Chapter 13

The pale sunlight of early morning streamed through the blinds in Timothy’s bedroom. Slowly, he dragged his eyes open and peered up at the ceiling. His entire body felt drained, but also satisfied. While his limbs were heavy the rest of him was content.

Part of him wondered why he had fought Derek for so long. Maybe he should have just given in sooner.

A thin smile spread across his lips and he slowly rolled over to greet the alpha.

The mattress beside him was cold and empty. The blankets and sheets had been pulled back into place and Derek was nowhere to be seen.

A flare of anger shot through Timothy.

He bit his lip until the taste of salty copper filled his mouth. He couldn’t believe it. Had Derek really made a fool of him?

Timothy crawled out of bed. He quickly grabbed fresh clothing from his dresser before heading downstairs.

Part of him had hoped to find Derek waiting for him in the living room but there was no sign of him. The fire was out, the room was cold, the house was empty save for Timothy.

He clenched his hands into white-knuckled fists and ground his teeth. How could he have been so stupid? He’d been friends with Derek long enough to know that the alpha was never going to change. There was a reason why he had been so reluctant to give in.

No, there was no point in being angry. He knew Derek’s nature. Last night they had both been vulnerable and sought comfort in one another’s arms.

Timothy sighed. He had enjoyed himself and getting angry that Derek had stuck to his nature was pointless. In the end, it had been fun. He wasn’t going to let the aftermath spoil the evening he had had.

Timothy took a deep cleansing breath and tried to focus his thoughts. He’d never really considered himself cool-headed, but this was an opportunity to change that. Getting angry wasn’t going to change anything.

There were far more important things for him to do than let a selfish alpha occupy his mind.

Timothy retrieved his phone from where it had fallen by the couch. He had several new messages mostly from Peter. Quickly scrolling through them revealed that their father had decided to render judgment on their actions concerning Andrew sooner rather than later.

Timothy sighed, he really didn’t want to deal with this right now. All of the drama surrounding Andrew and his stupid restaurant was beginning to wear on him.

Pulling up Peter’s most recent message Timothy began to type a reply.

“Sorry, I overslept. Has he set a time?” He pressed send and tucked the phone back into his pocket.

Timothy quickly checked the rest of his messages. The diner still needed another dishwasher and the sandwich shop was running short of pretty much everything. It seemed like today would be just as hectic as yesterday. The only difference was that he probably wouldn’t have Derek’s texts to get him through it all. He shook his head slowly.

If only Derek had stuck around to talk. If, after everything they did last night, Derek had decided that he didn’t want any sort of relationship he could have just said so. There was no reason for their friendship to end over this.

Timothy’s cell phone vibrated with an incoming text message. He quickly dug it out again and checked the reply.

It was from Peter; “Twenty minutes from now.”

“Where?” Timothy typed back and checked the time. It was already nearly nine AM. He was running late, he needed to get to the diner and help them. If he had to go to the stupid meeting in order to get chewed out by his father then he was going to have to tell the diner he wouldn’t make it until later.

Of course, that didn’t change the fact that they needed someone to wash dishes.

As much as he loathed to do it, Timothy texted Andrew.

“I know you’re mad at me right now, but the diner needs someone to do dishes. I’m not gonna be able to make it right now. Could you please do this for me?” Timothy’s finger hovered over the send button. He really didn’t see this going over well. But what choice did he have?

All of his other siblings would be busy. Andrew’s restaurant didn’t open for business until much later in the day. He was the only one that was available to fill in.

Timothy swallowed the lump in his throat and pressed send.

While he waited for a reply he headed towards the kitchen in search of food. Last night’s activities had left him drained of energy. If he was going to get through today he was going to have to refuel.

As he dug through the refrigerator his phone chimed.

It was from Peter.

“Mom and dad’s condo. Don’t be late.”

Timothy read the text twice and tried to push down his irritation. Why did it feel like all of his siblings talked down to him? It could have just been his annoyance at Derek coloring his perception of things, but somehow he doubted it. In a way, he felt like his siblings resented him.

Other than Andrew, he was the only one to go to college. All of the others had learned their jobs from their predecessors. Andrew had gone to culinary school at a community college a few hours away. Timothy alone was the only one to have studied out-of-state.

Every time he had come home for the holidays he had felt as if his siblings were doing everything they could to exclude him. Now that he was home for good he had hoped that that feeling would go away. Instead, he just felt like they were looking down on him.

It might not have been true, but that didn’t change the way he felt.

Timothy sighed as he typed a reply to Peter. “Don’t worry, I’ll be there.”

By the time he left his condo he still hadn’t heard back from Andrew. He was almost certain that his brother was ignoring him. Their feud was making things difficult and Timothy was at a loss for what to do.

The landscape outside was covered in snow. Dozens of people walked along the sidewalk to and from the Lodge and the condos. Snowed Inn had come alive overnight. It was like a completely different place now. From where he was Timothy couldn’t see the main ski lift but he was almost certain that it was already up and running.

As he walked towards his parents’ condo he made a phone call to the Diner letting them know that he was running late. They informed him that they were covering the dishwasher position for now, but they would need help soon.

Frustration welled through Timothy. There was nothing more he could do. He had exhausted all of his options, such as they were. He shook his head and caught himself flipping through his messages to the conversation with Derek.

He wanted to vent to someone. His first instinct had been Derek, but that was likely a poor choice. Muttering to himself, Timothy put his phone away and continued walking.

***

“What I fail to understand is how either of you thought this was a good idea,” said Robert Snow as he stood before his two sons.

Timothy and Peter were sitting side by side on the sofa in their parents’ living room. In a way, it was much like when they were younger. While not livid their father was definitely angry and he was determined to get to the bottom of their behavior.

“Andrew isn’t cooperating with anyone.” Peter tried to defend himself. “We tried everything. Le Bleu is losing money hand over fist. This was the only thing we could think to do to slow the loss of money.”

“Be that as it may, you deliberately went behind his back. As the head of restaurants and dining Andrew has the final say in what happens in his department.” Robert folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes. “You two undermined his authority and caused more problems than you solved.”

Timothy’s gaze dropped to the floor. His father was right. By going behind Andrew’s back they had caused supply issues for the other restaurants. Now he was stuck playing catch up.

“What are we supposed to do then?” Peter asked. “He’s made my job impossible. He’s completely locked Timothy out. We can’t just continue to let this slide.”

Robert lapsed into silence and turned away from his children. He paced across the living room floor and stared out the large window at the snow-covered landscape outside.

“It would be easier if we could just close Le Bleu and be done with it,” said Timothy with a heavy sigh. “I know that we’re each supposed to contribute to our departments, but there has to be some line.”

“And what if it was your restaurant?” asked Robert, without looking back.

“If it was my restaurant I would at least take the advice of people who were trying to help me.” Timothy clenched his hands into fists. “I spent four years preparing to help him. All he’s done to repay that is betray me. We were supposed to do this together. Now I’m stuck trying to clean up his mess. All the while he’s making things worse.”

“I understand your frustration,” Robert reassured him. “That doesn’t excuse your actions though. You should have come to me first.”

“All due respect, Dad, but you’re no longer the head of operations.” Peter’s tone was calm but his words sent a chill through the air. “That is my job now. If we have to run everything through you what are we going to do when you’re no longer here?”

Robert was silent. He turned back to face his children with a sad expression on his face.

“We’re not children anymore,” added Timothy. “You trusted each of us with responsibilities. We respect your opinion and your advice, but you asked us to run this place. Peter and I were just doing the best we could with what we had.” He couldn’t bring himself to look his father in the eyes. He could sense the hurt the middle-aged man was feeling.

“Snowed Inn has always been my home. I have always said I will do everything I can to protect it.” Robert shook his head and let his arms fall to his sides. “All I ever wanted was for all of you to have a place where your thoughts and opinions were valued. I wanted to ensure that things remained fair and equal between you. I understand that Andrew is making things difficult, but the three of you have to come to a solution. One that doesn’t involve betraying one another.”

“Dad, are you not listening to us?” Timothy felt exasperated. “We’ve tried everything. He refuses to listen. He refuses to cooperate. The only thing that is going to work is following through on the threat to shut down his restaurant. Otherwise, he’s just going to continue to drain funds from his department into that money pit.”

“Do you think it can be saved?” Robert turned back towards the window once more.

“I honestly don’t know,” admitted Timothy. “From the shipment manifests it’s clear that there’s a lot of waste. He’s ordering way too much of too many things and isn’t willing to compromise on quality. If he’s making the same sort of decisions with the rest of his business then it’s a simple matter of shuffling things around.”

“When we went over his budget last year,” Peter began, “I got a look at his spending habits. I think you’re right about his overspending on the wrong things. There’s a huge shortfall in his budget and he seems to think he can spend himself out of the hole. I’m sure if he just started being more frugal lot of the issues would correct themselves.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that I’ve never seen more than four people in his restaurant at once.” Robert rubbed the back of his head in frustration. “However, if you two think it can be saved then I’ll deliver an ultimatum to Andrew.”

“I’ve given him those in the past,” said Peter.

“I know, but there’s one difference between you and me, Peter.” Robert turned back and faced them once more. “You may be the head of operations, but I still have ultimate control over the budget. If I cut off his funding at the source there’s nothing he could do about it.”

“Will you really shut him down?” Timothy asked. Thus far, threats to shut down Le Bleu hadn’t had much effect on Andrew. Perhaps it was because he sensed that Peter wasn’t truly willing to follow through.

“We’ll talk about it more later,” Robert said. He had a look of resignation on his face. “But yes, I will. If we’re going to keep this place afloat, then we have no other option. We’ve come a long way towards getting our finances back in order, but as long as this continues to weigh us down we’re never going to get back to where we were.”

***

The meeting with their father had gone better than Timothy had expected. He fell into step beside his brother as they walked back towards the main lodge.

“I wanted to thank you for standing up for me in there,” said Timothy. “I was having a rough morning and I wasn’t sure how I was going to take any of this.”

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” said Peter. “I thought Dad was going to be a lot more angry at us. I think he realizes though that Andrew has put us in a pretty impossible situation.”

Timothy lapsed into silence and said nothing.

“I couldn’t help but notice that Derek went home with you last night,” said Peter. He kept his eyes focused straight ahead and his expression blank.

Timothy fought back the embarrassment that started to redden his cheeks. “Yeah, well, we’re friends. I was worried about him after what happened. So we went back to my place to talk.”

“Except, you’re all alone this morning.” Peter looked sidelong at Timothy.

“Well, yeah.” Timothy shrugged his shoulders and tried to avoid the question. “There’s no reason for us to be together all the time, is there?”

“Look, you’re an adult. You can do whatever you want. You’re not going to get any judgment from me. I just want you to know that if something is bothering you, you can talk to me about it.” Peter stopped short and looked squarely at Timothy.

Timothy turned and tried to smile. “Things are just…complicated. That’s really all there is to it. We’ve known each other for a long time and it’s always been complicated.”

“Why?”

It was such a simple question that Timothy almost burst out laughing. “Where do I even start?”

“Why not at the beginning?” Peter suggested.

Timothy sighed and checked the time on his cell phone. “Look, I would love to have this conversation with you but I don’t have time. The diner has been struggling without me all morning. Until I can afford a new dishwasher it looks like I am the replacement.”

“You should have told me sooner,” said Peter shaking his head. “We’ve got some money set aside in case of emergency purchases. I’ll go through and try to find you a replacement this afternoon. With how busy things are there’s no way you’re going to be able to keep up with this manually.”

“I’m sorry,” said Timothy. “I’ve barely been home for three weeks. It’s been rough trying to get used to everything. Especially since Andrew turned his back on me.”

“I know it’s been hard,” Peter reached out and laid a reassuring hand on Timothy’s shoulder, “but I know you going to get through it. I don’t think I ever said it before, but I’m really proud of you. You went out of your way to go to school and get a degree specifically to help us out. No one else has done that. Even Andrew’s degree was selfish.

“I just want you to know that I appreciate everything you’ve done. We’ll get this figured out. Just remember, we’re family. We support each other.”

Timothy nodded. “That means a lot. It really does.”