Page 211 of Sing with Me

Yes, but even Adam had a companion.

Was he lonely?

Diehl had kept busy taking his two kids to church at Midtown Chapel. They also had day camps at church, which Ethan enjoyed tremendously once he found out that Midtown was a sister church to Seaside Chapel back on St. Simon’s Island.

Mom somehow got recruited to help with midmorning snacks. Diehl was happy that Mom had made some new Christian friends her age, although some of them were shopaholics like she was.

As for Elisa, she started to like her music camp in which she was learning to play guitar. Diehl was surprised she had chosen that instrument—what Skye played. Diehl also took her to grief counseling once a week, something that Ethan didn’t want to participate in for some reason.

Two kids with two different minds.

On top of trying to be there for his kids, Diehl had to make time for his sister-in-law who showed up for one week to sign papers, talk to the interior designer about her new office space, and figure out what Dad wanted her to do with Brooks Transportation.

Fortunately, Diehl didn’t have to provide Riley with training. That was Dad’s department. However, Dad liked Diehl with them when they discussed the goals of the company.

There went another week.

The routine continued until Diehl received a text from Skye toward the end of that week, saying that Jared Urquhart had bought her shares of Saffron on Jekyll.

“Celebrate with me,” the voice recording said.

Somehow, Diehl could not. The thought that Jared spent more time with Skye than he did bothered him that entire day, then the whole weekend, and Monday, and now Tuesday.

Alone in his office with the door closed on this quiet afternoon, Diehl listened to her voice mail again.

Her voice was calm and sweet. He could detect no malice in it. Why would there be? Skye was simply inviting him to celebrate with her. However, Jared was involved, and Diehl felt bitterness on his tongue. If he replied to Skye, he was afraid he’d say something embarrassing.

Something that showed how jealous he was of the men around Skye.

Compared to Jared, Diehl hadn’t done as well. Earning less than the Urquharts was one thing. But it bothered Diehl that Jared had been spending more time with Skye than Diehl had. Surely.

And yet he recalled once again their conversation on FaceTime that Friday night a couple of weeks before. What she had said bothered him.

You have to consider the fact that your children and your dad need you. Once their hearts are settled, then we can work on each other.

Diehl wondered why they could not be worked on simultaneously. Couldn’t he manage his children, work with Dad, and still love Skye at the same time? Why did she have to compartmentalize everything into their little spaces?

“The solution to the problem is to meet and hash it out,” Diehl said to an empty office.

He pressed a button on his phone to call his administrative assistant. She knocked on the door.

“Come in,” he said.

Jodie entered with a large tablet in her hand. She was in her fifties, twice married, four children between the two marriages, and now filing for divorce proceedings against her second husband who had run off with a motorcycle chick he had met in his last cross-country vacation without Jodie. Somehow in the middle of her muddled life, she had put three kids in college, with one more on the way. The last child had full scholarship to a college of his choice.

From time to time, Diehl wanted to pay off all of Jodie’s children’s student loans. He hadn’t done it because he wasn’t sure if that would be helpful to the fiercely independent woman.

“Yes, Mr. Brooks?” Jodie sat down in a chair on the other side of Diehl’s desk.

Diehl rolled his eyes. “You know that’s for my father only and you still say it.”

“Someday, you’ll be the only Mr. Brooks around here—at least while I’m still alive. Besides, Mr. Diehl doesn’t have the same impact though, like you’re wheeling and dealing.”

A straight talker, this woman.

Why Diehl could never fire her. However, she had said she wouldn’t relocate to St. Simon’s Island ever, so Diehl knew he was about to lose his able assistant of twenty years. She had been at Brooks Investments so long that he had started to consider her an older sister.

“Remember when you first started working here?” Diehl asked.

---