by Ted Evans
I wanted to call him.
He might have gotten sick as well, and I wanted to let him know to go see a doctor. There was just one problem, though. I didn’t note the suite number, besides knowing it was higher than mine. I didn’t know his last name, either. My phone had been off the entire time, so I didn’t have his number, and he hadn't left anything personal in his note.
Crap. I needed to tell him I had TB, but I didn’t know how; and if I could talk to him a bit about him being my first time…
Wait, no. this doesn’t change much; we didn’t have any agreements, so that would only annoy him, right?
I thought of looking for him through the hotel before giving up on that. If I called with vague details, they would just think I was suspicious, wouldn’t they?
My family saw I was troubled, but they were happy, so no one asked.
Two years later…
Chapter Eleven
Jake
A knock on the door sounded, and I looked up from the documents on top of my desk to the office door.
“Come in,” I called.
Mrs. Cove, a woman in her mid-forties with her brunette hair pulled back in a severe bun and dressed in a skirt suit, walked in. She was currently acting as my secretary at the company.
“Sir, your meeting with the department heads is in half an hour. Should I go and make preparations now?”
“What room are we meeting in?”
“The third conference room on this floor, sir.”
I nodded slowly. “Thank you, Mrs. Cove. And yes, please start the preparations, I’ll be done before the meeting.”
“Of course, sir,” she said.
With a short, bowing nod, she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. I frowned down at the documents in front of me, wondering if I could finish this before the meeting, or if I could postpone it until afterward.
I glanced at my phone beside my computer keyboard and picked it up. I unlocked the screen and paused for a second, before slowly putting it back down. I leaned back in my seat, deciding I could postpone looking over the documents. The meeting wouldn’t take so long that I couldn’t deal with it before I had to clock out for the day.
“Fuck,” I cursed quietly with a sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.
I never in a million years thought I would find myself in this position. Working at the family company, and right at the helm of it. The place was supposed to belong to my Trent, and I would have gotten a managerial position at best, or been shipped out to one of the branches to head if Dad didn’t mind me going far away.
Even for just that, I wouldn’t have asked for it. But in the end, life never went the way we wanted it to.
Before he could even get married, my brother died in a plane crash not long after we’d returned from the trip to Vegas. Some issue had come up with his bride to be, and the wedding was pushed forward, and he lost his life before it could happen.
Both Dad and I were broken hearted. My brother and I had had our differences, but I didn’t hate him. As long as he kept his mouth shut at certain times, I could even grudgingly admit I loved him. But now he was gone, and I couldn’t help remembering from time to time that the last time we properly talked was that argument in Vegas.
It’s just because it’s fresh, I tried to reassure myself. Time will pass, and you’ll forget it all.
Seeing my screensaver didn’t help matters, but I couldn’t bring myself to change it, either. It was a picture of the whole family, Mom, and Dad, and me and Trent when the two of us were still young, in the happier days before I knew what responsibility meant and started rebelling.
In the end, Dad didn’t even have to give me the talk again. I stepped up to be a man and filled the position that was originally meant for my brother.
Of course, it wasn’t as easy as that. For one thing, I wasn’t qualified for the position, and even as the owner’s kid, there were rules. I didn’t go back to college; Dad feared I’d join a frat house and waste time there, going back instead of moving forward, so I just piled up a lot of classes on top of what I’d done before.
It was a long two years, but in the end, with the kind of hard work and determination I hadn't had toward schooling before, I made it through. My qualifications still weren’t top notch, but I was good enough to enter the company, though I still had to take several classes alongside work for a while after.
When it was time for the meeting, my secretary called to meet me. I was young, definitely younger than any of the other people in the higher positions in the company, so no matter what, outside of my office, I couldn’t show any weaknesses. After steeling my expression, I left my office, my secretary following behind me and to my right at a brisk pace. Everyone was already seated and waiting in the conference room, and I went to stand at the head of the table.
“Good afternoon, everyone. Let’s proceed with today’s meeting.”
Some people didn’t think I suited my position because of my age, especially since my Trent was the one groomed for the position and had been appearing at the office since he was in high school. Not only was I younger by four years, I hadn't put my all into the company until two years ago when Dad stepped back in temporarily before fully retiring.
I felt like I’d made my old man proud. There were times when I wondered if my brother would feel the same way if he were to look at me now.
At the end of the meeting, I was the first to rise, followed by everyone else.
I excused myself. The meeting had run longer than I thought, but I still had time to finish what I’d been working on before, as long as I stayed a little late in the office. This wasn’t something new to me, either, so it would hardly be a problem.
“Mrs. Cove,” I said, pausing after unlocking my office door and turning.
She had come to a stop at her desk, waiting for me to enter before she sat down. Seeing that I was addressing her, she gave me her full attention, hands folded in front of her.
“Yes, sir?” she said.
“I’ll be staying late, so when your time’s up feels free to go ahead first. Let me know if there’s any urgent business before you do, though.”
She nodded. “Of course, sir.”
I walked into my office and closed the door behind me, then I went around my desk and sat down. I picked up the documents and turned my computer on, logging into the company’s database.
It was all what I never wanted in my life. Waking up early in the morning, going into the office to do a lot of work, go through several high profile meetings and leave late. But how could I still complain about little stuff like this, when my brother was no longer there to shoulder the responsibility, so I wouldn’t have to, as the second, less capable son?
Rubbing my chest, I pushed aside my uncomfortable feelings and immersed myself in work.
Mrs. Cove didn’t bother me before she left, so nothing came up, at least. Today had been relatively quiet, a few paperwork to go through and one internal meeting. In the months since I’d started working at the company, I could count it as one of my more relaxing days.
Once I finished my work, I left the office. I didn’t go straight home. I was done with learning, and I had nothing to look forward to by going home besides regrets, I spent a lot of my nights, if not all of them, out drinking.
I had a favorite bar. It wasn’t too far from the office, or my place, but was located somewhere comfortably in the middle. I stopped by so often and developed a habit; I had my parking space in the club’s VIP parking, where I’d leave my car, take a taxi to go home, and pick it up in the morning to go to work. Now more than ever, I wouldn’t be careless about something like this.
“Good evening, Jake,” my favorite bartender said as I sat down at my usual seat in the bar. “What can I get for you tonight?”
I arched an eyebrow. “Just a beer, please.”
He smirked. “One of these days I’ll get you to try something new.”
I smiled, but there was no humor behind it
. I wasn’t drinking anything for the taste, after all. This was just a growing, wind-down ritual at the end of my day when I wasn’t off somewhere else for a meeting or conference or whatever. He got me my beer and went to talk to the other customers.
My life had become boring, mundane. Everything that I hated, but I didn’t have any strong feelings for it. More than anything, I was resigned. It wouldn’t get rid of my guilt or my regrets, but I had every intention of going along without any big complaints or tantrums like I would have thrown before if anyone in my family had brought it up.
As I did, that time in Vegas when my brother brought it up and I got so mad at him; I refused to talk to him properly before he died.
It was a regret I would carry until the day my death came to claim me.
Of course, there were the other matters that happened in Vegas that I hadn't been able to forget about, either.
Klara. The woman I met and spent a day and night with.
Because of Klara, and my memories with her in Vegas, I hadn't gone crazy from guilt. When I thought back to the trip, I would think of my brother, I couldn’t help it; and once in a while, my mind would cast to Klara.
There was very little I knew about her. I knew it when I left the hotel room that day, but I hadn't thought too much about it until way later, when it was too damn late to try and find her, and I had considered it quite a few times. If I could find her…what would it be like? Did she deal with the problems she was running from, the same way I did? I could barely remember her face, but I did remember how the expressions she unconsciously showed made me feel like she had bigger problems than I did.
Staring off into space as I took a sip of my drink, I mused to myself.
I wonder what happened to her…
Chapter Twelve
Klara
“All right, that’s it for today. Don’t forget your assignments, and I’ll see you all in our next class.”
After his closing statement, the lecturer picked up his stuff and left the room. Right on his heels were student leaving the lecture room, going from silent to noisy in seconds. I didn’t get up, waiting for the crush of people to leave so I could follow after. As the room slowly emptied, I stretched my arms out and allowed myself to relax.
How the hell did I ever put up with this? I grumbled to myself.
I didn’t miss school. In a lot of ways, college was worse than high school. The classes were less, and I got plenty of free time every day, but I also had assignments and stuff to study that filled up that free time, and the lectures were incredibly long. I just sat through a more than two-hour-long lecture, and my ass had fallen asleep, my hand was cramping from all the notes I’d written, and I still had one more class for the day.
Can't I just skip? I whimpered to myself, but I knew there was no way I could. Maybe I just got too used to having so much time on my hands, but I felt mentally exhausted, and I’d only been back for a week. It was a bit different this time, too. All the people I knew from before had all graduated, so it was like starting all over again while I didn’t know anyone.
For an introvert, it was a scary thing, but at least I hadn't gotten any group assignments just yet.
I looked up after lying on my desk for a minute. The room wasn’t empty, there were still some students seated down, others were clustered together and chatting, but the room was mostly empty. I didn’t think there was another lecture in the room. I considered staying until it was time for lunch. A quick check on my phone told me I had an hour before my next class. In another twenty minutes, I would go eat, then head for my last class of the day in the afternoon.
Just after I’d made the decision, my phone beeped. It was a text from Mom, asking when I’d be back. I sent a quick text back, letting her know I had one more class. I was tempted just to skip and go home, but I knew I had to take my studying seriously.
I played around on my phone for a little bit, then got up and left the lecture room. There were quite a few cafes in and around the school, and I picked one of the smaller ones that weren’t usually crowded. I gave my order and sat down to eat. By the time I was done eating, I still had plenty of time, so I decided to go for a walk.
“Damn, this is so boring,” I groaned to myself as I walked through campus.
I hadn't felt this way before. Well, there were times when I thought I tried too hard, but after that whole debacle from last year and my short stint of being the wild child, I could never think of everything the same way.
Maybe it’s just because this is the longest I’ve ever gone without studying, and I’m just getting back into it?
In a few more weeks, I could settle right back in. Well, with a few differences.
I stopped at a bench set under a tree and decided to stop and sit down. It was on the way to my next class, and I still had time, so it was fine. I pulled my phone out. Before, when I was bored and wanted something to fill the time, I’d look for a book online. When there wasn’t any particular novel I wanted to read, I ignored the ebooks and found some nice, long web novels that would keep me interested for a while. I couldn’t remember the last time I ever read something, though.
These days, when I was on my phone while away from home, it was to call back home, and I did just that.
“Honey,” Mom chirped. “Didn’t you say you still had one more class today?”
I sighed. “I do, Mom. But what did you need when you texted earlier?”
“Oh, it was nothing.”
“Mom,” I complained.
I could imagine her rolling her eyes at me.
“Would you stop being such a worry wart? It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle without your being home. Besides, I have your siblings here helping me out. They’re still young, but they’re growing, they can stand to have a bit more responsibility thrown their way.”
“I could always skip if you need me...”
“Don’t you dare,” she warned. “If you’re in such a hurry to be out of school, then hurry up and graduate. Don’t forget to take things seriously, Klara.”
I knew better than to be careless. If it wasn’t for my sense of responsibility being rekindled, I wouldn’t have gone back to college after taking a break in my second year that lasted for two years.
“How is everything back home?” I asked casually.
Mom replied just as casually. “Oh, everything is just perfect here. The kids are having their fun now because their break will be over tomorrow, so it’s back to school for them, too.”
That wasn’t what I was asking about, and she knew it.
“How is the little one?” I asked.
She chuckled. “Do you keep calling home because you’re worried this old mom of yours can't handle things on her own? You’ve only been back to school for a week, and you still have a while to go, you know? You’ll age faster if you keep worrying.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, I can't help worrying.”
“Oh, I know. Anyway, no need to let it get to you. We’re all fine here, so you just concentrate on your work, hmm? He’s fine, Klara. You can see him after your classes are over and you come to visit.”
I knew she was right, but I couldn’t get him out of my head. He was my baby, after all, and in the past two years, I’d been doing nothing but spending time with him, and the separation wasn’t easy for me. I trusted Mom to look after him, she’d raised three perfectly okay kids, so one more shouldn’t be a problem.
After a few more pleasantries, we said goodbye and cut the call. Mom was right; I only had another three hours before I could go home…
Ugh.
It was almost time for my class, so I picked myself up and made my way to the new lecture room to wait.
Chapter Thirteen
Jake
It was the weekend. Since I’d petty much given up my previous, carefree life, I sometimes worked on Saturdays for half the day and took Sunday off. I didn’t go into the office when there wasn’t work for me to do there, but it was a big company
that was still growing, so there was still plenty of research I did during my free time into the company’s future.
On one such weekend, I was sitting in my home office, working on my computer, when I got a call from Dad. I only hesitated a little before answering it. If this was before, I might have even thought of ignoring the call, but those days were over.
I couldn’t say Dad and I were closer than before, but at least, we didn’t go through moments of pretending the other didn’t exist.
“Hello, Dad?”
“Jake,” he said, voice deep and calm. “Do you have any plans this weekend?”
I stared at my computer screen. I had my browser opened and was looking through a few pages. I was only in the research stage so far, so there wasn’t any hurry.
“I’m free, Dad. Did you need something?”
“Why don’t you come home for the weekend, then? Your mother misses you.”
But you don’t, right?
I smiled wryly. If she missed me, Mom would have called me herself, and—
“Sure. Give me an hour, and I’ll be right over.”
“Good. You’ll make it in time for lunch, then. Let us know if you’ll be delayed; your mom will want to hold lunch for you.”
We said our goodbyes and cut the phone call. I turned my computer off and got up.
Even though my relationship with my parents had gotten closer recently, I didn’t move in back home. Mom had wanted me to in the first few months after we buried my brother, but I insisted I wasn’t a child. So I compromised and got my place a little closer to home. The drive would be about half an hour without traffic, but I had to shower and get changed.
Twenty minutes later, I was in my car driving toward my family home. Even though both my parents were pretty high profile, we had what most people would call a modest house with two floors just fit for a family of four. In reality, the house and compound were way bigger than most houses of only two floors; it was just that a lot of Dad’s friends and partners tied to the business all had mansions.