Chapter 7

“Are you sure that going around his back like this is a good idea?” Eli didn’t sound worried, only mildly curious, as he lounged on the sofa in Peter’s office.

Peter glanced sidelong at him from where he sat behind his desk. “Don’t you have an office of your own?”

Timothy ignored the two of them as he glanced over the spreadsheet one last time. He knew that Andrew wouldn’t appreciate his alterations to the orders, but that didn’t change the fact that they had to be made. Besides, he was reasonably certain that the substitutions wouldn’t affect the final quality of the dishes they were used in.

“All I’m saying is that it might be better to just end his misery now. Le Bleu is never going to be profitable and this is a bandaid at best.” Eli stifled a yawn and examined his nails. He wasn’t a particularly vain man, but Timothy had noticed that he was more concerned with his appearance than he had been in the past.

“Snowed Inn belongs to all of us,” said Peter as Timothy handed him the amended spreadsheet. “It’s supposed to be a place that’s built by our shared vision and supports all of us. I want to at least give Andrew the chance to save his dream.”

Timothy took a deep breath and looked away from his brothers. “How long are you going to let it continue like this though?” he asked. “You’ve been threatening to shut down Le Bleu for over a year now and as far as I can tell his spending habits have only gotten more extravagant.”

“This is what I’ve been trying to say!” agreed Eli.

Peter lapsed into silence for a long moment. When he spoke again, he sounded almost frustrated. “I know. I understand what you’re both saying. I just didn’t want it to come to that. I kept hoping something would happen and he would figure it out. Then I was hoping that once Tim got home they’d be able to get things worked out together. Now…now I don’t know what to do. He’s refused help. He’s refused to cooperate with budget cuts. I can’t rein him in and yet mom and dad are expecting me to give them good news during the next family meeting.”

Timothy exhaled forcefully and ran his hands through his hair. He knew what he needed to do. “Give me until then. I’ll get him in line before the next family meeting. If I don’t then that’s that. We shut down Le Bleu and call it quits.”

“That’s only a few days away.” Peter sounded concerned. “There’s no way you’re going to be able to fix this by then. He’s far too stubborn for that.”

“I need to at least get him on the right track. If he’s still refusing to cooperate by then, then there’s nothing I can do about it.” Timothy hated the idea of fighting with Andrew anymore than he already had. But it was clear that Peter wasn’t going to do what needed to be done unless some sort of hard deadline was set. “If he agrees to work with me then we can extend the deadline and reassess in the future.”

“Fine,” relented Peter, “but I don’t want you two becoming enemies. The way you made it sound, he was becoming combative the last time.”

“He’s always combative,” said Timothy dismissively. “I can handle Andrew. I just came at him from the wrong direction last time. I’ve got an idea that might work. Just make the changes to his order form and I’ll handle the rest.”

The reality was that Timothy wasn’t really all that sure how he was going to get Andrew to cooperate with him. At this point, however, he didn’t really have that much of a choice. If he was going to do his part for his home and his family then he needed to find a way to make this work.

He left the office a few minutes later and forced himself to head towards Andrew’s restaurant. There was no point in putting any of this off. Besides, if he gave himself a chance to stop and think nothing would ever get done. Especially because his thoughts kept trying to return to the near miss on the sofa last night.

Derek had been gone before he’d even woken up. Either that meant he regretted what happened or he wasn’t interested in pursuing things further. Both options were just the sort of response that Timothy had come to expect from the playboy alpha. Meaning that it was unlikely that he had changed in any meaningful way.

Timothy sighed as he stepped out of the lodge and into the chilly mid-afternoon sunshine.

He’d hoped that maybe Derek was different now. All last night he’d argued with himself over what to do. Finally, he’d decided that if Derek was still on the couch in the morning that he would give him a chance. He’d be lying to himself if he said he’d never been interested in Derek at all. The suave, sexy alpha was just the sort of thing that made him weak in the knees. He was intelligent, funny, and fun to be around. If he hadn’t also had the bad habit of picking up every omega he set his eyes on he would’ve been perfect.

In a way he was glad that they’d stopped when they did. Given Derek’s disappearing act this morning, it looked like he’d sidestepped a bullet.

Timothy continued down the sidewalk towards the building where the restaurant and the auditorium were both housed. He caught himself glancing around at the people walking by, hoping that one of them might be Derek.

He grumbled to himself. Hadn’t he just reasoned that Derek hadn’t changed? While he still considered the alpha a friend on some level, he most definitely shouldn’t be this eager to see him. Timothy clenched his fists as he walked. He had more important things to worry about right now than Derek D’angelus.

Arms clamped angrily to his sides, Timothy marched the rest of the way to the auditorium building. He paused just outside the door and glanced around one last time.

“Tim?”

Timothy nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned towards the speaker. Andrew stood a few feet behind him with his hands in his pockets. He looked a little surprised to see his brother there.

“Andrew…I…” Timothy stepped back from the door and tried to force his thoughts back onto the other major problem in his life right now. “I wanted to come and apologize. I was a little overzealous yesterday.”

Andrew looked down at the sidewalk as he scuffed the toe of his shoe across the ground. “Look, Tim, you…you don’t have to apologize. I just…” He exhaled sharply and looked up at the sky. “This restaurant is all I’ve ever wanted. Now Peter and Eli and even you keep talking about taking it away. It’s stressful.”

“I just want to help.” Timothy furrowed his brow and slumped his shoulders. All he had wanted, this entire time, was to be useful. He hadn’t spent four years studying in another state just to sit on his hands and watch everything fall apart.

“I know you do, but—”

“I know, okay? Le Bleu is yours. I get that. Just, you need to stop shutting everyone out. We’re a family. You and I are brothers. More than that, we’re friends. I don’t want you to lose this place, but I realize that I came on too strong before.” Timothy was being sincere and he hoped that Andrew picked up on it. “So I want you to show me what this place is all about. Let’s work together, just like we planned. Let me earn your trust, okay?”

Andrew looked at him with uncertainty in his eyes. “I do trust you, Tim. But I meant what I said before. I want to prove myself to mom and dad by myself. Everyone else is running their department alone. I’ve got to be able to do the same thing with mine.”

“Andrew, you and I have always been a team. There’s no reason to do this alone. No one is going to think less of you if you accept help.” Timothy pressed his hand to his chest as he spoke.

“Tim…”

“No, Andrew, honestly, you need to stop being so stubborn here. Right now you’re failing. You’re alone, you’ve got no support, you’re making bad decisions, and you’re failing. You need to change something. I mean completely, radically, change something or you’re going to wind up losing Le Bleu and then what?” Timothy silently chastised himself. He’d meant to go at this from a different approach than he’d used last time. Arguing was never going to get through to Andrew, but apparently he didn’t have the patience to stick to anything else.

“Really? Tim, I thought you were here apologizing. What the hell is this?” Andrew immediately frowned and backed away from his brother. “I don’t have time to do this with you again. I’ve got to prepare for the dinner rush.”

“What rush?” Timothy countered. “Three people? If that? You’ve got a prime position. You should be packed with people dining before and after Emily’s shows every night. Instead, you can’t even fill half of your tables.”

“It’s not that easy!”

“Yes, it is!” Timothy shouted as his frustration got the better of him. “You’re making everything too complicated. You’re spending too much money and you’re not paying attention to what other people are telling you.”

“I’m not giving in on this. I’m going to see this through despite all of the dissenters. I’ll bring Le Bleu to the pinnacle of French dining and I will make all of you eat your words.” Andrew moved past Timothy towards the door.

Understanding hit Timothy. He suddenly realized what it was that allowed Andrew to continue on his foolish path despite the fact that everyone was telling him he was wrong.

“You’re not being brave,” Timothy said, turning to follow Andrew. “You’re not being strong for enduring hardship and adversity. You’re not being commendable for facing down the people you think are your enemies. You’re being stupid.”

Andrew paused with his hand on the door. “I don’t want to see you here again,” he said with calm certainty. Then he pulled the door open and disappeared inside.

Timothy stared at the closed door for a long moment and tried to process his next course of action.

“I thought you could handle him?” Peter’s voice asked.

Timothy glanced towards him. Peter was slowly approaching from the direction of the main lodge.

“How long have you been there?” Timothy asked sourly. He turned and tromped towards one of the benches that lined the sidewalk.

“Not long,” chuckled Peter. He watched as Timothy dropped heavily onto the bench. “I was on my way home for lunch with Luke. and just happened to catch the tail end of it.”

“He’s so damn stubborn and he’s developed this superiority complex that I just don’t understand.” Timothy stared up at the overcast sky overhead. “We used to be so close, but he’s like a stranger to me now.”

“After he graduated from culinary school it was like a fire was lit under him. He seems desperate to prove himself and nothing anyone can do or say will dissuade him.” Peter shook his head. “Since the two of you kept in touch while you were gone I thought there was a chance. But it seems that he’s willing to sacrifice your friendship as well. For what, I have no idea.”

“You think there’s more to it than just proving himself to the family?” Timothy met Peter’s gaze with a frown.

“I think it’s likely. But now that he’s kicked you out you’re going to have a lot harder time getting to the bottom of it.” Peter looked back towards the doors of the building.

“I’m not so sure I’m ever going to get to the bottom of it. I can’t even have a rational conversation with him,” Timothy groaned.

“I noticed,” said Peter. He rubbed the back of his head in frustration and sighed. “Look, this is a problem for another day. For now, why don’t you just come have lunch with Luke and I. Get some food in you, talk a little, maybe you’ll figure something out. Okay?”

Timothy wasn’t convinced it would be that simple, but he nodded in agreement. “Fine. Just…go on ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Don’t take too long, Luke sounded hangry in his texts.” Peter continued on his way towards the condos.

Timothy sighed to himself and slowly rose from the bench. He had completely messed up his best shot at getting Andrew to work with him. If he was being honest with himself, it was probably due in no small part to his frustration over the situation with Derek. That stupid, sexy, dumb, gorgeous, brutish, lovely, awful alpha was confusing his thoughts and keeping him from thinking straight half the time.

He slowly followed after Peter.

Ever since their lips had touched, his entire body had felt like it was on high alert. He’d gotten through the morning without incident mostly because Peter and Eli were relatively low-key individuals. They didn’t ruffle anyone’s feathers really and tended to be easy going. Yet, less than a minute after encountering Andrew he was shouting at him and calling him a failure. It was a disaster.

Timothy clenched his jaw as he walked. If he encountered Derek again any time soon he was going to have to give that oaf a piece of his mind. Who did he think he was anyway?

No, no. That wasn’t the way to handle this. He just needed to be calm and relaxed. Timothy shook his head and tried to force the thoughts of Derek away. He’d been through all of this last night. There was no reason to get angry at Derek. He was just acting according to his nature and there was no point in getting angry at him for it. If he encountered Derek again he just needed to be friendly and understanding. The same way he always was.

They were friends and that hadn’t changed so there was no reason for their attitude towards each other to change. Right?