At noon, I’d made up my mind. I was absolutely going through with this, and the first step to it was to cash that cheque. I went down to the bank and deposited it, then looked at the receipt. Account balance: $20,032.21. That looked good. Hell, that looked amazing.
The day before I was scheduled to start working for my stepbrother, I went on a mini shopping spree. I’d been told the office atmosphere was “casual at best”, and that there would be no need for any sort of suit. Still, my limited wardrobe was getting to be pretty run down, and I wanted to be able to make a good impression, even if that good impression involved wearing flats and jeans all day.
Plus, I had to be honest with myself: I really, really wanted to go out and spend some money on myself. It had been so long since I was able to go on a real shopping spree, and it felt amazing. I limited myself to $500, and mostly bought from the sale rack, but still came back with quite a few bags worth of awesome new clothes, and a new jacket for the winter. Yes, this was going to be worth it. Even if Kiegan was hard to deal with, I would be able to handle it. I just knew it.
*
The confidence I had a few days earlier when I was organizing my things seemed to evaporate as soon as Tuesday morning arrived. I was told a car would come to pick me up at eight, and that I was to pack anything I wanted to take with me while we travelled on the road.
Everything I wanted fit into the duffel bag, I had nothing worth storing. I decided to take Kiegan’s advice and live out of a suitcase for a while. Leaving my landlord a note that I was moving out and he could keep the damage deposit as a month’s rent, it felt somehow relaxing to leave behind the stressful life I’d been leaving for years.
Still, standing on the corner outside my apartment, the nerves began to come back. When the sleek white car pulled up to the curb, I was reminded that Kiegan was still really part of the Hunt family. Was I making a mistake? On the bright side, this was an M3 convertible, more of a sports car than anything else.
The driver got out, dressed in slacks and a hoodie.
“Hey Tina, I’m Josh. Kiegan wanted me to come pick you up. Need a hand with anything?”
“I’m good, thanks,” I told him, putting my bag in the trunk he’d opened and getting into the car.
I hopped into the back seat and watched as the city I’d called my home for two years whizzed past me. It became pretty obvious we were heading to Sea-Tac airport, Kiegan must have had another publicity stunt scheduled somewhere else.
Before I knew it I could see the planes on the runway, but instead of going to the departure terminal, Josh drove down a side road and towards a hangar.
Holy shit, is this actually happening?
Growing up the Hunt family had been super rich, but the time my mom let me go to Mexico with friends at spring break I flew commercial. First class, but still commercial. As we pulled into the hangar and the sleek white jet with gold stripes became bigger and bigger, I just stared. I don’t know why, but I hadn’t expected Kiegan to have his own private jet.
“So where are we going?” I asked Josh as he turned off the car and unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Vegas, today,” he answered. “We’re there for three days, then San Francisco, then LA for the show’s premiere night.”
“Wow, he wasn’t kidding when he said he travelled a lot,” I muttered as Josh grabbed my bag and we headed towards the plane, Josh in front and me behind.
As I climbed up the steps I was definitely tempted to stop at the top, turn and wave to the crowd like I was the president, then I realized I was an adult, and that’s not what adults do.
You know what? Adults do whatever they want, I thought to myself as I reached the top step of the staircase. I stopped, turned, and waved to the imaginary crowd with both hands.
I heard laughter coming from inside the plane, and turned to see Kiegan watching me from one of the windows.
Blushing, I quickly put my hands down and made my way into the Gulfstream.
“The day you become President is the day I definitely move to Canada,” Kiegan grinned at me as I came in.
“Whatever, don’t pretend you’ve never thought of doing it.”
“I have done it,” he replied honestly. “First thing I did when I bought the plane. But I probably looked far less ridiculous than you did just then.”
“Remind me again why I took this job,” I muttered to myself. I’d barely been in his presence thirty seconds and Kiegan Hunt was already giving me shit.
I heard the plane door close behind me and sat down in one of the amazing leather seats. I strapped in, but it barely felt like being in a plane at all. Josh was in the seat next to Kiegan, and across from him sat a woman in her thirties, with curly blonde shoulder length hair and an obvious no-bullshit attitude. She had a laptop open in front of her and was typing dutifully into it, ignoring both the conversation between Kiegan and Josh, and the waitress who came out with fresh lattes and a tray of muffins, which she placed on the table in front of the row of seats.