Aaron

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The next five days passed with excruciating slowness.

I had reached out to Cree countless times, and each time I had been rebuffed, if not outright ignored.

I knew the reasons why, but also knew that there was nothing I could do about it.

It seemed she had been intent on shutting me out. My instinct was to push past that, make my presence known, but I had resisted the impulse. First, I knew Cree wouldn’t react well to it. The woman was as stubborn as any person I had ever known, and that included me. If I did that, she would run the opposite direction if only to prove that she could.

So I had to avoid doing that, and just let this play out.

But doing so went against my very nature.

So the struggle was one that plagued me, that seemed to take the place of everything else.

I didn’t even have the work that I had just recently started to appreciate to fall back on.

Cree had all but frozen me out of the proposal, and in addition to facilitating my boredom, that added another level of discontent.

There was no truer proof that she didn’t trust me than her having done that.

I understood, but it still stung.

And I didn’t know what to do.

I picked up the phone and dialed my brother Kristian’s number.

“Meet me for lunch,” I said.

“Name the time and place,” he responded.

I did, and then waited anxiously for that time to arrive.

When he walked in, still unshaven, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, I felt a moment’s relief.

But I knew it would only be momentary.

He had shown up, something I wasn’t surprised by, but I knew that I would have to give him some answers.

“So what have you fucked up?” he asked.

“Here’s Kristian with the vote of confidence, I see,” I said.

“You didn’t call me because you needed confidence. You called me because you fucked something up and you need advice. So get to it. I have to get ready for dinner service soon,” he said.

I had met him at one of my family’s favorite establishments, a private club that catered to the elites. It wasn’t often a place that I enjoyed, but it provided the necessary discretion and no-questions-asked vibe that I was looking for now.

“So Cree…” I said, trailing off.

“Oh, you mean the Cree that you had everything under control with?” he said sarcastically.

“Yeah that one,” I responded, not giving in to his needling.

“So what’s going on with her?” he asked.

“I’m in love with her,” I said.

The words came out with no delay, no reluctance, and though I hadn’t said them out loud before, in that moment I had no doubt as to the truth.

Kristian didn’t look that surprised either. “Congratulations. I assume there’s a problem. She’s not interested?” he asked.

“She’s interested,” I responded.

“So what’s the problem?” he asked again.

“That proposal…”

“We’re talking about another work thing?” he asked, looking surprised.

“Well yes and no. You’re right that it’s not exactly something I care about, but in working with her I started to, and even more, I saw her passion for it, and fed off it,” I said.

“All good things,” he responded.

“Yeah, but she’s not going to win,” I said.

“And you’re certain about this?” my brother asked.

“No one said anything definitive, but yes,” I said. “I’m certain.”

“Let me see if I can take it from here. She’s done a phenomenal job and deserves to win. But you’re going to get the partnership because some douchebag thinks you’d be better for the brand and the image,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s just about the sum of it,” I said. “But I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that she does.”

“But Cree doesn’t know that, either that the competition is rigged or that you’re going to try to throw it her way?” he asked.

“She doesn’t know what I have planned, but she doesn’t know the rest. She came by my office and saw the head of the executive committee there,” I said.

From the look of my brother’s expression, I could see that he could see how bad that was.

“What did you tell her?” he asked.

“I didn’t tell her anything except that everything was fine.”

He shook his head slowly, looking at me in disbelief.

“So you just let that hang out there without addressing it?” he said, his tone disbelieving.

“I wasn’t sure what to say,” I said.

“You should have thought of something besides telling her it was fine.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t, and now she thinks I’m full of shit,” I said.

“Yeah, I suspect she does. Or she probably thinks you’re in on it, maybe that you have been stringing her along all this time,” he said.

“I wanted to meet with you to feel better,” I said miserably.

“Sorry, can’t save you on this one, brother. You need to get this straightened out,” he said.

“But the question is how,” I said.

“Tell her how you feel and what you have planned,” he said.

“But if I do that now, she won’t buy it. She’ll think it’s bullshit,” I countered.

“Maybe, but doing nothing isn’t an option.”

“I know. But I’m not sure how to tackle this, and you know I hate that,” I said.

Kristian slapped me on the shoulder. “You’ll come up with something. But you can’t just let this go.”

“I know, and I thought I had the perfect solution, but now it’s fucked. If I stand aside now, she’ll reject it.”

And me probably, I thought, though I didn’t say the words out loud.

“Maybe. But what’s the alternative? Doing nothing and having her think that your behavior before was meaningless, that you were screwing with her all along? That doesn’t seem like a good option either. In fact, it’s unacceptable. So you have to do something,” he said.

“I know.”

“So do it, don’t be afraid. If you and Cree are supposed to be together, if you love her like you say you do, you’ll work it out.”

“Yeah,” I said.

My brother slapped me on the shoulder again.

“Cut yourself some slack, Aaron. You’re a brat, but you’re not a bad guy. And if Cree has been entertaining you at all, even tolerating your presence, she has to know that on some level. So trust that, and trust yourself. Do the right thing,” he said.

“Thanks, Kristian,” I said.

“Anytime,” he responded.

He left then, and I stayed where I was, trying to figure out the best approach.

I had wanted to lay low, let this work itself out, but that clearly wasn’t an option anymore.

Cree had been shutting me out, but I was going to put a stop to that.