Page 23 of Emergency Exit
“Yeah, and it’s the kind of thing that can snowball. One wrong pick, act too funny, and suddenly, I can’t get investors. No investors on this project means no investors on the next one. Everyone says Asher’s lost his touch. Boom. Whole house of cards comes tumbling down.” Particularly if anyone found out that research shared with him had been sold to foreign interests.
“If you retired right now, are your finances secure?” askedRowan.
“Yes, but that’s not the point!”
“The point is that you love what you do, but half of what you’re doing is sales, and that depends on a public persona that took a hit when you broke up with your perfect heiress girlfriend.”
“She wasn’t perfect,” growled Ash. Harper had Emma beat every day of the week.
“Far from perfect,” agreed Rowan. “She was a snob. She never liked Forest or me.”
Ash felt a surge of anger. He’d dated Emma for two years, and somehow, he’d missed the fact that she hadn’t wanted to spend time with Rowan and Forest. Or maybe he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge the truth. Ash tossed the clips angrily back on the desk.
“Sorry. I wish you’d said something.”
Rowan grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and took it to the wardrobe on the far wall.
“We hadn’t been seeing much of each other, and it didn’t seem like you wanted to hear it. But these days we’re all in the same city. And with Olly around... I don’t know. Breakup aside, I liked hanging out with you guys the other night. The whole point of locating Valkyrie here was that I would be closer to the two of you. What do you think about doing the holidays together this year?”
Ash hesitated. He knew Rowan loved him—as kids, they had been Team Valkyrie, and he missed that closeness—but now, as an adult, he wasn’t sure how he fit into his brother’s lives. Their recent late-night drinking and donut binge to help Ash get over his breakup had been one of the few times recently that had felt like the old days. But this felt like Rowan was genuinely reaching out.
“Can we invite Mom?”
“Sure,” said Rowan, turning back to Ash with a shrug. “She won’t come, but we can invite her.”
She wouldn’t come because she knew she wasn’t welcome. Ash didn’t understand why Christmas couldn’t be like it had been when they were kids—all wrapping paper and cinnamon rolls. He sighed in frustration. Ash wanted his family back the way it had been, including their mom. Forest would probably be the only one to have a decent Christmas because he had Olly.
“It would be kind of awesome to watch Olly open his presents. Let’s make Forest host Christmas.”
“OK, I’ll do Thanksgiving,” said Rowan.
Holidays with Emma had always been boring. She’d always wanted to fly someplace. That wasn’t what made holidays good. His brothers would make them fun, and maybe he could bully them into letting Mom come. He wondered if Harper would want to come too. He would bet money that she wasn’t too snobby to hang out with his brothers.
“That leaves me New Year’s. This is going to be great!”
“We’ll see what Forest thinks,” said Rowan, chuckling as he returned to his desk.
There was a sharp knock on the office door, and Mark leaned in, peering at Rowan over the top of his clear-framed glasses. Mark was Rowan’s second in command, and Ash was sometimes jealous that he was practically Rowan’s third brother.
“So?” demanded Mark. “Hey, Ash.” He was about Rowan’s age but had more gray to his hair.
“So, what?” asked Rowan, and Mark groaned as if Rowan was being intentionally obtuse.
“Come on! That was Viv on the phone this morning, wasn’t it?”
“Viv?” demanded Asher, looking between Mark and Rowan. This smelled like gossip. Rowan never let them into his personallife. Mark ignored him and focused on Rowan.
“So, was that like... we bumped into each other at the bagel place or let me feed you the bagels from my cupboard?”
“Yes. Inquiring minds want to know. What type of bagel are we dealing with?” asked Ash.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” muttered Rowan.
“Come on! You know all my dirt,” protested Ash, only realizing it was a lie after he said it.
“And all of mine,” said Mark.
“You have no dirt,” said Rowan. “Either of you.”
