by Xavier Neal
“Why is it no one in our families can keep a bloody secret?”
I snicker during my saunter towards him.
“I wanted it to be a surprise.”
One arm drapes itself around his neck while the other toys with his shirt. “I know…And this is definitely one of those it’s the thought that counts scenarios and it actually does.”
The corner of his lip kicks up. “Wait. When doesn’t it count?”
“Like when you order pie for dessert because you have this misconception it is similar to cake.”
“But it was chocolate!”
“Dark chocolate. Which tastes like old dirt.”
“It does not.”
Totally does.
“My point is,” I coo, redirecting the topic back to where it was originally intended, “flying them here, giving me the chance to see them, giving me a real taste of the things I miss, is an amazing, thoughtful gift.”
Kellan smiles softly. “One which is well deserved. Between how hard you’ve been studying for this certificate, the countless hours you’re putting in at MINOH, and how unbelievably understanding you’ve been about my schedule with Hannah’s Hope, I just…I wanted you to have something to know I appreciate you. I appreciate what you’re going through. I appreciate everything you do for me. For my vision.” He lightly brushes his lips against mine. “Let me continue to show you just how much…”
Our tongues tangle and the remaining thoughts on verbally praising him are erased.
Seems like physically showing him my thanks is going to work out better today…No…Definitely not complaining. It’s a rarity he’s home this early and I plan to take full advantage of the situation…
Kellan
Ethan continues pointing to the chart on his tablet. “It’s…mind blowing, Kellan. If I wasn’t the one looking at the numbers, I wouldn’t even believe it.”
I stuff my laptop into my bag. “You should be grateful my wife didn’t hear you say that. She’d be offended and chances are your little tablet there would be broken.”
She’s not a violent person, we both know that, but she is awfully frisky when she gets irritated.
“I-I-I-I didn’t mean that in an offensive way, Kellan! Absolutely not!” He finally turns off the device. “It’s just…after the…unexpected decline in funding we dealt with last year, I never imagined we would experience an outrageous spike.”
Neither did I, but we’ll keep that between us.
“The country loves seeing the difference your program is making. They love the photos and the updates Brie has been having them post. They love the little tips for easy home versions and according to the comments on the page, they love knowing exactly how these art projects are intended to affect the youth. This month alone we’ve had donations increase by the thousands.”
My grin appears again as I turn in my leather office chair to face him. “I want to see that funding put to good use. I want more art infusion at the other locations. I also want better quality for some of the food. Fresher foods. You and Ava make a few calls in the morning and see where the closest farmer’s markets are to each location. I would prefer us start there. To build a better country, we have to build a better community, and that starts with giving back. Allowing small businesses opportunities to grow.”
Ethan bobs his brunette head along while making notes on his phone.
Don’t drool over my second in command, please. I’m well aware how he looks like that bloke from that motorcycle show, but believe me when I say he’s much more uptight and more likely to ride a horse than a Harley.
“Do you want me to stop back by here with the results?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to call?”
“No.”
“Email?”
I rise to my feet. “No.”
His befuddled expression is accompanied with the folding of his arms. “Um…text?”
With a shake of my head, I slide my bag over my shoulder and say, “I do not exist to you or anything work related for the next five days. I promised Brie I would take this time off to be with her and our friends.”
The only reason she didn’t chew me out when I told her I had to work this morning when I originally had agreed not to, was because it was impossible for her to scream my name in passion and irritation. Though…not for lack of trying. Stubborn woman…I swear.
Ethan nods his understanding at the same time my door flies open. The panicked look in our office assistant’s eyes tells me he has information I do not want to hear.
I immediately surrender my hands. “No.”
His mouth twitches open.
“No.” My voice grows in firmness. “Whatever it is Carl, tell Felicity. She’s handling the ropes on her own for the next few days.”
“But-”
“No.”
Without bothering to wait for his rebuttal I head his direction.
Nothing is going to stop me from leaving.
Suddenly, Felicity steps out of her office and into the hall. “What’s all the commotion?”
“Whatever it is, Carl, tell her,” I instruct during my stroll by him.
“There’s a problem at the building site.”
My body hesitates to continue moving forward.
I should just keep walking…I need to keep walking…
Felicity questions, “Minor or major?”
“Major.”
After a small sigh, I turn back around, eyes immediately locating to them.
“You might as well hear about it,” Felicity insists. “You know you won’t be able to enjoy your time off otherwise.”
Rather than agreeing verbally, I wave my hand for Carl to continue.
He takes a deep breath and begins to spew information, “Various types of shipments are missing from the building sites. Location A was supposed to receive material for the flooring and it never came. When I contacted the company, they said the order was cancelled by us-”
“That’s preposterous!” I croak.
“Ridiculous,” Felicity echoes.
Carl’s face cringes, but he continues, “Location B on the other hand never received the paints nor the painting materials. And both crews at Location C, electrical and installation were reportedly never scheduled.”
Instantly, I snap, “What the hell do you mean they weren’t scheduled?”
“Isn’t that part of your job?” Felicity backs me.
“I did schedule them!” Carl squeaks. “I did! I swear! But the files that would prove that are somehow missing on our servers and on both companies.”
“Like someone hacked it.” Felicity quietly implies.
“Yes…”
“Three separate, but equal emergencies all break out at the same time. That’s not a coincidence. That’s intention.”
“Bloody hell I hope not…” My grumble is proceeded with a run of my fingers through my hair. “Anything else, Carl?”
His face scrunches and my entire body tenses.
How the hell could this get worse?
“There are now noise violations with the evening crew and a noise ordinance to cease certain hours of working.”
“Impossible,” I bite. “I got permits and had proper paperwork filed that would prevent that very thing from happening.”
“We were served papers about it forty-five minutes ago.”
My hand flies to grip the building tension in the back of my neck.
This can’t be happening. Not now. Not today…Not this week of all weeks.
“Just go,” Felicity encourages, grabbing my attention. “I’ll…sort through it. It may take me all night or perhaps all five days you’re gone, but…I can get it done.”
Another deep sigh slips out. “No…You…You shouldn’t handle all of this alone. Plus, it’ll probably go faster if there are two of us working on it.”
“But your time off.”
“Brie…She’ll understand,” I lie.
She won’t. She’ll most li
kely spend her entire evening plotting ways to make smothering me look like an accident. At this point I cannot blame her. Regardless of how much time I attempt to make and how often I have intentions of doing things with her, my schedule finds a way not to permit it.
Ethan offers, “Anything I can do to help?”
“No. We’ll handle this here. You focus on MINOH.”
He nods and dismisses himself from the situation.
“Carl, why don’t you order us dinner, and we’ll start making calls,” Felicity delegates. “Kellan, I’ll begin with the problems of Location A, if you want to tackle the noise ordinance issue.”
I hum my agreement and retreat back to my office. Once inside, I turn on the overhead lights, shut the door behind me, pull out my cell phone from my pocket, and flop down onto my leather office couch.
Would you like to make this call on my behalf? Perhaps she will be less upset with you…
After a quick swipe of her name, the phone begins to ring and dread rolls around my stomach. The moment her cheerful voice appears on the other end, the disgust on what I have to do deepens.
“Hey!” Brie answers.
“Hey Love…”
“Is that my brother?” Kristopher’s voice questions very clearly. “Can he hear me?”
“People in Canada can hear him he’s so bloody loud.”
“Fuck off,” Kris replies directly. “You wanna talk about loud? Which one of us had a mountain of fines father had to pay at boarding school for noise complaints?”
“Is that what those were for?” My father’s voice enters the conversation.
There’s a round of chuckles and my heart aches at the sound.
Just when I thought it couldn’t hurt any more…
“Kellan,” Jovi’s voice calls out, “please tell us you’re close! I’m starving!”
I try to mask my frustration with what I have to say next. In an even tone, I request, “Love, can you take me off speaker, please? We need to talk in private.” As soon as their voices sound distant, I start again, “I-”
“Don’t,” she bites without letting me finish. “Kellan, do not tell me you are calling to cancel.”
My lips tightly shut.
“Are fucking kidding me?”
There’s a small commotion in the background and I plead, “Please calm down.”
“Calm down?” Her voice rises. “Calm down?!”
Poor choice of words?
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“There’s an emergency-”
“Kellan-”
“I have to help handle this, Brie. Three emergencies on location and a new document possibly preventing us from continuing the routine we have scheduled. I can’t leave Hannah’s Hope drowning like this. I just can’t…” When she doesn’t argue, I add, “I know. I promised I would be there. And I will. Just…not tonight. I will deal with all this in one go and be there every day for the remainder of their trip.” Another long lull passes, prompting me to ask, “Did you…Did you hang up?”
Have I been talking to air?
In an unusually calm tone, she replies, “Okay.”
“Is that okay like an ‘I understand’ or an okay like ‘Sleep with one eye open for at least month’?”
“It’s just an okay, Kellan.”
The missing mirth in response increases the pain in my chest. With brazen sincerity, I apologize, “Love, I’m so sor-”
“I need to go.” She cuts me off. “Our friends and family are waiting.”
To no surprise the call ends and I’m left feeling worse than I was when it started.
Of course she’s angry. She deserves to be as angry as she desires. I’m missing the mark here, but what else can I do? We both know if I would’ve kept walking and left this for Felicity to handle on her own, I would’ve been distracted at dinner then forced to return here in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning to put out what remained of the fires. We both know Brie would’ve pushed me to handle business. To keep Hannah’s Hope from suffering more than it already has with the slow building and continuous unsuspecting problems. No. This is what’s best. I’ll help all of this now and be free for the rest of their vacation.
I push away the stack of paperwork I was highlighting and check my phone once more.
No word from Brie since the abrupt end to our call. Not. A. Single. Word. I’ve texted between tasks, but nothing. I even reached out to Kristopher, but apparently she has him on radio silence as well.
There’s a small knock on my door, which lifts my attention to Felicity. She’s holding a paper sack in her hands and bearing a worn out expression. “Thought you might like something to eat. You didn’t exactly stop when it was delivered.”
Leaning back in my seat, I shrug. “I wasn’t hungry.”
“Liar,” she hums and saunters towards my couch. “You were pouting.”
Maybe a bit….I mean really. Who likes knowing their wife is furious with them?
Felicity unloads the items down on my coffee table, sits, and motions me over. “Come on, Kellan. You haven’t eaten since lunch. It’s after midnight. You have to be famished.”
I start to deny the accusation when my stomach bares the truth for me in a loud, hearty growl.
She delivers a pointed look, daring me to challenge her.
Swiftly, I surrender with a shrug. “Fine. Fine. I’ll eat.”
“You know you’ll need your strength to walk the site.”
On the way over, I question, “Wait. Why are we walking the site?”
“Protocol.” Her prompt answer is followed with the opening of one of the containers. “You have it in the agreement any time there is a problem on site you or I or both are required to inspect the entire area before things can continue.”
“Didn’t think that line would bite me in the ass at one in the morning.”
“By the time we’re done here, probably more like two.”
I groan at the same time I sit on the couch beside her.
She promptly offers me a fork. “It would probably be best to wait and just walk it first thing in the morning when the builder’s shifts rotate.”
“I can’t do that in the morning, Felicity…”
“I can do it by myself, but we both know unless you see for yourself you won’t trust that everything is back on track.” Our eyes connect and she adds, “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me I don’t know you as well as I do.”
My shoulders drop on a heavy harrumph. “5 a.m. when the day crew begins. We walk at five a.m. Not a minute later.” I snatch the utensil from her grip. “And then I’m done. Absolutely done.”
Felicity pulls her hair to the side of her face and nods her understanding.
Stop looking at me like that. Brie won’t even know I was gone. It’ll be that brief.
She opens the take out containers. “So there’s cheese gnocchi with a spicy duck sauce and stuffed tomatoes with feta cheese and spinach.”
My mouth waters at the words. “Oh God, you do know me.” We lightly share a laugh and I have a forkful of gnocchi. The delicious flavors grace my tongue with style and zest to the point I let out a thoughtless moan. “Bloody hell that’s good…”
Felicity agrees between her own bites. “I think it’s even better than the one we used to have all the time when we were back at the university.”
“Oh from Gnocchi Moe’s!” I recall, continuing to devour the dish. “I haven’t thought about that place in years!”
“That used to be our favorite,” she says wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Do you remember their paella?”
“I still love a good fucking paella…”
“Me too!”
My lovely wife on the other hand often refers to it as meat mush. Not her most clever title.
“I remember sitting on those weird floor pillows-”
“With the god awful Egyptian patterns that were neon for no reason-”
“-and just shoveling the shit back like we were bottomless pit
s!”
“Which I’m still convinced we were at the time.”
“We used to have it on Thursday nights before shot weekends.”
“Shot weekends always ended with me playing ditchy on Monday mornings.”