Page 32 of If You Could Only Feel
“Well, I know you’re busy-”
“I’m never too busy for you, Shane. Mason won’t allow it,” I chuckled.
Shane laughed just like I knew she would. “I need to send a proof to marketing, but-”
“I’ll be right there.” I hung up, not letting her finish, and headed for Shane’s floor. She had an entire floor assigned for her division of BI. When she had agreed to take The Morgan Corporation on a smaller scale and make it a go, Mason had renovated so that the entire floor below us housed Shane’s subsidiary. The only stipulation Mason had made was that she was to keep her subsidiary named The Morgan Company. It was his little perverse way of still sticking it to Branson Morgan and his family for the attack on Shane four years ago. And, even though Shane wasn’t the vindictive type, she knew how torn up Mason had been over not being able to protect her, so she gave him this one, little consolation.
I finally made my way down to Shane’s floor, but I was not about to pass Dibtab’s office and not peek my head in. I gave it a quick knock and then opened the door, peeking my head in. Denise was standing over her corner conference table looking over some things. “Hey, Sexy Momma,” I said, announcing my arrival.
She didn’t bother looking up from what she was studying. “Hey, Trouble,” she greeted.
I laughed. “That’s Michael,” I corrected her. “I’m the good one.”
Denise snorted, still not looking at me. “There’s not a good one amongst you four,” she said wryly.
“That’s a lie,” I retorted. “Aiden’s good.”
That’s when she finally looked over at me, my head still peeking in through the door, and smiled. “Yes, he is,” she said, all teenage starry-eyed.
“You guys make me sick,” I countered, changing my mind about Aiden being a good guy. Couldn’t she see I was a wreck over the state of my marriage? Rude, I swear.
She laughed. “You love me, and you know it,” she sassed.
I smiled and shut the door. I did love the wench, and she did know it. Aiden had gone at her hard when he first met her, but I’m glad he did. Denise was a class act and my favorite Buchanan next to Shane.
When I finally made my way to Shane’s office, I didn’t bother knocking. She was expecting me so I knew I wasn’t going to walk into anything I couldn’t un-see. That honor goes to Aiden when he walked in on Shane blowing Mason a couple of years ago. We all thought it was funny as fuck, but Aiden had been mortified. He said Shane was too precious to be on her knees, to which Mason replied that Shane was a motherfucking goddess when she was on her knees.
Good times.
When I walked in, I saw that she wasn’t alone, and my heart warmed at the pair standing in her office. “Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Logan.”
Maggie Logan smiled. “Gabriel, how many times do we have to tell you boys to call us Adam and Maggie?”
I shrugged a shoulder and gave her a sheepish smile. “I’m working on it,” I told her. “Maybe if you guys came down more often, I’d get better at calling you Maggie and Adam.” Shane’s foster parents laughed, and Shane’s smile lit up the room.
Shane grew up in foster care her entire life until she was 15 and the Logan’s took her in. She fostered out of their home and had gone on in life sort of doubting their devotion to her. Once Mason made her believe in real love and belonging, she reconnected with the Logans and let them be the parents they always wanted to be to her. They still fostered children, but BI paid all their bills and each child they fostered left home at 18 with a big, fat check and a better hope for the future.
“Adam and Maggie stopped by to surprise me for lunch,” Shane said, joining in on the conversation. “I’d take this proof myself, but it’ll be late-”
I waved my hand at her. “Say no more, Sis,” I interrupted. “I’ll walk it over. Go on and have a good lunch.”
Shane let out a deep breath. “I really need to get an assistant,” she muttered.
I wisely kept my mouth shut. Mason’s been bugging her to get an assistant for the past year, but Shane was still struggling with being a Buchanan. It’s been over four years, but she still acted like she was working her way up to prove herself. She said she didn’t feel comfortable having an assistant. She wasn’t comfortable with ordering someone around.
What Shane didn’t realize was that she wouldn’t be ordering anyone around. Anyone lucky enough to work for her or be around her would just want to help her. She brought that out in people.
I didn’t spare the Logans a glance when I aired my dirty laundry. They were Shane’s family, therefore, making them my family. “Sooooooooooooooo, how about this?” I blurted out. “How about after I get my marriage back on track, and Justice doesn’t leave me, she can be your assistant?”
“Oh, my,” Maggie rushed out, as Adam exclaimed, “You got married, Gabriel?”
I turned to them and didn’t want them thinking we had excluded them in any way. “I’ve been dating Justice Hillman for six years, but I was a dick and so she ran off to Las Vegas to drink me away,” I explained with no shame whatsoever. “But I followed her like the certified stalker I am, and we got married in Las Vegas. No Elvis, though.” They both blinked their eyes at me, dumbstruck, no doubt. “But don’t worry,” I continued, “if she does divorce me, we’ll be getting remarried and you guys will definitely be invited to that.”
“Uh…congratulations, son,” Adam murmured.
“Yes. Congratulations, Gabriel,” Maggie echoed.
I smiled. I mean, what else could I do. The entire thing sounded like a badly scripted soap opera. I turned to Shane and held my hand out for the marketing file. “Gimme, ma’am.”
