Chapter 4
The leaves around Whitmore Lake began to turn
brilliant yellows, oranges and reds with the changing of the seasons. Brian
couldn’t help but admire them as he drove up the tree-canvassed lane that led
to the estate of Nick’s girlfriend, Deanna. Brian was stunned as he pulled
through an enormous iron gate and drove into view of the mansion that made his
extremely large house seem insignificant. He felt as if he could be swallowed
up at any moment when he rang the bell but didn’t wait long before he was
greeted by Deanna and his brother. “Brian!” Deanna exclaimed placing a polite
kiss on his cheek. “I’m so glad you finally made it. It’s been months since
I’ve seen you.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” Brian replied
only partially sincere. “I doubled my coursework this year. I’m hoping to
graduate a year early. Not to mention that my father seems to see me as some
sort of free intern that he can dump his grunt work on whenever he pleases.”
Brian’s tone was a bit harsh but Deanna
chuckled slightly. She’d been together with Nick long enough now to have a good
understanding of Mr. Harper’s persuasive attitude. She herself had been grading
papers just last week. “Well I’m glad you could make it today.” She said
happily, “I really need your help.”
Deanna showed him through the house out to the
garage. “I’m really sorry about your grandfather.” Brian said feeling a little
guilty that he hadn’t made it to the funeral.
Nick had told him once that Deanna’s
grandfather was the only family she had and when he died she was left all
alone. He died nearly a month before and Brian was impressed at the way Nick
stepped up and helped her through the terrible ordeal. He couldn’t help but
think that maybe his little brother was finally starting to grow up.
“Thank you.” Deanna said, “But it was his
time.”
She stopped in front of a portrait of the old
man and sighed. “He was such a good man.” she said. “He left such a legacy
behind.”
The man had spent his years exploring the
medical field. He’d done some amazing things and even received a Pulitzer once.
Brian stared at the portrait and wondered if he would ever be able to make such
an impact. He couldn’t help but have his doubts. “So what do you need my help
with?” he asked when he realized that his thoughts were once again turning
sour.
Nick’s face lit up. “You’re gonna love this
Bri!” he said practically jumping up and down.
“Well I know how you Harper boys love your
automobiles and Nicky tells me that you know more about the old classics than
anyone. I need your help coming up with an estimate for them.”
“An estimate?” Brian asked curiously.
“Grandfather left me pretty much everything
when he died.”
Brian did everything in his power not to over
react to that news. Deanna’s grandfather was worth millions. If he left it all
to her then she must have been the richest 18 year old in the state of
Michigan. “You mean he left you the cars?”
“The cars, the house, a few off-shore
accounts. Pretty much everything that he didn’t donate to charity.”
Brian looked up at the enormous house and it’s
vast surrounding and felt overwhelmed at the idea of being responsible for so
much. “So what are you going to do?” he asked.
Deanna released a long woeful sigh as she
punched in the security code that would lift one of the numerous garage
doors. “I thought I would go smaller.”
She replied looking over her shoulder at the house. “Much smaller.”
The garage door slid open with grace revealing
the showroom. Brian breathed in awe at the splendor of it all. Nick and Deanna
grinned at one another as Brian reverently walked through the collection of
priceless antiques. “It’s practically a museum.” He whispered.
“You’re not going to sell these?” Brian
gasped.
“I
really hate to do it. These cars were Grandfather’s pride and joy. It will be
kind of heart breaking to see them gone from the family, but I don’t know what
else to do with them. They just sit here collecting dust and its such a shame.”
“You can’t do it. It would be a crime.”
“Unless you can come up with a better idea.”
Deanna said shrugging helplessly.
Brian stared at the room again. There had to
something she could do. The wheels in Brian’s head began to turn and he spun on
his heels throwing a crazed look of excitement Deanna’s direction. “Don’t do
anything yet.” He said, “Just give me some time and I will come up with the
perfect plan.”
In the months that she’d known Brian, Deanna
had never seen him so full of excitement. His eyes gleamed as he smiled at all
the possibilities. Deanna looked at Nick and he shrugged. “The man is a genus.
He won’t steer you wrong.”
“Alright.” Deanna said, “I won’t sell them
just yet.”
Brian shook her hand vigorously. “You won’t
regret this. I promise I’ll come up with the perfect plan.”
********
Sarah and Lance stood in front of a
beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the middle of a giant mall. Lance had
heaps of bags draped over his arms. Sarah leaned over a railing enjoying a
corndog and a slurpee. She wore jeans and a t-shirt but her hair was down and a
small purse hung from her shoulder. “I don’t understand how you can eat those
things.” Lance whined as Sarah threw an empty stick into a garbage can. “If I
even ate one bite of something that greasy I would gain five pounds.”
Sarah laughed. “You’d work it all off just by
carrying around all that weight.” She teased pointing at the mound of bags he
finally set at his feet.
“I can’t believe all these hours of walking
the mall and we still haven’t found what we came for.”
Sarah rolled her eyes and began walking the
mall again. Lance struggled to collect all his purchases and then caught up to
her. “If we didn’t have to stop in every store we passed so that you could try
on five million different pairs of pants, we could have been long gone by now.”
“I have to look dashing.” Lance laughed and
then stopped in front of a store where a sleek red dress hung in the window. He
raised an eyebrow. “And you have to look stunning.”
Sarah followed his gaze to the dress in the
window and wrinkled her nose. I’m not wearing that.” She said before Lance
could even suggest it.
“We’re talking about a high profile wedding
here. It’s only the biggest event of this holiday season.”
“And I’m working it.”
“Wedding planners do not work weddings.” Lance
said somewhat insulted that his little protégé was missing the point entirely.
“Fine, I’ll dress up but put me in a nice
pants suit, I’m not wearing a dress. And no heels!”
Lance shook his head in shame and then stopped
two guys about their same age that happened to be walking by. “Excuse me.” He
said resting his hand on one of their arms and pointed at Sarah with the other.
“Do you think she would look better in a
boring old pants suit or something fabulous like this?”
Lance gestured to the dress in the window.
Both boys looked at the dress and immediately sided with Lance. Once of them
even said she would look great in red causing Sarah to blush fiercely. Sarah
rolled her eyes and walked away. “I’m not wearing a dress.” She grumbled.
Lance shrugged to the guys and thanked them
for the attempt before catching up to Sarah with a dramatic pout on his face.
*********
Brian sat behind the wheel of his car staring
up at his house knowing that he would have to go inside sooner or later. His
mother had demanded he come home for the weekend. It was his birthday and she
wanted to have a nice family dinner. Brian tried hard to find reasons not to
come, but his mother could be as persistent as his father when she needed to
be.
It was now nearly March and even though his
dorm was less than 20 minutes away, Brian had not been home since Nick’s
birthday over a month ago. He just couldn’t stand being there anymore. He was
working so hard and under so much pressure that sometimes he felt he was about
to crack. When he came home it never failed that Nick and Deanna would be hard
at work finding new ways to play. It used to make Brian happy that his younger
brother could do what he wanted, but the harder Brian worked the more he
resented Nick’s playing. It also didn’t help that Nick and Deanna were always
hanging on one another like a couple of newlyweds.
Brian sighed heavily and turned off the
ignition. As he grabbed a briefcase off the passenger seat the corners of his
mouth curved upwards. At least he had a plan now and in just a couple short
months he would be graduated and it would all be over. With a slump he pushed
his way through the front door praying that his mother had not planed some sort
of surprise. He relaxed when all was quiet.
After dropping his briefcase on the kitchen
counter Brian made his way through the house in search of his family. The TV was on and a cheesy looking monster
movie was playing but the sound was barely audible. Brian found his brother and
Deanna asleep in each other’s arms on the couch. He couldn’t help but stare at
the two of them with a frown. He thought it ridiculous the way they fawned over
one another and yet tiny pangs of jealousy pricked his heart.
With a roll of his eyes Brian rounded the
corner of the couch to turn off the television and jumped sky high when he felt
something squirm underneath his foot. A tiny bald dog let out a high-pitched
shriek before jumping up on the couch with Nick and Deanna. “The prodigal son
returns.” Nick teased as Brian continued to frown at the dog.
“What is that thing?”
“This is Fluffy.” Deanna laughed picking up
the dog and kissing it on its tiny nose and then talking to it as if it were an
infant.
“Fluffy?” Brian asked Nick curiously thinking
that the creature looked more like a rat than a dog.
“Good to see you again.” Deanna greeted Brian
as she walked past him to let Fluffy outside.
Nick smiled as he watched Deanna step outside.
Brian stared curiously at the grin on Nick’s face. “What’s with the dog?” he
finally asked.
Nick shrugged. “She’s been having a rough time
since her grandfather passed. I thought she might like the company.”
Brian cracked a smile and threw his arm around
his brother. “I’m impressed.” He said, “You’ve really stepped up this time.
This is the most effort I’ve ever seen you put into anything.”
Nick looked out the window again and sighed
dreamily. “Yeah, she needs me. I kind of like it.”
Nick looked guilty when he saw the smirk on
Brian’s face. “If you tell anyone I said that you’re dead.” He laughed.
Brian playfully shook his head in shame and
the two brothers fell into a warm embrace. “Happy birthday man.” Nick said as
he pulled away. “I’m glad you cam. It’s been real lonely around here without ya.”
“I though that’s what Fluffy was for.” Brian
teased.
“You know what I mean. Things just aren’t the
same without my big brother around.” Nick said, “There’s no one here to make me
look bad. When are you going to be done with all that school so that you can
rescue me from this place. You know I was thinking the other day that it might
be kind of fun when I go to school next year, to find a place somewhere near
campus together.”
Brian was surprised by his brother’s comment.
“We could be room mates.” Nick said almost fearful that his brother would hate
the idea.
Brian stared for a minute and slowly began to
glow with excitement. “We could be more than that.” He said.
Nick curiously followed him into the kitchen.
Brian became excited as he popped the snaps on his briefcase. He pulled out a
thin booklet and handed it to Nick. “We could be partners.” He explained.
Nick flipped through the pages and then looked
at Brian with anticipation. “What is this?”
“It’s a business proposal.” Brian announced
proudly. “I had to create one for one of my classes and I figured why not make
one for real. We’ve always said we wanted to go into business together.”
“What kind of business?” Nick asked now
scanning the papers.
Brian grinned. “Remember when I came to see
Deanna’s grandfather’s cars and she told me she didn’t want to have to sell
them?”
“Yeah?”
“Well it’s sort of a rental company. Deanna
would be a full partner of coarse and you and I could run the biz.”
“You mean we rent out Deanna’s cars?”
“Yeah! People would love it. Think about it.
Wouldn’t you have loved to take your homecoming date to the dance in one of
those? People would rent them for all kinds of special occasions.”
Nick starred at his brother pondering the
possibility. Brian pointed to a graph near the front of the proposal. “I’ve
already done the research. It could work. It wouldn’t take much of a loan to
start up if we already had the cars and Deanna did say that she wished there
were some way she could put them to use. Do you think she would like it?”
Nick flipped through the pages of the proposal
again. Most of it was meaningless to him but the idea began to grow in his
mind. Finally he formed a smile. “You know Bri? This just might work.” He said
instantly becoming excited.
***