by Gina Gordon
Jack handed out the file folders he had prepared with Sterling. “Our first big event would be an auction of Mom’s clothes.”
Gloria and Finn finally engaged and glanced down to flip through the folder. At least two of them were paying attention. Which meant they were listening, so he powered through.
“I also think we should expand by setting up a referral program from the local high schools.”
Crickets. The silence mocked him. Maybe he was way in over his head. Maybe the idea sucked. But he’d come this far.
“If you’ll all look at the folders, page three outlines the projected timeline for getting the foundation set up as well as for the event. Our lawyer is putting together the paperwork.”
Neil stared back at him with a stern glare. “That’s presumptuous of you.”
“Just being prepared, brother. I know we all need to agree.” Jack collected a breath and remembered Sterling’s advice: breathe, stay calm, and remember it’s your time to shine. But after the way he had treated her the night before, he was positive her advice today would be that he could choke and die. “At the back of the folder you’ll find the proposed date for the auction, the tentative guest list, and a marketing plan.”
The flip of pages echoed around him. Finally, they were looking through his presentation—everyone but Neil, who sat with his arms crossed over his chest, one ankle resting on his knee.
He could at least pretend to be interested. It seemed as though his plan wasn’t going over well. Their silence, and the fact that they barely even looked at one another, let alone him standing at the head of the table, didn’t bode well. He hoped it was just the shock over his change in character, rather than the idea itself. His conscience couldn’t handle a refusal. He needed this foundation. He needed to make his mother proud. But more than that, Jack believed so strongly in this idea and he was going to convince them, no matter what he had to do.
Time to break out the big guns. Jack had to let them know how much this meant to him.
“My life is in Chicago. But I want to do this for Mom. We should do this for Mom. We can’t let all of her hard work be for nothing.”
Not one of them gave away a feeling, not even a twitch of their eye or neck. Nothing to put him the least bit at ease.
“So, you’re going to create more work and then leave it for us to worry about?” Neil asked.
Inside, his heart deflated just a tiny bit. On the outside, he didn’t let Neil’s comment faze him. “It’s just an idea, Neil. And if Gloria is willing to take it on, I think it has the potential to be a really great idea.”
“Jack…” Finn spoke first. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay? This foundation idea is your strength. You know how to schmooze.”
He looked at Neil. “Chicago is where I belong. I just couldn’t leave without putting this option on the table.”
“Forgive me for disagreeing…but you belong here.” Finn clasped his hands together on the table in front of him. “But I think this is a great idea and I’m on board.”
“I’m in, too,” Cole said as he pushed the file folder away from him across the table. He smiled. “Does this mean you’re leaving now, because I can’t wait to get you out of my restaurant.”
Jack laughed. “Yes. I’ll be out of your hair soon.” He knew Cole was only joking, trying his best to ease the negativity that seemed to settle over everything whenever the subject of his leaving came up.
Maybe that’s a sign you shouldn’t leave.
“Me, too,” Gloria said. She left her seat at the booth and sidled up to him, planting a kiss on his cheek. “I think this is a lovely way to honor my friend.”
“Mom would be proud, Jackie,” Finn said.
“I let her down once.” Jack squeezed Gloria’s shoulder and looked deeply into her eyes. He wasn’t there when she died, and he made her passing a joke. “I’m not going to let her down again.”
“You didn’t let anyone down. Your mother was proud of you, Jack. Of everything you’ve accomplished. Don’t ever doubt that.” She turned to his brothers. “All of you.”
He let out a sigh of relief. That’s all he ever wanted to do. Make her proud. To fill that gaping hole in his heart that had opened the day he got the call that she had passed. He wasn’t there for her on her deathbed. He sure as hell was going to be there to continue her legacy.
“But…”
He tensed. Was Gloria going to throw a wrench in his plans?
“I think I should be vice chair. I can handle things locally, but this is your baby, Jack.”
It was the best of both worlds. He got to be involved but keep his lifestyle. Although if he was honest with himself, he’d miss those damn kids. They had been a bright light in his life when it seemed as if he was in a black hole. And if he was even more honest, he was going to miss Sterling.
Gloria, Finn, and Cole were on board and were now conversing quietly among one another. But Neil still hadn’t spoken. When the other three noticed the stare-down between them they shut up quickly, the smiles disappearing from their faces. Although technically Neil wasn’t “in charge,” his opinion mattered.
Jack’s stomach roiled when Neil lifted his hands, and clasped them behind his head. Here it came. The lecture.
“I think you’re better than those bars. That’s why I harp on you.”
Jack dropped the pen he had been twirling between his fingers. He had no doubt his face matched his shocked system. And he wasn’t going to make the mistake of correcting the fact that he owned restaurants—not bars.
“I thought your decision to start your own business was selfish. We have so much here. So much has been given to us and I just couldn’t understand why you didn’t want to give back to the name that had given you a break.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ve never given you enough credit, but you’ve just proven me wrong. You’re going to change the world one foster kid at a time.”
Was it too over-the-top that he wanted to yell I told you so? That he wanted to smile, point, and remind Neil that he may be the youngest, but that didn’t mean he was the laziest. But, he didn’t. “It isn’t fair that we lucked out. There are so many kids who are just like us with no hope and no one to turn to. “
This was it. The moment he had been waiting for. They were on board. Everything had gone according to plan. But there was something missing.
“So we’re all in agreement?” Cole asked looking from side to side.
As soon as Neil nodded in agreement, Jack took a deep breath, pride filling his chest. He’d never had this feeling before. And he owed it all to Sterling.
“I just have one question,” Finn said. “Who are you and what have you done with our brother Jack?”
“I think we can thank a lady by the name of Sterling for this sudden transformation,” Cole answered.
“Sterling helped me put together the presentation but she’s…” She did a lot more than that. She was the initial brains behind the idea but she would never take the credit. Sterling had opened his eyes to a brand-new life. But would life be the same without her in it? “We’re done.”
“What did you do?” Neil scolded.
“Nothing.” That’s a lie. “Our arrangement was only temporary. She knew that from the beginning.
“Uh-oh,” Gloria said. “What did you do?”
His shoulders slumped forward. “I found a stack of bank statements. She’s in debt. Major debt.” He fisted his hands at his sides. “I all but accused her of wanting me for my money.”
All three brothers cursed under their breath but Gloria didn’t hold back. “Why are you boys such idiots?”
“Hey, we’re not all idiots,” Finn said, his thumb pointing over his shoulder at Neil. “Some of us more than others.”
Neil shoved him into the table.
Their attention turned from Neil and Finn wrestling at the table to the front door smashing against the brick wall. Cole cringed at Penn’s carelessness as she wrestled sever
al boxes through the door but he immediately shot up and raced out of the booth, to her rescue. Wasn’t he the one who always complained about how she always needed help? He carried three boxes to Penn’s one.
“What do you have there, Penn?” Finn asked.
She huffed as she settled her box on the table across from them. “This is a present from Sterling.” Penn zeroed her gaze on Jack. He tensed. Obviously she had already heard the news about his stupidity. She walked by him, her eyes throwing daggers, and leaned down to hug Gloria.
“Gather ’round, boys. I have something to show you.” Penn gestured to the table where she’d set up the boxes. She settled beside Cole on one side of the table, Jack flanked her other, Finn and Neil settled on the opposite side. “Your names should be on the lids, one for each of you. Go ahead. Open them.”
On the top of each box was what looked like a photo album, but when Jack opened the pages he realized it was a scrapbook. Every achievement, every event, every moment worth remembering was documented in the pages of the scrapbook. And they each had one.
“Shit,” Finn whispered under his breath.
“And all of the pictures that were found in the house were duplicated and you each have copies,” Penn said.
“Sterling did this?” Cole asked.
Penn nodded.
Jack watched his brothers as they rummaged through the photos. Cole stared at the framed photo of Vivian and him. Finn and Neil silently thumbed through their boxes.
“Jack.” Neil looked up and laughed, a loud bellow. “Remember when you dressed like a princess for Halloween?” He held up a photo of Jack in his costume, complete with blond wig, pink dress, and cone hat.
Penn burst out in hysterics beside him and snatched the picture out of Neil’s hand. “I’m so keeping this for blackmail purposes.” She looked inside Cole’s box. “There has to be some good ammo in here of you, Mr. Uptight.” She nudged Cole in the ribs and thrust out her hip trying to block him from grabbing the box.
Jack placed the scrapbook on the table. “As I recall the only reason I had to wear that costume is because I lost a bet.”
“You never could beat me at racing games,” Finn said.
He remembered that day. It was a good day despite his unfortunate clothing. And the memory of that day was something he shared with his brothers. All of the pictures in these boxes were memories he’d shared with them. And Sterling knew all along how important these photos were to his family.
Was this her way of reminding him where he came from? That it was all right to have connections to things, to people? His mother might have been gone, but he still had family here, despite the vast differences among him and his brothers. They were his family. They were his home. Sterling had reminded him of that. She had given him a sense of home when he thought he’d never feel that again.
“Jack?” Neil voice snapped him back to the moment. “You look like you’re going to puke. What’s wrong?”
“I’m in love.” Jack looked up from the pages of the scrapbook. “And I screwed it all up.”
“Damn right you did.” Penn waved off Cole’s groping for pictures and crossed her arms over her chest. “Sterling would rather die than take the easy way out. Frankly, she’s a sitting duck for takers. Her parents take, her sisters take, you take. People are always shitting on her and I’m tired of it.”
What the hell was she talking about?
“You may not have had a stable family growing up, Jack, but it was probably for the best. Sterling lived her whole life taking care of assholes who have no regard for her hard-earned money, or her feelings.” She walked around the table and squeezed her way beside him. “This isn’t my place but you need to know. Sterling supports her parents, who at every turn get her deeper and deeper in the hole.”
Now he really was going to puke. “I’m a piece of shit.”
She leaned closer. “You’re just figuring out that now?”
“Get your ass over there and apologize, Jack.” Of course Finn would be the one to nudge him toward true love.
True love? He nodded and his chest filled ten times its size. It was true love.
“Right. I can win her back.” He had to. His future just didn’t look right without Sterling in it.
“I thought you were leaving?” Neil asked.
That was the plan. It had always been the plan. Until he met Sterling. He knew that very first night on the boat that she was different. Special. He just didn’t want to believe it. But now, staring at the appreciative faces of his brothers, he knew without a doubt this was a person he never wanted to live without.
He looked up at Neil and shook his head. “I have a foundation to run.” Jack turned and scooped Penn into his arms. “Thank you.”
She tensed with his close contact and he could have sworn he heard a growl over his shoulder from where Cole was standing.
He’d just convinced his brothers to agree to the auction. He had a business that required his attention. But none of that mattered. None of it mattered if he didn’t have Sterling to share it with.
“Penn, I’m going to need your help.”
He loved Sterling. And it was time she found out.
“I’ve got some major groveling to do.”
…
Sterling stepped out into the blinding sun, holding the door for a woman and her child as they scurried into the office building. She had just signed for a new mortgage. Rose’s mortgage broker contact had come through, able to consolidate her parents’ debt and even lower her monthly payments.
As she walked to her car, her cell phone rang from inside her purse. She fished it out and said, “Hello, Penn.”
“How did it go?”
“It was positive. Everything seems to be on the right track.” At least for now. She still didn’t trust her parents. She didn’t think she ever would again.
“Listen…” The tone in Penn’s voice was all too familiar. She was about to ask for a favor. “Your meeting was in Bloor West Village, right?”
“Yes.”
“The highway is only a hop, skip, and a jump from you. Do you think you could meet me at Yonge-Dundas Square?”
“Why the hell would I go all the way downtown?” Something was up. Penn’s usual requests were more along the lines of “if you’re in the area can you grab me a coffee?” or “since you’re at the drugstore, why don’t you grab me some tampons?”
“Penn, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just need to talk, and as far from the Madewood brothers as possible. Can you meet me in front of the Hard Rock Cafe?”
Something must have happened with Cole. “Honey, I’ll be there in half an hour.”
Sterling parked in the closest garage to the restaurant. She could only imagine how much this parking spot would set her back.
She had agreed to meet Penn because her friend sounded distressed, but also because she was in no hurry to return to her empty basement apartment. The fight with Jack last week tainted her living space so much that she barely spent any time at home. His accusations had broken her heart. But the loud crack she heard when he reminded her she was holding on to something she could never have confirmed that her heart had not only been broken, but her so-called life was not a life at all.
She’d told herself all along that this was a fling, something temporary to get her mind off the drama in her real life. A once-in-a-lifetime experience with an amazing, attractive man. Despite telling herself that every day, her heart apparently didn’t get the memo.
But getting involved with Jack Vaughn had taught her a valuable lesson. She was in control of her life. She was her own worst enemy. And it was time to fight. Starting with the mooches who lived in her home.
Next month, she would move out of her apartment and into her house. The house that she bought. The house that had her name on the mortgage. Her parents would move into her basement unit and her sisters would remain with her in the house until they left to pursue postsecondary education. She would nev
er make the mistake of leaving them with her parents again.
She walked out onto the street. The air felt different against her skin. It even smelled different. And it had nothing to do with the unbearable humidity. She was free.
And all alone.
She’d tried fun and exciting. She’d broken out of her shell, even if only for a little while. But would she be able to maintain this new way of living without Jack?
Chaos and disorder led to trouble and she’d had enough of that as a child—even as an adult. She compartmentalized her life, neatly packaging herself. If she planned and plotted and organized everything then she would succeed. She’d have a perfect trouble-free life.
What a dummy she’d been.
No matter how organized she was, it didn’t stop the fact that she owed the bank. It didn’t stop her parents from screwing her over. It didn’t stop Jack from believing the worst.
She wiped a tear from her eye and turned the corner, walking a few blocks. When she reached the cafe, she waited. And surveyed the crowd. No sign of Penn. She paced the street, walking closer to the square. It was filled with people, and not just locals but tourists, cameras in hand, taking in the sights of the venue and the billboards. Traffic filled the streets. Cars were lined up bumper-to-bumper, waiting for their light to turn green as pedestrians crossed the four-way walkway.
As she turned in a circle, her eye caught on something across the street. An advertisement. She recognized the logo for Bistro, one of the Madewood restaurants. Also a new logo, one she had brainstormed with Jack only last week. The billboard was an announcement for the Vivian Madewood Foundation Charity Auction.
She gasped. He’d done it. Their plan had worked. Her heart leaped with excitement for Jack. She had no doubt this would be the first of many events that would make a difference in the life of a foster child. But he wouldn’t be here to attend any of them. Because he had left. Without a word.
The memory of that night, of his accusations, still stung. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to forget the look on his face when he registered the information on her bank statements. His behavior only proved why she couldn’t, wouldn’t, trust the opposite sex. They fell for the fantasy, the perfect-on-paper Sterling, and when reality came crashing down, they turned and ran.