Page 78 of Where We Fall

She chuckles but gets back to typing. “Thanks.”

“How was your weekend?” I ask.

She looks up and smiles. “Meh, kinda boring.”

She props her chin up on her hand with a challenging look.

“Oh, really? You didn’t spend some amazing time with your incredible boyfriend who blows your mind in the bedroom?”

Her face doesn’t change at all. “Like I said, meh.”

I reach for the nearest pen and toss it at her. “You’re such a liar.”

Her head falls back as she lets out a laugh.

Luke and Mia walk into the room mid-conversation. They stop when they see us waiting.

“Oh, hey, guys. How are you doing this morning?” Mia asks.

While Lexi and Mia engage in small talk, Gabe and Savannah walk in.

Gabe sits at the head of the table. Nothing has been said verbally, but he generally takes the lead at these meetings. Maybe it's because he’s the oldest sibling, and our roles growing up have transferred over to work.

I can’t say it’s never bothered me. As much as I love my family, it’s hard to escape those childhood dynamics.

“Okay,” Gabe starts. “I was looking over our client list. Sales are up, and clients keep rolling in. Thanks to Lexi, our software update is working well. It’s streamlined the ordering process and has taken less time away from us so we can focus on our clients.”

I look over at Lexi and wink. That’s my girl.

“Nice work, Lexi,” Savannah jumps in. “It really has been amazing to see it come to life. So much talk about how we wanted to improve the process but to see it play out so well is great.”

Lexi smiles but shrugs her shoulders. “It was nothing. You guys came up with the plans. I just executed it.”

Leave it to Lexi to be so modest. She should take the compliment. She is incredible at her job, and we’re lucky to have her.

“Are we going to move forward with what we discussed?” Luke cuts in.

My ears turn up, not aware of a discussion we’ve had recently.

“Yeah, I think it’ll definitely drive up sales.”

“What did we discuss?” I ask.

“Luke and I were talking about a discount program. Something to incentivize our current clients to purchase all their wine through us.”

Huh, interesting.

I remember bringing something like that up a year ago, and they all nixed it. Now, not only are they all for it, but they discussed it and decided to move forward with it without talking to me.

My muscles tense, and my jaw clenches.

Sometimes, I wish they took me more seriously. I want to bring it up, to tell them how angry it makes me. I’m just worried if I do, they’ll see it as me being…me: Marcus, the crazy sibling who gets irrationally angry.

What I want them to see is: Marcus, the grown adult who is standing up for himself. I just don’t think it would be received like that.

So, I do what I’ve generally done for years since working with them—I don’t say anything.

Lexi looks at me strangely. Her eyebrows are drawn in like she’s trying to figure something out.

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