Page 2 of We Can't Be Friends

The toaster goes off as I slide on my coat. It’s freezing in Boston this time of year. Early February is nothing but snow, ice, and your cheeks burning as soon as you walk outdoors. I love it.

Tapping my phone, I check the time. Aaron should be here by now. Slipping on my UGG boots, I might as well go outside and wait for him.

With the waffle dangling out of my mouth, I open the door. . .

1

CALLUM

“Did you swim across the pond?”

Liam Hayes is leaning back on the couch in his office, feet kicked up on the glass coffee table. Floor-to-ceiling windows are letting in the morning sun, reflecting off the surface of Lake Michigan.

“Ha. Ha.” I run a hand over my blond hair, sliding into a chair opposite him and unbuttoning my suit jacket, running my hands along my thighs. A yawn creeps out of me, mirroring my five o’clock shadow. I landed two hours ago, took a quick shower, and chugged an energy drink—I hate energy drinks—before heading into the office. “If we flew private, we wouldn’t have this issue.” And by issue, I mean three flight delays and a completely rearranged travel day to get to Chicago from London.

“You can’t control the weather, Cal.”

“Or maintenance,” Ben Campbell, Director of Operations for Hayes Hotels, chimes in.

“I thought we were on the same team.”

“Gotta appease the boss.” He shrugs, his smile still boyish. He’s five years younger than us, but light years ahead of us simultaneously. Ben was the first employee hired to work in the North American office of Hayes Hotels.

“Chatting me a link to that commercial last week was for what?” I rebuttal.

Liam arches a brow. Intrigued.

I might be the Chief Finance Officer, but he’s even more frugal with money. I’d never call him cheap. He’s cautious. How else would you be when you started a company that quicklysnowballed into an international hotel empire? Everything he has built could vanish overnight. Liam Hayes isn’t naïve about that.

We met at university. Suitemates, plus George Eaton, our other best friend. Liam and I were both in business school, while George was pre-med.

I have two brothers, but George and Liam, they’re my real brothers. The family I had craved for too long.

“Send over your latest inquiry, and once we get through this opening, I’ll reconsider,” Liam requests.

Once we get through this opening.Once we get through this opening, there will be another—we’re already planning the next seven. The company’s ten-year plan is becoming the five-year plan quickly.

It never stops. I don’t blame Liam; look where his drive and determination have gotten us.

In our second year of school, after a career-ending football injury and his mom passing, Liam approached me about buying a hotel. It’s a rent-free memory for the both of us, pints of beer—before he realized he preferred Negronis—and one too many games of him losing billiards to me.

The three of us had already traveled during our holidays from school. His love of travel and hotels was apparent, so much so that I wasn’t surprised. What caught me off guard was when he asked if I wanted to work with him. As a second year finance student, what did I know about numbers?

Quite a lot, actually.

Numbers. Math. They always came naturally to me, a constant and controllable study I often gravitated to.

By the time we finished our degrees, Hayes Hotels had one operating hotel in London and working on its second. We never stopped. Hustled our asses off, growing a team, a base in London—the hub for our European collection.

Last year, we decided to expand to Chicago. Our first hotel here, The Hayes, opens in September, only two months away.

Then, the cycle will continue. New city, hotel open, rinse and repeat.

I can’t remember the last time I relaxed or took time off. Even our yearly summer holiday has been confiscated by work.

Is this what being an adult is?

Wake up: Think about what you need to do at work.

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