Page 197 of Broken Brothers

And to think, I thought at one time you weren’t on my side.

“You’re the fucking man,” I said. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, no sweat,” he said. “But if you’re not going to do anything with that, what are you going to do? I couldn’t tell you. I can only say take your time.”

I laughed.

“Sorry, it’s just, that’s sort of a theme for me right now,” I said. “Taking my time. Taking… my time…”

Morgan looked at me in anticipation, knowing I had something more to say.

“It came up on my date with Layla on Friday.”

“Yeah?”

“She’s not happy about it. She said something about how she’s not going to wait forever.”

Morgan seemed nonplussed about it. That wasn’t hugely surprising; I knew Morgan didn’t have the greatest opinion of Layla either. It had improved, but he still felt I could have done better.

I supposed that I could find someone who had a better degree or a higher IQ or even a better body, but what really would have been the point? It was unlikely I would have found someone whom I had such a strong and good connection with.

“I figured,” Morgan said. “She’s all about you, Chance. But I don’t think she’s the only person who’s all about you.”

“I know,” I said, but I wasn’t interested in diving into the weeds on this one. “Regardless…”

“Take your time,” he said, checking his watch. “Hey, I gotta run back. Sorry I couldn’t be much more of a help—”

“Shut it,” I said with a smirk. “Just the fact that you recognize what I’m going through is enough. That, and taking my time.”

Fuck, “taking my time.” Is there anything in my life that such advice isn’t going to apply to right now? Sure doesn’t seem that way.

“Alright, I’m sure I’ll see you soon bud.”

Morgan patted me on the shoulder before shaking my hand and heading out. It was a brief visit, all things considered—no longer than twenty minutes—and yet, thanks to my new motto, it seemed to be the kind of thing that had become less of a mantra and more like something tattooed on the front of my skull.

“Take your time.”

I looked at my laptop for a few more minutes, but I just found myself browsing through ESPN and other sports pages mindlessly. I was less engaged with the content in front of me and more just passing time.

I closed my laptop, dropped it off at my apartment, and decided to spend the day just strolling alone. It was a path very similar to the one I had taken with Layla.

But right as I got near Shake Shack, I decided to take a detour. I wanted to take a trip down memory lane.

In that time, I saw three companies within a twenty minute walk, all of them meaning something to me, for better and for worst. One was Hunt Industries, the place my brother would soon take over. One was Burnson Investments, the firm that had first employed me and started this crazy, crazy period of my life. And the other was Layla’s old firm, the place her uncle, Craig Taylor, ran.

It was strange to realize that for all of the bullshit I’d experienced in the past few months, for all the shit I’d had to dodge, confront, and encounter, it all took place largely from the operations of three different buildings. It felt like the world to me, but even just the world of Manhattan, let alone the actual entire world, went about largely unaffected by my actions and my circumstances. I obviously cared about myself, but the world didn’t care about Chance Hunt, Layla Taylor, Edwin Hunt, John Burnson, or anyone else of interest.

It was a strangely sobering and freeing feeling. I didn’t have to live life like Edwin Hunt, constantly chasing. Most of the world was too busy chasing its own goals to care, and even if the world temporarily took notice of me or someone else in my circle—as the papers did when Edwin Hunt announced his resignation—the attention was extraordinarily short-lived.

I sat down by a bench outside Hunt Industries, taking a break from walking and checking my email. I didn’t expect to find anything that would have mattered.

Instead, I found an email that, somehow, I knew was real the second I saw it.

“Hey Chance!

Long time no talk.Hope things are well. I’m going to be in NYC this weekend. Would you like to hang and grab coffee?

Best,