“I’m all yours,” John said. “Should I have the housekeeper repack you for the weekend?”
“You know what? Yes, I’ll send her a text what to pack and be back at six.” I stepped out of the car and headed to the building. I had a full day of work and it wasn’t gonna go away.
“Mr. Hawthorne, your brother Parker is on line one and your mom is on line two,” my secretary Cynthia said from the doorway of my office. “It’s 4:30, by the way. Your mother told me to make sure I push you out of the office by six.”
“Thanks Cynthia. Can you get the blueprints together for the Madison job and Hawthorne Hotel in Sydney, Australia?” I asked, picking up line two.
“Mom! Great to hear from you,” I exaggerated. “What can I do for you this fine Friday afternoon?”
“August, I wanted to talk to you about Asher before tonight,” Mother said, ignoring my sarcasm. “You’re going to Australia next week to meet up with Kellan, right?”
“Unfortunately yes, I do need to go back. Did you need something? I shouldn’t be gone longer than three or four days this time.” I asked, sliding the files for the two projects into my briefcase. “Did you have thoughts on the hotel?”
“No, I trust you and Kellan to get it perfect.” Mother said, sounding a little distracted. “I want Asher to go with you to Australia. So before I give him my ultimatum tonight, I wanted to make sure it was okay with you.”
“You know I’ll do whatever you need me to.” I said. “You wanna tell me about this ultimatum?”
“Not right now, I’m still putting it all together, but I think he needs to leave the country for a bit,” she said. “Do you want to ride with me or are you taking your own driver?”
“I may need to get back to the city before Monday, so I’ll have my driver bring me,” I said. “Make sure there’s a room for him in the guest house, please.”
“Of course. I’ll see you tonight. Find me as soon as you get there,” she said, without saying goodbye.
I hit the button for line one.
“Hey, you never call me in the middle of a workday,” I said, holding the phone between my shoulder and ear. “Let me guess, the family meeting?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what’s going on, but Mia is in the other room on some kind of group chat with Poppy and her sister,” Parker said. “You know anything? I hate being caught off guard and somehow I think I’m about to be involved too.”
“I just hung up with Mom. She seems pretty upset this time.” I sat back down in my chair. “She wants me to take Asher to Australia Monday- some kind of ultimatum.”
“I’m not going to be able to help in any way. I have a few major surgeries next week,” Parker said. “You know I’ll help however I can, though.”
“I know. You know I like the new Parker, bro.” I laughed at my use of bro. I hadn’t used that term in years. “Mia has been great for you.”
“Mia changed my life…bro” Parker said awkwardly. “You need to try it yourself.”
“Too busy right now,” I said, standing up to leave. “And as if running Hawthorne Designs isn’t enough, I have to babysit Asher in Australia.”
“What happened with him? Trey was like this at that age, a little, but he always stopped before it affected the family businesses,” Parker said.
“I think whatever it is, it’s about to change,” I said, walking out of my office. “I believe it’s going to hit the fan tonight. So be ready.”
Asher called again as I was getting to my ride. He made me crazy most of the time, but he’s my brother. More than that he is my twin, so when he hurts, I hurt. Not literally, of course. He wanted to ride with me out to our parents. I lied and said I’d already left the area and he would have to have his own driver bring him out to Hawthorne Manor. I needed the hour and half ride to look over the Australian hotels without him in my ear. I knew mom was going to ask questions and since Asher hadn’t been doing his part, I was behind on details. I’d never understood why Asher became an architect for commercial properties like me. As teenagers, all he talked about was wanting to design homes- big, fancy, unique works of art.
My cell rang out from my pocket.
“Hey Kellan.” I hoped he didn’t ask for details on the hotel. “What’s up, cous?”
Why the hell am I talking like a teenager today?
“Yes, mom called earlier about Asher joining,” I said into my cell, putting it on speaker mode. “It’s gonna be alright. She just wants him out of the area for a bit.”
“I don’t have time to mess with his issues right now,” Kellan complained. “Is he coming to work or play?”
“Neither. That’s all I know. I’ll find out more tonight,” I groaned in frustration. “You don’t need to worry. I’ll be there, and I can handle him.”
I said goodbye to my cousin Kellan. He runs the legal end of things for Hawthorne Hotels in the Australian zone, among other things. He wasn’t wrong about Asher causing drama everywhere he goes. I was really hoping mom had a good plan, because I had a lot of work to get done in my three or four days there. Checking my watch, I saw that forty-five minutes had flown by already. I put my cell on silent and laid my head back. The headache that was beginning when Mom called was now turning into a monster.
“John, do you have anything for a headache up there?” I asked my driver through the dividing glass. “If not, I need you to pull over and get some, when possible.”
“Mr. Hawthorne, I believe there’s some in the side door panel,” Jonathan called back to me. “I also put cold waters in the frig for you.”
“You’re always a step ahead of me. I found it.” I patted him on the shoulder. “I’m going to rest my eyes.”
“No problem, sir, I’ll wake you just before we arrive.” John closed the divider and lowered the shades on the windows.
As promised, John buzzed the intercom to let me know we were about ten minutes away. Time to collect myself. At least my headache had gone away. We pulled into the front entrance and there was Asher, sitting on a bench.
“Hiding outside, Ash?” I joked, getting out of the car. “Aren’t you a little old for that now?”
“Nah, not hiding really, just waiting for you.” Asher gave me a bear hug. “Figured safety in numbers and all that.”
“Yeah sure. You were just hoping Mom won’t be able to figure out which one of us is which,” I laughed. “It’s not like when we were kids. We don’t dress the same or even wear our hair the same. I think she’s gonna know.”
“Couldn’t you just comb your hair over to the right like mine for today?” Asher roughed up my hair. “That won’t really help. You dress like an old man these days.”
“Get off me.” I pushed him aside. “It’s more that you dress like a punk playboy more than I dress like an old man.”
The front door opened, and Parker stepped out. Parker has always been the serious one in the group. Today he looked especially serious and flustered. Rarely would you find him doing something as mundane as opening the front door. Although lately his new wife Mia had changed him.