Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“Excuse me, I’m all man.” Reid sits back like none of this bothers him in the least. He also looks gloriously sexy in the early morning light. “Man toy, please. The things I do to her… No boy could handle her.”
He’s ridiculous, and I’m in love with him. I’m mad, crazy, head over heels in love with him.
I hate that he’s having to see this side of my family. I hate that there is this side to my family.
I love that he’s willing to be here. Willing to take this freaking abuse with me.
Huh. It is. I know Ivy and Ani tell me all of this is abusive behavior, but I grew up in here. Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s normal and what’s toxic.
“Paul says there’s more than enough money to go around,” Aunt Helen insists.
“There is,” Susan agrees. “I did the books this year and it’s our best year ever. Definitely better than the last couple of years when Harper forced us to do that tax thing.”
“So no one would go to jail.” I don’t even try hard anymore.
“We should have fought that,” my cousin Cliff says, leaning forward. “We should have ousted her then, when she stopped caring about the family and our needs. I believe I mentioned that. No one listens to me. We could have fought that.”
Sheryl smooths back her hair and sits in her chair. “Well, isn’t this what we’re here to discuss? How Harper is running the company and whether someone else would be better at it? I know poor Paul has been working his ass off to cover for her and she barely pays him anything.”
“He’s the second highest paid person in this firm.” It’s a halfhearted attempt, but the truth of the matter is I don’t want to be here. I want to be with Reid having breakfast and talking about how cool it’s going to be to meet the owner of Banover Place and show her and her daughters around. We think the mid-century modern home is hers. It’s mature and understated. It’s also my favorite. I went with Reid and Jeremiah when they bought the furnishings for it. Typically we would simply rent furniture and let the new owner bring their own after the filming is done. This owner was insistent that everything be ready to go. She sent a message that she wanted everything perfect for her girls.
So we tackled it like a team. Ani, Ivy, and I each picked a house and with the Dorsey brothers as advisors, we furnished these glorious dream homes. It gave me such satisfaction to step back and see these places we all worked on, these places where people will live and love and work. Where they’ll raise kids and have friends over for dinner. Where they will truly live. There is so much of the original left, but with places for the new owners to make it their own.
It gives me this sense of peace. Like I did what I was born to do.
“I mean if we can all take sabbaticals to follow our foolish dreams, then I would like to be paid to try my hand at being a chef,” another cousin volunteers. “Maybe the company can pay for culinary school.”
“I don’t understand why she needed the sabbatical at all,” someone else says. “It’s not like what she does is difficult.”
I stare at Reid while everyone around me complains. I can see he’s getting pissed, but he promised he wouldn’t say anything. No matter how bad it got.
He’s out of place here.
I think I might be out of place here. Lately, I’ve been wondering who gets to tell me what my place is.
“Now Harper does some nice things for the family,” my mother is saying. “But I agree she can do more. I’ll talk with her. I’m sure I can get Gavin a job.”
She’s wrong. “I’m not hiring Gavin. He’s a little shit who’ll bring a harassment suit down on our heads within his first three months of employment.”
Flora gasps. “How could you say that about your own blood?”
“Because it’s true. But I’m sure if you vote for Paul, he’ll probably hire him today.” That feels good to say.
“Now, wait a minute,” Paul says, and for the first time he looks slightly confused. “I think we should talk about this. Harper, you do know this company well, but I think we should have some new rules in place. I think we should elevate my position to be the same as yours. A restructuring might help us function better.”
Reid huffs. “That’s your game, isn’t it? You want to get everyone mad at Harper so you can move your position up, get all the benefits, but she’s still here to run the company. Because you know damn well that you can’t do the job. You know if you’re left in charge and she’s not around to fix things for you, you’ll run this company into the ground.”