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“Ew, you totally stink, Derrick,” Marty said, backing away and very maturely pinching her nose. “You should be getting in there and showering, not coming out like that,” she said pointing to his room door behind him.
“I was looking for Taylor,” he informed her, rolling his eyes.
“Oh, she was talking to Dad, but now she’s in a meeting with Todd in the downstairs boardroom,” she informed him. “She has business nonsense to do, so I recommend a shower, and then you can find her.”
Derrick looked down and saw his T-shirt was pretty much soaked, but just to confirm he lifted an arm and sniffed. The stench burned his nostril and eyes; he wanted to back away from himself.
“See?” Marty said. “I’m off to class! Shower first!” she yelled in parting.
Sometimes having a little sister was a giant pain in the balls. They nagged and pushed buttons, and even in their twenties they were still snarky and weird. But when Marty was right, she was right, and Derrick went off to the shower.
Once he had his hygiene settled, he picked up some food from the kitchen and sought out Taylor. She and Todd were bent over papers spread over the conference room table when he found them. Todd angled his head as a greeting to Derrick, but Taylor was too wrapped up in whatever they were looking at to know he was there. That or she was totally ignoring him.
“I want to meet with these two,” Taylor said, pointing to two papers she had separated from the pile.
Todd pursed his lips. “You know this girl, she only graduated from college six months ago,” Todd mentioned.
“I know, and she is young and has an impressive resume of internships and mock-ups here that look fun but not tacky like some of these other people who have been doing it longer. And this guy,” she said, pointing the other paper away from the stack, “he is in his thirties and has been working with social media from the start. I actually think the two of them could work well together.”
“Fair enough,” Todd said, plucking the paperwork from the desk. “I will get them in for interviews next week. This week you have a lot to do.”
Taylor nodded. “Yeah. Oh, and one more thing, I want a copy of the decree,” Taylor said as she picked up a tablet off the table.
Todd’s eyes flicked to Derrick’s. “Why?”
Taylor slid her eyes to Todd. “Because I have apparently been sentenced to marriage, and I want to see the paperwork that says so,” she said bluntly.
“You got it,” Todd replied. “Charlie will be in later with updates,” he turned to the door. “Afternoon, Derrick,” he said on his way out, and Taylor spun around, finally seeing Derrick at the door.
Her hair was bundled up on top of her head in a haphazard bun with blond wisps flying around her face. “I didn’t see you there.”
“I brought you food,” Derrick said. “I was starving, and—” Taylor’s stomach let out a whine, and Derrick smiled, “and I figured you might be too.”
He set down the tray he had gathered from the kitchen and handed Taylor a plate covered with awesome homemade dishes courtesy of Nan.
Taylor watched as Derrick sat down and then followed his lead, the two of them eating in silence for several minutes.
“I don’t want you to feel trapped with me, Taylor,” Derrick finally said between bites. Okay well maybe he wasn’t totally free of food in his mouth, but it was mostly gone before he spoke.
More classy than he, Taylor chewed, swallowed, took a drink, and wiped her face before she answered him. “I think we are both sort of trapped, Derrick.”
Derrick drew back in surprise. “How so?”
“I have to get married to run my family business, and you have to get married to look responsible enough to runyourfamily business.”
“Yes, but I am not disgusted by marrying you.”
“I’m not disgusted by it,” Taylor huffed. “I just don’t want to marry you. I want to meet people and fall in love and know that it’s forever.”
“Oh, gee, thanks for letting me down easy,” Derrick replied, aggressively stabbing the chicken on his plate.
“What do you want, Derrick? Huh? I have had literally three days to put all this shit together, and you want me to be picking out a wedding dress too?”
“Well, not without me you won’t,” Marty announced as she plowed into the room and plopped a large stack of magazines next to Taylor.
“What are those?” Derrick asked, continuing to stab at his food. He hoped Marty hadn’t heard the conversation, but knowing her, she wouldn’t have kept quiet about it, so he figured they were safe.
“Bridal magazines!” she announced with a huge grin.