Page 14 of The Disasters of Dating (Love Connections #6)

KEATON

Make business your priority this month and it will pay you back.

Learn Chinese: 谢谢 — Xièxiè — Thank you

I’m sitting at my desk, waiting for Evan. I do that a lot these days. It’s finally Friday and I would like to get out of here. But I can’t until I talk with him. He has been on the phone, literally forever.

Okay, maybe not literally.

I smile. My younger brother, Lowell, is in law school and tends to think he is smarter than everyone.

As such, he gets super irritated when people misuse the word “literally.” At Christmas, we literally (wink, wink) had an argument about the word.

He says we misuse it and if we continue to misuse it excessively, we will lose its real definition.

I have several questions here. The first being, who is ‘we’?

Americans? English language speakers? I feel unqualified to know if the British, Canadians, Aussies, and New Zealanders also misuse the word.

I think I need more clarification before I can agree with him.

My second question comes to his reasoning. He claims there are no other words to replace the word literally. Is he for real? What about actually, precisely, truly. In fact, after his great monologue, I looked it up, and there are literally 56 other words to replace the word “literally.”

Needless to say, Lowell wasn’t amused. I literally was.

I lean back in my chair, a smile on my face as I recall the conversation and stare at the ceiling. I can’t pretend to look busy at my desk while I wait for Evan to get off the phone. All my actual work is sitting on my desk in Utah.

My New Hampshire phone vibrates, and I pick it up, expecting to see a message from either my brother, Lowell, or my sister, Alexis. But to my great surprise and happiness, it’s from Poppy.

Poppy

My Grandma Alice just tried to guilt me into going to Alaska. She wants me to meet someone?? Can you even believe it??

My brow creases in confusion.

I’m sorry? I don’t think I know your Grandma Alice well enough to know if that’s good or bad... But from your tone, I’m guessing you think it’s bad? And so is the meeting someone?

Without much information, I’m leaning toward agreeing with her on her meeting someone. But that is for totally selfish reasons.

I wait for a response, but it’s crickets.

My office door opens, and Evan walks in. It’s weird seeing him in a suit and tie. He hasn’t dressed up in years. Granted, that was probably because after he sold his first company, he was mostly retired and living in Florida. I think shorts and t-shirts are the uniform down there.

I’m not sure why he dresses up now. The offices in New Hampshire are tiny, and only about four people (while I’m in town) actually work here. A big office in New Hampshire wasn’t needed because the company is going to be in Utah. I’m not sure why he even opened an office here in the first place.

I look up at him and smile. “Finally off the call?”

He sighs and collapses into the chair across the desk from me. “Holy marathon calls.”

I crack a smile. “I would have left, but you said you wanted to talk to me?”

My phone vibrates, and I glance over. Poppy has responded, and from the number of exclamation marks, it looks exciting.

“Do you need to get that?” Evan asks.

I pull my gaze away from my phone and shake my head. “No. I can deal with it after we talk.”

Evan raises a brow. “I can’t see the words, but it looks like there are several exclamation marks. Are you sure it’s not urgent?”

I grin because I can almost see Poppy’s face when she realized she texted me. I’m nearly a hundred percent certain she texted me by accident. I nod. “Yeah. It’s from a girl I met earlier this week.”

His head quirks to the side, and I can see he’s trying to hold back a grin.

“You met a girl, huh? Is she hot? Do you have a picture of her?” He smirks at me, and I can tell he is doing to me exactly what I did to him when he first met his fiancée, Shay.

But I was still a punk kid then. Evan is a grown-A man.

“As a matter of fact, she is quite hot.” I give him a take-that look.

He sighs. “Okay, I see you’re not going to open up about this girl, so I won’t press you. But just know, I’m here if you need me.”

I nod. I know he is. As much as I complain about Evan being my boss and everything, I love him. And I appreciate everything he’s done for me. “Thanks, bro.”

Evan nods, giving me time to change my mind and open up.

I don’t.

“Okay. Well, we have some new developments that I’m going to need your help with.”

I nod, excited that he is bringing me into more of the business. Does this mean he thinks I’m doing a good job? “No problem. I’m up for more responsibilities.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Something has come up, and it’s moving faster than I wanted. But it can’t be helped. It’s a bit of a tricky situation, and I’m going to need your help to pull it off.”

I frown. “Oh?”

Evan bites his cheek. “The company that bought GridWolf, my first company—” he looks at me as if I wouldn’t remember that little nugget.

I nod and wave my hand for him to continue.

“They’re driving it into the ground on purpose.”

I steeple my fingers in front of my face. “Why now? They bought the company almost six years ago.”

He nods. “In the buyout contracts, it stipulated that they couldn’t do that or lay everyone off for four years.” He shrugs. “The time limit is over, and they are making their move.” He shakes his head, looking almost sick. “I can’t allow it to happen.”

I study him closely. “What can you do about it?”

He shrugs. “The stock prices are hitting rock bottom. I want to set up a series of shell corporations that aren’t linked to me.”

My eyes widen. “You’re positioning yourself for a stealth acquisition? ”

He nods. “If they can’t manage the company, I will. Once I have controlling stock, I’ll call an emergency board meeting. When they have all the information presented to them, I’m certain they will see the wisdom in allowing me to take over GridWolf again.”

I’m stunned into silence for a moment. I mean, you see things like this on TV, and we read case studies about it in school. But I’ve never actually seen it in person. “This is what you want to be doing the month before your wedding?”

He shrugs. “No. But it won’t wait for me. If I wait until after the wedding, there will be no company to save.”

I nod slowly. “So, what do you need me to do?”

He leans forward and puts his elbows on my desk. “We need to set up the shell corporations. This will need to be done quickly and quietly. They’re not wasting any time gutting it.”

“How much time do we have?” I lean forward and rest my elbows on my desk.

He sucks in a breath. “I’d say we have three months, tops. After that, we risk the company collapsing before we have made our move. And I don’t have to tell you what the financial implications for that will be.”

I shake my head, my mind spinning.

“I have you meeting with the attorneys first thing Monday morning.”

I frown. I’m scheduled to fly to Salt Lake on Sunday night. “Why don’t you meet with them?”

Evan holds up his hands. “My name needs to stay out of the paper trail as much as possible. I know you’re heading to Salt Lake, which is great. The attorneys I’ve engaged are in Utah. That will put another layer of distance between me and this deal.”

I nod, not ready to analyze why I feel a sense of relief for not canceling my Sunday night flight. “Okay. I can handle the meeting.” I pause. “But won’t having my name attached to the paper trail be just as incriminating as yours?”

Evan shrugs. “You’ll continue to go by Keaton Lincoln. You’ll only use Barrington if you’re signing legal documents. But hopefully that won’t have to happen until we are nearing the finish line.”

I nod. “It sounds like a solid plan—or as solid a plan as we can have for something like this.” I twitch my lips to the side. “I’m sure you already know this, but there is a huge amount of risk.”

Evan nods, tapping his fingers together in front of his lips. “Trust me, I’m aware. But if we do it right, it’ll be worth it.”

“And if we don’t do it right?”

Evan sighs. “Then you may be putting that Yale degree to work somewhere else.”

“Nothing like a little pressure to start the weekend.”

Evan grins. “Why don’t you come to dinner? Dad’s working late,” he gives me a knowing look. That is completely my dad’s MO. And since my mom died, it’s only gotten worse. “And Lowell’s home for the weekend. I thought we could do a pizza and movie night.”

I nod. “Is Shay okay with this?”

Evan grins. “It was her idea.” His grin droops. “I think she’s missing her family.”

“So we’re the fill-ins until you move to Utah in January?”

Evan’s brow arches. “Do you mind?”

“Not in the least. I like Shay. You know that.” I waggle my brows. “Besides, being the stand-in family is worth it for free pizza and a movie night.”

I drop into the front seat of my car and pull out my phone. Evan and I had walked out of the office together, so I haven’t been able to look at Poppy’s text yet. I have to admit, I’m kind of happy she texted me back, even if it is by accident.

Poppy

Oh my heck! I’m so sorry!!! That was a total accident! Please disregard!!

I smile. I should be unhappy that she texted me by accident rather than on purpose. But this opens the door for me to text her back, right? Even if she doesn’t know who I am?

Are you sure it wasn’t your subconscious wanting to text me again? I’m the kind of guy that is hard to get out of your mind.

I wait for a minute, but when no reply comes, I push the ignition on my car and make my way out of the parking garage.

My phone dings as I turn onto the main road. I push the button for the message to be read to me, glad that my phone is synced to my car.

“Message from Poppy Ashcombe,” the stern, robotic voice says. “Unless your name is Pais, and we have been friends since preschool, you’re wrong. It was a total accident. I’m sorry if I interrupted something important.” There is a slight pause, and then the voice says, “Would you like to reply?”

I would like to reply, but I don’t want the AI to mess it up as it so often does. I pull over to the side of the road and pull my phone off the charger.

I’m choosing to believe it was your subconscious…And don’t worry, you didn’t interrupt anything.

I put the phone in my lap, but then pick it up again.

And if your subconscious is thinking about me and you want to text me again, feel free. I won’t mind.

I press send and then read it over. Winky face emoji?

Really? Reading it over, it feels a little creepy.

I should have done a smiley face. Although that feels totally lame, too.

“Ugh,” I drop my head to my steering wheel and smack the side of it with my hand.

No wonder she doesn’t want to keep texting me. She can sense I’m a complete loser.

I wait a minute more with no reply. Sighing, I check my mirrors before I pull back onto the road and head for home.

I shake my head as I merge onto the highway.

I’m not sure why I feel so insecure with Poppy.

I’ve had girlfriends before. I’ve even dated as much as the next guy.

But Poppy feels different. And it’s not just her boho, earthy vibe.

It’s something else, but I can’t put my finger on it.

All I know is I like how I feel when I’m with her.