Page 31 of Game Change

“I knew something was going to blow up in your face. Who offers a job to someone, yanks it away, gives it to their nephew, and expects the other person to accept it? She’s going to make your life hell in the office,” Lisa warns. She’s not telling me anything I don’t already know. Day one already was a complete disaster. “Remember when he sent me all those designer clothes and shoes? The ones he took from his girlfriend after a fight?”

“And yet we still love him.”

Lisa sits next to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “I’m glad you’re back,” she says. “And I know you’ll figure out a way to fix this. She’ll see how amazing you are soon enough.”

“I doubt it. I think her hooking up with me on vacation is outside her norm, and now she’s kicking herself. She’s going to get back into her shell and have nothing to do with me. If I were in her shoes, I’d be angry too.”

Lisa stands, offers me her hand, and helps pull me to my feet. I smile down at her. She’s the spitting image of our mother, and I look more like the Kincaid side of the family. She’s only two years younger, but it’s always been me and her, especially since our mother pretty much gave up on doing any parenting by the time our father died. Lisa was only fifteen, and we only had each other to lean on.

“Come on. Let’s eat, and we’ll figure a way out of this.”

Day two is making day one look like a walk through the park on a perfect spring day. It’s only ten-thirty in the morning and I feel like I’ve been here ten hours already. Hardly getting any sleep last night has not helped my mood, and now I’m looking at the smug face of Joel Bell, junior architect.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he says while giving me a look of approval. As if I need his approval. “Your uncle runs this place like a well-oiled machine, and I’m sure you will, too.” I have no idea how he could know this since he wasn’t here yesterday, and he only met me five minutes ago.

“Thank you,” is all I can think to say.

“I worked at another firm before this one.” He whispers the last part and inches his chair closer to my desk. “The owner ran the place to the ground. She had no idea what she was doing. So damn emotional one week a month, if you know what I mean.” I take a deep breath. If he says one more thing, I’m going to physically put him out of my office. “She questioned everything I did. Always on a power trip even though she only started that firm because of the money she got from a divorce settlement.” I have no idea how he would even know that. He doesn’t strike me as the type of person someone would share company secrets with. “Do you know how many times I had to hold my tongue and not remind her that she only had that firm because of a man?” He scoffs and whispers something under his breath.

“Thank you for coming in, Joel.” I rub my eye with the back of my hand.Get the fuck out of my office and never return, is what I want to say.

He gives a satisfied nod before he saunters out of my sight. When my door closes, I lean back in my chair and groan like an old man. I need coffee before my next meeting, but what I’d really like is to go home and climb into bed, preferably with Brynne, who ignored all my calls last night.

I groan all the way to the kitchen, only to come to a complete stop when I see her. Her back is to me, so she doesn’t see me. I close the door to the room and walk behind her. She freezes before I reach her, and I can only assume she knows I’m here. I don’t know how she would know that, but this only convinces me we have a connection.

She turns but doesn’t meet my eyes. She lifts her mug and tries to walk past, but I block her.

“Can we talk?” I ask.

“Well, you summoned me to your office in fifteen minutes.” She finally looks into my eyes and something inside of me shifts. “Whatever you have to say to me can wait until then. And I only have five minutes.” She looks exhausted. More than that, she looks sad. As if my hand has a mind of its own, I lift it and stroke her cheek. She takes a breath, but she doesn’t knock my hand down. She continues to look into my eyes without looking away. I don’t see animosity like yesterday, but they are not the same eyes I looked into days before. It seems like a million years ago when I got to hug and kiss her.

“Yes, but that’s about work. I’d like to talk about other things.” She takes a step back, and I drop my hand.

“There are no other things to discuss,” she says. There’s no venom like yesterday. Today feels like resignation, and I wonder if that’s a trick. Lisa warned me about her making my life hell at the office, and my sister is wise.

“There are,” I insist. “I need to clear up some of the accusations you made about me.” I inch closer. “I still want all those things that we discussed.”

“Let’s keep it professional while we work together,” she says.

“While we work together?” Lisa’s words come to mind. “What does that mean?”

“It means, let’s keep it professional.” She walks out of the kitchen without another word.

With all the drama that has ensued since I got here, I haven’t had the chance to look at Brynne’s portfolio in depth. She’s headed many large projects. She, too, has a master’s degree in architecture from Boston Architectural College.

I know my uncle values her, even though his actions show otherwise. Other than Joel, everyone I’ve talked to thinks highly of her. It’s one of the questions I’ve asked. A few other employees went on for minutes about how wonderful she is.

Ernestine Gunner is ready to fight me over her, and after seeing some of the buildings and residential homes she’s designed, I agree that losing her would be a negative for the company.

My door opens and slams shut. I look up to see her storming to my desk and sigh. Whatever resolution she had come to is out the window.

“Why are you asking other employees about me?” she asks without a greeting.

“Excuse me?” I ask.

“I heard from five different people that you’re asking them about me when you have these little meetings, which are a complete waste of time, by the way." She takes the seat in front of my desk. "Say what you need to say, and let’s get this over with. I have a business trip I need to leave for this afternoon. Like I said, you have five minutes.”

I look through my calendar, and there’s nothing about her leaving for a trip. It’s one of the few things my uncle showed me. “I don’t know anything about a business trip. It’s not on the calendar,” I say while I skim it again.

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