Page 24 of Take My Heart
‘I’m looking for my laptop. It’s probably in the bedroom.’ I go down to my room and check on top of my dresser, then in my closet.
‘Who are you talking to?’ Nick asks.
‘The girl who’s staying with me.’
‘What girl?’
There’s a knock on my bedroom door and when I look up, I see Kate standing there, holding my laptop. ‘Is this it? It was on the floor by the couch.’
‘Yeah, that’s it.’ I go over and take it from her. ‘Thanks.’
‘You’re welcome.’
She leaves and I shut the door and sit on the bed as I start up the laptop.
‘Is that the girl you’ve been seeing?’ Nick asks.
‘No, it’s a girl I just met.’ I search my laptop for thecontract folder. I need to get organized, but I can’t stand office work so I keep putting it off.
‘Some girl you just met is staying at your place?’
‘It’s a long story.’ I find the contract folder and open it. ‘Okay, I found it. I’m emailing it to you.’
‘When did you meet her?’ Nick asks.
‘Who?’
‘The girl who’s staying there.’
‘Like an hour ago. Okay, you should have the file. Just mark it up and send it back. You think people will sign it if they already signed the other one?’
‘Normally I’d say no, but since you’re a Kanfield and almost all your customers are friends with Mom and Dad, then yes, I think they will. But you can’t be doing this shit again. You aren’t a teenager getting paid a few dollars to shovel sidewalks. You own a business. You need to treat it that way.’
‘Yeah, I know,’ I say, rolling my eyes.
‘Hey, I’m not trying to lecture you. I just don’t want something happening to your business because of a mistake that could’ve been avoided.’
He says he’s not lecturing me but that’s what it feels like. It always feels that way with Nick. As the oldest he thinks it’s his job to take care of my brothers and me. I know he’s only trying to help, but sometimes he really gets on my nerves.
‘I should get going,’ I tell him.
‘Before you go, tell me how you met this girl.’
‘I was on my way home when I saw her standing in the road. The freaking highway. In a blizzard. Wearing a white dress. She could’ve got herself killed.’
‘Are you sure this girl should be staying there?’ Nick asks,using that concerned big brother tone again. ‘Is she mentally stable?’
‘She’s not crazy. She got stranded in the storm. Her car went in the ditch and she was trying to flag me down.’
‘While wearing a dress?’
‘It was a wedding dress. She ditched her wedding this morning. Who gets married in the morning? Is that a thing?’
‘Actually, yeah. I went to some morning weddings when I lived in New York. Sometimes in big cities it’s hard to reserve a location at night so people move their wedding to the morning. Where’s this girl from?’
‘Chicago. She was on her way to a cabin up north when she went in the ditch.’
‘And after you found her she asked if she could stay with you?’
