Chapter 11: Chapter 11

KATE

The week after the funeral, I bought Nicolette her own apartment in Brooklyn because I knew her spoiled butt wouldn’t want to live anywhere other than Manhattan.

I paid for all her utilities for a year and had it completely furnished. It was a gorgeous flat in a walk-up building, and I prayed she’d be grateful. I wasn’t supposed to spend my money on her, but I didn’t care.

We couldn’t live together, and we both knew that. She barely said a word to me throughout her move while I kept myself busy with work.

I ended up promoting my VP from Paris to the CEO position, fully confident he would do wonderful things for our foreign sector.

Nicolette told me she never liked him, but then she never liked anyone except herself and my mom.

Our mother made the rare phone call to yell at me for my treatment of Nicolette and for “stealing” my father’s money.

For the first time in my life, I hung up on her and stopped answering her calls since.

I gave my sister six months to find a job if she wanted her access to a trust fund, failing which I’d deplete it. That was one decision I know my father would have made himself.

She was furious at first, but surprisingly agreed to the arrangement. We hadn’t spoken since her move, which is why I was surprised to see her name flashing on my phone.

“Hi, Nicolette,” I answered.

“Hey.”

An awkward silence followed.

“How are you?” my sister finally asked.

“Fine. How are you?”

“I’m good. I found a job.”

I seated myself on a bar stool, leaning my head back. “That’s good. Where?”

“Working for a designer in the city. You know, fashion is the only thing that I’ve ever really loved.”

“Good for you, Nic,” I said. “I’ll enable your trust fund.”

“That’s not why I’m calling.” I rubbed my hands over my eyes, feeling tired all of a sudden. “I just wanted to apologize for what happened with that hockey player.

“I don’t know what I was thinking, but I promise you, he wasn’t in the least bit interested in me and neither was his brother. Nothing happened that night.”

My voice lowered. “Thanks for that, but I already know.”

After I initially saw Tyler that morning at my house, I knew nothing had happened between them. It was just too complicated to continue seeing him, which is why we hadn’t spoken since the funeral.

He explained his side of the story. Every night, I mulled over the text messages he’d sent me in the last week and a half.

~Please talk to me.~

~I swear neither of us touched your sister, we only helped her drunk ass home. Kate, please. I miss you. Don’t hate me.~

Nicolette then happily went on about her job and insisted that she didn’t need her trust fund just yet. She was proving to me that she didn’t suck as much as I thought she did.

I made it to my office an hour earlier than usual. Piper and Bill both greeted me cheerfully when I stepped off the elevators.

“Kevin called, saying he needed a meeting with you to discuss some matters concerning the Blades,” Piper said, following me into my office.

“Make up anything. I can’t deal with him this week.”

She smiled and hugged me, like she always did. “I already did,” she answered. “I know you too well.”

“That’s why you work with me.”

She grinned and sat down in the chair across from me as I scanned through my unopened emails. “Still ignoring him?” she asked.

I looked up from my computer. “Radio silence.” She laughed and kicked her little feet up onto my desk. “Jesus, Pipe,” I said. “No underwear?”

Her yellow dress slid up her thighs; she never bothered to cover up in front of me. And so, I saw a little more of Piper than I normally wanted to early on a Thursday morning.

“I have a hot date later.”

“Ben?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“Trina.”

I stood up, slamming my hands on my desk. “Hell no. She chewed up your heart and then spit it back in your face.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Piper replied. I saw the truth in her brown eyes though. “Fine,” she added quickly. “I’ll call Ben instead.”

I smiled at her before she disappeared out of my office. I opened an email from Uncle John and read through the on-the-road schedule for the Blades.

The team was all set to head out to Washington that day for a game, and then to California the next Saturday. My uncles were leaving with them and wanted me to join them.

I wanted to, yet didn’t; so I decided to sleep on it. I definitely couldn’t be in Washington that night, but I figured I should make a point to be in L.A. before the Saturday game.

Bill knocked on my office door, grinning as he walked in.

“You have a meeting with Brian Goldstein in an hour about your potential investment in WildPreserve.” Bill handed me a stack of paperwork carrying Mr. Goldstein’s pitch.

I set it down on my desk. “An hour you said?” I asked. He nodded, and I held up a finger for him to wait before leaving.

I searched through my purse and found the tiny black box that I had wrapped with a red and black bow, only to show support for the Blades colors.

“Kate,” he began. “I told you, I’m never accepting another gift from you. You’ve done more than I could’ve ever imagined.”

I stood up and walked over to him, Piper staring through the glass walls of my office. She had helped me with the gift, and we both couldn’t wait to see his expression.

Bill’s brown hair with gray streaks was combed in a cute old-fashioned way, and I found myself grinning at him, trying to stifle a laugh.

“Last gift, I promise. For now, at least.”

He shook his head and reiterated that he didn’t need anything. Piper was in the background now, covering her mouth, unable to hide her glee. I tossed the box to him, keeping the mood light.

He unwrapped the bow, still shaking his head. His movements slowed as he pulled the lid open. His hand began to shake, and I pulled it into mine.

“What is this, Kate?” he asked.

“It’s a key, Bill.”

He stared at me, mouth open, then walked to the stuffed chair in front of my desk. Gripping the black armrest, he asked, “A key to what, Kate?”

I giggled, unsure as to why we kept using each other’s names in every sentence. “I’ll show you. We only have an hour.”

When we arrived outside my apartment building, Bill gripped my arm and said, “Thank God. I thought you did something crazy, but I’m sure I’ll be fine without a key to your house.”

I ignored him, pulling him into the elevator and pushing the button for the 11th floor. He smoothed his suit down, and I grew even more excited to surprise him.

We passed two doors before arriving at a steel one with a red bow tied around it. I grinned, handing him the key. “Open it.”

His hands shook as he pushed the key into the slot, regarding me curiously out of the corner of his eye. Once he pushed the door open, the large sign Piper and I had hung dangled before our eyes.

It read,“~WELCOME HOME BILL AND TESSA.~”

“No, no, no. Kate, why did you do this?” he asked, crying. “You didn’t need to do this. Why?”

“Yes, I did. I need my assistant closer, and Tessa will be safer here. Consider it an early Christmas bonus.”

I gave Bill the rest of the day off to move his belongings and went back to the office for my meeting. Once the day was done, Piper came home with me and helped me pack my suitcase. I was heading to L.A. the next morning.

I could have waited until Saturday to fly out, but I’m not going to lie, I was looking for an excuse to get out of the city.