by Cee Bowerman
As I took a sip of coffee, I waved my arm toward the living room furniture; a couch, loveseat, recliner, and coffee table. My small television was sitting on the couch, ready to be placed on top of the narrow buffet I planned to use as an entertainment center.
“All of this was stored in the shed at my Dad’s house from when I moved home. Luckily, it’s all in great shape, so I’m not starting out with nothing.”
“I can’t believe that bitch kicked you out.”
“Yeah.” I snorted in disbelief. “She had ‘my things’ in trash bags by the front door when I got home. Like I was going to leave all my stuff there for her to get rid of? Not. That’s why I needed Ralph’s help. I knew once I walked out of there I was never going to go back.”
“Good. She was draining the life right out of you, honey. I’m glad this happened.”
“In a way, I guess I’m glad too. I was just existing, not really trying to move forward.”
“Let’s get to work and make this place your home. We’ll get you settled in and then go grab some lunch and get our toes done. My treat.”
“Oh, a foot rub.” I closed my eyes, imagining the bliss. “You’re speaking my language.”
✽✽✽
FINN
“I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Conner.” The nurse said from a few feet away. “We’re doing everything we can to help her but she’s not going to wake up.”
“I know you are.” I looked up at the sweet nurse who had been so much help to me over the last few days. “Will keeping her on the machines make a difference?”
“We don’t know anything yet, it’s still too early to tell.”
I listened to the machines helping her breathe and wondered, why was it so fucking hard for me to breathe right now?
I gripped the rail on the bed and tried to inhale, my vision blurring with tears.
I couldn’t do it without her for the rest of my life. I couldn’t be me without her. We’d already been together forever, and it still wasn’t long enough.
I heard shoes squeaking on the tile and knew that the nurse had left us alone.
“How am I going to live without you?” I whispered as I stared at her beautiful face. “Do I even want to?”
I looked at her broken body, all the tubes and wires that were keeping her here on this earth, and wondered if she was somewhere she could hear me. If she was, would she be yelling at me that I was doing the wrong thing, or smiling at me and telling me that it was all going to be okay?
Fuck. My entire world had shifted in the blink of an eye and I didn’t know how to go on.
2.
“Keep your shit together, Finn, and don’t be that guy.”
Finn’s advice to himself
LENA
2 MONTHS LATER
When I walked into the office where I was scheduled for an interview, the phone was ringing and there was no one around to answer it. I waited for a few seconds, watching the door for someone to come out and greet me, but no one did. The phone stopped ringing but started right back up again.
I stood there, still waiting, until I couldn’t take it anymore. I rushed across the entryway and picked the phone up out of its cradle.
“Conner Brothers Construction.”
“Hey. This is Luis. Is Finn there?”
“He’s not right here at the moment, can I take a message?”
“Yeah. Tell him the inspector is here and raving about something that’s missing from the blueprints. It’s kind of urgent.”
“Okay. I’ll let him know.” I ripped the sticky note off the pad and held it between my fingers. I jumped when the phone rang again.
“Conner Brothers Construction.”
“May I speak to Finn Conner, please?” A pleasant voice asked me from the other end of the line.
“He’s not available right this second, can I take a message?”
“Would you let him know that the doctor was in this morning and everything looks just fine?”
“Will he know what you’re talking about?”
“Yes,” The voice said sadly, “He’ll know.”
“Okay. I’ll give him the message.”
I pulled the second sticky note off the pad and stuck it to my shirt as the phone rang. Again.
“Conner Brothers Construction.”
“Who the fuck is this?”
“Um. Conner Brothers Construction?”
“No shit, sweetheart. This is Finn Conner. I was calling to check my messages. Who are you and how did you get into my fucking office?”
“I was …”
“Sit right there. I’m on my way.”
The man abruptly hung up the phone, so I sat down on the desk chair and stared at the piles of papers in front of me, noticing that they were all in a jumble. Without conscious thought, I started organizing them into piles. Bills, bids, junk, checks, phone messages, applications. Within just a few minutes, I had the top of the desk cleared and the piles stacked neatly side by side, ready to be taken care of. I did all of this automatically, while I answered the phone each time it rang, adding to the line of phone messages that were now stuck to the top of the desk.
When the door flew open, I was on the phone taking down details from a prospective customer who wanted a bid on some renovations at his bookstore. Once I had all the pertinent information, I looked up to see a handsome man standing in the doorway, staring at me in shock.
His dark hair was longer on top and falling over his forehead, and as I watched him, he shook his head to move the hair out of his face. His blue eyes were startling, and they crinkled at the sides in curiosity, and maybe a little frustration.
“Can I help you?”
“Are you my eight-thirty interview?”
“Are you Mr. Conner?”
He nodded his head. I looked up at the clock and then back to his bright blue eyes. “You’re late.”
Mr. Conner looked at the now organized desk and the line of phone messages next to my hand. “You’re hired.”
The phone rang again, and I reached to pick it up as Mr. Conner walked past me to the inner office. Once I was finished with that call, I stood up and gathered the phone messages into one pile and walked through the open door into Mr. Conner’s office.
“Were you serious about hiring me?”
“Honey, if you are half as efficient every day as you have been this morning, I’ll give you a kidney, not just a job.” Mr. Conner was typing furiously on his computer. I waited while he clicked the mouse a few times and then he finally turned around and looked at me.
I was stunned. His hair wasn’t brown like I had originally thought, but a dark auburn with some lighter streaks in it as if he had spent a lot of time out in the sun. His eyes were bright blue, a very light and vivid, almost sky blue. He had a dusting of freckles at his hairline and across his nose, but the rest of his skin was a beautiful pale caramel color, like coffee with just a little too much cream.
I shook my head, bringing my thoughts back to the job at hand.
“Don’t you want to know my salary requirements?” I moved closer to his desk. “Here are your messages, one of them is urgent.”
I handed him the phone message from Luis first, and he yanked his phone receiver up in one hand and then punched in a number from memory. As he spoke on the phone, I went back out to the desk and answered the phone two more times before he called me back into his office.
Once I was in front of his desk, he blew out a breath and motioned to the chair in front of me. “Let’s do this quick. I’ve got a ton of things to do today and another meeting with a customer that I can’t be late to at ten am. What are your salary requirements, or can I just tell you what I have available and get it all out on the table?”
“Go right ahead.” I had played enough poker with my Dad to know not to be the first one at the table to show their cards. “What do you have to offer me?”
“You’ll be expected to get all the paperwork together for each job, including all the necess
ary permits and blueprints. You’ll have to be able to present them to me and my brothers so that we can get started on bidding and scheduling. You’ll oversee payroll, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and, well,” he ran his hand through his hair in frustration, “just keep the ship afloat really. You’ll get salary, two weeks’ vacation, a company vehicle, a company cell phone, health insurance, retirement, a bonus on completed jobs, your own office and full leeway to hire two other people as office staff.”
I sat there staring at him, my eyebrows going higher and higher with every word he spoke, but especially at the numbers he mentioned when he spoke of my salary.
“And when I say keep the ship afloat, I mean keep track of my schedule, my brothers’ schedules, and make sure we are where we’re needed when we’re supposed to be. So, yeah, basically, run this shit please.” Mr. Conner smiled at me, but I could see pain in his eyes as he spoke, and I wondered what was wrong here. Where had his office staff gone all at once, leaving him in such a lurch? “Oh, shit. Do you have any references?”
“Can we do that part in a little bit? Right now, I have a stack of messages for you and the phone is ringing off the hook.” He nodded his head at me, and I read the first note on the pile. When I was finished with each message, I handed it to him so he could have the phone number and information on it. When I gave him the message about the doctor visit, he turned his head quickly toward the window, visibly upset. I looked down to give him the time that he needed to pull himself together. “Okay, that’s what I’ve got so far. I’ll go grab the phone.”
I stood up and walked to the office door, but his voice made me turn to look at him.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Milena Sullivan.”
“I’m Finn Conner. Call me Finn. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Sullivan.”
“Call me Lena.”
“Call me Finn. You’ll meet my brothers later today. I’ll come back and follow you to your house and we’ll go get your vehicle after my meeting at ten. We do lunch from eleven thirty to one every day, so plan on going to lunch with me and my brothers and then we’ll head over and get your phone.
“I can drive my own car back and forth to work, I don’t know that I need a company one if it’s a hassle.”
“No hassle at all. There might be times when one of us needs you to bring us some paperwork, or you need a signature from me or my brothers. Occasionally you’ll need to run to the printers for blueprints, and you’ll need to make bank deposits as necessary. You’ll have the company truck all the time just in case that comes up.”
“Oh. Okay. That makes sense. You should get going. It’s almost nine-thirty and you don’t want to be late.”
Finn smiled brightly at me and shook his head. “Already on top of shit. Thank God you’re here.”
✽✽✽
FINN
I smiled at the beautiful woman who was already telling me what to do. Her brown hair was pulled back from her face and clipped down low, right above her neck. I noticed when she turned around to walk out of my office that her hair flowed down over her white shirt and almost touched her ass. Oh, and what an ass it was. The black skirt she had on fit her hips like a glove, and I could see that she was either wearing a thong or no underwear at all.
I put my hand up to my mouth and rubbed it over my lips just in case there was drool coming out. Holy shit, the woman was a stunner. And the high heeled boots she was wearing would look great wrapped around my waist.
Holy shit. Employee! I shouted in my head. She’s your employee! Keep your shit together, Finn, and don’t be that guy.
I shook my head and followed Lena out of my office and waved at her as I headed out the door. I had the next hour to get my head straight before I saw her again. I needed to pay attention in this meeting, and then come back and remember that my new employee was off limits.
✽✽✽
As I walked out of my meeting, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and brought up the ongoing group text between the members of my family. It hurt to see the little bubbles at the top of the screen that had my Mom’s, Dad’s and two sister’s faces in them, but I liked that I could just scroll up and see their words in our older messages.
Me: New office manager. Hands off, you guys.
Royal:Is she hot?
Mace: Duh. He’s calling dibs. That’s why he said hands off.
Royal: Fuck you.
Angus: Be nice to Roy, Mace. I saw him earlier and he’s on his period. Damn near took my head off when I asked him a question.
Tavin:Is that why he’s always so bitchy?
Chess: Back to the work shit, ladies. Where’d you get the new office girl, and what’s her name?
Me:Some dumbass left the office unlocked this morning, and when I got there, she was answering the phones. Name is Lena.
Royal:Oops.
Angus:Now we know who’s the lucky winner in today’s dumbass contest.
Chess: Usually it’s you, Ang.
Angus:Fuck you, Checkers.
Me:I’m headed to get her, drop off her car and then head to the dealership for a vehicle for her. Meet at Bensons at Noon?
I started the truck and pulled out into traffic, listening to my phone ding repeatedly with responses to my lunch invitation and probably quite a few more insults. I smiled for the first time in months, glad that my brothers and I were starting to come out of the dark place our family had been in for the last few months.
The phone message this morning was good news, sort of. I had been to visit my sister at the hospital just yesterday and was surprised at how much her body had changed since I had seen her just a few days before. I had no idea what to expect in the future, but I knew that whatever happened next would break my heart.
✽✽✽
LENA
“Hi!” I looked up when the door opened. I was surprised that Finn already back from his meeting. “Things have been crazy since you left, but I think I’ve gotten a lot accomplished. We’ll have quite a bit to go over this afternoon, and I’ll need you to sign some checks for me.”
“Checks? Already?”
“I went through your mail, and it looks like you haven’t paid the electricity, phone, water or gas in almost three months. I called and made arrangements with each place, but they need to be paid in full today. It would be okay to mail in a check, but even better if you’d let me get them set up on automatic draft.”
“Oh, shit! I never even thought about that. You can set it up to do that?”
I smiled up at him. “Yes. I can do that.”
“Hmmm.” He nodded. “Okay, yeah. Whatever it takes. I’ll give you the bank information and stuff this afternoon, and I have a credit card you can use too.”
“I went ahead and filled out some paperwork for myself, since you’re going to give me access to your accounts and all, you might want to have it.” I smiled as he grimaced. “I promise not to cheat you, Finn.”
“Good. We’ve never had to worry about that before, only family has ever worked in the office.” Finn said this as he looked down at my resume and application, not seeing the look of confusion on my face. “I’ll put this away and show you how to transfer the phones to the voicemail system.”
I watched the handsome man walk into his office, appreciating the way his thighs and ass filled out his faded jeans. Realizing that I was ogling my new boss, I tore my gaze away and shook my head. No hanky panky at the office, dumbass. Didn’t you learn anything from working for Julian?
Finn followed me to my apartment and waited in his truck as I parked my car in one of the spots close to the building. Finn was standing by the open passenger door and waited until I was all the way in and putting on my seatbelt before he shut it. He walked around the front of the truck and got back into the driver’s seat and started speaking. I realized after just a second or two that he was talking to someone on the Bluetooth through his stereo.
“Okay, call the inspector and see if we can get them out there fi
rst thing in the morning. Once he’s cleared us, we can cover that wall and get back on track.” Finn smiled over at me as he spoke, and then pulled out of the parking area and headed out of my neighborhood. “We can talk more about it at lunch. I’ve got Lena in the truck now, and we’re headed to pick out her vehicle.”
“Get a four door.” The voice from the stereo said quietly.
“I planned on it. Just in case she has to … “ Finn didn’t finish his sentence, and when I looked up at him, I saw that his face had fallen, and he was no longer cheerful.
“Yeah. Just in case. I’m going to trade mine in tomorrow and so is Royal.” The voice on the stereo sounded sad, and I felt bad about interrupting their conversation.
“If you’re going to get a truck today and two more tomorrow anyway, you should do it at the same time and talk them into a discount for buying fleet.” I said softly as I looked over at Finn. “I mean, it’s worth a try and it could save some money.”
“Shit. She’s right.” The voice on the speakers said. “Hi. I’m Ronan, Finn’s brother. Nice to meet you.”
“Can you get with Royal and the two of you meet me at the dealership now?” Finn asked his brother.
“Yeah. He’s headed toward me now; I’ll get with him and we’ll meet you there.” Ronan answered, and I could hear another man’s voice in the background.
“Okay. See you there.” Finn put his hand out to push the button to end the call.
“Over and out, good buddy.” I chuckled at Ronan’s sign off, and so did Finn.
“That’s a clever idea, doing all of this at once. Thanks.”
“Not a problem. So, I’m going to get a four-door truck?”
“You are. You might need to use the back seat sometimes in case there’s an emergency or something. If I can’t get my niece and nephew and none of my brothers are available, I might have to ask you. This way, you’re prepared if it comes to that. You know anything about kids?”
