everything, a million is really like half that much, and that still means having a mortgage, if we decide to buy something, so it’s not like we’ll be swimming in pools of champagne. But maybe we’ll at least be able to afford a place with a pool. And AC. And an actual full kitchen with a fridge that’s big enough to hold a bottle of bubbly.”
“I’m scared,” Georgia admits.
“Me too. But I’ve got you, and you’ve got me, and together …”
“Hmm,” she mumbles.
“And together?” I repeat.
Georgia shakes her head.
“Georgia Muthafuckin Beach … And together?”
She glares at me but says, “And together …”
In unison, we finish the mantra we’ve been using since we legally changed our last name about a year after Mom died, so if Dad ever did come looking for us, we’d be harder to find. Fuck him, that’s what we said.
“Beach sisters are all that and a muthafuckin bag of sweet-and-spicy chips!” Corny, but the old sentiment does the job.
“Damn right we are.” I stand and wrap myself around my big sister. “We won’t let success or money tear us apart. Deal?”
“Deal.”
7. Will
SLEEP IS SECONDARY TO SUCCESS
Horse and I spend a productive week in Paris.
In some respects, we didn’t do anything we couldn’t have done back home in Vancouver, but in other ways, I don’t believe we would’ve come up with what we did while sitting in the hallowed halls of the family business. There is a weight, invisible yet oppressive, in this building that Dad built. It feels like he and Granddad are still here, casting their imposing shadows over any new or fresh ideas. I always feel stifled in their ghostly presence.
It doesn’t seem to affect Aiden or Brian. Horse admits he feels it a little, but not to the degree I do.
“You only feel it so strongly because you’re spawn of the Devil. The doctor should’ve called in a priest when you were born, what with that pentagram birthmark on your ass cheek.”
Only Horse could, or would, ever say that to me without being on the receiving end of my wrath. Benefit of being an identical twin. There have been more times than I can count when I’ve wished his leg had been the first one the OB-GYN grabbed hold of. Then he’d be William Power the Fourth, and I’d just be another asshole billionaire Power brother who gets to choose my career path based on what I’m good at and what I enjoy.
Sure, I am a rock star with the motivational speechifying. Do I love it? Not anymore, if I ever did. But retire at forty-two? That will never fly, so I need a pivot. A giant fucking pivot. That’s what Horse and I strategized in the penthouse suite of Le Caprice in the heart of the City of Light, the center of ideas during the Age of Enlightenment. And damn, did I need some enlightenment.
