Page 26 of Fractured Hope
“What’s wrong? Is he okay?” It wasn’t like Lyric to be so serious. I was immediately worried.
“Calm down, dude. He’s fine.” Lyric rolled his eyes.
Seb clapped me on the back as I wiped my grease-stained hand on a rag. “We want to talk to you about bringing him on officially. He’s doing such an amazing job in the office that he deserves to be brought on board, don’t you think?”
“I’ve tried offering to pay him, but he keeps turning me down.”
“We know, but we thought if we write a new hire letter and offer him the role officially, from all of us, he might be more inclined to accept.”
“If you think that could sway him, then I’m on board!” I was so happy someone had a new approach. Bodhi deserved this fresh start and to be paid for all the amazing work he’d done. He’d really helped us out more than he realized. “When do you want to approach him?” I was happy to do it sooner rather than later but didn’t want him to feel ganged up on.
“Give me this morning to write up a letter, and Seb can go over it at lunch. We could ask him after work today. How’s that sound?” Lyric smiled.
Impressed, I raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re being surprisingly serious, not that I’m complaining. What’s up with you?” I loved my brother, but I’d never known Lyric to knuckle down and take on responsibility so quickly—or be so subdued or pensive—ever. Now that I thought about it, he’d been a lot more dedicated to his work and hadn’t once arrived late in the past few weeks.
“Nothing.” He shrugged, which wascompletelyunlike Lyric. “I just like Bodhi, and he’s done a much better job in the office than I ever did.” He smirked, but it didn’t fully reach his eyes.
Seb was studying Lyric, too. “You sure nothing’s wrong?”
“I’m fine, just focusing on work like Atty hounded me to be for years!” Lyric exclaimed, getting agitated. “I’ll go get something written up. I’ll be at Jolt.” With a final scowl, he left Seb and me gaping after him.
“What was that about?” Seb asked.
“I have no idea, but there is definitely something up with him. I’ve never seen him sonormal. It’s weird. Maybe we shouldask Kay,” I said, thinking out loud. “He’ll know if something’s up. They tell each other everything.”
“Maybe.” Seb sighed. “If he’s still in a funk in a week, it’s something to consider.” Seb clapped me on the back, and then we both got back to work.
The rest of the day passed much the same as always, and by the end, we were all filthy and in need of a shower, but we had one more very important thing to do. Seb had given the thumbs-up to Lyric’s offer letter without any issue, and as Bodhi was closing the office down for the day, we all approached him.
“Hey, Bodhi, can we talk to you for a sec?” Seb asked, standing back because he knew Bodhi didn’t like to be crowded, especially by Seb’s bulky frame.
“Sure,” Bodhi said hesitantly as he came out of the office and saw all of us standing there.
“Let’s grab a seat.” I gestured to the break room table, and we all moved to sit. Lyric and I took a seat on the other side of the table while Seb came to lean against the wall behind us. I gestured for Bodhi to take the seat opposite us.
“It’s okay, it’s nothing bad,” Lyric said with a grin.
Bodhi carefully took a seat and visibly relaxed at Lyric’s words.
“We want to offer you a job,” Seb said.
Lyric handed Bodhi the letter. “You’ve done an amazing job in the office and on the phones. We want you to come on board and become an official Greek Brothers employee.”
Bodhi looked stunned. He sat stock-still, reading over the offer letter. His glance flicked to me.
“This isn’t just coming from me. Seb and Lyric both approached me with how well you’ve been doing. We all want to welcome you to the team, officially.” I tried to reassure him. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort him with the knowledge that he’d done this himself. His work ethic,organizational skills, and great customer service had landed him the role. He wasn’t getting the job because of pity. We wanted him on the team. Hell, weneededhim on it.
Bodhi appeared skeptical. “You’re really offering me a job?”
“Yes!” we all said in unison.
Bodhi couldn’t help but laugh at our synchronicity. “I was just doing things to pass the time. Plus, I’m slow with things and have to use workarounds because I have dyslexia. I couldn’t have been that helpful.”
“Dude, seriously!” Lyric exclaimed, not even reacting to Bodhi’s mention of being dyslexic. “You are so much better than I ever was on the phone and that office is so organized, even if you needed to use workarounds. Whatever you’re doing is working. I can’t use the excuse that I can’t find anything anymore. It’s annoying.”
“You really have helped the business more than you know. Those parts you’ve been ordering and organizing are things Atty and I would do on weekends. You’ve given me my weekends back and for that alone I’m thankful!” Seb flashed a wide grin.
Bodhi was now smiling bashfully. A pink flush colored his cheeks. “I would love the job, thank you.”
