Page 3 of Suddenly Entwined

“We’ve had a pretty unbelievable first year, and like we talked about in our last meeting, we’re expanding. I guess I want to know when you think you might be ready to step into a management role.”

And, there it is. This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about me taking on more responsibility within the business. Sure, Isaac, Chris, Dean, and I all bought into the company so we’re equal partners, but Dean and Chris have no interest in leadership. Or at least not now. And Dean keeps talking about taking the summer off, but I don’t know if that’s happening.

“I’m going to be hiring more people, getting the office up and running, and I’d really like you to be involved more in the operation of things.”

I’ve turned Isaac down more than once, concerned that more responsibility at work might pull me too far from my obligations at home, but maybe it’s time to say yes. Life with mydaughters isn’t likely to slow down soon. I have two college funds to save for, and if taking on a bit more responsibility is what I need to do in order to achieve that, I’m in. I only hope I can make it all work.

“Okay, man. You’ve got me. Ease me into it?”

“Yes!” Isaac jostles me with an arm around my shoulders and I can’t help but grin.

In a year Isaac has taken his business from a start up working out of his grandfather’s 1960s backyard workshop to an award-winning construction company in a competitive market. We’re all more than a little tired, but we keep trucking forward and know that it’s worth the struggle. I took an enormous risk last year when I quit working for an established construction firm and took a chance on this business, but it’s paying off. We’re building a foundation for ourselves to live on, and it’s going to be rock solid.

“We have before school care that we rarely use…so I’ll start dropping them off earlier.”

I shudder at the thought of needing to be out the door a whole hour sooner than we were today. It’s going to be dark out, practically. I have to figure out how to put my coffee pot on an auto timer and we won’t be able to spend our time looking for missing shoes.

Isaac pats me on the back once more before lifting his cell to his ear and heading off.

So, our schedule will change a little bit? No big deal.

It’ll work. It has to.

Chapter two

Carolina

When I bring my car to a stop at the bottom of the steep driveway, I glance up at the house and smile. Painted in shades of blue, the 1980s build is surrounded by mature pines and Garry oaks. The neighbourhood isn’t all that different from the one I grew up in. Bikes lie on front lawns and family vehicles fill in the driveways. Curved flagstone stairs lead up to the door of the main floor, but the entrance to my new place is down a level, to the left of the garage door. Leaning up against the door is my older brother, arms folded over his chest and an impatient expression on his face.

I’m not sure where I’m supposed to park, but I’m not about to lug a trunk load of boxes up this hill. I creep up the drive, stopping a few feet from the door. Chris jabs at the face of his watch with exaggerated movements. Ignoring him, I slip mypurse over my shoulder and pull my curls out from under the strap. I heft the cast iron pan that my mom insisted I take with me from the passenger's seat and step out of the car.

“I can’t stay long,” he says in place of a greeting.

“You didn’t need to come at all. You could have simply given me the key, Chris.”

He was the last occupant of the ground level suite below his buddy Berg’s place. Leave it to my brother to think I can’t even open a door by myself.

“Why do you have a pan?”

“Ask mom. She got all emotional this morning about me moving out and then started scouring the house for things to give me. Apparently this,” I hoist the heavy cookware up a few inches, “is something I need. Oh, and she snuck cookies into my purse when she thought I wasn’t watching.”

That perks my brother up, and he reaches into my open bag in search of mom’s baking.

“Paws off. Those are my moving day cookies.”

“I haven’t had breakfast,” he complains, holding one of the chocolate chip laden treats aloft in triumph. “Finders fee for the apartment.”

Crumbs fall from his open mouth onto his blue button up flannel.

It was Chris’s idea to ask his friend if I could move into his recently vacated place. My brother moved in with his girlfriend, Anna, in her downtown condo recently while they renovate abeachfront property. I’ve overstayed my welcome on Mom and Dad’s couch, and this is the best option.

Coming home after almost three years of travelling and finding out that your mom turned your bedroom into an office wasn’t quite the warm welcome I had been envisioning. But, to be fair, I gave them exactly zero notice of my return. And who actually wants their twenty-five-year-old daughter taking up residence on their living room couch? But the way mom kept tearing up this morning? It made me realise that no matter how old your kids get, it's hard to say goodbye. Even if they’re only moving ten minutes down the road.

“Mmm.” Chris wipes his hands on his thighs. “Okay, let’s do this.”

I shove the ten-pound pan against his chest, smiling when he lets out a deep oof.

"The box on the top is the heaviest," I tell him, smiling as he sets the pan down and begins helping me unpack my trunk.

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