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My stomach dropped. “You thinking of leaving Fletcher & Sons?”
“I don’t think so. I like what we do, but maybe there’s something else out there.”
We settled in the kitchen where the plans for the house were spread out over the cardboard boxes that contained the new cupboards. “Recently, we visited a B&B in Annapolis. The owner was a single mother. She hired Nolan, a contractor to complete the renovations, and they ended up falling in love.”
“Sounds familiar,” Sam joked.
I continued without acknowledging his interruption. “I had some time to speak to Nolan about what it was like dating a single mother.”
Tyler held up his hands. “I have no plans to date a single mom or to date anyone seriously. I don’t want to have any more one-night stands though. Those are starting to feel a little empty.”
I was proud that Tyler had finally figured out that sex without a connection wasn’t the best. “The reason I’m telling you this is that he and his brother, Cade, run a nonprofit on the side. They renovate homes to make them handicapped accessible. I think we can do more with what we have. And not just the business side. I think we should do some kind of charity work. Whether that’s related to building something for someone in need or donating money to a local sports team to buy gear.”
Sam looked at me with newfound respect. “I love that idea.”
“It would give us something more. It would elevate our name, but we’d be doing something good.”
“I initially thought of baseball, since we’d all played. I don’t care if our company name is on the jerseys or if there’s a sign in the outfield; I just think we should do something to give back to the community.”
“Kylie mentioned something to Alice about starting a nonprofit for girls’ teams,” Sam said.
“Kylie Wilde?” Tyler asked, his voice incredulous.
“She’s trying to figure out what she wants to do. She was talking about skis and boards for kids who can’t afford them, but then she mentioned wanting to help female athletes.”
“She played softball, didn’t she?” I asked.
“She did,” Tyler said.
They were closer in age than I was to her, so my memory of her back then was vague. “Maybe you can work on something together. If we pool our money and resources, we can do more.”
Tyler grinned. “I didn’t come here tonight thinking we’d start a nonprofit, but I love the idea.”
“Me too, and I know Dad will be on board,” Sam added.
More and more, Dad wanted us to take over the business and make it ours. This was one more way we could do that, and I loved that I’d gotten the idea from Nolan. “Let me talk to Nolan and get more information. I don’t know the tax implications or what we’d need to do.”
“I’ll handle it,” Tyler said. “I want to do something. I’m not sure what, but you two have enough going on.”
I took on more responsibility as the eldest, and Sam had recently branched out with the outdoor division of the business, but Tyler was different. We didn’t expect much from him. “Are you sure?”
“Let’s see what we can figure out over the next few weeks. Mac, you talk to Nolan. Tyler, you figure out the business and tax stuff and talk to Kylie. See if she’s interested.”
“Do we need to work with her?” Tyler asked.
“I thought we agreed that if we pooled our resources, we’d be able to do more,” Sam said.
“I don’t know if I want to work with Kylie. She’s spoiled. I’ll probably end up doing all the work.”
“How well do you even know Kylie? We only hung out with her brothers.” And listened to whatever shit they spewed about her. They used to refer to her as the princess, but it might have been because she was the only girl and the youngest of her siblings. Not because she was spoiled.
I’d sensed something between Kylie and Tyler the other night at the B&B’s opening. Maybe that was his reluctance. But if we wanted Tyler to grow up, we’d have to stop treating him like a kid.
Tyler looked away. “Not at all.”
His avoidance made me think he did know her better than he let on. “Get to know her. We’re not crazy kids anymore. You can be the adult in this situation. Just because her brothers treated her like a nuisance doesn’t mean we should.”
“Kylie’s friends with Alice and Natalie. She’s part of our lives now. You should treat her with respect,” Sam said, with no give in his tone.
