by Cee, DW
“I’m not doing this for money. This time we spend together is precious to me. This is payment enough.”
Grandpa patted my hand. “I think you’re worrying for naught. If I understood Pierre and Roland, you’ll be the working partner. There will be no initial investment, but you’ll have to pay a hefty royalty to Pierre for every wedding.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me this??? Oh my gosh! What a huge relief to know.” Damn! What a relief. Another big obstacle out of the way.
“Are there any more concerns that are not concerns?” His Grace was actually teasing me.
“Brendan.” Did I want to tell the duke about my boy problems?
“Explain what’s going on between you and this young man. Is it serious?”
“No. Not yet.”
“If it isn’t serious, break it off. You’re young, Chloe. This kind of job opportunity might not ever come around again. As for boys, they’re a dime a dozen. You have plenty of time to choose.”
“What if a man like Brendan won’t ever come around again?” While admitting this huge problem, another major dilemma surfaced. “How am I ever going to be in a relationship or get married and have kids if I’m traveling all the time?”
“Let’s start with Brendan. If you’re not wedded to him now, just break it off. Unless you find a man in London, your hometown, it’ll be impossible to see him. As for marriage and kids, you adjust your work schedule when that happens. You hire more employees. You take on fewer weddings, and maybe only the ones in the UK or Europe. There are plenty of options where that’s concerned. You need to find yourself a man, first.”
There was that. Grandpa Harry made sense. “You make everything sound so simple. My life doesn’t feel simple.”
The duke gave me his best grandfatherly smile. “Chloe. Your life story doesn’t have to be written in entirety now. You can write, edit, and rewrite the chapters as you go. If after working with Pierre, you decide you don’t like the job, quit. You have choices. Be thankful that there are opportunities knocking at your door. Unless you explore what’s behind each door, how will you know what’s right for you?”
“You are so wise, Grandfather. I will heed your words and talk to Pierre very soon.”
“Are we good?” The duke asked with a knowing grin.
For now, I was good. Who knew what I’d be tomorrow?
Michael: Business Decision
After Boston, I knew Helene was not the woman I wanted to live with the rest of my life. In my mind, she and I were not compatible. Though I appreciated and very much liked the attention, that wasn’t enough to start and sustain a relationship.
These days, I felt like a ship lost at sea. Sailing with the currents, I had no opinion of where my life was heading. I didn’t like that. Since Laney, that’s how I lived my life. I worked. I dated. I performed my social duties. That was it. My life followed the dictates of my grandfather’s wishes more so than my own.
I had no one to blame but myself. It wasn’t as though Grandfather forced me into this life. I chose to do as he asked, and if I had other ideas, Grandfather would be open to them. I disliked the apathy and emptiness, but I saw no solution to this conundrum.
At least for Chloe and Brendan, they were headed toward a new and exciting direction, furthering their future. I was sad they were parting, I supposed, but envious of their future. Life held clear paths for them.
I had studied at Harvard and earned a business degree. With responsibilities attached to the Bennington name, I knew the field of business was the wisest choice. Though there were many properties to update and renovate, it wasn’t something that required my full attention, every day of the week. Once all the work was done, I wondered what I’d do next.
To some, my dilemma might sound like a rich man’s problem. How obnoxious to moan about not having enough work, or a nine-to-five job. I could leave at a moment’s notice and travel to exotic parts of the world if I wanted. My trust fund was large enough to support my family for several generations without working a day in my life. But, I was unsatisfied.
Chloe had her wedding planning and interior design job. Ruby had her acting career. Niles…!
Niles and I had spoken in the past about starting our own business. I’d forgotten all about that while going into my monologue again. I really needed to stop this. It wasn’t the thing to sound like a tragic figure in a Shakespeare play. What woman liked a man who dabbled in soliloquies?
“Niles!” I called my cousin. “I’ll buy you dinner. Meet me right now.”
“All right…” His voice dropped low and questioning. He knew something was up.
Without wasting a moment, I met my cousin and talked to him about his past business idea. “Do you remember that time when you mentioned wanting to get into the coffee bean business together?”
“Yeah…” This cousin of mine was always on the skeptical side.
“Explain it to me again. What was it you wanted to do?”
“With coffee being a world obsession, I want to procure beans from around the world. We’d be like Starbucks, but without all the stores.”
“Aren’t there a lot of people in the coffee business already?”
“There are, but few have the resources to fly everywhere and research beans like you do. If you’re serious, there’s a coffee convention in America at the end of this week. I have a close mate who is already in this business. He needs investors. We can go and learn about the business and decide whether to be investors or purveyors. With the high-profit margin on coffee and the increasing world-wide demand, I think it’s a winning combination.”
“If this is such a sure thing, why ask me to go into business with you?”
“Uh, because you have money.”
“And you don’t?”
“Not like you do. I figure if I go in this venture with someone I implicitly trust, we can look out for one another. It’s hard to do everything on your own. With a partner, I can have a life outside of work. Are you interested?”
“I am, but I need to get Grandfather to sign off on this idea. Since father has all but abdicated his role as the next duke, I want to make sure I’m not needed here.”
“You’ll still be here much of the time. We will need to travel to remote parts of the world where they grow beans, but we’ll always be back home in London.”
“Your idea intrigues me. If Grandfather is OK with me traveling, I’ll join you. In the meanwhile, can you get us ready to leave for the States?”
“Sure.”
Surprisingly, Grandfather was highly enthusiastic about Niles’ idea. Without making myself sound trapped, I explained the need to spread my wings and try different ventures before I settled down.
He said, “Back in my days, I took the safe way out and invested in real estate. While that made me a lot of money, I wish I would have been bolder in my investments. There were so many new inventions I could have been a part of—cars, for instance. My father and I had several companies come and ask us to invest. He should have done it. He held onto his money too tight.”
“This venture isn’t too working-class for you?”
“We’re all working class, Michael. We’ve been fortunate enough to start in a much better position than most. But, that doesn’t give us the right to sit on our arses and live off the fruits of our ancestors’ labors. We need to go out and multiply.”
“All right, then. I’ll still take care of what I’ve been doing, but I’m going to work with Niles, and we will see if anything comes of his idea.”
“It’s good to see that you’ve found other interests, but what will you do about multiplying your offsprings? I don’t want to see you settle. Trust me when I say a woman like Helene would be settling.”
I sighed. This part of my life held the biggest question mark. No amount of research and money produced the perfect woman for me. “Grandfather, if I find that woman I want to call my duchess, you’ll be one of the first to know.�
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“What’s wrong with Chloe? Wasn’t she always the front runner until Laney came along?”
I had to think carefully. I didn’t want to lie. I didn’t want Grandfather to get the wrong idea. I didn’t want to sound like a complete fool.
“Chloe and I are friends. I’ll always love her as my best friend, but I don’t think either of us thinks of the other in that manner anymore.”
“You both appear pretty together to me. Who best to marry than your best friend?”
“True, but there needs to be more than friendship to multiply, Grandfather.”
“You and Chloe have never thought of one another in any way but as friends?” He gave his utmost, serious, duke-like, quizzical stare. “There’s been nothing sexual in your relationship?”
I choked on my own saliva when he asked. How did he know? Chloe and I thought we were so careful when we used to sneak around his estate and experiment as two horny teenagers. “We’re just friends, Grandfather.” That was the best way out of such an uncomfortable stare. “Chloe will be busy with her new business, and I hope to be busy as well. I don’t know that either of us will have time for a relationship with the other, or anyone else for that matter, for quite a long time.”
“Don’t get so caught up in the material that you forget what’s most important in life. People matter. Don’t forget to tell that to those you love.”
“Will do, Grandfather.”
What started off as a frustrating day turned most productive!
Final Decisions
Brendan
Work in London was pretty much wrapped up and all I had left to do was ship my belongings and move to Los Angeles. Chloe started working under Pierre and at this point, she and I were like two ships passing in the night.
As expected, we rarely saw one another. She was either off planning weddings in exotic locations or working with the duke. If she wasn’t sleeping at some hotel in distant lands, she slept at the duke’s residence. The one weekend she had free, she went home to see her parents, sister, and nephew.
Tonight, she was headed back to the flat after having spent ten days in Istanbul planning a wedding for some Sheik’s illegitimate daughter. Tonight was my last night to say good-bye.
It really ate at me that we didn’t work. It was hard to accept that I’d be low priority if we were to stay together—as if we were ever together. This was all a mess I couldn’t sort in my head or in real life.
“Hey, Brendan.” Chloe walked in, waving shyly. “It’s been a long time.”
Instinctively I pulled her into my body and kept her there. Dammit! I didn’t want to part. “You’ve become quite the world traveler, Ms. Darcy. You’ve actually come back to grace us with your presence?”
She hugged me back and that felt damn good. “Believe it or not, flying on private planes and sleeping on thousand-count sheets get old. I’m tired of hotel stays, rich food, and hysterical, indulged, over-privileged brides. I don’t know how Pierre keeps his cool with them. I, personally, wanted to slap the bride a time or two.”
This woman had a way of making me laugh. I loved that about her.
“I give up, Chloe Darcy.”
She looked up and asked, “What is it that you’re giving up?”
It was too soon to show my cards. It was imperative to understand where her heart was at this moment.
“Daniel and Cat have decided to move to Los Angeles with me.”
“I know. They told me. You’re all abandoning me.”
“What will you do about housing?”
“Since I’m rarely at any one place for long, I decided to move back home with my parents.”
“Home?” That was surprising news.
“When I am in the UK, I’ll be home.”
“What about the duke?”
“When he needs me, I’ll be down here. I’ll stay at the duke’s place if I need to be here more than a day.”
“So, you’ve completely wiped me out of your life? This is it?”
She pulled away and sat herself on the sofa. “Didn’t we decide there was no other choice? Look at how often we’ve seen each other since I started my job. We live in the same home, and this is the first time we’ve run into one another in weeks. Imagine what would happen if we were in different continents?”
“Do you not even want to try? Am I the only one here who wants to stay together? I know we haven’t had much of a relationship, but the little that we’ve had, I really liked. Even far apart, I like the satisfaction of knowing that you’re mine.” She was dumbfounded. When she didn’t say no, I decided to go in for the kill. “This may sound corny, Chloe Darcy, but I really, really like you. I haven’t liked a girl this much—ever! To think, I’ve not had the chance to do more than kiss and feel you up a few times, and you’ve got me this worked up about separating.”
Chloe laughed. “It wasn’t for lack of trying—the feeling up part, I meant.”
I laughed with her. “It’s those damn Benningtons who broke up our intimate moments.”
“I think your work played a role in that, too.”
“What do you say, Chloe? Unless you have a better prospect, do you want to stay together and see how this relationship might work out? It may surprise you. I may surprise you. By this time next year, you might be knocked up with twins, too.”
She laughed even harder. “Brendan,” she whined. “I was ready to say good-bye when I saw you. I stood outside our door for a long while, preparing myself for the inevitable. Why must you be so irresistible?”
Irresistible is good, right? I had a fighting chance!
“This is just the beginning, Chloe. Wait until I get you in bed with me.” The laughter continued. “Since I don’t hear a no, I will assume that your answer is a yes?”
“Can I ask you one question?”
“Always.”
“If an open position in London was anywhere near as good as the one in Los Angeles, would you have stayed here for me?”
She stumped me. I wasn’t expecting such a loaded question. The obvious hesitation might have cost me this relationship. I couldn’t tell for sure because in true Chloe-fashion, she had to leave when the duke called. Neither of us said another word. I would have to wait for her answer as she waited for mine. Who would have thought, the answer wouldn’t come for almost a decade?
Michael
Niles and I came back from our coffee conference, met with more people than I cared to remember, and decided to partner with one other man already doing what we considered jumping into. Since our newest partner, Alexander, knew the trade better than Niles or myself, he was the idea behind the operation. Niles, who had been wanting to get into this business, was the working partner. For myself, I decided the best role would be the investor.
Until I understood everything about this business, I needed to be everywhere my partners were headed. I wasn’t going to be a blind investor. It helped that the coffee industry was a fascinating venture.
“Hello Stranger.” Chloe greeted me when I walked into Grandfather’s house.
“Are you the pot calling the kettle black?” I kidded. “You haven’t physically been here in weeks, but I hear your voice everywhere.”
“What?” she asked with much curiosity.
“If it isn’t Grandfather who’s telling me, ‘Chloe said this.’ ‘Chloe wants it this way.’ ‘Don’t touch anything until Chloe gets back.’ I have Ruby showing me pictures of all your glamorous weddings. I even have Niles, who apparently calls you at least twice a week. Since when has that been going on?” I’d never spent weeks with Niles, and I was shocked when I heard him mention his phone calls with Chloe.
“If that’s what you mean about the ghost of Christmas past, you’re everywhere, too. You just don’t seem to ever need to call so I can hear your real voice.”
“Really, Pot? Have you called me?”
“Why is it always a contest between us to see who will cave first? C
an’t you just call to say hello?”
“I don’t understand how you can ask that question. Why can’t you just call to say hello?”
Chloe stared at me for a good, long time. I was uncomfortable in my own skin. “Being away from London, being away from you and Brendan, I’ve had a lot of time to think about you both.”
“And?”
“And I think I finally have an answer to my questions. You confirmed them today.”
“What the hell does that mean?” She got up from the desk and I told her, “Don’t you dare leave this conversation, Chlo-No. You can’t make such a loaded statement and walk away from me.”