I feel myself start to talk. “Luca landed the deal with Whole Foods,” I correct him, lifting my gin glass to my mouth. Like I said, two can play this game.
I flick my eyes to Luca, who shakes his head and runs his hands through his hair. It’s hard to figure out the dynamic between Luca and Anderson. Luca owns Gather. He started it from the ground up. Anderson is acting like he was a part of the late nights spent testing recipes, researching food truck routes, and Googling how to read a business contract.
But he wasn’t.
“Right. You’re missing my point,” Anderson starts, his tone sharp and directed at me. “Gather has hit a plateau. We can’t go up doing the same old stuff. We need to expand, and the obvious choice is food. We’ve discussed starting a dessert line, but that doesn’t feel right. We want to be able to curate the menu seasonally,” he adds.
Luca clears his throat. “Anderson and I view the company a little differently. I like to focus on making what we have better, and he sees the potential we have for the future. It’s why I brought him on, and why the company has done so well over the last year,” my brother says, his voice firm and businesslike. “I have my hesitations about opening a restaurant at this stage. It feels a little fraudulent, to be honest.” Anderson tenses at Luca’s words, and they share some kind of look I can’t quite decipher. “That said, I trust him. I know he’ll bring on the best of the best to help us with this new endeavor. So, I’ll defer to him for this. He’s never led me astray.”
I’ve never really seen my brother in a professional setting, and I have to say, aside from his choice in business partners, I’m thoroughly impressed. He throws out business vernacular and quotes cash flow and profit/loss numbers off of the top of his head. He knows what he’s talking about, which doesn’t surprise me. Gather is his baby. Maybe I’m reading the room wrong, but it seems to me that Anderson will do anything to increase our profit margins.
Even if it means sacrificing the soul of the company.
One of the men speaks. “Listen, gentleman. We laid out our stipulations. We want to work with you, and we want to bring Gather to hundreds of thousands of people in Maui. It sounds like the two of you are on different pages, so how about we meet again before you head back to Los Angeles? No pressure. We’d love to bring you on board, but we want you to be a hundred percent sure before we sign anything.” He turns to Luca. “We wantbothof you to be a hundred percent sure.” The men stand and shake our hands, thanking us for lunch. The one who seems to be in charge leaves a wad of cash on the table before they depart.
“Well, that was an unfortunate turn of events,” Anderson mumbles, standing and placing his napkin on his plate. He barely touched his salmon. Tucking his chair in, he glowers at Luca.
I bristle at his words. “I think it went well. Luca was honest about his hesitations, and they seemed receptive to another meeting. We have time to think about it instead of jumping right into something.”
Luca nods. “She’s not wrong. Maybe we should sleep on it.”
Anderson narrows his eyes. “So, we’re listening to yoursisterfor advice now? The person who has no idea what she’s talking about?”
“Excuse me?” I screech. I stand and tuck my chair in, too.
“Enough,” Luca mutters, looking defeated and exhausted. “I don’t know what the hell is going on between you two,” he says, swirling his finger toward both of us, “but this isn’t going to work if we don’t get along.” He sighs and stands. “Let’s get some rest. Natalia is right. We shouldn’t be making any big decisions when we’re this tired. Let’s rest and regroup for our dinner meeting.” He gives Anderson a blazing stare before pushing his chair in and walking away. I follow him without looking back at Anderson.
“I can’t believe he’s your business partner,” I whisper under my breath, catching up with him.
“It works for us—most of the time. There’s bad energy in the air today, and I know I wasn’t expecting a verbal deal right off the bat. It caught me off guard.” He looks at me. “Thank you for coming.” Putting his arm around me, he sighs again. “Anderson is a nice guy. He’s stern, and he knows what he wants, but he has the company’s best interests at heart.”
I cross my arms and rear my head back. “You sure about that?”
Luca chuckles. “I’m sure. We bicker—a lot—but I’d trust Anderson with my life.”
I don’t say anything else as we walk back down the hallway to our rooms. I nearly collapse with relief when I see the taxi driver exit the elevator—with my cherry red suitcase in tow.
“Oh my god, thank you,” I breathe, reaching into my purse for the hundred dollars I promised him.
“No problem,” he answers, walking away. He nearly collides with Anderson, who stalks around the corner like he’s about to fight someone on the street. “Sorry,” the driver mutters, before pressing the button for the elevator.
My eyes flick to Anderson’s briefly, and my cheeks heat as his repugnant gaze slowly wanders down to my now-returned suitcase. Could hebeany more of an ass? I don’t say anything as I let myself into my room.
I throw off my flip flops, take a steaming hot shower, and climb into bed for the world’s most deserved nap.
7
Natalia
Around two in the morning,after a long and boring dinner with some potential investors, I’m woken by some kind of rhythmic, banging noise. I pull my eye mask off and sit up, trying to ascertain where it’s coming from. Rubbing my eyes, I look around, thoroughly confused. It’s not a subtle sound—in fact, it almost sounds like someone’s knocking against one of the walls. Still in a daze, I climb out of bed and slowly walk around the small room, trying to pinpoint where it’s coming from.
Umpgh, umpgh, umpgh.
I stop in front of one of the closet doors, and when I go to pull it open, nothing happens. I pull harder, and that’s when I notice the sliding lock a few inches up from the handle.
It’s not a closet—it’s a door.
To Anderson’s room.
