August 24th, 2027
On Concrete Shelves | Revisited
PART TWO
Scene One; Stone Creek
Boulestridge Mountains; Lakeside Inn
After dropping off Eric’s back-pack and promising he would pick him up from school later, Charlie made his way to his favorite coffee shop for the darkest brew he could get his hands on. It never dawned on him this would be a mistake until this moment when the outside temperature and his body's internal temperature danced to produce sweat upon his forehead.
“Ah! There he is.” Taylor Kern-Thurlow calls, he makes his way over to Charlie from the corner receptionist desk. Likely having gone over his morning inspections with the staff to confirm his social calendar for the day.
Immediately Charlie feels there could be an ambush on his calendar, though, it could also be just the lingering effects of his conversation with Kirsten earlier. Whatever it is, he tries to keep his thoughts in-check as to not alert anyone to his current state of emotions.
Charlie waves to Taylor in an awkward and yet effect wave. “I’m sorry that I’m running late today. Eric forgot his backpack at home and I had to get it to him so he doesn’t get in trouble… again.”
“Has that been reoccurring?” Taylor asks, moving the conversation along as both men walk through the front reception room and into a side hallway towards Charlie’s office.
Charlie shrugs. “He’s had some issues adjusting this year, is all.”
“You’re definitely selling this whole raising children thing to me.” Taylor says with a sarcastic chuckle. “I don’t know if I can handle a younger version of myself right now in my life.”
This opens the conversation to pivot onto Taylor and Aidan’s relationship; feeling a sense of calm overcome him, Charlie leads the conversation, “are the two of you thinking of children… You know, down the line?”
“You’re generous, Charlie,” Taylor speaks, “but I don’t know how much further we can move down that line these days. I don’t know if I could raise a child now.. nor do I think I can stand my ground against a teenager in my seventies.”
This garners a chuckle from Charlie. “You’re not that old, Taylor.”
“Sometimes it feels that way.” He shrugs. “I am glad that I caught you though. There’s a local supplier that I stumbled upon in the valley that is selling their produce at a lower price point than the Masterson brothers.”
“I don’t know, I like the brothers, we have done a lot of business with them.” Charlie remarks. “Sometimes paying a little bit more to keep a bonded agreement goes further than ruffling feather’s to save a few cents.”
He takes the information in and nods in agreement. “That’s a great assessment. I think we made a great call putting you in-charge of things while Aidan’s overseas with his grandmother. Go ahead and put an order in whenever you’re able to. But check-in with chef first before you do so. Let’s not cut costs and then waste it through spoiled food.”
“I will get on that as soon as we are done here.” Taylor says.
They make their way into Charlie’s office; decorated in a cold slate grey wallpaper and white trim, his desk cluttered with pictures of his family and a frame hung behind his desk held the latest awards the Resort earned.
Charlie turns to Taylor. “Are we done here?”
This gets an uneasy look from the blue-eyed chiseled man. “Actually, I didn’t want to say this for anyone else to hear… but I wanted to check up on you and see how things are at home? Annie at the front desk said you’ve been staying in one of the suites these days… Don’t worry, I already took care of it and explained it away. But I do have to ask — if not for Aidan, then for the sake of the Resort… is everything okay?”
There’s a pressure in Charlie’s stomach that begins to migrate into his chest. “Things are fine, Taylor. Kirsten and I have just been learning to maneuver around each other. There are things in a marriage that you’ve yet to learn —” Charlie immediately realizes the footing he’s moving into and his eyes widen. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
Taylor nods. “That’s quite alright. I mean, to tell you the truth… I didn’t think I would spend my first year of marriage in an empty house but with Aidan in Paris helping get his father’s steel company ready for the merger, and me taking on more here at the Resort... I think I’m handling it the best that I can.”
He places his hands up. “No need to tip toe around the topic.”
“Anita and Aidan are doing their best to salvage Thurlow-Jurado Overseas before the coming merger, I am sure they will be back before we know it.” Charlie states, hoping to give Taylor some sort of assurance.
Taylor pats Charlie on the chest. “That’s what you said last week though I am grateful for your concerns. I’m fine being in the condo by myself. It’s just as if I’m a bachelor once again… except I have a wedding ring and a partner I have very little contact with…”
“So you’re not fine…” Charlie remarks.
“I’ve never been the type that wanted to be married if I’m telling you the truth… but now that I am I just feel like I’m missing out on all of those little milestones you’re supposed to be enjoying together. Does that make sense? It’s like. I understand why he’s gone but that still doesn’t make me feel any better about the situation.”
“I think you need to tell him that.” Charlie replies.
Taylor shrugs it off. “This was supposed to be a conversation about why you’re slumming it in our extra suites and not about my angsty first year of marriage, you know?”
“I have a way of changing subjects.”
“Right.” Taylor smacks his lips. “I should head out and talk to chef about the produce… oh and before I go,” Taylor says, turning on his heel at the doorframe to Charlie’s office, “I have a message from your mother… go find her at the restaurant. She says she's been calling you all morning.”
Charlie nods his head. “Right.”
Scene Two; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; Holly Oak Manor
It’s not the worst thing in the world.
If Patrick was honest with himself, sometimes it is grating dealing with his redheaded stubborn wife before he has had his morning cup of coffee. There’s a small part of him that misses his ex. wife, Charlene, and her constant need to be noticed — which reassured him of his own self worth.
He knows that his daughter should be here soon from the numerous text messages she sent him a few hours ago. They were to go over the next moves needed to secure capital for their next venture. It has taken a lot from Patrick to get used to the idea of not being in control of Sutton Corp. anymore. He really did miss bossing people around — which is definitely something he’s unable to do with his daughter, Gillian.
The front door swings open and again shuts with a slam that echoes throughout the house. It’s not his daughter’s usual way to enter but he is more relieved than ever to get started with their day. Turning to greet Gillian in the doorway he’s surprised when he’s bum rushed into the room by someone who isn’t his daughter at all.
“I’m sorry!” Patsy Sutton-Clarke states as she makes her way into the room in such a way that draws concern from Patrick. His sister maneuvers around, places her purse down on the desk that holds his computer and then turns on her heel and scans the room before proceeding with her tracing steps.
“What are you more sorry for? The front door slamming or nearly knocking me over?” Patrick snips in concern.
He can feel the heat from outside radiating from her skin as she places herself square in the middle of the room. Patsy licks her lips and stands as tall as her body will allow. “I need your help with something and I have learned that I cannot go to Kimberly about this.”
Patrick feels his body shiver at the sound of their sister’s name. “Did you think you could go to our sister after she shoved me off a cliff at that board meeting and appointed our nephew as CEO of Sutton?”
He takes note of the panic in her eyes. Patsy was normally a very scattered woman, so he has seen this look often, but he can also sense that there’s more going on than she is letting on so he holds the rope for as long as she allows him. “Go on, I’m listening.”
“Good.” Patsy says. “I was speaking with one of my tenants the other day and they started talking about their neighbors property being bought out from under them at more than the asking price… which in this economy is unheard of.”
“Which neighborhood is this?” Patrick asks, trying to create a mental map in his head of where the entire Adeline Holding’s profile resides. It wasn’t lost on him that Patsy was referring to the Holdings once she started talking about tenants. If there was anything that his sister had honed was her ability to gather luck like no other.
Patsy takes a minute and he can see her mind at work. “In Sage Gardens, the Matthews property. It’s not like anyone is doing any urbanization in the area so I don’t understand why someone would purchase a property there — above asking price no less!”
“Dumb people take dumb gambles, Patsy.”
Patrick checks his watch. It’s not like his daughter to be this late — though, it’s not like he has ever set a time frame for any of their meetings. He admits the sudden appearance of his sister has mustered up this urge to get out of the conversation he has allowed to reside within his office space.
“Do dumb people threaten other people in selling their property as well?” Patsy fires back, she places her entire body in front of Patrick and behind her he can see his cup of coffee sitting near the window calling to him like a lover on the other side of enemy territory.
He shakes himself out of his thoughts. “I just — Patsy. I think maybe you need to take a breather and not let this heat wave get the best of you dear sister.”
“Don’t you dear sister me!” Patsy hollers. “There is something fishy about all of this and don’t forget how a few years ago your son-in-law was in cahoots trying to buy me out of the Adeline Holdings, Patrick! What if he’s at it again?”
“At what again?” A voice asks from the doorway. His daughter, Gillian, stands with her arms crossed in front of her Veronica Beard blush crepe blouse and its matching wide leg pant. He supposed his daughter had perfect timing after all.
Patsy holds her chest dramatically, facing the younger woman, “oh, dear, I didn’t know that you were here. I am sorry you had to hear me raise my voice like that. I was just talking to your father about the Adeline Holdings.”
“Ah!” Gillian says, she makes her way into the room. “So all this shouting has to do with my husband and that hollow ploy to deceive you all those years ago Aunt Patsy. Do you really think that Damien would go through all of that again… and for what?”
“I’m just saying…”
“She’s just grasping at straws…” Patrick says, giving his daughter a kiss on the cheek and then turning back to his sister who is occupying her time licking her wounds. “… like always. Maybe this time we can start grasping the straws outside of the family tree?”
Patsy shoots him a smarmy look. “I’m not the one who usually sticks it to family members, Patrick, that is almost always you. Besides, I didn’t mean to get that heated up. I just wanted to come over and ask if you would help me figure this entire mess out. If someone is harassing business owners directly nearest the holdings who knows when they will be harassing my tenants. I was left in-charge of the holdings for a reason. I don’t want to be the reason that our family loses them for the first time in decades.”
“Who do you think is actually trying to undermine you, Aunt Patsy?” Gillian asks, her head shakes from side to side and so do her dangling pearl earrings.
Patsy shifts her weight. “The same person who swindled father’s company from you.” She declares, locking eyes with her brother, Patrick.
“Kimberly.” Gillian and Patrick say in unison.
Scene Three; Stone Creek
Now Town; Sutton Enterprises
So now she is in her office with her door closed and her blinds pulled and her damned three hundred dollar heels half way across the room as she massages the heel of her feet before she has to continue her day.
A knock at her door alerts Kimberly of the nuances and commotion around her office and the sight of her nephew poking his head into her office give her a sense of relief that she doesn’t have to put on a facade.
“Should I come back at another time?” He asks noticing the scene before him.
“You never seem to find the time to remind of that.” Peter remarks in sarcasm. He stands before her as she crawls on the floor of her office in search of her stiletto heels, which she finds behind her nephew on the other side of the room.
“Are you finished?” Kimberly asks in defeat, she maneuvers herself around and folds her body so that she is utilizing her legs to sit upon. “I have had an awful morning already and it’s not even half way through. Between the safety protocol meeting and the redistribution meeting that let to no redistributing I have had enough of this damned day. So please, if you’re here in my office to drop any more bad news on my desk I am telling you to kindly hold onto it until tomorrow when maybe I will decide to wear flats or at this rate… crocs.”
Peter sighs. “I was just coming to get you for the meeting with Lindy.”
Kimberly shoots her nephew an evil eye. “I don’t know if I have the strength for formalities with a woman that has notoriously acquired and liquidated family owned businesses across the states, Peter. Can you tell me exactly why we decided to go into business with this woman?”
“Because,” he starts, he bends down to grab his aunts heels and hands them to her. “We thought that getting into business with this woman was the only way that we could tip the scales and push your brother out of the family business just like he did to my father.”
“It still doesn’t feel like it was the best decision.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Peter states.
Kimberly looks up and notices the grin on her nephews face for the first time today. He’s dressed in a slim fit suit and his favorite black suede cowboy hat. “Do you ever get the idea that she’s trying to do the same thing to us? Like she just dangled the option to maintain control of Sutton just so she could eventually start a hostile takeover while we are enjoying our spoils?”
“We’ve had control of the company for five years already, if she wanted to take the company from us she would’ve done it and then burned it to the ground. Sutton is a huge company. We are worth a really pretty penny.”
“That’s what worries me.” Kimberly admits.
There were times in her life where she felt truly not in control of her own; most of the time that feeling was accompanied by her father's lingering ability to offer her up as some sort of collateral to his business partners son’s. Not to say that extravagant weddings and no expense spared lifestyle wasn’t worth it… but the times she felt in control have been sparse as well.
Kimberly stood up and helped herself into her heels. “I just have this gut feeling that we are missing a much larger piece of the puzzle.”
A knock at the door interrupts the two of them.
“Who the hell could that be?” Kimberly snips.
The door opens and a light skinned younger man with deep dark features stands before the two of them. He spreads his mouth into a full smile and his eyes light up. “Hi. I’m your new assistant.”
“New?” Kimberly asks in confusion. “What happened to Gretchen?”
Peter chuckles, “Your last assistant's name was Wendy and she went to HR about you asking her if she was dropped on her head as a baby. Gretchen was three assistants ago.”
“That’s not right.” Kimberly scoffs.
“I can get Ingrid from HR down here to explain exactly what I just said if you don’t believe me Aunt Kimberly. But you’re already the talk over there about the abuse you put your assistants through.”
“My name’s Karl.” Karl states.
Kimberly tips her head back. “I don’t need this sort of headache right before we meet with Lindy.”
“Karl,” Peter drawls, “I think you should go and grab my aunt’s lunch order and maybe a coffee before she decides to fire you as well.”
The younger man nods. “I’ll go grab your lunch order and maybe a coffee—“
“What are you a parrot?!” Kimberly snaps in frustration.
Scene Four; Stone Creek
Now Town; HEAT Headquarters
Care Schmidt catches her eye, though with every passing day the older woman seems to be withering. A mixture of perfume and bulimic odor invades Megan’s senses and she hasn’t the idea to bring up the question or to just treat her with kindness.
The muffin in-between Care’s fingers is no more an origami figurine as the play doh that her younger brother plays with. Megan offers her a smile, a hello and a touch to her side before moving further away and towards her grandmother’s office.
Her concerns would have to wait for later, though she doesn’t know when later will arrive.
Pushing open the door to her grandmother’s office she feels a rush of blood to her head at the sight of the taller, thinner redhead standing nearest to Helen’s desk. Megan tries to gather the most of her composure, she clutches her cellphone a little tighter and forms the thinnest line on her face with widened eyes, “Cree, you’re back.”
The words are less enthusiastic than she warranted, but still completed the task at hand. Before the other woman could answer, she moves out of the door way and makes eye-contact with her grandmother who sits before the two in amusement.
“Yes,” Cree Summers says, there’s a weird light aura around her that Megan can’t seem to place, with a wicked smile Cree continues her lull, “Paris was amazing but I was feeling homesick and I missed the mediocre coffee and my asthma so I just had to hurry back.”
If Megan hadn’t known about Cree’s ballerina background, the way her words lulled and twirled through the air were telling enough.
Megan scoffs, if only silently to herself, “Well, we're happy to have you back at the agency. I’m sure all the other girls will be excited that you’re here as well." She quickly turns her head away from Cree to hide the fading smile. "Grandmother, a word?”
This is enough to usher Cree towards the door.
“Cree,” Helen calls back, “please play nice this time around? We just started to see to the other girls mental health concerns and now that my granddaughter is in-charge of the models in-house, I don’t want to hear of any… friction, yes?”
Cree nods. “I’ll be on my best behavior, scouts honor.”
Megan waits until Cree turns on her heels and out the door before she narrows her eyes at her grandmother and storms forward. “When were you going to tell me that she was coming back to the agency?”
“How long have you known she was coming back? Be honest with me Helen!” Megan snips, using her grandmother’s name to insert dominance like she used to as a child.
This obviously wilts Helen a little as she stops what she’s doing and huffs loudly. “I didn’t know for certain. Girls like Cree are finicky at best, okay? Is that a good enough answer for you, child?”
“I have to manage her now too, isn’t there a breach of contract in there somewhere since she bullied me so badly?"
Helen sighs. “Now you get to bully her. Is it really that hard to comprehend? Make that little bitch have the worst time of her life here. I promise to turn a blind eye. Natalie is too busy being the CFO now… it’s not like there’s an HR department that answers to anyone other than myself…”
Megan glares. “I couldn’t…”
“You could… you just won’t. You get that from your mother and that grandfather of yours… which isn’t a total bad thing. Just in this situation.” Helen replies with dry wit. “Now, let’s get to the reason why you were late in the first place?”
Megan purses her lips. She knows giving Helen this sort of information could do way more harm than good. It wasn’t like her to be subtle, nor, would it be like her to keep the information to herself. So, instead, she chooses something a little less demanding, “traffic. You know how it is these days.”
Our Love. Our Fights. Our Friendships.
On Concrete Shelves.
Forever, They Shall Be Remembered.
Scene Five; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; Holly Oak Manor
Patrick looks at his daughter conflicted while Patsy opens her mouth and then immediately closes it. “I’ll just look it up… anyways, if you really think that aunt Kimberly is trying to sabotage the holdings then you should probably just create a trap to see if the theory is true. There’s no use in pointing fingers with the possibility of yours getting snipped as well.”
“What do you suppose we do?” Patsy asks.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, well, why? The easiest way to figure that out is to maybe list one of the properties as a decoy for information. If this person is trying to buy the holdings out from under you this would be something that they can’t deny themselves.”
This causes Patsy to step away. “That’s very tricky.”
“You’re still in control of everything you just have to find an agency that we can trust… which isn’t that hard if you roll out the rolodex of people that owe our family a favor.” Gillian admits. “Though now with daddy and aunt Kimberly being on opposite ends of this feud.. you’d have to figure out who is more loyal to us.”
“This is getting more complicated.” Patsy admits.
Patrick shrugs. “I have an idea of who we can trust.”
“Great.” Gillian snips. “Now that that is taken care of, let’s get back to the reason why I am here in the first place. Damien is hosting a charity gala and I believe this will be the best opportunity to test out loyalty amongst the founding families. We need to use this gala in order to find investors and solidify a foundation.”
“Have the two of you figured out what kind of business you’re going to dig into?” Patsy asks.
“Transportation.” They say in unison.
Patsy scoffs.
It’s a sound that vibrates within Gillian’s consciousness and causes a great deal of grief. “I wouldn’t think you the type to understand that, aunt Patsy. Firstly, transportation is a very lucrative business right now.”
“It’s a very ominous one as well.” Patsy fires back.
Patsy turns to him and Gillian see’s a rise in the older woman. “I get that. Why does everyone in this family write me off so easily? I came to you because I noticed a shift in the real estate around me, not to get badgered!”
“We’re not badgering you.” Gillian snips. “I believe that something is going on around you — we just don’t know if it has anything to do with the Holdings. I was explaining to you to set a trap before you pull ranks.”
She can see the thought process through her aunt’s eyes. “What are you going to do with this transportation business?” Patsy shifts focus.
Gillian welcomes the change of subject as speaking with the older woman can be time consuming at best. So she smiles and brushes the frustration away. “We have already begun the process of purchasing trucks, we just need to gather our resources a bit, and maybe a CEO that is worthy —”
“Am I not worthy?” Patrick huffs.
“Oh, daddy,” Gillian says, “It’s not that you’re not worthy… it’s that you’re attached to the Sutton Crest. Anyone with our last name should stay clear of heading this dragon, at least, publicly that is. We need someone we can eventually feed to the wolves.”
Patsy furrows her brow. “Why on earth would you want to do that?”
“Because,” Gillian starts, she notices that both her father and her aunt are eating out of the palm of her hand. Their eyes glued to her looking for an explanation, which is odd, since Gillian has had to explain this to her father more than once already. “This isn’t no more than a vehicle to getting Sutton Corp. back from aunt Kimberly. Think of this as a trojan horse. If we fail then our CEO takes the fall… but if we succeed we get back inside grandfather’s company once again and we can push those two out once and for all.”
Gillian turns to her aunt. “That means the Adeline Holdings will be safe as well.”
“Who would want to be the CEO of something like this, then?”
“Reichen Calbourne, of course.” Gillian gleams.
Scene Six; Stone Creek
Boulestridge Mountains; The Lakeside Inn: Chantal
Charlie smiles once he spots his mother at a nearby table conversing with a group of younger women looking out at the vast lake that sits nestled alongside the Inn. She, of course, spends most of her days keeping up with the grand allure of the place.
She spots him as well, cutting the conversation short and making her way over to him. Her teal satin blouse tucked into a pair of black denim jeans; a look that not only suits his mother, but is one so far from the pristine and collected woman she was shackled to when married to Patrick Sutton.
Charlie offers his mother a tight hug. “If I didn’t agree about that, I might just be jealous.”
The older blond clasps his hands in hers and Charlie can immediately feel the warmth from his mother’s touch. “Come with me,” Charlene speaks in a softer voice as she leads him away from the usual chaos of the restaurant and into a much smaller banquet room.
“I wanted to talk to you about some extra bottles of wine for a party tonight but after the series of hoops I’ve had to jump through in order to arrange a meeting with my own son— ”
“Mother,” Charlie stops her, he nods lightly. “You know that any time you need anything, the wine cellar is yours. Just check-in with Amanda so that she can log it for the next shipment.”
There’s a smile that overcomes her that Charlie knows well. “This conversation was something we could’ve had over the phone and I’m starting to believe there is more to this meeting, what else do you want to say?”
“Like I said,” Charlene takes a deep breath, “I originally wanted to talk to you about the wine, but then I was looking at photographs of you and Gillian when you were kids and I thought about how much I wanted the two of you to grow up outside of that mansion; neither of you deserved that childhood.”
“It was hardly torture.” Charlie chuckles.
She holds a hand to her neck. “Even still, it wasn’t how you should’ve been raised. I wanted you both to grow up and be happy and raise families and now… now look at the two of you. I hardly speak with your sister since she’s now glued to your father’s hip like a crutch and I am having a hard time reading your mind these days.”
“You were never able to read my mind. I would always just give in to whatever you wanted to keep you from feeling so alone.” Charlie begins to think back to his childhood and spending more time with his mother in the evenings as she overseen the chef’s make the meals. He breaks away as easily. “I’m fine.”
“Then maybe just hear me out… once again?” Charlene says.
Two hostesses pass through the room; one in a tight black cocktail dress and her blond locks of hair held together on the top of her head with a clip, the other in tailored slacks and a white satin blouse just like his mother’s, he knows her as Stacy, and Stacy glances at the two of them briefly before moving to the next room.
“I think your girls might need your help out there.” He tries his best to re-direct the conversation.
But Charlene waves him off. “They’ll survive, they’ll have to learn at some point. I don’t get to have these kind of conversations with my children so often anymore. So, no more changing the subject.”
She takes his chin between her thumb and her index finger and locks eyes with her son. “There are things in life that happen, not because anyone wanted for them… but because we are all shifting under the surface. I know I’m not one who should be having this conversation with you with all that I have done but shifting isn’t the end of the world.”
“We all shift in one way or another.”
Charlene looks away for a second before returning her gaze. “I’m saying that you need to talk to your wife about the problems you’ve been having. When I was married to your father he had plenty of them. I was well aware of most… but do you know what hurt worse than him flaunting all these women around? It was the fact that he continued to ignore what was broken between the two of us. It was the way he just completely shut me out like I wasn’t even human anymore.”
“I’m sorry that you had to go through all of that.”
She shrugs at the thought. “I’d go through it again just for my children.”
“I’m not telling you to forgive your wife, Charlie,” Charlene says lightly, the echoing footsteps of her assistant manager bellowing forward through the hall, “I just think that maybe you can push past the hurt just a little bit so that you can see that she’s hurting too.”
“Charlene,” Stacy calls before entering the room and smiling through her deep blue eyes, “Your husband was looking for you. Should I direct him this way?”
“Ah! I must’ve left my phone in my office.” The older woman remarks, searching her body for the device. “Please tell him that I’ll meet him in the lobby in a few minutes. I need some more time with my son.”
Stacy nods. “Of course."
Behind Charlene, Charlie frowns. “I thought Reichen was in Chicago on business?”
“He was.” Charlene turns to him. “But then he called me yesterday about booking him a redeye back to California because he had a very important meeting that he couldn’t miss... with none other than your sister.”
“What does Gillian need with your husband?”
“If my children would spend more time answering their phones than avoiding their mother I might perhaps know a little bit more about what is going on in their heads.” Charlene snips with a smile. “But if it has anything to do with your father then I regret it is nothing good.”
“Are you okay with Reichen doing business with them?”
Charlene sighs. “I’m not his mother. Who he does business with doesn’t concern me. Though a meeting with my son once a week at the very least, does concern me. Can you also bring that grandson of mine? I miss him so.”
“I think we can make that happen.”
“Throw in a visit from Megan as well? Let us try to pull her away from that god awful evil grandmother of hers before she can sink anymore nails and poison her mind.” Charlene’s eyes flash wildly before returning to a cool steely blue, a giggle follows suit. “I joke, mostly.”
.:On Concrete Shelves:.
Scene Seven; Stone Creek
Now Town; HEAT Headquarters
So she moves past them and towards a familiar table where snacks and juice are held. The truth is, she’s nervous to be taking on such a huge task. But there’s no way that she can outwardly express it; her mother would rather she work in an office somewhere, while her grandmother wouldn’t mind she slice off Cree’s head to show dominance. Megan just wants to prove she’s capable of holding her own.
She grabs a chocolate granola bar from the table and turns on her heel, leaning against it for support. Megan begins ripping the foil before she see’s a familiar face.
“Careful, you wouldn’t want to choke on that.” Cree sneers, her otherwise perfect face forms a scrunched frown. “You should probably start looking after yourself here, you know, so that you can show these new kids how to be models like yourself.”
“Luckily for you,” Cree says with a drawls, “I’m not allowed to pick them anymore either. So I guess we get to bury the hatchet and become friends now.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
Cree sighs, dramatically, “Oh good, because I didn’t want to watch as my social status plummeted being with the likes of you. Don’t take that the wrong way. You are very inspirational in a catalog model meets the city kind of way.”
There’s more venom coming from Cree than what Megan can handle. But ever since she received the text message from Helen this morning she had become more hyperaware of herself around others. A model, Molly Kettner, stands close to them with her brunette haired tied back and a slinky red dress wrapped around her body.
“I don’t think we should be so hostile around here.” Megan eyes Molly, whom then moves away with an awkward smile. “There are things these girls don’t need to see, or feel, as they try to work, Cree.”
This garners a chuckle. “Do you really think that you’ll be able to manage all the girls in the agency? Are you finally starting to grow a back bone?” Cree claps mockingly. “I’m so proud of you… you’re finally becoming a woman. I mean, look at your curves…”
Megan gulps down the anxiety as it beckons to overcome her. “I’m not going to play your games.”
“I don’t play games Megan. I create them. Look, I don’t know what the fuck has been going on around here since I’ve been in Paris but I am back and you need to fall in-line, even if you’ve been promoted to deputy sheriff around here. I’m still in-charge. That’s never going to change and you’re going to have to deal with it.”
Megan takes a step forward. She finds herself doing it quicker than she has time to think about it. As if her instincts have become more aware than her rationality. But as she becomes aware of the motion she finds herself clutching her palms to control herself.
On her tip toe, Megan leans forward, “I’m not backing down to you Cree, I just think that we need to start changing the rules around here some. It’s been awhile since you’ve been in Stone Creek and I don’t know if you’ve realized that these girls don’t all follow your lead anymore.”
“That’s something I can change real quickly.”
“Didn’t you tell Helen that you’d be on your best behavior?” Megan challenges.
This worries Megan.
“Didn’t think so.” Cree seizes the moment. “So let’s get a few things straight around here. I’m still in-charge and you will do as I say, and when I’m not around you can play dress-up with your little girlfriends and show your grandmother what a great job that you’re doing… but when I’m here…”
“You’re going to listen to me.” Megan bites back.
“Oh! Look at you,” Cree laughs, “she’s so brave. Have I told you how proud I am of you for growing up to be such a big, brave girl? Don’t mess with me Megan, I mean that. You will regret it if you do.”
Cree pushes past Megan and grabs the granola bar that was in her hands moments ago and then spins on her heels and away from the table.
“You’re not the boss here, Cree!” Megan shouts.
The blonde turns to face her once again. “You’re not the boss here either, Bambi. So the way I see it the ball is in your court. Challenge me again and you’ll see what I can do with it. Do you hear me?”
Scene Eight; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; Wilkinson Fowler Commercial Realty
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Lark Maverick laughs, she sits in the office chair designated to her as a bright overhead light beams onto her brown mane of curls. She holds a hand to her mouth and apologizes for laughing out loud as she talks into the FaceTime app on her phone. Her best friend, Megan, waits on the other end for Lark to calm down. “I can’t believe she said that to you and you didn’t punch her in the face. Well, I can believe you didn’t punch her in the face. I’ve never seen you punch anyone in the face.”
“That’s not the point.” Megan replies.
Lark nods her head and then eyes the cinnamon roll on a thin white napkin to the right of her. This reminds Lark that she’s already missed lunch time and has settled for a late lunch later in the evening… which with the workload she’s been receiving from her boss, Greta Wilkinson, has been happening a lot more lately.
She takes a moment to slice a piece of the savory treat and munch on it while Megan starts to get to the point of the conversation. Though, Lark is more interested in the treat than anything else at the moment. Her stomach growls in anticipation.
“Are you listening to me?” Megan whines.
“How has the transition been?”
“Working full-time for Greta isn’t the hardest part of transitioning out of school and modeling. The work load is rough sure and I’m not eating that great while I’m here… but I think the hardest part is convincing my mother that I’m doing more good for myself working as a Real Estate Agent than smiling for a camera.”
“I could really use your help here at the agency.” Megan admits.
But Lark shakes her head. “No. Because then you wouldn’t be able to prove to your grandmother and to Cree that you deserve that promotion. I am really proud of you for sticking it out and doing the grunt work. Now you get to have new challenges and unfortunately Cree being back is one of them.”
Before she can continue a chime from her laptop alerts Lark to a new email coming through. Since she’s been eagerly waiting to hear back from a client she diverts her attention to the app on her laptop.
“Is everything alright over there?” Megan inquires.
Lark returns her gaze. “Hold up. I’m just reading the response from a client. We’ve been working on finding them tenants for the new complex opening up on Burke St., in Now Town and it’s been a constant back and forth.”
“That sounds rough. I can call you back later?”
Scanning over the email she can feel her heart dropping out of her stomach. Over the last few years she’s become accustomed to the jargon in formal documents to the point that she’s been able to skip through entire paragraphs hastily.
“Shit.” Lark responds. She returns her attention to the cellphone on her desk and gives Megan a worried look. “I might have to take you up on that callback. From the sounds of this email we may have just lost the biggest client we’ve had in months.”
“That’s not good.”
Lark shakes her head ferociously and says her goodbyes, hanging up the phone and quickly dialing her boss to tell her the news. Since starting at the agency Lark has found herself constantly struggling with competing offers but watching Greta navigate the negotiation process had been such a breath of fresh air. It had helped Lark find her confidence in the field and with this supposedly being one of her first leads that panned out the pressure was unmatched…
“Lark… what’s going on?” Greta asks, “I was in a meeting.”
This, she was aware of. “I’m forwarding you an email right now that I think you should read through. This is huge for us, Greta, and it’s not a good thing.”
Scene Nine; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; Outside Gladys’ Bistro
She sighs deeply at the sound of the seatbelt clicking into place.
Though before she’s able to rise from the back seat of the car Henry digs into her hair and pulls out a cracker he seemed to have placed there while she was struggling.
“Yum.” He snickers.
“Who knew that wouldn’t be the most surprising part of my day.” Marina says, mostly to herself as the toddler smiles at her and eats the cracker.
“Marina!” She hears the familiar tone of Diem Joplin.
Marina leans against her car for a moment while Diem does her best to jog over to them. It takes everything inside of her not to jump in the driver side and drive away, but she knows she owes Diem at least the chance to explain herself.
“I am so glad that I caught you, darling,” Diem draws, she looks around at the few patrons in the parking lot and offers a smile, “I really do want to apologize for that ambush in there. If I had known that Caitlyn was going to corner you like that I would ha— ”
Diem looks down at her feet and then back up at Marina. “I would have stopped it. You know that everyone in there meant well.. but I also know how it feels to be cornered like that. I would have never wanted that for you.”
“Aunt Diem,” Marina starts, she really had always felt like Diem was part of her family, “I appreciate you coming to me and apologizing right now, but I don’t really know what else you want me to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything.” Diem holds her hands up. “I just wanted to come over here and apologize and to make sure that the two of you were okay.” They both look at Henry through the window. Diem waves at the tyke.
Marina sighs. “I do have a question for you, actually.”
“Of course.” Diem says, she nods eagerly.
“Do you really think that I’m not ready to go back to working with you?” Marina asks. “Do you think that I should take the job with the council?”
Diem steps closer. “Oh, Darling, I know that you want to come back to work with me full-time and I do believe that you are ready to come back. But I also know how much that Henry means to you. You’ve been through a lot over the last few years… and I think that maybe the council might be a better option.”
“How so?”
“Like Caitlyn said, it gives you more flexibility and a lot more benefits for you and your family. The most I can offer is case-by-case pay and you know the amount of time you would have to put into some of these cases.” Diem takes her hand. “Darling, I think sitting on the council can offer you so much more.”
Marina thinks it over. “Am I really a burden for you?”
“So then you think this is best for me?”
Diem motions to the toddler in the booster seat behind them. “I think it’s best for him.”
Marina knows that she’s right. If she’s being honest it has been harder to separate herself from Henry these days. Especially with him growing older by the minute, it’s been harder to peel away. Even when Tully comes over to babysit, Marina is usually a few rooms away. She finds it hard to leave him for even a few hours.
This would give her the opportunity to take him with her to the courthouse where he can stay at the daycare a few doors away while she helped the city council. It would give Marina opportunity to provoke change within its chambers. She wouldn’t be able to change laws but through helping bring foundations and causes donations through charity she could help do her best and that has always been something she wanted.
She locks eyes with Diem. “Can you still call me when you get a case you can’t crack?”
“Oh, baby, you’ll be the first one I call.”
Marina smiles. “I’ll think about it.”
Scene Ten; Stone Creek
Now Town; Thurlow Industries
In that time she has bumped into everyone else in the building but her older brother. So the relief in seeing him gives way to a lighter feeling.
“How are you today sister?” James asks.
“I mean, I had a conversation with Jon last night that really didn’t give me much clarity if I’m being truthful. But that’s not what is keeping me up at night. Especially with Aidan being in Paris and I haven’t received a personal call from him yet.”
“He’s been busy helping mother.”
Shannon knows this information already but it doesn’t make her feel any better. “When he volunteered to go back to Paris to help out with TJO for the merger I just got this feeling in the pit of my stomach and it hasn’t subsided since. Having Imogene there with that sleaze bag she calls a husband hurts… but then Aidan being overseas as well, I’m not sleeping at all.”
“I think you should give him a call.”
“I have, but it went to voicemail twice,” Shannon pulls her arms in towards her chest and folds them, the soft fabric of her blouse calms her a bit, “I don’t want to seem like that helicopter parent that’s just hovering over him. Truthfully when I found out he left TJO and he came here to stay with you, I was so relieved. Mathias tried to have me killed, James, and then he let our son take the fall for the paperwork errors that led to it.”
“Mathias is gone. He died after he tried to go after you and Aidan again.” James assures her. “There’s nothing that he can do from beyond the grave.”
She shrugs. “Still. Gavin is snaking his way around my daughter and with both of my children in Paris now I feel like maybe I should’ve gone back instead of him. There’s a lot of guilt there brother. It’s keeping me up at night.”
“I wouldn’t let you down.” Shannon states.
The thought of both her children being in Paris has never sat well with her, but if she is truthful to herself it is probably a better thing than for her to go back. Especially if the people her ex. Husband was working with are still there.
“How are you feeling about today’s meeting with Vinessa?”
Immediately Shannon feels like she’s been pulled right back into the orbit of Noah Collier once again and the conversation they had earlier. It makes her sick knowing the deal that she has had to make with him. But she also knows having another set of eyes on contracts that involve her father’s company is always a sure bet.
“It’s fine. I have faith in Vinessa doing the right thing for our family.” The words don’t feel that great as they slip out of her mouth, so she offers a smile.
There’s a beat between the two of them that lasts longer than it should. But then they both fall back into rhythm with the conversation only to be interrupted by his son, Emmet, who waves at them both with a huge smile on his face.
“I have the new contracts you wanted me to look over.” He tells his father, and then leaves over to his aunt and gives her a kiss on the cheek. “I hope he hasn’t been badgering you about anything?”
“Oh, nonsense, I can listen to your father speak about the business all day,” Shannon says, “If I close my eyes it sounds like daddy.” She can feel her throat tighten a bit at the thought of their father, Henry, who passed a few decades before.
Perking up, Shannon turns to her brother. “What’s this about new contracts though, I thought everything had been finalized already for the merger with SRQ?”
Shannon thinks back to her conversation with Noah.
“They have already been finalized, yes. But these are contracts I had the boys at the Lumberyard help me finalize.”
This gives way to a calmer side to Shannon. “That’s the Thurlow way. We just want to see those that deserve to win succeed at doing so. These days I feel that is way more admirable than just providing for your family.”
“I’m not looking for admiration.” James says.
“It sure is looking for you.” Shannon quips.
Emmet looks between the two of them and then straight ahead as Vinessa Torsney approaches the three of them with a smile upon her face.
“Let’s just get through this merger first before we start handing out awards.” Emmet says. He pulls a smile upon his face, one that Shannon knows as her nephew’s ‘lawyer face’ and moves forward, closing the gap between the woman and their family.
On Concrete Shelves
Revisited
Next Time, On Concrete Shelves...
- James Thurlow and the rest of the Thurlow Industries team get hit with a road block that could shift the dynamic of their future. Shannon may regret her stance on Vinessa Torsney's loyalty.
- Lindy Llewellyn Yu begins to show her cards in a meeting with both Peter Sutton, Jr. and his aunt, Kimberly Sutton. But it's what she does after the meeting that may be more worrisome.
- A confrontation between two family members sets the ground work for future dynamics within the Wilkinson family.
- Kirsten Thurlow Sutton starts to take control over the secret she has been hiding for the last few months. However... will someone else have more pull than she had initially expected?...
No comments:
Post a Comment