Page 22 of Loving Trent
Well, tell me about your shit, and I’ll tell you about mine.
Me
The woman I hired to audit the restaurant just got back to me. Someone has been stealing from me for a lot longer than I thought. In the last seven months, almost fifteen grand has gone missing.
Boe
Shit. Any idea who it could be?
Me
None, but missing that much money is putting me close to having to shut the doors. On top of everything else going on, I’m bleeding money left and right. I’ve had to put the brakes on opening the bar. I’ve got to figure out who it is before they take any more.
Boe
Damn, anything I can do to help.
Me
Thanks, but I got it covered. I’m about to eat something quick and start looking over everything we found.
Boe
You need a break. You’re working yourself to the bone. Why don’t you take the weekend off and come down? I know your family misses you.
Me
That actually sounds pretty good right now. Maybe I can get Dad to look into who is stealing from me. Now that I know it’s not a one-time thing. Enough about me, tell me what is bothering you.
Boe
I still have no idea where Bec is, and it’s driving me crazy.
Yeah, even though he went home to fix things, nothing has changed. It turns out Bec moved while he was hiding away in my apartment, and no one knows where she is. Well, her dad knows, but he refuses to tell Boe.
Me
You will find her, or she will come back when she is ready. I promise you that girl loves you so fucking much.
I only met Bec once, but the way she looked at Boe made it clear that she was head over heels in love with him. Honestly, the look in Bec’s eyes made my chest ache in the worst way ever. Will I ever find a guy who looks at me like she looks at Boe?
Boe
I know… I just wish I hadn’t had my head shoved up my ass.
While staring at his message, trying to figure out a polite way to tell him he screwed up, Nana’s name pops up. I sigh because I’m too tired to talk, but if I ignore Nana, she will call back multiple times. I swipe to answer her call but place it on speakerphone, not having the energy to hold my phone up anymore.
“Is everything okay?” My legs give out, and I collapse on the white, overstuffed couch.
“Sure is. I’ve got Axel for the night, and we thought we would check in on his favorite uncle before we turned in,” Nana says. True to her word, I hear Axel, Sammy’s son, let out a little cry. He, Faith, and Hope are the only good things to come out of the last five months. But sadly, I haven’t found the time to visit them as much as I would like to.
“I’m good, Nana.”
“You don’t sound good, Shawn.”
Sighing, my head falls back as if the action of making that small sound sucked the little energy I had away. “I’m exhausted to tell the truth. Everything is piling up on me, and it’s gettingharder to handle. The gym was broken into last week and destroyed. I got bad news about the restaurant tonight. The only thing going remotely well is the construction on the apartments, but?—”
“Oh, Shawn. What you need is a break. It’s been months since you’ve been down, so why don’t you take some time and come see us? We all miss you. As for the rest of that you just mentioned, we’ll deal with it together, as a family.” Her tone leaves no room for any arguments. She means business, and if I don’t listen, I’m sure she will just come up here and drag me down there. I told Boe I was coming just a few seconds ago, but that was to stop him from worrying about me so much.
