Falling into Trouble

Chapter 3

Brandon

I'm always a little late on Monday. I put in a lot of hours at work and since I just happen to hate waking up early on the dreaded first day of the week, everyone overlooks my late arrival. My desk is swamped with memos and my phone is ringing as I step through my office door at 10am. Sitting down, I grab the phone off the hook before it goes to voicemail.

"This is Brandon." It's an interoffice line so I know it's most likely one of my brothers or my dad.

"Finally. It's a terrible habit we're enabling, bro," Ben laughs as he teases me about my start time.

"Fuck off. I put in my hours."

"I know it's just fun to get you stirred up. There's been a change in our plans this week. I've been trying to get a hold of you since last night but you weren't answering your cell." I spin around so I can look at my shared office calendar for the week.

"Sorry. I forgot to charge it. What's up?"

"I can't go to check out the sites. You have to go instead, I'm needed here." I chuckle a little, loving the fact that my oldest brother finally found a girl he doesn't want to leave.

"What's the matter Ben? Can't imagine not going home to her? I thought you would just take her with you." We're always teasing each other.

"Haha asshole. While that's very funny, I actually forgot dad and I have that meeting with the execs we've been trying to meet with for months. I guess I've been a little distracted and let it slip my mind."

"Ok, no problem. When were you supposed to go and is all the shit changed to my name?" I'm actually feeling a little excited to get away from town and from the thoughts of Jaycee.

"I was flying out Tuesday morning. Emily's going to switch the tickets for us. Make sure I get a copy of your schedule for the week so I can cover your shit while you're gone. Thanks Brandon. I owe you."

"You're welcome. I'm sure it won't suck to be in Hawaii while you do all my work here." He laughs again before hanging up. I log onto my computer and update the shared calendar making sure to send him my personal calendar as well. In this business, the calendars all cross over since we all take our work home. As soon as they're printed they are obsolete.

Our company has been looking at lots for a future hotel site. We're trying to find a great place to open up a more family friendly hotel. In this project we're partnering up with another investor to combine our businesses. We're hoping that creating an award-winning hotel with a five-start restaurant built in will attract the upper end clients and their families.

My dad and brother have been working out the details and choosing the right company to pair up with. Last I heard they had it narrowed down to three possible choices. My brothers and I all have a special area of the company we manage and Ben is following in my dad's footsteps with acquiring new land and partnerships. I manage the marketing and hiring of employees within our company. It will be nice to change hats for the week.

Perhaps seeing new places and being busy with checking out sites will leave me little time to rehash my time with Jaycee. I would also be grateful if the fresh air and sunshine helped clear my mind of the image of the stunning, hot-as-hell woman she has blossomed into. I have been reconstructing the image of her in my mind all weekend.

As a kid, Jaycee used to drive me crazy. She would be so good at making me angry that I would always be the one to get in trouble. Even when my sister Madeline managed to get us all to play together, Jaycee brought trouble with her. She was the sneakiest little girl I'd ever met and to this day, no friend of mine has been able to bring the level of excitement that she used to. If I were being honest, I would admit that as a kid I had the biggest crush on her, but was too shy and inexperienced to do anything about it.

Yesterday I spent the day going back and forth between being relieved that she'd drove off in her little car without leaving any way of getting ahold of her and being pissed I didn't insist on it. Thinking about it any further is a waste of my time. I could track her down through her family if I really wanted. I've convinced myself that reuniting with her in the back of a cop car was a huge sign that I should stay away.

Trouble is what I'll find if I go after her and I don't need any of that. The right decision is to move on with my life and never think of her again. Well, maybe that's going too far. I should move on with my life and only think about her with the knowledge that contact would be a bad idea in any medium other than my dreams. Can't hurt to think of her there. In fact, I'm looking forward to it.