by Lauren Wood
He finally left, and I stood in David’s way as he started to go for his friend. I don’t know how this had happened, but in no time at all, the two men were at each other’s throats and it was all my fault. I don’t know what I was supposed to do and I felt guilty as hell about the whole situation.
“I’ve known Ted for a while. I always called him Teddy. We met once, years back. That’s how we know each other. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want it to be weird.”
“It is weird. It’s weird as fuck to walk in on my sister and my best friend boning. That’s something that can’t be unseen Callie.”
I knew where he was coming from and I hadn’t wished for that to happen. I knew that he wouldn’t be okay with it, that’s why I’d kept it a secret.
“I know, I’m sorry. I should have locked the door, but I wasn’t really thinking.”
He stopped me and told me that I was just making it worse. This was new. We’d never really fought before, and I didn’t like it. David was really upset, and I didn’t know what to say to him to make it better.
“Are you going out with him? How long has this been going on?”
“We are just having fun David. It’s nothing serious. It doesn’t matter how long it has been going on.”
“It does to me. I want to know how long he’s been lying to me. I was just telling him the other day about you dating someone and how I didn’t want it to be someone like him.”
“Why? What is so bad about Ted?”
“Besides the fact that he’s a womanizer. He met a chick once and has obsessed about her ever since, breaking a hundred hearts on the way. Literally that many women Callie. Do you really want to be with a guy like that? He’s a great friend, but I don’t want him near you because the fun and games will end soon. Then you’re going to be heartbroken and I’ll have to kick his ass anyway.”
It wasn’t the time to question out loud if he could do that. He had to see that this wasn’t the end of the world.
“I’m a big girl David. I’ve had my heartbroken many times before, but it won’t be from Teddy. My eyes are wide open.”
David just shook his head and said that it wasn’t going to be okay. I knew that it wasn’t, not in his eyes and I felt a sadness come over me. He wanted me to promise that I wouldn’t mess with Teddy anymore. He was adamant about it so much that I finally agreed, even though I really didn’t want to. But I did to save the relationship. He was very clear about it and I had to just go with it. It wasn’t like we were in love or something, right? A few orgasms weren’t enough of a reason to break up a family relationship.
Chapter 21
Theodore
Work was going to be awkward. I had a meeting at nine in the morning and the last thing I wanted to do was see David. We had never been in a row like this, but now I could see that it had came between us more than I realized it would.
I’d known that David was going to swing on me. He was just that sort of a person and I’d seen it coming. That’s why I’d let him hit me a few times because I was convinced that once he got a few good hits in and got it out of his system, he would calm down. The problem was that even after he’d cracked me several good times, he was still pissed off and wouldn’t chill the fuck out.
Once again, his sister was acting cagey as hell and I knew that she didn’t want to be put in the middle of it. I didn’t blame her, really, I didn’t, but she apparently was blaming me. Again, she wouldn’t answer my calls and texts and I was left waiting to see what happens. It was not something that I was too keen on.
I had a bit of a black eye as I drove my way to work. It had been one eventful weekend and between the party and the morning after, I didn’t look forward to the stares that I was sure I was going to get. All I knew for certain was that I was going to have to ignore it. It would go away and there would be something on the horizon for everyone to talk about. That was the way of the factory and I couldn’t wait for it to happen. Someone couldn’t fuck up soon enough to get the spotlight off me.
When I walked through the door, I was convinced that everyone was going to be staring at me and I was going to hear whispers. I was convinced of that, but neither thing happened.
Instead I was made to walk up the stairs to the offices and to show my face to the rest of those that were already waiting. I was early, learning my lesson, but it didn’t seem to matter because they were all there before me. David still had a look on his face that said he wanted to kill me and Callie couldn’t even look at me. No, this wasn’t awkward at all.
“Nice of you to join us Ted. We were just about to get started. The first order of business is what we were talking about last month. Since we got that new company as a client and our revenue is about to go up, as well as production, I think that we should seriously talk about upgrading the machines.”
“I thought we’d already decided that we weren’t going to do that Callie. You know, because of all of the jobs that would be lost.”
“We have to do something David. I know that you don’t want to be the one to fire people. I will. It’s the only way that we can really turn this company around and start making some serious profits.”
David wasn’t going for it. He just sort of shook his head like he didn’t agree, emphatically even. “I’m already rich enough. I’m not worried about more profits. Don’t you make enough?”
Callie was offended, and I could see that it was because of what her brother said. “It’s not about me having enough money David, but the stockholders. This company is a public company, so we have a duty to them to increase dividends.”
Me and the other three people in the room didn’t say anything. We didn’t need to be there. This was between brother and sister, the two of them were making other people in the room uncomfortable. I knew that it was my fault they were arguing, so I tried to stay out of it.
Finally, I had to suggest something because they were just getting louder.
“Do you mind if the rest of us step out for a minute? I can stay if my presence would be helpful.”
David looked at me, but not really at me. He looked through me. “Your presence is not needed. You can all leave. Me and my sister have some things to discuss.”
He was mad, and I don’t know if it was just about me sleeping with her. David was mad at her as well. I felt like such a douchebag. Not only had I made my friend mad and betrayed him in a way, I’d also started the two siblings fighting, something that they hadn’t done yet. Maybe it wasn’t all going to work out like I thought and hoped it would. By the looks of it, everything with the three of us was going downhill fast.
I got out of the room about as fast as everyone else did. No one wanted to be in there when the two of them were going at it like that. I certainly didn’t want to be in there. If I could somehow make things better, I would have tried, but there was nothing that I could say that was going to help the situation. In truth, me being there was most likely making things worse.
I could hear them yelling at each other as I went down the stairs back to the floor. Soon, the sound of the machines was drowning out the drama unfolding, and I wondered how it was all going to work out. David was one stubborn SOB and I really hoped that this wasn’t one of those things that he stuck his foot down for.
Glad that I could no longer hear them, I wondered if I was part of that conversation upstairs. I would have thought that they would have worked it out by now, but it didn’t seem to be that way. It seemed like they were just getting started and I didn’t think about it anymore. I had work to do and it was a great way to get my mind off everything. That had went about as well as I figured it would be.
***
Later while I was in the breakroom for lunch, I heard a couple of people talking about getting rid of people and getting better machines in. Gary was one of the loudest of all of them and I knew that it was because he didn’t get along with David. Little did he know that David was trying to save their jobs.
“You got it wrong Gary.”
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“Oh yeah? I talked to Tina and she overheard them talking about it up there, not too quietly from what I heard.”
“I was up there a little while ago. You are starting rumors that aren’t true. No one is losing their job, except those that are trying to incite division on the floor. If you spent half the time your flab your gums, on your actual job, we would have better production numbers.”
“I know that you’re in on it with them. You’re hitting that little tight skirt running things, aren’t you? You’re going to say whatever she wants you to say.”
Why did I feel like hitting everyone suddenly? I had almost forgotten that I’d shown my ass at the party not too long ago and made it clear that we were together or something like that. All the crap going on with David catching us and the little scuffle had me completely forgetting about it. Now it was coming back to me. Now I remembered, and I groaned inwardly. Our conversation and volume had people looking our way. Were they waiting for me to blow up again? That wasn’t something I usually did, but anything to do with Callie had me going a little crazy.
“If you’re referring to the co-owner of the company Callie, you would be wrong again Gary. You need to shut up and stop with the spreading of lies or you will be fired. Then I won’t have to worry about you anymore.”
I tried to stay as calm as possible, but it was hard to do. I knew that everyone was watching, and I didn’t need the reputation of a loose cannon. I didn’t like him referring to Callie in that way, but he backed down quickly and I was left in the breakroom by myself. This new position and new job had changed a lot, but I knew more than anything it was how I felt about Callie that changed me the most.
Chapter 22
Callie
My head hurt as my brother went on. He was just as stubborn as dad was and I could see the resemblance as he got madder and madder. I started to cry from the way he looked and the memory that came for me so quickly. I missed them and seeing David in that state had made me miss them more strangely. What I wouldn’t have given to see dad and mom once more, even if they were whooping and hollering like he was now.
“David, you need to calm down. I’m trying to figure this out. I asked for you to give me something. You haven’t. This is the only way and you know it.”
“I thought I owned half of this place?”
I didn’t like where his line of thinking was going, and it didn’t take much to realize that he was starting to think about how to block me. It was the best we could do for the company and it was the best for the shareholders, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be what was best for any of the people that worked here. That included me and David. We were going to never get passed this if he was as adamant as he appeared now. Passionate was not enough of a word to describe how he was acting.
“You do brother. You own half of everything. Our parents left it all to both of us. You know that.”
“Okay, well then maybe you’ve forgotten this Callie. I don’t want this, and I will fight you on this.”
I sighed and leaned back in the chair, my head was throbbing, and this day was getting worse by the second. I don’t know why he was going to be like this. He acted like I didn’t care about the company. I did. But I knew what was going to happen if we didn’t get profit margins up. I was just being a realist and David was running on emotions.
“I don’t want to fight about this David. I need to get profits up. I don’t know how else to do that if we can’t get new machines in here.”
“We just need to do something. Why can’t we just get more clients, I mean everything comes in a box, so there must be almost unlimited growth potential? That is what you’re good at, talking people into doing what you want, isn’t it?”
I felt like it was a dig about Teddy and I wasn’t going to get into with him. I’d already promised not to be around him anymore, but David still wasn’t over it. That much was rather clear to see.
“Even if we got more clients and had more orders, we still have to fulfill them. There is only so many boxes that can be made in one day with these machines. They are down a lot and even if they all ran at their full capacity, it wouldn’t be enough. We are barely going to be able to do it as it stands now. I don’t see it getting any easier, so more clients is not the answer.”
He was quiet for a moment and I wondered if I had gotten through to him or not. I didn’t think that I had, but I hoped so. He was not someone that I wanted to argue with and it was harder to when it wasn’t even something that I wanted to do. It was necessary and if we didn’t do what they wanted, the board was going to give our jobs over to someone else and then we wouldn’t have a choice of what happened in our own family business. That was not something that our parents would have wanted.
“Why can’t we just stay up and run longer? We add another shift in the evenings, hire a few more people and you pull in more orders. It will be an economic boost, not bust.”
I was almost about to tell him that it wouldn’t work, but I didn’t have a reason why it wouldn’t. It was so simple, but it was exactly what we needed. I really didn’t want to get rid of all those people and automate. That was the problem with most of the ghost towns around the state. I didn’t want the same thing to happen to this city, as factory after factory took that route.
“That’s a really good idea. It will take some thought and planning, but I think it will work. The board just wants more money, it doesn’t really matter where and how it happens. They really don’t care about the running of things. All they care about is how much they get in dividends each quarter.”
David smiled, and it was the first time I’d really seen him smile since he caught me and his friend together. The sad part of it was, that if I could go back and change anything, I don’t think that I would have. I didn’t want to. I wanted to believe that it had all happened for a reason and he was just going to have to get over it. I really hoped he would. I didn’t want to argue with him and now, hopefully, there was something less to get upset about.
“So, no more talk of firing people, right?”
“Agreed. I really didn’t even want to think about it to start with.”
He didn’t answer me, and he was about to get up. “Can we talk about this David. I don’t like this. I don’t like how we are right now.”
“What do you want me to say?”
There were so many things.
“How about that you’re not still mad at me?”
“I’m not mad at you Callie. I’m mad at him. Ted knows better and I can’t believe that he did that. We were best friends.”
“You are best friends. I pushed it. I just want you to know that, before you go breaking a lifelong friendship over it. It wasn’t like I was an innocent victim or something.”
I didn’t mention that he hadn’t taken much of a push at all, but I didn’t have to, not really. If he knew Teddy like I know he did, he knew that Teddy had a way with women. David had been the one to tell me how good of a way he had with them. I didn’t want to hear about it again, but the information kept running around in my head.
“I didn’t need to know that, and it doesn’t make it better Callie. Ted knew better, and I don’t know if I can be friends with someone that I can’t trust.”
I felt like he was being a bit dramatic, but I let it go. It was obvious that he wasn’t ready to forgive either one of us yet and the more I thought about it, the surer I was that there was nothing that I could do about it. I was just going to have to let it play out.
“Well I’m going to bring your idea to the board and hopefully that will seal the deal. We need this David. Thanks for coming up with something because I’ve been trying to, and I would have never thought of that. It’s just so simple. We’ll have to change schedules, do some hiring, but I really think it will work.”
David agreed and when he left, my head was still banging, but it wasn’t quite as bad. Maybe this didn’t have to be the end all be all that I was making it to be. Siblings fought all the time, right? T
here had been a good idea thrown in the mix as a result too.
Chapter 23
Theodore
I finally had Callie where I wanted her. The meeting was over for the morning and she was up in her office by herself. It had been almost a month, a whole damn month since I’d caught her alone. Garyed, she’d been busy with all the changes going on, but it wasn’t that busy. She was avoiding me, and I knew why. It was because of David.
He’d been mad at me for a couple of weeks before he finally let it go. I think he was just sick of not having anyone to shoot the shit with. He told me he had good news and he didn’t have anyone to tell. Said he wanted to tell me until he realized that he couldn’t.
That had gotten us back on a road of friendship, but Callie was a little harder to crack. That’s why I had to go to extremes to get her attention. I moved towards the door and opened it, going in and shutting it before she could even look up to see who it was.
“Ted. What are you doing here?”
“It’s Teddy to you. It’s always been Teddy to you and I don’t want you to call me anything else.”
“What do you want?” She didn’t say my name at all that time and somehow that was worse.
“I want to talk to you.”
“Talk fast Ted. I have a lot of things to do.”
I should have corrected her again, but I was feeling way out of my league at the moment. Since having Callie for the second time around, I’d learned that she was a curse to me. My sex life had fallen into disrepair since she stopped messing with me. It wasn’t because I’d lost my touch with women, hardly. It was really because no one else seemed to interest me. I was still holding out for the one that I wanted. I didn’t want to settle and everyone else was settling because it wasn’t her.