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“I need your help.”
She waited.
A short pause before a long sigh, he revealed, “I fucked up.”
“What else is new?”
“No, I really fucked up. My apartment caught fire.”
“What? Are you okay?!” Charlie said, stopping whatever work she planned on doing. “What—how? Why!”
“It was an accident! I had friends over, and one of them wasn’t being careful and left the stove on for too long while cooking.”
“Cooking? Cooking what?” He and his friends didn’t cook. Unless… “Oh my god, don’t tell me you were using the gas stove to light up a joint? How stoned were you?”
“It wasn’t me,” Ryan defended. “That’s not the point. Half of my place is toasted and unlivable. Mom flipped when she found out and lost it on me.”
“You don’t say.” She couldn’t decide if this was the dumbest thing that happened to him. “You’re lucky you’re still alive, you idiot!”
“Don’t you think I know that?”
“No, I don’t!” she retorted viciously, her irritation reaching a peak. “This is what I mean about you being an irresponsible dim-wit. You have no sense of respect for anything given to you. When will you ever grow?—”
“I’m already getting this from Mom! I don’t need it from you, either. Now can you help me or not?” he cried. “The accident resulted in thousands in damage. Mom said she’s cutting me off until I pay it back.”
Wow.
Grace always gave in and settled everything for the golden boy of the family. Ryan had screwed up plenty of times before. Emotional, mental, and financial damages, but apparently this one was the last straw. For the first time in memory, her mother did something she agreed with.
“As much as I want to feel sorry for you, this is right,” Charlie said. “You’re never going to learn if she keeps coddling you.”
“Fine, whatever. Can you help with the money?”
She couldn’t believe the nerve he had in asking the way he did. If even their mother wasn’t going to throw him a bone, why would she?
Enough was enough.
“No,” she simply stated.
“No?” He moaned. “Why not? Come on. Please. Do you want me to beg? Admit that you’re the better one? I’ll do it.”
Gritting her teeth, she resisted the urge to swear. “If you want money, then you’re going to work for it.”
“Okay, fine. What do you want me to do?”
Screaming at him to find a job was useless, but an idea hit her before she did so. It wasn’t a brilliant one, and she may very well regret it later, but this would kill two birds with one stone. It was worth a try.
“We are looking for a front desk employee. The grand opening for my spa is in a week and we haven’t started searching yet. Come in tomorrow for training,” Charlie said, wondering what she was getting herself into. “I’ll have a few staff here to get you started.”
“What? You want me to be a front desk?” Ryan asked, almost as confused as she was.
“You want to pay off your fuckup or not?” she growled, patience drying.
“Okay, okay. Yes, I do. I’ll come tomorrow.”
“Good. Don’t worry about clothes. You’ll be wearing scrubs anyway,” she informed him, writing notes for her employees. She added special instructions for dealing with Ryan, cringing at the thought of having him around. She was already regretting her choices.
“What time do I have to be there?”
