He stood and pulled her chair back, ever the gentleman. “I’ll walk you out.” He’d not done things like that until after she’d returned from England.
She reflected on the differences in their relationship as the elevator sank to the bottom floor. They’d always been as close as siblings, but something changed in her time away—they grew up. His pulling her chair out and holding doors was like losing Peter Pan, though she wouldn’t have him turn out as anything but a gentleman.
“If you change your mind, you know where to find me.” He smiled and pressed the button to take him back up to Billionaire Marriage Brokers and a business she still couldn’t believe existed in the modern world.
Her driver managed traffic splendidly while she answered emails and reviewed reports. She was behind on approving new flavors. That needed to change, but there were so many other items on her to-do list. Besides, approving flavors had been Dad’s job since before he took over for Grandpa; signing off on them would feel like she had already given up on Dad. Not that there was any hope of recovery, but there was no sense in jinxing the time he had left. Two weeks was a teardrop.
She entered the corporate offices, taking a deep breath of the earthy smell. Though the building was new, most of the furniture and the flooring was made from reclaimed wood. Dirt and sweat—and even a little bit of that rustic animal smell—stayed with the pieces. The scent reminded her of summers spent on the dairy farm, learning to drive a tractor, feeding the animals, and caring for the calves. Those were simpler times, but they were important to her. The farm was where she’d learned to work hard and gained a sense of responsibility for the hundreds of animals relying on her for food. That knowledge easily transferred over to the business, and her heart sank as she thought about all they stood to lose and what selling would mean for their employees.
The sound of her heels on the soft wood floors and the vanilla-scented candle burning at the receptionist’s desk were all that greeted her upon arrival. The need to tiptoe tugged at her consciousness as she kept her eyes on the wooden slats. They were full of nicks and gouges and were just about the prettiest floors on earth.
“Oh, Miss Donagal.” Ben, the receptionist, startled to his rather long feet. “You made it. They started fifteen minutes ago.” He jerked his head toward the conference room with a look of urgency.
One of the sliding barn doors was partially open, allowing her to see Guy Tratto, the COO, at the far end of the table. He had his laptop open and was leaning back in the chair, his weight resting on his right arm on the chair.
Kenzi took a hesitant step in that direction. Had she missed a meeting? That wasn’t like her. In fact, no. Her calendar was clear for the rest of the afternoon. “What am I missing?” she hissed at Ben.
His eyes went wide, which was disconcerting since they were already spaced too far apart on his face. His alarm turned him into a cartoon fish. “Just go.” He shooed her forward.
Lifting her chin, Kinzie marched into the room, her eyes sweeping over the attendees.
Lunette was in the first chair, wearing a navy suit and a lace shirt. She had on enough makeup to turn a bunny into a cat with claws, but not enough to hide the red that crept up her cheeks when she noticed her big sister enter the room.
Next to her was Everett Vereb, the CFO. He was the very definition of bald and beautiful, though many employees found his shiny head and large stature intimidating. He leaned in his seat as if trying to be close to Lunette, and she leaned his direction as well. The man was old enough to be their cool uncle, and Kenzi squashed the thought that there was something between the two of them. That was … borderline improper.
Kenzi kept her gaze sliding down the line to Hugh Sebald, the head of human resources. Hugh dropped his glance to the table, where he had a yellow legal pad covered in notes. The slope of his shoulders hinted at shame and gave her pause. Whatever was going on in here, she wasn’t supposed to know about it.
Sweeping right passed Guy Tratto and the empty seat next to him, she stared at the back of Leon Rostro’s head. He fiddled with his pen, his new wedding ring glinting in the light. As head of production, and because he spent most of his time in their production facility, he chose to dress in business casual instead of the suits required for the rest of the executive committee. The tips of his ears were red, giving further evidence that something was afoot, and she needed to get her head in the game.
The last of the committee was Julia Lottes, head of public relations and marketing. Kenzi didn’t know Julia well, since the woman had started less than three months ago, and Raquel had taken it upon herself to mentor her through the new-hire transitional period. Normally Kenzi would have spent time getting to know a member of the executive committee; however, with her father’s health failing, there was only so much of her to go around. Even now, she felt guilty for not being with him when every last moment counted.
The place her gaze stopped was on her sister, Raquel, who stood at the head of the table. Her cornstalk hair was swept back into a low ponytail, allowing her pouty red lips to consume her features. She tripped over her words until she fell to a stop.
Kenzi took advantage of the element of surprise and sat herself in the empty seat. “I apologize for my tardiness. Please continue.” She gestured for Raquel to speak.
“You can’t be late to something you weren’t invited to,” Lunette murmured. Although why she bothered to lower her voice was beyond Kenzi when the sound of a robin landing in a tree could have been heard in the silence that descended upon Kenzi’s arrival.
Kenzi smiled without showing any teeth. “An oversight, I’m sure, since the three of us share Father’s responsibilities at the moment.”Andyou’rehere, which is weird because you haven’t set foot in the office in years,she added silently.
Raquel smiled like she was running for Miss Dairy USA. “We don’t have time to cover everything again for you, so try to keep up.”
Her jab hit Kenzi right in the old worry box. Her middle sister always had a bit of a manipulative streak inside of her. Kenzi could usually see it coming, but the game she played today was on a new board, with new rules and a new deck of cards.
Raquel turned to Leon. “The appraiser will start Monday. He’ll need a couple hours of your time.”
“Appraiser?” asked Kenzie. Her stomach did an impression of an ice cream churn.
“As I said, we don’t have time—”
A spark of Kenzi’s old spunk flashed. She grabbed at it, hoping to start a blazing fire. “I think you can spare a second to tell me why we need to put a dollar sign on our production facility.”
Raquel’s brown eyes narrowed. “It’s for estate tax. The estate lawyer requested the information.”
Bull! The three of them had attended the same meetings with the same lawyerswithDad. His ducks were in a tidy row.
Kenzi mentally ran through her options in the small amount of time it took to stare down her sister. If she threw a fit now, and exposed Raquel for lying in front of the executive committee, they’d look like a bunch of feuding females ready to tear into one another at the slightest provocation. That wasn’t exactly the kind of image she hoped to portray, nor would it instill confidence in her ability to handle a crisiswhenshe became CEO.
On the other hand, if she played along, Raquel would think she was in the clear. Though Kenzi didn’t want her sister to move forward with her plans—whatever they may be— it was the only way to keep her from taking more drastic measures.
