I blink. “Henry, you deserve someone who can make you happy.”
“I was happy,” he states, rather loudly, clearly losing his cool. I don’t blame him. And now my heart cracks a little more for hurting him. “Are you feeling ok?” he asks. “Maybe you should sleep on it.”
I shake my head, still holding onto the ring. “I have thought about it.”
Henry stands. “No, no no no no,” he repeats. “This isn’t good for my partnership.”
“What do you mean?”
“The firm,” he whispers, staring off into the unknown. “Never mind.” He focuses his dark eyes back on me, “It’s ok. Listen, what can I do to change your mind? We’ve already told everyone we’re getting married. Preparations have been made.”
I remain seated on the couch, watching as Henry paces the living room floor, and then pulls his phone out to answer a text. “Henry, I’m sorry but…”
He crosses his arms. “We can’t call off the wedding. I’ve invited co-workers.”
“We don’t love each other.” This much is obvious the longer we talk. He’s more occupied with what his partners at the firm will think than anything else. “Henry, my mind is made up.”
He stands, taking the ring in his hand. “I’ll give you some time to really think about this.” He moves toward the front door. “This isn't over between us.” And then he leaves.
I blow out a long breath, mumbling to myself, “It is, though.”
Not once did he say he loved me. And I’m ok with that.
ELEVEN
Ellis
Never drunk dial someone else’s ex...
“Explain it again,” my father says. The crow’s feet extending from his green eyes deepen as he tries to pull his face into a tight smile. “What do you mean the company is in trouble?”
I lean my arms across the table, joining my hands together. “What Urban told me is that you’ve gone and gambled away all the money.”
My words cause him to flinch. He adjusts the silver tie that matches the flecks in his hair before taking a bite of salmon.
“Must you be so uncivil all the time?” Yasmin pipes in. “We haven’t seen you in ages.”
“It’s not like we’re a big ‘ol happy family,” I say to her. This time she flinches.
I know any normal person would love to spend time with their father they haven’t seen in years. They’d be excited to have dinner with their father and his wife. But, I’m not.
Urban chimes in, “Look we can all sit here and be mad at each other all night long, or we can work together to try to salvage what’s left of the family business.” Urban pulls a file from his briefcase, spreading out a worksheet with last year’s earnings on the table.
I glare at my father. “Do you have anything to offer? Sacrifices to make?”
He stiffens. “I have a certain lifestyle I need to uphold. I can’t let people think our business is in trouble. I’m the face of this company.”
Yasmin is tight-lipped, knowing her days of drinking wine with the ladies at the club and gossiping about their husbands may soon be behind her.
“Face of the company, my ass,” I blurt out. Is he delusional?
“Dad, I called Ellis because we could really use his help. If anyone can pull us out of this mess, it’s him,” Urban tries to gain hold of the fight that’s brewing here at this expensive membership only clubhouse. “We need big changes. Yasmin no longer getting her weekly mani/pedis isn’t going to change anything. We’re on a downward trend. We need to think of something to bring this brewery back.”
The table falls silent as a waiter refills our waters.
“I’m ready to work,” I tell Urban.
We need big ideas, but unfortunately the only idea I have centers around a sexy little brunette with the cutest smile I’ve ever seen. Kiki.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her all day. And more than anything I want to see her again.
Soon.
But, I know I can’t. She’s engaged, and even if she wasn’t, my life is all over the place.
I need to focus on the brewery, not a hot piece of ass. Don’t call her that. She’s so much more than just a piece of ass.
She’s the marrying type. Just look at Henry.
He knew that, he snatched her up, knowing full well she’s indeed the marrying type. I hate it. I’ve never in my life been put in this type of situation. It makes me think that I am the bad guy here. Because every thought I have involves Kiki and Henry breaking up, and me getting the girl.
I know, there’s something seriously wrong with me. I can’t keep my shit together when it comes to Kiki. And I can’t stop thinking about the way her lips felt against mine.
“Ellis,” Urban says, bringing my focus back to the meeting. “Do you think you could hit a few restaurants? See if they may want to carry our product? I know if anyone could sell our beer, you could.”
I nod. “Absolutely.”
“Maybe we need to run nightly specials,” my father offers, his smile hopeful.
Urban shakes his head. “I’ve been working with the bartenders on implementing maybe a two-for-Tuesday deal and some other fun promos. But, the problem is we’re just not getting enough people to the pub.”
I scrub a hand down my jaw. “So, we need to bump up marketing.”
“We have a very small budget.” Urban points to a figure on the piece of paper. “We need more organic traffic, and that’s why we’re failing.”
Organic traffic isn’t easy to come by, but I may have a few tricks up my sleeve.
The dinner comes to an end, and I shake my brother’s hand, leaving my father and Yasmin with no more than a simple ‘bye.’
As soon as I walk out of the high-priced golf club, my phone dings with an incoming text. It’s Henry, with a 911. He wants to meet at a bar across town.
Sounds important, so I hop in the rental and head off in that direction.
When I get there, Henry’s already three sheets to the wind. “Dude,” he slurs out. “I’m so glad you came.” He staggers my way, tossing his arm around me. “I’ve had the worst night.”
“Why don’t we sit you down.” I help Henry back to the bar and the stool he abandoned when he saw me come in. “Two coffees,” I say to the bartender. “And a Twist & Stout.”
The bartender smiles and turns away to collect my order. I focus my attention back on Henry. “Ok, tell me slowly what’s going on? Did something happen at work?”
Henry grabs his drink, which looks like something dark on the rocks, and I try to wrestle it away from him to no avail. Fucker swallows the whole thing. “No,” he shakes his head, “Kiki left me.”
My heart stops.
“She said it was over,” Henry says, looking at his empty glass. “Where’s my drink?”
At that very moment, the bartender arrives with both coffees and sets them down in front of us. “Drink this,” I tell Henry.
His face is priceless as he stares up at me, blinking like I’m speaking a foreign language. “You serious?”