by Alina Jacobs
"It was honestly a little too much," Grant offered. "The internship program will be fun. You'll be with other people your age. Our internship program caters to MBAs, PhDs, as well as soon-to-be graduates."
"Don’t give me the whole spiel," Carter snarled.
"You don’t have to do it," Kate said, hurrying over.
"Oh, yes, he does," Jack countered. "He doesn’t have any other prospects."
"It will be fun," Grant said. "I wish I had had the internship option instead of just jumping right in the deep end. I made some terrible mistakes when I was just thrown to the sharks." He grimaced then threw an arm around Carter's shoulders. "You can make some friends, maybe meet a nice girl."
Carter scowled.
"It's only temporary," Walter added. "Plus this looks good for the firm when you do eventually take over a higher position. It will be like everyone starting from the bottom—no special favors."
"Whatever. I can’t believe this," Carter said then threw off Grant's arm and hurried out of the ballroom. He went to his room and sat in the shower.
"I hate my life," he muttered.
Maybe he could just run away. He could reenlist or work as a bartender. He could go live with Allie in her apartment. He shuddered as he thought about her creepy roommate, Stacy. Maybe he and Allie could rent their own apartment.
He sighed and turned off the water. He knew that wasn't a realistic option. He didn’t have any other choice besides taking the internship.
"Maybe it would be fun," he said, trying to pep talk himself as he dried off. If he had to live in New York City to do the internship, he felt that he should at least be able to take Margot with him for company. He would need to take the dog back from Allie. He would make his uncle give him his own apartment. It would be fine. There were nice bars and clubs. It would be fun.
There was a knock on the door, and Grant came into his room and sat down on the bed next to him.
"Hey," he said. "I understand it's hard, transitioning back to civilian life."
"No, you don’t," Carter retorted. "You were a war hero, and you had everyone falling all over you."
Grant laughed. "No, I didn’t. My father wanted to kill me the first time he saw me."
"Well, I guess we’re two peas in a pod. My father hated me the moment the doctor handed me to him."
"Uncle Jack doesn't hate you," Grant said. "He's just worried about you. You just have to show him you can take responsibility."
"No," Carter said. "I'm not showing him anything. I don’t care what he thinks of me. He can eat a bag of—"
"Language," Grant admonished. "You’re going into a corporate environment. You have to be professional. No bringing crazy women you met in bars to the company holiday party."
Carter glowered. "There was nothing wrong with Allie."
"Put her out of your head," Grant said. "Concentrate on the present. Just take it a day at a time."
"I hate that saying," Carter said. "It’s so fatalistic."
"It's not forever, just until you detox from the Marines. You’ll have fun in the internship program. You will be doing actual real work."
"Spare me."
"No, listen to me. You will learn quite a lot. What area do you want to go into? You were what? A philosophy major in college before you dropped out?"
"Yep. Not much you can do with that."
"I guess there’s always sales. Or human resources."
"Gross," Carter said.
"You don’t know any programming?" Grant asked.
Carter shook his head.
"I guess you could go into risk management. There’s always a human element to that."
"Whatever."
Grant patted him on the knee. "Hang in there. And buy some new clothes. You need to represent!"
19
Allie
Allie checked and double-checked the number in her bank account
Seventeen thousand dollars. She had been charging Carter more for the dog than she probably should have. It was adding up, especially since she had received the payment for taking the blame for the car accident as well. She knew she probably should have used the money to see a doctor, but she wanted to use it to finally, finally, finish her degree.
She signed up for the last of her online classes and checked the degree requirement to make sure that she had all the credits.
"What?" she muttered, her stomach sinking as she read over the pdf on the department's website. "There's an internship requirement?"
She sent an email to the advisor for her actuarial science major.
"This is a new requirement," the advisor said when Allie called to follow up about it.
"I can’t get an internship," Allie said frantically. "This can’t be right. Can’t I be grandfathered in?"
"We believe an internship is in our students' best interest," her advisor replied.
Allie could feel herself panicking. She was so close.
"It's too late to find an internship," Allie said. "This will delay my graduation date by a year!"
"Don't worry," her advisor said soothingly. "We have a relationship with Holbrook Enterprises as part of a condition for them being awarded a contract with our university. They have actuarial science, risk management, and accounting internships open for any student that needs one."
Allie let her head drop into her hands. She thought she was done with the Holbrooks! She tried to talk herself off the ledge. This could be a good move. Surely they had other offices besides the one in New York.
"It’s a great program," her advisor continued. "All the positions are in the New York City headquarters, so you're right there in all the action. No need to go out to the middle of nowhere. They pay competitively as well, which is nice since it is New York City."
"I suppose that's what I'll have to do," Allie said, her voice sounding hollow.
"It's a wonderful opportunity, and you'll be able to graduate in August. These last few classes are all online. You won't need to travel back for tests, because the final deliverable is a paper. You can relax and concentrate on the internship in New York. And if you do well, you may be offered a job! Isn’t it a wonderful opportunity?"
"But I have a job here," she muttered.
"Yes, I understand," her advisor said. "What is it? Waitressing?"
"Bartending."
"They have bars in New York. I understand it’s a big change, and change is hard, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Think about your future. Now I’m going to go ahead and put you in the system. You will be contacted by a Holbrook representative in the next day or so. I would start packing for New York City if I were you. We have a crop of students starting in late January. This is exciting and a little scary, but your future is wide open for you. Please send me your resume and cover letter, and you'll be on your way!"
"Yes, ma’am. Thank you." Allie hung up the phone.
"I have to break the news to Stacy," she said to herself, "and my bosses."
Her bosses handled it better than she expected.
"Find a husband," Bert told her after giving her a hug. "Not one of these no-count marines that hang around here. You need a real rich husband with a college degree. Don’t forget where you came from, but don’t let it tie you down and drown you, either."
"Thanks, Bert," she said, her eyes tearing up.
"Don’t cry, girl," he told her gruffly.
Stacy did not take the news well.
"Holbrook," she said, her eye twitching. "I thought you said you were done with Carter."
"It's not about Carter," Allie said, exasperated, as she packed her meager belongings.
"I have to do this to earn my degree," Allie explained. "I don't want to be a bartender the rest of my life."
"What's wrong with being a bartender?" Stacy asked, a pouty look on her face.
"Look," Allie told her, pulling out a wad of cash, "I'm leaving you my portion of rent for the next two months. There’s people in and out of this town, so you should be able
to find a roommate easily."
"So you aren’t coming back? Ever?" Stacy asked.
"I don’t know," Allie said, letting the frustration show on her face. "But I don’t have the mental capacity to keep one foot here and another in New York City."
She finished packing in a daze. Where was she going to park her car? What was she going to do about Margot?
She didn’t sleep at all that night, just searched online for a room to sublet in New York City. She messaged a few people but wasn’t sure how it would turn out.
The next afternoon, she received confirmation from the Holbrook representative that she would be put in the internship program. A quick call came as well, confirming Allie's receipt of the email and that she did in fact intend to participate in the internship program.
"The program starts next Monday," the woman said.
"Okay." Allie’s voice sounded faint to her. She thought she would be allowed a little more time.
"There’s a welcome party that night," the rep continued. "There’s onboarding all day."
"I'm looking forward to it," Allie said with more enthusiasm than she actually felt.
20
Carter
Carter was not looking forward to the internship. He spent the weeks before tagging along with various family members to gather all the things he would need.
His uncle forced him to buy several suits and nice shoes.
"You look great!" Walter said as Carter tried on his new business attire.
"Make sure you don't stop exercising. You don't want to lose your figure," Mr. Lee, the tailor, said to him. "I see you already got a little fat."
His uncle stifled a laugh. Carter blushed. He hadn't been working out as he should have been and as he was used to.
When he returned to the estate, he forced himself to be active. Then even though it was cold, he saddled up a horse and rode around his uncle's property. After a chilly ride, Carter arrived at the cemetery where his cousins were buried. He wished they were still around. It wasn't fair. Sometimes he wished he had been killed in the war so he could be with them.
His mother would have been sad. He wasn't sure about his father.
Next to his cousins' graves was Danielle's. He was sorry he missed the funeral just so he could spit on her corpse. She had deliberately started the fire that had killed his cousins and her own parents. Oh, no one could prove it, but everyone knew it was her fault—hers and Luigi's, the contractor she had been shacking up with in the old Victorian.
Though Carter was forcing himself to wake up early, he couldn't fall asleep at night. In the evenings, he would go out, trying to distract himself. At first, he tried going to one of the bars in the area, but they were super fancy, and the clientele skewed much older than Carter. Instead, he would drive around the town late at night or stay up and cyberstalk Allie.
A few days before he was scheduled to be in New York City, Carter tagged along with his mother while she went to oversee the renovation of her house.
"It's coming along nicely," she said.
Several of the rooms were gutted, and they walked into what remained of the kitchen.
"It really needed to be reconfigured," she said. "It was the first room I designed right after Mark was born. I didn't exactly know what I needed then. The new theme for the home is going to be modern French."
"It will be beautiful," Carter said, looking around. "It's good you aren't living here during the renovation."
"Of course," she said.
He knew she was thinking of the fire.
"Why does Dad hate me so much?" Carter asked Nancy.
"Your father doesn't hate you," Nancy said. "He's just flustered. The last few years have been hard on him."
"They've been hard on everyone," Carter replied.
"I know. Come with me to the club for lunch! I'm so happy to finally have you all to myself! We'll meet your father and Harris there. Harris needs to leave the house. He's driving Stefan up a wall."
When they arrived at the club, Nancy told him, "We have to sit in the bar. They're still patching up from the incident last year."
Grant had saved the diners when would-be hostage takers had stormed the clubhouse. Several of the large historic windows had been broken, the plaster ceiling had been destroyed, and there had been bullet holes everywhere.
"It's a historic building," Nancy explained, "and it has been a trial being granted approval to start the work. It's turning out nicely, though. I had a tour with the board the other day."
Harris and Jack were already seated in the bar room when Carter and Nancy walked in.
After they were seated, Nancy asked, "What would you like, Harris?"
"I wish my favorite son were here. He can't even make time for his own father," his grandfather grumbled.
"Walter is busy running the company," Jack said.
"I thought it was your company," Harris said. "Oh, right. Walter snatched it right out from under you."
Jack gripped his water glass tightly.
"He had to," Harris said, patting Jack's hand. "You didn't have the wherewithal to make the company successful. Walter did, and now you're a billionaire. You should be thankful for Walter. He is such a phenomenal son. He's someone you can be proud of."
"He took the company in a direction I had no intention of going, but yes, I suppose he was successful," Jack said bitterly.
"And Carter is just like him," Harris said. "I expect great things from you, my boy."
Carter nodded. He felt a little bad for his father. He sipped his drink that the waiter brought, hoping his grandfather would go to a different subject.
"Where are all the young women?" Harris said, looking around. "Carter! You need to invite your friends over."
"They're all busy," Carter replied.
"Have you tried this new dating app?" Harris asked, pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket. "You just swipe on the people you like."
"No one is going to swipe you," Carter scoffed.
"They do!" Harris insisted, holding out his phone to Carter.
"What the—that's not even your picture! Who is that? Is that Grant's picture? Grandpa, you can't lie on these dating apps!"
"It's just for fun. I use the Seeking Sweetie website to find sugar babies. It's great. You should join."
"I'm not paying some woman to pretend to be my girlfriend," Carter said. Then he remembered that he already did, sort of. But what he had with Allie was different, right? What if she actually thought he meant it when he said he didn't get his money's worth? Maybe that was why she slept with him. He felt slightly sick.
"Where's that nice girl you had over for Thanksgiving?" Harris asked and downed his drink. "I liked her."
"We should press charges against her," his father said.
"No!" Carter snapped.
"Well, at the very least, I hope you don't have anything to do with her. Let me see your phone."
"No!" Carter shouted.
"Jack," Nancy said.
The waiters brought their food, and they ate their meals in relative silence, only punctuated by an off-color comment from Harris.
"You need to do something about him," Jack hissed to Walter when they returned to the estate.
Carter slumped in a chair in the study.
"Me?" Walter said.
"Yes. You're his favorite, so he's your problem."
"I can't keep giving him money," Walter said. "He burns through it so quickly. Plus there's the latest soon-to-be ex-wife."
"Give his wife a settlement and tell her to get lost. I don't want him here anymore. Also, he's a bad influence for Carter."
"Stop trying to control me!" Carter yelled.
"Yes, Jack, you're too hard on him."
"Carter is my son. You think that just because you spent a lot of time with him, you should have some say in his life," Jack yelled at Walter.
Walter glared at his brother then said, "I'll find Harris a nice apartment, something small, and set him up with an allow
ance. I'll have Kate jump on that right now."
As he walked out of the study toward the stables, Carter received a picture of Margot from Allie. He texted her back immediately.
How are you? Sore? In pain?
What did the doctor say?
She replied,
Fine.
Thanks for the money.
Carter desperately wanted to sneak away and see Allie. Sleeping with her had felt better than good. He didn't really do casual sex, but with Allie, it hadn't felt like a hook-up at all. He definitely didn't want to end up in a situation like with Harris and his ex-wives or Walter and his now-deceased wife, but Allie seemed safe, he thought. Safe enough.
The weekend before he was to start his internship, his family helped him move to New York City.
"So where's my swanky apartment?" Carter asked.
Walter grimaced. "I had to give it to your grandfather. You'll be staying with Grant and Kate at the penthouse."
"What!" Carter yelled from the back seat.
Grant turned around in the passenger's seat and looked at him. "This is better," he said. "Now we can keep an eye on you, and you won't be lonely."
"There's plenty of room here," Kate said when they arrived. "You know your way around, I'm sure."
Carter hung up his new suits and rearranged his room to his liking. After the rest of his family left, Carter decided he was antsy and wanted to go out.
"It's fine if you want to blow off some steam, but don't get into trouble," Grant warned him.
"I know, I know," Carter said.
He left Grant and Kate's penthouse condo and bounced on the balls of his feet in the elevator. Carter wanted to let loose; he checked his pockets and made sure he had his credit card and that his phone was charged.
Carter had a list of clubs, and he picked one at random. It seemed full of energy, and he liked the music. He walked in and threw down his credit card.
"I want champagne service," he said. He had arrived all alone, but soon, several women flocked to him in the VIP booth.
Carter leaned back in the plush leather seat and let the women fawn over him. There was a pretty redhead, a blonde, and a dark-haired woman with tattoos. He did a double take.