Page 47 of Icing on Top
“Open the second one,” Lincoln urged.
I opened the next box and looked at them in confusion. I wasn’t sure how to react or what the clear box was for. Ben smiled at me and then stood, carefully removing my reindeer ornaments from the tree. He sat back down on the floor as Grant took the box from me and lifted the lid off.
“We know how important these ornaments are to you, how special they are,” Lincoln explained as Ben carefully secured the ornaments to the bottom of the box with the clear embedded brackets. So we got you new ones to still be on your tree and a display box to protect the originals from further damage.”
If I was surprised by the locket’s thoughtfulness, I was gobsmacked over this gift. I didn’t know how to express howmuch I loved it. “I don’t know what to say,” I said honestly. “It’s the most perfect gift there ever was. It isn’t something I had ever thought of doing. Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around them as best I could as the tears I had been holding back finally fell. I had been terrified of facing my first Christmas without my dad, and these men fell into my lap and made it one of the best I’d ever had.
I cried for what seemed like forever, but it was only a few minutes. My tears were from a mix of emotions. Grief as I mourned my dad. Joy for finding such incredible men to love and love me back. Who reminded me of my self-worth and helped me find my confidence again. Even if this ended up only being for the season, I’d forever be grateful to them for the new memories they gave me.
Renegotiate
Grant
2 Days Until New Year’s Eve
Isat in my office staring at my computer screen without seeing the documents I was supposed to review. I glanced at my watch again to check the time. The gingerbread contest started at three, and I wanted to make sure we arrived early. We still had a couple of hours until we had to leave.
Nova.
I meant what I had said to her Christmas morning at breakfast. I hadn’t seen her coming. I wasn’t prepared for the extent of my feelings for her. I craved her every minute that I wasaway from her. The contract was up in two days, meaning we had that many days to make a plan to keep her.
I pressed a button on my phone. “Joel?”
“Yes, sir?” Joel’s voice replied through the speaker.
“Can you ask Lincoln and Benjamin to come to my office? We’ll be in a private meeting for the rest of the afternoon until we have to leave. Hold all of our calls unless it’s Nova.”
“Yes, sir.”
It only took my brothers a few minutes to get to my office. “Lock the door and take a seat,” I instructed.
“What’s wrong?” Lincoln asked. “Is Nova ok?”
“Nova is fine,” I assured him, “but this is about her. We need to figure out how to keep our company going by working fewer hours. We all agree that we want to be with Nova, so we need to figure out how to do that. We can’t always be working. She deserves to be a priority.”
“Agreed,” Ben replied. “Letting her go isn’t an option for me anymore. And if I can’t have her to myself, I couldn’t think of two better people to share her with.”
“It’s kind of fitting, really,” Lincoln said. “We’ve always done everything together. Maybe that’s why relationships have never worked for us before. It needed to be a group effort to work.”
“We can discuss why later,” I said, getting us back on track. “It’s the how we’re here to discuss.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Lincoln said. “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? We need to promote people. We have plenty of employees that we trust who could do the job. We’ve never been willing to hand over the responsibilities of the day-to-day operations before.”
“Then let’s talk management. Who are our top choices for each department?” I asked, leaning forward to get to work. We developed a new management structure, allowing the most effortless power transfer. We would remain the heads of thecompany and still plan to work closely on each new project, but on a more big-picture scale. We had just started to discuss specific employees for the new positions we were creating when there was a knock on my door.
“Guys?” Joel called through the door. Ben looked puzzled as he went to let our assistant in. He never interrupted our private meetings unless it was an emergency. “Sorry!” Joel said as he rushed in. We have a problem—a big problem. Midland Sports Media is waiting for you in the conference room.”
“What do they want?” I asked with a growing feeling of dread.
“They want to renegotiate their contract, or they’re backing out completely,” Joel informed us.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Lincoln exclaimed. “We’re days away from product launch, and now they want to renegotiate their signed contract?”
“Yep. And they informed me that they’d pay the breach of contract fee if you refuse,” Joel continued.
“We’re busy this afternoon. Tell them we will meet with them in the morning,” I ordered.
“I did. They said they won’t be back if you don’t meet with them today.”
