“I know, I know. I’m about to dive into it. I just had something important I had to handle first.”
Billy turned as the printer whirred and groaned. Curious, he leaned over and plucked the freshly printed page off of the machine. He glanced at it, then raised his eyebrows at Jill. “Chocolate cake? Are you kidding me?”
“Oh, relax. It’s for Grams’ birthday. I’m on this search, don’t worry. We’ll fill it.”
“We have to. If we don’t, we won’t get the rest of their business. I heard from their CFO that they are using this search as a test, to see how we do, and what caliber of candidates we can produce. If we get into this company, it could launch us to the next level. Continued business for years to come.”
“Don’t you have somewhere you need to be, other searches of your own to worry about?” Jill teased.
“I’m going, I’m going.” He swung his legs off of her desk and headed toward the door. He turned back and smiled, his voice softer this time, “Tell Grams I said happy birthday.”
And that was one of the many reasons why she loved Billy. He adored her grandmother. More importantly, though, he was just a good person, through and through. And they were as close if not closer than most married couples. Everyone said so and constantly asked why they weren’t a couple, and they’d always laughed it off, said it was impossible as they’d been friends forever, and were like brother and sister as well as business partners. So, the realization that she might be in love with him was troubling. Especially when she considered that Billy had never given the slightest inkling that he was even remotely attracted to her.
Chapter 2
Mandy Lawson was running late, and that was unacceptable. She was never late. She had called ahead, told the girls at the club she’d be there at a quarter past ten and they told her not to worry. But she couldn’t help it. Mandy was a worrier. It was her Virgo nature; she craved organization, and made to-do lists for everything. And things generally went smoothly— except for today, when everything seemed to be out of sync.
They’d spent almost thirty minutes searching the entire house for her eleven-year-old daughter Brooke’s homework assignment, which was highly unusual because Brooke never lost things. She was a bit like her mother that way, conscientious and orderly—unlike her younger brother Blake, who was more of a dreamer, and prone to forgetfulness. They found the assignment finally. It was already in Brooke’s backpack, neatly folded and tucked away deep in a side pocket.
“Oops, I forgot that I put it there as soon as I finished.”
“So you wouldn’t forget it,” Blake teased.
Mandy glanced at the clock which seemed to be on fast forward. “We have to go now. Grab your bags and get in the car.”
Twenty minutes later, Mandy pulled into the busy parking lot at The Nantucket New School. The kids jumped out of the SUV, gave Mandy a quick kiss goodbye and ran to join their friends who were already in line. Mandy watched until they were all inside the building. Both children loved it there, and Mandy liked everything about it, especially the fact that, as a private school, the classes were smaller and they encouraged children to explore individual interests.
Before she drove off, Mandy checked her makeup in the mirror and added a swipe of pink lipstick. She wanted to make sure she looked polished for the event. She was in one of her favorite outfits—tailored caramel-colored pants and a pale pink cashmere sweater that looked gorgeous with her vintage pearls. She’d just had her hair touched up yesterday, so the bits of gray along her hairline were gone and Tony had added deep golden highlights to her dark blonde hair that made it shimmer. It just touched her shoulders and gave the illusion of being all one length, but a few clever long layers gave it some shape and movement. Her usual style was just tucked behind her ears and on her, it worked beautifully, giving her a crisp, somewhat preppy look. Or as her husband Cory teased her, it was “old money hair” which he appreciated.
Mandy and Cory had started dating their sophomore year at Boston College and except for one two-week period during senior year when Mandy was feeling ignored and broke up with him, they’d been together ever since. They’d both been business majors and immediately after graduation each started working in Boston’s financial district. Cory joined Brown Brothers Harriman as a junior investment analyst and Mandy went to Fidelity Investments as a market research coordinator.
Mandy quickly fell in love with the marketing aspect of her job and moved into the communications group where she handled events and wrote copy for marketing materials. After working for two years Cory went back to school, to Harvard for his MBA. Upon graduation, he had his pick of offers and decided to return to Brown Brothers Harriman, this time as a senior investment strategist, advising their high net-worth clients on where to put their money.
Cory had a plan. From the time he’d left to get his MBA, he knew he’d be heading back to BBH. They knew him there, and he was getting to know many of their top clients, building relationships that would one day pay off.
That day came five years later, when Cory and his college buddy, Patrick Harris, left to start their own hedge fund, as interest in alternative investments was skyrocketing. Word quickly spread throughout the community about the hot new hedge fund led by two young financial wunderkinds. Many of Cory’s former clients at BBH wanted to invest and by offering access to Cory and Patrick’s hedge fund, BBH was able to satisfy their clients, make an additional profit, and allow Cory to quickly establish a solid customer base. Which was exactly what he was counting on.
Patrick’s company did the same and within a year, Cory and Patrick had over two billion under management with year-end growth of thirty-three percent, which drastically increased demand, and made both of them millionaires many times over. Running a hedge fund was a high risk, high reward business and when things went well, it was one of the most lucrative niches in the world of finance.
After that first crazy year, Cory and Mandy built a gorgeous custom home on Nantucket. It was originally just going to be a summer home, but Cory fell in love with the island and Mandy was happy to be back in her home town. After one summer, Cory decided he could work just as easily from Nantucket and they could serve their client base well by having an office downtown as many of their clients also had second homes on the island. Patrick ran the Boston office and Cory had a small team on Nantucket and occasionally went to Boston for meetings.
Mandy became pregnant for the second time when the Nantucket house was finished and they decided that it made sense for her to stop working and stay home. They didn’t need the money and Mandy wanted to be there for her kids.
Besides, Cory thought it was better for his business if she wasn’t working. Their image of the perfect family, with two beautiful blonde children and a sunny, stay at home wife, was a great marketing tool. Not that he needed it though. His business had exploded as everyone wanted a piece of the next big thing, and their hedge fund was consistently delivering huge returns.
For something to do, Mandy got involved with some local women’s groups and found a way to put her business skills to good use, organizing various charity events. Today’s event was for the town library and was being held at the newer country club, the one that had a seven-figure initiation fee. Cory and Patrick were among the charter members, as Patrick and his wife Daisy were on Nantucket often. Daisy especially loved it on the island and often stayed for weeks at a time.