Page 202 of Broken Brothers

There couldn’t have been stronger words to set the stakes than that. Edwin never, ever left work early. At best, he left the office but brought an assistant and his phone with him to some of our events so that he could do work during the variousceremonies and events. The earliest I think I had ever seen him come home on a weekday was after 7 p.m.

“How early is early?”

“Like, two.”

Fucking hell…

“Well, Morgan, I can’t offer you advice on how to be a CEO or anything like that, unfortunately,” I said. “But I can tell you this much. There’s been a hell of a lot of things going on in the past few months that I’ve just said ‘fuck it’ and dived right in on. Maybe you aren’t ready, but who is? You’re only going to learn on the job. You’ll be young, but you’ll figure it out.”

“That’s awfully optimistic of you,” Morgan said.

“Maybe,” I said. “But I have reason to be optimistic. You’re a pusher. You get shit done. You just say ‘you know what, fuck it. I’m going to make this happen.’”

Maybe you should take your own advice, you know. Maybe you should listen to what you’re saying and try and do it with Layla.

But remember your promise to take it slow. And for that matter, are you really going to be able to go all-in with Layla if Sarah is literally on the other side of your next date with Layla?

It may yet work out. But your advice for Morgan is what he needs. You need the opposite. You need “hey, take it slow,” not “fuck it, I’m going to make this happen.”

“Well, we’ll see,” Morgan said. “Just be ready for a phone call at any hour.”

So Edwin’s that close to dying. Holy shit…

“In any case, what else have you done today?” Morgan said. “Did you figure out any of the life shit that we talked about at our coffee meeting?”

I felt uncomfortable shifting the focus back to me and would have thrown it back to Morgan if not for the yearning in his eyes. It was like he was begging me to switch the topic of conversation.He was hoping, pleading that I wouldn’t keep reminding him of his father.

And so I decided to drop the bombshell that had landed in my lap just a short while earlier.

“No, but I did have something unreal happen,” I said. “Guess who I’m meeting for brunch on Saturday.”

“Who?” Morgan said. “Sorry, I don’t mean to not guess. I just can’t think straight worth a shit right now.”

“No, no, you’re fine,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Sarah Hill.”

Morgan nodded at first, the name not seeming to register with him. But then, just as the waiter placed his gin and tonic on the table, Morgan stared at me in shock. I smiled as the waiter took our orders, both of us getting ribeyes with potatoes and brussel sprouts.

“For real,” Morgan said as the waiter left. “Sarah Hill? Didn’t we go through this shit already with my dad?”

“Yes, but no,” I said, laughing. “I’m almost certain the real Sarah Hill messaged me earlier. She asked if we could meet as she’ll be in town this weekend. Unless someone invited hologram technology, I’m pretty sure it’s the real Sarah. She didn’t flirt or get erotic in her messaging. I’m pretty sure it’s real.”

“Holy shit.”

Morgan just stared slackjawed at me for several seconds. Even I had to admit the whole thing felt stupidly surreal. Twelve hours ago, the name “Sarah Hill” was more synonymous with one of the most wicked ploys Edwin had ever pulled on me. Now, she was closer to a childhood crush I’d never let go of but finally had the chance to try more with.

“And you’re going to take it?” he said.

“Yeah,” I said. “Why not?”

“Why not?” Morgan said with a laugh—something I was very happy to see for how this dinner had started. “You were all about Sarah Hill as a kid, man. You used to obsess over her. I was jealous, too, that girl was a looker. Why wouldn’t you?”

“I mean, to be clear, I am,” I said. “But just the idea that, you know, I’m seeing Layla and all, and I don’t—”

“Fuck that,” Morgan said.

Alcohol’s gotten to you already, huh?

“Look, I’ll admit Layla isn’t the horrible human being I thought she was. She seems like a good human being, and she helped you with all of this. But you’re not her boyfriend. You have a right to see Sarah. And, frankly, Sarah is more attractive than Layla.”