Page 155 of A Matter of Time

“Oh no?”

“But—”

“Just…be still.”

I went silent and waited.

He took a deep breath. “You’ve worked for me for nearly five years, and in that time you’ve gone from my assistant to my friend, to the person, along with some of my best friends, who I imagine in my life always. I want to take care of you. I think of you, always, as the little brother I never had and always wanted. And for that reason, I can’t work with you. I got you an interview, Monday morning at nine, at Barrington with David O’Shea, for a position in their graphic design department. It’s very entry level, and you’re going to make less than you do now, so if you run short, you come hit me up for a loan that you’ll have to pay back. That’s what family does. You can keep your American Express card as well. It’s got your name on it already.”

“Dane, I⁠—”

“That’s what got me thinking about all this. That day we went to Macy’s, I was getting my card out and you paid with yours. I thought, he’s got a credit card that I pay for with his name on it. And I know it’s just for work, but still, it’s like we’re attached somehow.” He sighed and stared into my eyes. “I thought, this is how I want it to be. I don’t just want to run your life at work, I want a say in it all the time. And even as a friend, I don’t have enough power…so I started to think, and this is what I came up with. You’re going to be my brother.”

“You can’t just⁠—”

“I spoke to my lawyer, and I can do it all. Tomorrow morning you sign papers with me at brunch, which we’ll have together with my lawyer, and you’ll go from Jory Keyes to Jory Harcourt. You need to get a new driver’s license and a new Social Security card, but other than that, it’s done. Jory Keyes will cease and Jory Harcourt will begin.”

“I don’t wanna be a⁠—”

“Yes, you do⁠—”

“I don’t mean I don’t wanna be a Harcourt. I don’t wanna be a graphic⁠—”

“Yes, you do,” he said like he was really bored.

“No, I don’t!”

“Yes. You do. I know you do. I watch you, and being my assistant is not fulfilling. You need a career, not a job, and this way you get to keep me and find the job of your dreams. We both know the only reason you haven’t left is because you were worried about losing me. Worry solved.”

“Could you be any more conceited?”

“How so?”

“You think the only reason I stay is to be close to you?”

“Yes. I know it is. You think if you leave, I’ll disappear from your life.”

I could only stare at him.

“I won’t.”

I cleared my throat. “Who are you going to get to be your assistant?”

“I hired a wonderful woman this morning. She’s older than me and seems very warm and extremely professional. I liked her the minute I met her.”

I looked at him. “You replaced me.”

“I hired a new assistant. I’m keeping you.”

I tried to wrap my brain around everything he’d just said.

“For starters, that place you live…from now on you make the payments to yourself. You’re buying it from me. Once you own it, you can sell it or do whatever.”

It was hard. I wasn’t a charity case. “I don’t deserve all this.”

“You deserve every bit of it,” he said softly. “And who’s to say what a person deserves or doesn’t? We fit together, and I want you to be my family. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. We’re still us, you’re still you—you just have me now to look out for you.”

I scowled at him. “You wanna run my life.”