Tied Together (The Cade Siblings Duology #1)

4. Alex

CHAPTER 4

Alex

I feel Alana tense beside me.

Before I can think better of it, I absentmindedly reach over and squeeze her hand lightly. The same electric sparks fly through my fingertips at the touch. She quickly glances at me and then down at our joined hands, but she doesn’t pull away.

Interesting.

I feel her relax just slightly, so I pull my hand back and wipe my clammy palms on my jeans.

“We have an exciting opportunity for the two of you,” Heather says, and her previous stern face slips into a grin.

For a moment, I just stare at her smiling face. I had convinced myself that we were about to be fired and was almost certain I’d be scouring LinkedIn for a new job within the hour.

“Wait, you aren’t firing us?” Lana asks in disbelief, stealing the thoughts right out of my brain. We’re always on the same wavelength.

“Firing you? No, absolutely not,” Heather replies in an incredulous tone. “You two are far too valuable to let go. I apologize for not giving you more information about the purpose of our meeting today. I hate to think you’ve been worried sick since we scheduled it.”

Alana clears her throat. “Well, that’s good to hear.”

“Yes, I’m sure it is. Now, onto the matter at hand.” Always right to business with this one. “You are both aware that Impress has a European branch that operates out of Paris, France right?”

We both nod, glancing at each other. It’s safe to say, neither of us knows where this is going.

My nerves have faded, replaced with an anxious bubbling excitement. I have to be honest, if this opportunity means more time spent with Alana, I won’t not be happy. There is an intense connection between the two of us, and I want nothing more than time to convince her that it’s worth exploring. Over the last year, we have worked seamlessly with one another—we listen to each other’s opinions and talk things out when we disagree. Even though she seems to be on a dating hiatus, for whatever reason, I can’t help but be a little bit interested.

“Well, the European branch has just lost all but two of their editors. A competitor apparently offered them a large sum to leave Impress and work for them. They reached out and asked if we would send a pair of strong editors to help out.” She pauses and we stare at her, waiting for her to continue.

“Ian and I spoke and we agreed that the two of you would be perfect for the job. You would be helping with any tasks that need to be done as far as section editing to help fill the gap, while also helping interview, staff, and train a new team.”

Alana looks over at me and then back at Heather and Ian.

“Okay…” she says hesitantly. “So what does this look like for us? Weekly video conferences to consult with them, I assume?”

“Oh, no,” Heather replies with a dismissive wave of her hand. “You two will travel to Paris and work in the office there in the city.”

There is a moment of silence as we take in what she’s just said.

Paris. With Alana. For how long? What will the editors here do? When do we leave?

Questions begin to flood my mind. I’m cautiously excited, but also a bit uneasy. This is a huge project and it says a lot that they are trusting us with it. I haven’t heard of Impress doing anything like this before now.

“When is this to take place?” Alana asks.

I can tell she’s apprehensive. She’s talking quieter than usual and with less than her normal amount of flare and sass, although she typically dials it down around Heather.

“If you accept, you’re set to leave in three weeks. You’ll be staying in a gorgeous little apartment that we’ve arranged for the month. One of my old colleagues owns it and her family is spending the holiday season in the States, so she needs someone to water the plants and keep up the home. It’s right by the Eiffel Tower, just a few steps away. A dream, really.”

For the month?

“For the month?” Alana asks, like she’s reading my mind. There’s a note of panic in her voice, I think, but maybe I’m imagining it.

Personally, I have little ties to New York besides my job. I’m a quiet man with a quiet life, and I like it that way. I grew up in a single parent household, just my mom and I, on a small farm in Texas. Because of this, I’ve learned to be content with the simple things in life.

I was homeschooled until eighth grade when my mom decided to put me in the small school in our town so I could make friends and be in a better position to get into a good college. I struggled for a long time with the decision to go to college and pursue my career. My dad left when I was ten and when he did, I took over as man of the household. Mom was wrecked for a while in his absence, even though they only ever fought, so I had to take care of her and the house. She came back to herself eventually, after she started going to therapy, but the burning need inside of me to provide and care for her has never gone out.

When it came time to pick a major, I knew I wanted to go to school for journalism. Back when my dad was still around, he always took me to baseball games. It was our thing, how we spent time together. I didn’t necessarily love the game of baseball or think it was extremely interesting to spend hours watching, but I loved spending time with my dad and that was how I got it. He used to show me articles that were written about his favorite players and I would study up on them so I’d have something to talk to him about that would interest him. Through reading them, I began to have a strong interest in journalism and writing. I eventually ended up at University of Wisconsin - Madison in their journalism school.

You might be wondering, why Wisconsin? Well, that’s a great question. One day, I googled “best colleges for journalism majors” and it was the first school I saw. I applied, got in, and the rest is history.

I spent four years there and after I graduated I packed up my Wisconsin belongings, moved to New York and started at Impress right out of college. I worked my way up to section editor and it’s been fantastic.

My mom has always been my biggest supporter and never let me feel as though I was lacking in anything, especially love. Now, I do everything I can to care for her even from hundreds of miles away. I send groceries, a cleaning service every now and again, whatever she will allow me to do without sending it back.

Don’t get me wrong, she’s incredibly self sufficient—but ever since I landed this job, I’ve tried to pay her back for giving me the life she did despite our circumstances.

“They expect it to take that long to hire new editors. Although I suppose it could be longer depending on how things go. Will that be a problem?” Heather frames this as a question, but it’s pretty clear that there is only one acceptable answer.

“I suppose not,” Alana answers hesitantly.

“Alex, what do you think about this?” Ian asks. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

I take a deep breath, trying to figure out what the best response here would be. I obviously am excited to spend time alone with Alana. This is also a great opportunity to expand my resume and portfolio. However, I don’t want to seem too excited and make Alana nervous.

“Well, I would need some time to think about it,” I say, knowing I’m going to say yes, but trying to give Alana some time without her having to ask for it.

“Oh, of course,” Heather replies. “Can you both let me know by the end of the week?”

We both nod at her.

The rest of the meeting is business as usual. We present our ideas; they love them and explain that they wanted a batch of ideas so they could use them in our absence.

Heather leaves us with Ian, who gives us a bit more information on our trip.

“You’ll fly out right after Thanksgiving. That gives you about three weeks here to get things in order and prepare the other editors,” he explains. “You’ll have the weekend to acclimate to the time change, and then you’ll start working in the office that next Monday.”

So essentially we will be in Paris for the entire duration of the holidays. Awesome.

I usually go visit my mom during the week of Christmas. She doesn’t have anyone else to celebrate with her so I try to make it a priority to be there.

I’m not sure what Alana’s situation is. We don’t discuss family often, but even when we do she never talks about her parents. If she’s upset, she doesn’t show it.

“Thank you for the opportunity,” Alana says in a polite, but tense, tone.

I gather my things, shake Ian’s hand and follow Alana into the hallway.