“I must’ve been about nine…maybe ten years old and one day this scruffy-looking kid came to our house selling all sorts of junk. Used toys and old clothes. I remember thinking all of it was so dirty no one would ever buy any of it. I shouted at him andtold him to go away, said I wasn’t interested in buying any of his disgusting stuff. My dad must’ve heard me and by the time he got to the door, the poor kid was almost in tears.” He sighed and she could sense that he regretted his behavior. “My dad invited him in, gave him some food and just took the time to talk to him. We found out that his dad was in jail, his mother was a drug-addict and she just skipped town one day and he was selling whatever he could just so he could eat.” A sad smile curved on his lips. “My dad took him in and bought him new clothes. He paid for him to go to the same school as me, which wasn’t cheap. He gave him everything he needed to make a success of himself.”
“And did he?”
He simply nodded.
“Whatever happened to him? Do you still keep in contact with this guy?”
“Yeah, Jordan,” he replied with a smile. “I see him every day. He’s my right-hand man…and my best friend.”
Her eyes widened as realization hit. “Matthew?”
He nodded again. “Sometimes Matt walks into my office with some great new idea– granted, not all his ideas are great– but he’ll tell me about some amazing new plan, like buying Hampton Homes for instance, and I wonder what would have happened if my dad wasn’t at home that day. The man I trust with my life wouldn’t be in my life. You know, when my dad was handing over the company, Matt was in for twenty-percent, but he turned it down because that’s the type of guy he is. He said he’d taken too much already.” He shrugged. “Most people are just a victim of circumstance and all they need is a little help. The great teachings of Roscoe Evans.”
“Your dad is an amazing man.” She bit her lower lip, debating if she should ask him her next question. Curiosity got the better of her in the end. “How come you never talk about your mom?”
The question took him by surprise and he didn’t respond immediately. His facial expression remained neutral, but his shoulders tensed, which made her believe it wasn’t something he wanted to discuss. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he answered softly. “My mom left when I was eight and got remarried a few months later. She needed to do what made her happy…Well, at least that’s what my dad says. He’s never said one bad word about her.” He smiled in a way that was sort of bittersweet. “I see her a couple times a year, but that’s it. My dad raised Matt and I on his own.”
His response was curt and clinical, his tone lacking any kind of emotion, yet there was something so much deeper in his brown eyes. Every instinct was telling her to leave it there, but her foot-in-mouth syndrome was acting up again. “Are you…are you still mad…at your mom?”
That question made him really uncomfortable and she wanted to take it back immediately. He crossed his arms over his chest, pausing as he gathered his thoughts. Defensive body language. Boy, did she have a knack for making sensitive situations less awkward (insert sarcasm).
“No. I forgave her,” he responded softly, “but it took me a really long time. What she did was selfish and callous…and my dad didn’t deserve that. We woke up one morning and she was gone. Not one word before or after to explain why. Matt’s mom did the same thing. We were two kids from two different walks of life. We had the same problems, but we also had the same man helping us through it.” He smiled then, his mood lifting as easily as it had dipped. “I know this is gonna sound weird, especially because you come from a big family, but we’ve never felt like anything was missing. My dad has always been more than enough.”
She smiled back. “I’m gonna say it again. Your dad is an amazing man.”
She knew Roscoe personally. He still made a trip to the office every once in a while and she had always been in awe of his humbleness, but somehow hearing all this made her admire him even more. She had also found a deeper respect for Matthew. But these feelings for Tyler…
These feelings for Tyler were the tiniest bit more than mere respect and admiration and that bothered her. Over and above that, they’d just shared…a moment. It was the first time she’d seen a slight hint of vulnerability in him. She couldn’t stop speaking to him after that.
He’d spent most of the day ignoring her, not saying more than a few words, and now it seemed like the conversation had no end. The more they talked, the more conflicted she felt. When the staff announced they were closing up, she was grateful because at that point all she wanted to do was go up to her hotel room and give herself some time to figure out what the hell was going on inside her.
*****
Jordan returned to her hotel room the next day. It was almost painful to get through Jack’s presentation today. Not only did she have to suffer through his detailed comparisons between IFRS and US GAAP, she also had to spend another six hours beside the man she had a not-so-mini crush on.
He’d spoken to her a lot more today and there was a part of her that actually preferred him being awkward and distant. At least that was less confusing. She was relieved this day was finally over. She had no intention of going down to dinner. Why give herself more reasons to like him? Ordering pizza was her plan for tonight, so she wouldn’t have to see him again until tomorrow morning. Just avoid him, she thought. That was thematurething to do.
She kicked off her heels, stripped off her knee-length skirt, and pulled on a thin pair of shorts. She swept her hair up in to an untidy ponytail before switching on her laptop to check her emails. Two days out of the office and already her inbox was clogged with over four hundred emails. She groaned and got to work, trying to respond to as many as she could. The message tone beeped on her phone. She’d been so engrossed that she hadn’t realized over an hour had passed. It was time to order that pizza. Her stomach was beginning to rumble.
Another message came through. And then another and another. That could only be Gemma. She was the only person who would send five consecutive messages when one would be sufficient. Jordan quickly grabbed her phone for no other reason than to stop the incessant beeping.
The first one was a meme of a man literally throwing a man at another man and the caption read: Have you ever been so angry that you hit a motherfucker with another motherfucker?
Gemma:I’m so angry!!!
Gemma:And bored!
Gemma:Need someone to talk to.
Gemma:Just spent the last half hour chatting up a super-hottie.
Gemma:Then Neil came in and stole him.
Gemma then sent her a picture of Neil playing tonsil hockey with this guy and she couldn’t help but smile.
Jordan:He’s pretty cute. Sorry for your loss.
Jordan:I’m sure someone else will come along
