The Arrangement

Interruption

Turning to his father, he asked. "Can I bring Hershey in? We were supposed to be walking for the shelter today."

"Is she housebroken?" Jim asked.

"You know she is." His father was doing a good job annoying him.

We had one thing in common because clearly, we both weren't happy about this meeting.

Daniel returned with an adorable chocolate lab puppy. She ran around and sniffed everyone. When I reached down to pet her soft fur, she rolled on her back and showed me her belly.

Hoping to get back at Daniel for his comment about Nate, I said, "Shelter walk with a purebred."

"She isn't a purebred. She's a mix. She just happens to look more chocolate, but she'll likely be smaller."

"How did you get lucky enough to get her?"

"I was there when her whole litter was brought in. They were abandoned."

"Lucky you to be at the right place at the right time."

Daniel was always lucky. He won every game of chance when we played on rainy summer days ─ Yahtzee was the worst.

"They came in while I was working."

"Working?" Dan worked at O&C just like me.

"Volunteering. I volunteer on Saturday mornings."

I didn't have a response to that piece of information. I liked to find fault with him, but volunteering surprised me. True, I knew very little about the adult Daniel outside of the conference room ─ even then our interactions were limited. Like his father, he was a businessman while I followed my father into bio-engineering and a focus on product development.

After I poured myself a large mug of coffee and took a seat, Hershey settled at my feet. Daniel tried to lure her over to him, so I reached down and scratched her head. She sighed in contentment and I smiled at him as if to say, your dog likes me better.

Annoyed Daniel said, "Why are we here?"

It was my father, who replied, "We'll get to that. We appreciate your changing your plans, Dan and Paige."

Just then Daniel's phone rang. I snickered as his father looked at him impatiently.

"Sorry. Hold on?" He answered. "What?" I heard only the one side of the conversation, but he wasn't pleased about the interruption. "No, not yet. I can't... Goodbye. I said goodbye."

He looked around at the six eyes staring at him. No wonder he went through women if he talked to them like that. If Nate were to call, I'd send him an automated response. Truthfully he had the good sense not to call.

As if on cue, my phone started lighting up and vibrating. Glancing at it, I saw it was David Currier calling. I sent him an 'I'll have to call you back' message.

"That was David. Ironic, huh!"

"I'll say. I wonder why my brother is calling you."

"Perhaps because we're friends and he likes me. Just because he doesn't like you."

"What? David and I get along just fine and if you were truly friends you'd know that."

"Well, if you got along, then you'd know we were friends." The man was infuriating and had driven me into a pissing match as if we were twelve again.

"Who do you think just called me? Besides how do you think I knew you're sleeping with Nathan Landry!"

"Bastard!" I said clenching my jaw. He had gone too far. My father didn't need to know.

"Enough!" Jim shouted.

"You act like children around one another." My father's disappointed tone sobered me.

Like twelve-year-olds, we both appropriately hung our heads.