He looked around, and as if admitting defeat, he nodded.
We spent the next hour creating piles with the files, and setting them in various corners of his office. When we were done, his office was at least habitable, and we began going through each of our longest tenured employees. My father had been right. Chandler knew nothing about anybody. Some he wasn’t evensure were a man or a woman based off their names. He would have made a damn mess of things if I wasn’t there.
Three hours in, Chandler ordered takeout from a nearby Chinese restaurant. We sat in the middle of the files and ate directly from the boxes, as we continued evaluating each of the employees on file. We should have taken a break, but I thought we both just wanted to work and not address the elephant in the room.
By 2 a.m. though, our eyes were growing heavy and our thoughts were groggy. Everyone seemed to be blurring together. There was no way we would be able to give a proper review if we pushed on. Sensing that, Chandler stood up and stretched his back before heading to the large bookshelf against the wall. He pulled down a bottle of bourbon I hadn’t noticed before, along with two glasses.
“We should take a break,” he said, sitting down across from me once more.
He poured a generous serving into a glass tumbler and handed it to me, before pouring his own. We both took a few silent sips and soaked in this time when our faces weren’t buried in paperwork.
“I have to admit, you know everyone here really well…” he said.
It might have been the first nice thing he had ever said to me. I stayed silent, not sure if I heard him correctly.
“How?” he asked, tilting his head.
I cleared my throat nervously, not sure what to do with this strange act of humanity.
“I’ve been here for ten years.” I shrugged. “You get to know people.”
He nodded, taking another sip of bourbon. “I’m surprised your dad didn’t give you the job.”
I jerked my chin back. Now, I had to be dreaming.
“Um, I was surprised too.”
“I could see that.” He chuckled, and the warmth of it settled around me like a warm hug.
I laughed softly and leaned back against the wall. “I was so convinced he was going to announce me. I’ve dedicated my life to this place. Not to mention, he promised I would take over one day.”
I shook my head, hating that I was opening up. Hating even more that I was comfortable doing so. Damn this bourbon.
“That’s shitty,” he said, chewing on his cheek.
“Yeah.” I took a deep breath and looked at him curiously. “What’syourstory?”
“Excuse me?”
“You know my emotional damage…What’s yours?”
“You’re so dramatic.”
“So I’ve heard.” I rolled my eyes.
He laughed and reached for the bottle of bourbon, pouring some more into his glass. I adjusted my legs underneath me, as if prepping for what he was about to tell me.
“Let’s see…” he said, taking a sip. “My father cheated on my mother for over a decade. Had a whole other family that no one knew about. He eventually loved that family more, enough to leave me and my mom behind.”
I swallowed hard. His story was far worse than mine and I could see through his cool way of talking about it, that it had left a deep scar.
“Then my mom met someone new.Greg.” The emphasis he put on the name told me enough about how he felt about the guy. “They had a baby together. My brother, Nathan. Great guy.” It was the only time his expression softened during his short recap of his life. I could tell he cared for his brother.
“Now my mom is engaged to the guy. Just found out she’d been keeping it from me.”
“I take it you don’t like this Greg character,” I said, raising a brow.
“How intuitive of you.” He smirked.
