From Sunrise To Sunset

Brave 1

Nicholas

During the past week, I spent a lot of time at my parent's house trying to figure out if I should take Noah and Uncle Thomas up on their offer to work at Charles Brothers for a month before making my final decision. I wondered if I would ever stop mourning my father and finally be able to fulfill his expectations of me.

Today I decided to be brave and face my fear. I cleared my schedule for the month and decided to work at Charles' Brothers. By doing so I can finally decide whether I want to work there permanently. I try to mentally prepare myself by taking a deep breath as the elevator stops and the doors open.

"Nick, you're here." Mrs. Cooper says excitedly as I step out of the elevator. "Didn't think I'd see you again so soon. And you're wearing a suit. Navy blue suits you very well. Are you here for good this time?"

"Good morning, Mrs. Cooper," I respond without stopping. "It's nice to see you again...I haven't decided yet but we'll see what happens."

"Well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed then." She smiles, crossing her index and middle fingers on both hands and holding them up to her shoulders.

"Have a good day, Mrs. Cooper," I say, giving her a quick smile as I walk down the hall to Noah's office.

"Good morning Mr. Charles." Kristen greets me as she exits Noah's office.

"Good morning Miss Fisher... and it's Nick." I smile, remembering how Cassandra always calls me Nicholas instead of Nick.

"Nick, you're here," Noah says, stepping from behind his desk. "Let me walk you to your office."

"My office?" I was surprised that they had already prepared an office for me.

"Yeah," he says as we leave his office and walk further down the hall. "You'll be sitting in your father's old office for the time being. If you decide to stay we could set up a new office for you or, you could keep your father's. It's entirely up to you."

As I follow Noah down the hall I wonder if I would last a day in my father's old office. I know it felt good sitting in his chair last week, but I was only in there for a few minutes, I'm not sure if I could last an entire day there.

"After you," Noah says, stopping at the office door and allowing me to enter first.

"I had a new computer set up when you said you were coming."

I nod in response as I walk behind the desk, and look down at the computer.

"Nick, it's great to see you son." Uncle Thomas smiles, walking into the office. "I wasn't sure you'd show up."

"Thanks...I thought I'd give it a try. See how things go."

He nods as he walks from one end of the office to the other, looking around with a nostalgic smile. I can tell that he's thinking of my father.

"That's good, son. I think you'll like it here...Your father would have been proud."

"Thank you, Sir."

He turns to Noah, "When you're done helping Nick get settled in, I need you to look over the budget for the hotel in Dubai again. We need to increase the expenses due to changes made to the blueprints. And Nick..." He says, shifting his focus towards me. "I'll send you a copy of the blueprints to look at. You'll let Noah know if you think we should make any changes so he can fit it into the budget."

I nod my head in response.

"Also," Uncle Thomas continues, "Mary-Ann and I want both you boys over for dinner tonight, so we can celebrate you finally deciding to come work here."