Oh wait. Yes, I can. It was when my daughter’s mother ran off with my best friend. I pounded the bottle hard for a month and then finally I told myself enough is enough and pulled my pants up and got back to work.
And in doing so I built my company into what it’s become today. A titan of industry…a titan on the ropes without Jacob’s company’s help.
Why did it have to end this way? We were friends in life first then we took that friendship and both made big successful businesses out of it.
And the reality is that I know without my business his business will be down well over fifty percent and on it’s own path to destruction.
All because of the destruction he caused.
And now I won’t even call my daughter by her name anymore, just like her mother. They don’t deserve it. Neither of them, not after what they did to me.
I blink my eyes and focus on the TV screen. Wow, it’s the fourth inning already. An hour or more must have gone by since I turned this darn thing on and I haven’t seen a single minute of the game. My mind is just off in la-la land while my mouth is wrapped around this bottle.
I look at the table next to the couch and realize it’s more like the fifth bottle. And the one in my hand is beyond warm, and I don’t even seem to mind.
I’m forty-two now. I’m five years older than Jacob and less likely to get back on my feet if my company goes to hell in a handbasket. Who hires forty-two year olds with a gigantic failure on their record? One that will play out in the news and all the other forms of media until it squeezes the last bit of life out of me and I become a complete mess.
At least Jacob’s got a woman to be there with him when his company falters. A woman?
When did she go and grow up so quickly?
Wow, how time flies.
I can’t help but smile remembering when I found out that my baby had been born and I had a daughter. I was twenty when she was born, but didn’t even hear about it until years later. Before Google life was a real bear. Not only that, but sometimes I’d sit up at night and wonder if trying to track her down was even the right thing. Maybe if I showed up it would just complicate things even more, and the last thing a child needs is complications…especially a little girl.
For all I knew her mother probably told her the new guy was her father, and the thought of that made my blood boil. If I ever did find them I sure would put a hurting on that man if I found out that was the case. And he better be treating her right.
I shake my head trying to center my thoughts realizing my mind is slipping back to that time.
And then I remember when I met her for the first time. My Mighty Mini Mina. The tiny girl with the big heart. The heart that led her to find the truth and in doing so finding her father.
Damn, I said her name. Who am I fooling? I’ll always love that little kid…my little girl. Even if something completely messed up happened and she got into a relationship with my best friend. I mean my former best friend. The second time I’ve had to give that title to someone. Twice more than anyone ever should have to.
Who knows? Maybe they’ll break up. Relationships barely last long these days anyways. I mean look at me and Jacob. We were indestructible and now look what happened.
So much for thinking he ever gave a damn about me.
Ding. Dong.
“What is wrong with these telemarketers and salespeople these days? Don’t they have any shame? It’s Saturday for Pete’s sake.”
I press the volume button on the remote and realize it’s a break in the game and it’s a commercial for Stone Solutions.
“We’re the rock you can lean on,” I say under my breath as the commercial states their slogan.
“Lean on and then you pull it out from underneath me and I fall over on my face!” I say. “Asshole.”
I take another swig of my Corona just as the doorbell rings again.
“What do you want?” I yell practically spitting beer in the process. Jeez, I’m a complete wreck right now but I need to blow off some steam and I don’t feel so bad doing so to an unwanted salesperson who won’t get the hint.
“What!” I yell as I open the door.
“Excuse me. Mr. Lewis? Mr. Mike Lewis?”
I look at the woman and her colleague who is standing just behind her. Behind them is a van with the door open. Inside appears to be some guy with camera and lighting equipment.
I don’t remember sending in my Publisher’s Clearing House thing this year. Does that even exist anymore?
“Yeah, I might be him,” I say.
The lady looks down at some picture she’s holding and then back up at me.
“Might be?”
“Sorry. I value my privacy. You know how it is these days.”
“Riiiiight,” she says. “Well sir, this is kind of awkward now but I must tell you we’re here to tell you you won Success Magazine’s contest as the best business buddy of the year.
“Business buddy? That doesn’t even sound real.”
“Oh it’s very real and it was a very competitive competition. We surveyed CEOs and executives from all fifty states and nearly forty countries. They were asked to name one person and one person only who was instrumental in their business success and to explain why. And I must say in all my years of being the project manager for this contest I’ve never read a more heartfelt and moving piece like the one I read from your friend, Mr. Stone.”
A chill goes up my spin and I feel the goose bumps immediately. So much for the alcohol numbing my pain, or my senses.
“Mr. Stone’s not my friend!” I say.
“Not your friend? He says in his letter he’s your best friend. He says you’ve been friends for years and he even has some funny anecdotes about things the two of you have done together over the years. I must say sir, you are a bit of a wild one. A loose canon if I may.”
“I am not. And he’s not my…when did he write that letter?”
“Just last week actually. He got it in the afternoon of the final day. FedExed it to us the night before.”
“What day was that?”
“Last Friday. Does it matter?”
That son of a gun. That little rascal. We had our falling out on Wednesday and his sneaky little butt had that letter together and in the mail the next day for delivery on Friday.
He was able to instantly brush aside what happened between us and put that thing together. And apparently he did a pretty good job of it.
“Let me see that thing,” I say swiping it from the hands of the lady. I’m still feeling the liquid courage which also leads to my lack of manners.
I look at the signature at the bottom first. Yep, it’s his. Now to read it.
Dear Success Magazine,
You can stop your search now. I’m here to tell you the winner is Mike Lewis and Mike Lewis only. I could literally give you a million reasons why but here are the top ten.
What does this guy think he’s Dave Letterman or something with his top ten list?
First and foremost this man is more than my business buddy. He’s my brother. We may not share the same blood, or even the same blood type but when one of us bleeds so does the other. And it’s that blood, sweat, and tears he’s spilled on my behalf that have made my business what it is today. He was my very first client giving me the belief that, “Hey, maybe I can do this.” But then again that’s no surprise. He’s a few years older than me and he’s been treating me like his bratty little brother our entire lives. He’s the big brother who’s hard on me, who challenges me more than I could ever challenge myself, so when I face the big bad world out there it’s a piece of cake. Nothing, or no one could have prepared the challenges that life would throw at me like he did. Whether it was when he told me to stop crying and pick myself up off the ground when we played sports or when he told me you ALWAYS help an older lady cross the street it’s all the same. He wasn’t teaching me lessons about business, although they apply. He was teaching me lessons about life. About how to be the best man I
could be every day and who better to learn from than the absolute best man I’ve ever known? Mike Lewis.
Apparently a bug flew in my eye when I wasn’t paying attention because I feel my eye watering up.
“Are you okay, sir?” the lady asks.
“I’m fine. I don’t need to read anymore of this love letter,” I say. “That’s not what I taught him. I taught him how to be tough.”
“He describes that in incredible and moving detail in number seven. You really should read it.”
“What I should do is go back and sit down on my couch,” I say. “And get this bug out of my eye. All this rain they must be hatching like crazy right now.” I hear a slight exhale and look over the lady’s shoulder at that man. He turns his head to the side and pretends to cough. “What are you laughing at?”
“Sir, do you mind if we come in? We’d like to interview you and take some pictures for the cover of the magazine.”
“Pictures? I’m in no shape to have my picture taken.”
“We have a makeup crew and an amazing lighting team. You’ll look amazing. I promise.”
I turn back and look over my shoulder. That damn commercial of Jacob’s is running again…already? And I see the beer bottles staring back at me from the table.
“Can you just give me two minutes to tidy up?”
“Sure thing,” she says.
“And can I get you something to drink?”
“Well, Mr. Lewis actually we brought you something to drink.”
“Come again?”
“The winner receives a bottle of champagne valued at north of ten thousand dollars.”
“Champagne? But I don’t drink…usually,” I say.
The lady does a good job of not laughing at me or pointing out the obvious.
“Right. Well then let me get some flutes. Just give me a second please,” I say.
“No problem. And congratulations on you big win,” she says.
I turn and walk towards the kitchen knowing I need to get a plastic bag and get this place cleaned up a.s.a.p. Luckily I drank those beers so quickly the alcohol hasn’t really had time to set in yet. If I can knock this interview and photo thing out quickly maybe I’ll pass out after they leave, and not while they’re asking me how I got so successful or whatever other ironic question they might ask me in the middle of a drunken stupor.
Her last words play back in my ears. “…congratulations on your big win.”
That might just be the most ironic part of this whole thing right there.
I’m mad as the Dickens at Jacob but in my heart I know I’m not. I’m not mad at him or Mina.
Why?
Because the biggest win is the one they don’t know about. The one where after I pack up and leave today I get on a plane, sober or not, and go out there and apologize to the two most important people in the world.
That’s why I’m a winner. Because they’re in my life. Both of them.
And I’m going to make sure it stays that way.
Forever.
CHAPTER 20
Mina
Two days later
“Why don’t we have cities this beautiful back in the States?” I ask.
“It’s the castles. The castles and cobblestone streets are what make it work.”
“But I’ve got my king so should we have a castle?” I ask.
He looks down at me and smiles. His hands move on top of mine and he slides his foot in securing the parking break on the stroller that Mia’s in.
We’re in Bruges, Belgium on a super small brick bridge covered in green vegetation. The quaint and picture perfect bridge sits above a tiny waterway that leads through the city. A city that is so beautiful I could really live here…or at least come up with a lot of excuses to visit our clients here.
“You will have your castle,” he says.
“For my king to keep me safe in. Doesn’t it feel so safe and cozy here by the way.”
“It does, but you know what I feel more than anything?”
“What’s that?” I say, as his hands roll over taking mine in his as he steps away from the stroller.
We’re the only ones on the bridge and the sun is setting off in the distance. The sky is a radiant shade of blue with streaks of pink and shades of purple that the world’s best painters couldn’t have painted themselves in a hundred years. I make a mental note to visit the Rembrandt House Museum in the Amsterdam next time we’re back here. Holland is just a super short train ride from here or only half an hour by car.
“It feels romantic. It feels safe for someone who likes families. Someone like me, now that I’ve met you. I want a family. A big, big family full of baby boys and baby girls and a house full of laughter and love and everything that comes with it. And I want it all with you.”
“Awww,” I say.
“It all starts with you.”
He pauses as we stare into each other’s eyes. I love how he’s strong when he needs to be but says the nicest things to me too. He’s the perfect mix of manly man and romantic man and right now he’s both.
“We’ve had a lot of firsts along the way already, but we need to have one more…tonight.”
My eyes narrow as I try to think what he might be alluding to.
“Right here and right now,” he says as he lowers his knee which quickly finds itself resting on the cobblestone while one of his hands takes mine while the other reaches underneath Mia’s stroller and I hear a click and some sort of secret compartment opens and he removes a tiny black box. He opens it and there it is.
An absolutely flawless, perfect, sparking diamond. And is it ever huge!
“Beautiful. This is the kind of city for a family. Let’s take the first step on making ours official. Let’s agree to become one here and bottle up this perfection here that surrounds us and take it back home with us and build our very own castle there. Our castle for our own little kingdom. Right now it’s little in that it’s only three of us, but with my love and insatiable appetite for you that kingdom is going to grow faster than our eyes will believe, but not as fast as our hearts will desire. Because we’ll always want more children. More of those baby girls and baby boys to surround us and make our life even more perfect. But we have to do this together. You and me. And that agreement starts here and now. I agree to love and cherish you forever and I know that you’ll do the same. Will you join me in sharing our agreement with the whole wide world? Will you marry me?”
I would bring my hand to my face, but Jacob has a tight hold of it and I know he’ll never let go…just like he’ll never let me go.
He’s got me now and neither he nor I will ever take the other for granted. We’re going to hold on tight to each other and share this journey through life together…with a whole lot of children that I’ll get to ‘babysit’ for years and years to come.
“Yes!” I yell. I hear my answer echo across the nearly still water that slowly makes its way down the waterway in complete contrast to the rush with which we want to fill the world with our very own babies. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m pregnant already as a matter of fact.
He slides the ring on my finger and I immediately feel its weight.
“Wow, it’s a big one,” I say.
“Just like my love for you.”
“And my love for you,” I say.
We kiss and then kiss some more.
Suddenly I hear something that sounds like…a camera taking pictures?
We both turn to our right and see a man on the other cobblestone walkway along the waterway taking pictures of us.
“What the heck?” Jacob says.
“You didn’t…hire him?” I ask.
“No,” he says. “How strange.”
“Maybe a present from your client.”
“They had no idea I was going to propose,” Jacob says.
“Oh they had some idea when they heard you were headed to Belgium,” the voice says and I recognize it instantly. The water must make our voices carry enough that he
can hear us. “And technically I’m not your client anymore, but I hope we can see to making that happen again.”
“Dad,” I say as I turn to face him and hold out my arms.
He quickly makes his way up the walkway and onto the bridge and we hug. It feels so good to get a real hug from him again. It’s been way too long and that last one hardly counted.
“I’m sorry for what happened,” he says. “I acted like a jerk.”
Boss's Babysitter_An Older Man Younger Woman Romance Page 7
