Page 10 of Home to Me (The Andrades 2)
“I’m sorry, Mr. Andrade is in a meeting this morning.”
Nick cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow. “You mean Gio?”
The woman reached for the pencil that was tucked behind one of her ears but dropped it. As she scrambled to pick it up off the floor, she smiled and said, “Oh, you’re here to see that Mr. Andrade? He’s one floor up. Take a left out of the elevator. His office is right there.”
“I know where his office is. I’m not lost.”
“Then you’re here to see Nicholas Andrade?” She looked at the closed door behind her, then quickly turned back. “He’s going to be busy for a while, can I take a message?” She held her pen poised above a notepad.
“What’s your name?” Nick asked impatiently.
“Janet.”
“How long have you worked here?”
Suddenly flustered, Janet replied, “Three months? I’m sorry. Should I know you? Mr. Andrade doesn’t have many people drop by his office.”
Nick rubbed his forehead, fighting off a growing headache. “I’m Nicholas Andrade.”
“Oh,” she said and dropped her pencil again. “Really?”
Nick grimaced. “Really.”
“Wow, they told me I’d probably never meet you.”
Nick heard the irritation in his own voice as he asked, “Who said that?”
“Human resources?” she answered with growing panic in her voice. “I shouldn’t have said that. Please don’t fire me. I just graduated from college and this is the first job I can put on my résumé that doesn’t include serving hamburgers.”
“I’m not going to fire you. I don’t even know what the hell you do yet.”
Janet splayed her hands on the desk in front of her. “I mostly lie about where you are. Usually you’re in a meeting. Other times you’re traveling to inspect a new site. I try to be creative.”
“That’s the extent of your job?”
She blushed. “I also input data from departments that need help. Sometimes I cover for someone who is on vacation.”
“Janet, call down to HR and tell them your services will no longer be available to them.”
“Because I’m fired?”
“No, because your boss is finally out of his meeting.”
An hour later the door to Nick’s office flew open and his older brother stormed in. “What the hell are you doing, Nick?”
Nick had been asking himself that for the last fifty-nine minutes, but he didn’t like hearing the question coming from his brother. “You’re the one who said I was a full partner. Isn’t this the office you told me was waiting for me?”
Gio walked up to his desk aggressively. “I don’t have time for this bullshit, Nick. I don’t care why you’re in here pretending to be doing something. I want to know what this is.” He threw a newspaper down in front of him.
“It’s a newspaper,” Nick answered drolly. “People used to read it before the Internet.”
With a growl, Gio pointed to a photo in the middle of the page. “You know damned well what I’m talking about.”
Nick looked down at the paper and saw the photo of him, mostly unclothed, kissing Rena. “Not one of my finer moments.”
“Is that Rena?” Gio barked.
Nick stood. “You know it is or you wouldn’t be here.”
“I told you to stay the hell away from her.”
“And I told you that whatever happened or didn’t happen between the two of us would never be any of your business.”
Gio reached over and grabbed Nick by the collar of his shirt.
Nick grabbed Gio’s arm with equal force.
“Don’t do something you’ll regret, Nick.”
“Get your hand off me, Gio.”
Gio released him roughly. Nick did the same.
“I don’t know what to do with you, Nick,” Gio growled, pacing in front of him.
“Try trusting me for once,” Nick answered, folding his arms across his chest. “I have no intention of hurting Rena.”
With an angry shake of his head, Gio said, “That’s the problem. You never mean to do anything. Nothing is ever your fault or responsibility.” He looked Nick over critically. “Did Mother send you? Is that why you’re in a suit?”
“No. I decided on my own it was time to get involved.”
“What the fuck are you doing, Nick?”
“Right now?” Nick sat back down at his desk. “Taking my place beside you at Cogent. Isn’t this what you always wanted?”
Without saying another word, Gio turned and walked out.
A few minutes later there was a knock on his door. Nick looked up at the ceiling of his office and said, “Come in.”
Janet had a notebook and pencil in hand. “Now that you’re here, I thought I should ask you what you’d like me to do.”
Nick covered his eyes with one hand, then rubbed his eyebrows, trying—unsuccessfully—to stem the pounding behind them. “How good are you at psychoanalysis? Gio’s right, I’m sitting in here pretending I know what the fuck I’m doing, telling myself that if I try I can unravel decades of lies. For what? Because I wish I were closer to my brothers? Because I care what Rena thinks of me?” He looked across the room at the woman who was hovering in the doorway. “Where do I go from here?”
Janet turned on her heel and disappeared for a moment. When she returned it was with a stack of pink papers. She walked over and laid them on Nick’s desk. “I’ve been taking messages from people for three months. Here is their contact information and the reasons they called. Maybe you could start there.”
Nick flipped through the ridiculously large stack of notes. Everything was there, just as she’d said. At a loss for what else to say, he said, “Thank you, Janet.”
She nodded, then stopped just before walking out the door. “My brother died while serving an overseas tour. I miss him so much. If I thought I could see him again, even for a few minutes, I would call every number in that pile. Wanting to be closer to your brothers is nothing to be ashamed of.”
Nick nodded.
His cell phone rang and he instinctively answered it. “Hello?”
“Nick, it’s Luke. Gio said you’re at the office. Mind if I drop by?”
Janet closed the door behind her and Nick picked up one of the papers in front of him. “I’m busy this morning, but I’ll have time after five.”
“Dinner?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Or at least part of one.
Chapter Five
Rena pushed her chair behind her desk and retrieved her purse from the desk’s bottom drawer. For once, she was glad to be going home. Gio was in an awful mood, and although he hadn’t said anything to her, she had a pretty good idea why. He’d stopped by her desk a couple of times, glared at her, and looked about to say something, only to storm back into his office. She was tempted to bring up the photo herself, but she doubted it would make the situation better.
Plus, she was already angry enough with herself—she didn’t need to endure what most likely would be another lecture. She knew she shouldn’t have gone to see Nick at the club. She absolutely shouldn’t have kissed him on the balcony. There was no rational explanation for why she’d kissed him again in front of the bar when she knew they were being photographed. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she’d waited all weekend for Nick to contact her.
