Page 104 of For the Boys
But at the moment, he couldn’t spiral. He had work to do.
Before he even pulled into his parking garage, he called Danica.
“Hey, Brent,” she said.
“Hey! So my lawyer received the signed contract, and we’re ready to schedule the photoshoot. How soon can you fly out?”
Brent had expected her to give a date that was a week, maybe more, in the future, but she said, “Three days. I have Wednesday and Thursday free.”
“Three days. Wow, okay. I’m all for knocking this out as soon as possible. Mackenzie and I were really concerned we were going to have to push the launch back.”
“Remind me who Mackenzie is again?”
“She’s my little sister and business partner,” Brent told her proudly.
“That’s right! Well, I look forward to meeting her at this shoot,” Danica said. “And you, of course.”
“Me too. Okay, we’ll see you Wednesday!”
“You got it, boss.”
“I’d prefer you think of me more as a partner,” he said.
“I can do that,” she said quickly.
“Great. See you soon!”
“Can’t wait,” she said and hung up.
When he arrived home, he moved from the garage up to his condo on autopilot, calling his sister once he was settled in his office.
“Hey, B,” she said. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to let you know Danica is set to fly out on Wednesday for the photoshoot. I wanted to know if you could be here.”
“Yes,” his sister said without hesitation.
“Are you sure? Don’t you have classes or something?”
“About that…” Brent sat up straighter, knowing whatever she said next was going to be a bombshell.
“What’s going on, Mackenzie?”
“Oh, God,” she said. “Don’t ‘Mackenzie’ me. This is hard enough as it is.”
“What is?” he asked, his anxiety ratcheting up.
“I want to drop out of school and work on FLEX full-time,” she said in a rush.
Brent blinked down at his phone, unsure he’d heard her correctly. “You what?”
“Brent, before you go all big brother on me and lose your mind, please hear me out.” She heaved a sigh. “Tell me, big bro. What can I possibly learn in college that I’m not already actively doing with FLEX? The more time I spend here, going through the motions of being a stereotypical college kid, the more miserable I become. The more I think about it, the more I realize that working with you on FLEX is exactly what I want to be doing with my life. You’ve got us covered with the business degree. And, you know, the money,” she said with a small giggle. “Lawyers have our asses covered with the contracts. I’m great with people, and you know you’d be lost without me when it came to picking the pieces and styles and colors of every piece we launch. No offense, but I’m a lot more in tune with pop culture and trends than you. It doesn’t make sense to me to keep wasting Mom and Dad’s money for nothing.”
“Kenz,” he said, struggling to keep his voice level, “are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ve given this a lot of thought. There’s no law that says I have to go to college and get a degree. I would much rather cut my losses now and devote my time fully to FLEX.”
“So, what,” Brent said, mind already whirling through logistics, “you’re going to live in the most expensive city in the world and work for a company based halfway across the country?”
