of celibacy, since marriage was nowhere in his plan. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly. “Let’s take it one step at a time, okay? First you need to meet a nice girl.”
Excitement lit Will’s entire face. “So I can call Coffee Girl?”
Greg massaged the bridge of his nose. His brother was a late bloomer with raging hormones. When mixed with Will’s trusting nature, it was a recipe for trouble. The woman who placed the ad could be a hooker, for all they knew. On the other hand, a hooker would be preferable to a gold digger, or to a woman who would make fun of Will’s mental disability. None of the scenarios that played out in his head had a good ending.
“Please, Gregory?”
This had to be what parenting felt like, Greg decided as he looked at his brother’s hopeful expression. Being torn between good judgment and giving in. At last a compromise struck him. “How about if I check out this…Coffee Girl first?”
Will bit on his lower lip. “I don’t know…”
“Will, don’t I always take care of you?”
“Yes, Gregory.” Will gestured toward the phone. “But will you call her right now?”
Greg hesitated, noting with alarm that his brother seemed fixated on the idea that this woman in the ad was somehow his soul mate. But the sooner Greg called, the sooner Will would realize that women were a disappointing lot.
“Sure, buddy, I’ll call.” Consulting the voice mailbox at the bottom of the ad, Greg dialed the number and, after the mechanical voice identified the mailbox, said, “Yes…I’m calling about your ad. My name is…Greg, and I’d like to meet you for…a cup of coffee.” Feeling like a colossal fool, he left the number for his private office line and banged down the receiver.
“She wasn’t home?” Will asked, his eyebrows knit.
“It doesn’t work like that. The number is for a voice mailbox, where I left the message. The lady will call in to pick up the message, then she’ll return my call. It’s safer that way.”
Will jumped to his feet. “But what if she doesn’t call back?”
“She’ll call.”
“But what if she meets you for a cup of coffee and she likes you, Gregory?”
Greg draped his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “You’re the one looking for a woman, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re the horseman of the family, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Then don’t worry.”
Will frowned, obviously trying to follow the reasoning. “But when will I get to have coffee with her?”
“If she’s a nice lady, then I’ll introduce the two of you.” But not until she passed every test he planned to throw at the woman.
A grin transformed Will’s face again. “Okay, Gregory.” He gave Greg a giant bear hug. “Maybe we’ll find a lady for you, too. One that’s not so complicated.”
With effort, Greg maintained a smile while Will waved goodbye, but as soon as his brother was out of sight, he leaned heavily on his desk. Gentle, big-hearted Will was always full of surprises, but this one had topped them all. Greg glanced at his desk piled high with papers, and heaved a sigh. And now back to our tedious, mind-numbing program, already in progress.
Moving in slow motion, he settled into his father’s worn leather chair and tried to remember where he’d left off. Increasingly intricate real estate transactions had quadrupled the Healey Land Group’s paperwork over the past year. At times he felt more like a pencil-pushing clerk than president and chief legal counsel. Rewriting mountains of contracts wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he passed the bar exam a decade ago.
His phone bleeped, and he pushed a button with one hand while massaging a pain needling his temple with the other. “Yes, Peg?”
“I need your sign-off on plans for the company Christmas party on the twenty-second, sir.”
He rolled his eyes. Was it his imagination, or had it only been six months since the last agonizing company Christmas party? “Are you within budget?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then go ahead with it.”
“It’s only two weeks away, and you haven’t yet RSVPed, sir.”
Greg sighed. “Will and I both are coming.”
“Shall I put you down for two or four?”
Peg’s polite way of asking if they were bringing dates, although they never had before. “Two, Peg. And I can’t be interrupted right now.” He knew he sounded like a grinch, but he couldn’t help it—as far as he was concerned, Christmas simply heralded the end of another year of being trapped in this corner office. “Hold my calls.”
“Yes, sir.”
He stabbed the disconnect button, then walked to the window that consumed two entire walls of his office. The glass transferred the outside chill to his splayed hand, providing the most pleasurable experience of the prolonged morning. Downtown Lexington, Kentucky was all dressed up for the holidays with giant white plastic garlands and shiny blue bulbs twined around street lamps, the colors a tribute to the university.
Regardless of the season, his eyes were always drawn to the same building—the city courthouse. Indulging in a favorite daydream, he imagined how his life would be different if he’d gone into criminal law, instead of taking over the legal responsibilities for his father’s real estate company when he’d graduated law school. Now, as the sole heir capable of running the business, he had no choice.
Greg reached up to loosen his tie in an attempt to assuage his sudden claustrophobia. Lately he’d had the pressing feeling that he was missing out on something, that life was passing him by. God, he hated the holidays. So damn lonely.
And now Will was wanting to leave him—or so it seemed.
Unable to face the paperwork that loomed large on his desk, Greg grabbed his gym bag and strode out the door. Without much success, he tried to push the singles ad business from his mind during his lunch-hour run, which he extended by a mile. For a reason that now escaped him, he’d never considered the day when his brother might marry and strike out on his own.
When their father had died seven years ago, Greg had sold his plush condo and moved back home, partly so Will could remain in familiar surroundings, partly to put the proceeds from his condo toward the mountain of debt their father had amassed. The bond the brothers had shared when they were children was forged even stronger, and Greg had simply assumed they would always live together, two happy bachelors.
Except, Will obviously wasn’t completely happy. Later, as Greg toweled his neck, he admitted that some small part of him was grateful that his cynicism where women were concerned hadn’t rubbed off on Will. But then again, it hadn’t been an issue for a while; he hadn’t dated anyone seriously since moving back home—the work required to get the family business headed back toward profitability had been enormous.
Oh, he’d had a few dinner dates here and there, but all the women had made their intentions rather clear—marriage. And their interest in his family’s money had been equally apparent. He couldn’t blame a woman for wanting financial security, but even a token interest in him, in his hobbies, in his dreams—was it too much to ask?
Of course, the real kicker was that, thanks to the string of bad investments their father had made before anyone realized his mind was slipping, the Healey brothers weren’t worth nearly as much money as most people believed. He groaned as he stepped under the club shower, regretting more and more the call he’d made on Will’s behalf. They had each other now—a woman would change everything, and not for the better.
When he returned to