A Love Like This. Kianna Alexander

and chewed. The desktop was full of paperwork, detailing the long list of repairs waiting to be made at several of Monroe’s properties. She sighed as she swallowed the small pieces of candy. She was the office manager, and that entailed a lot of things. What it didn’t entail was property management—that was Campbell’s job.

      Scooting her chair back, she stood and walked around her desk. Leaving her office, she walked down the corridor to Savion’s office. The door was open, and a quick peek let her see her brother poring over something on his desk. She tapped on the glass panel next to the door to get his attention.

      Glancing up, he waved her in. “What’s up, Hadley?”

      She entered the office and took a seat in one of his guest chairs. The office, which had been occupied by their father, Carver, before his retirement, still looked much the same as it had ten years ago. Savion had held on to most of their father’s books and decor, as well as the navy blue carpet and soft-textured blue wallpaper.

      Aware of her eldest brother’s obsession with detail, she waited silently for a few moments while he finished reading whatever currently had his attention.

      He looked up again, closing his magazine and making eye contact with her. “What do you need, sis?”

      Seeing that his body language invited conversation, she sat back in her chair. “I’ve got a pile of repair request forms on my desk. Again.”

      “That’s Campbell’s responsibility, not yours.”

      She pursed her lips. “I know that, Savion. What I want to know is who keeps dropping the forms on my desk instead of handing them over to Cam.”

      Savion’s exaggerated shrug said all. “Must be somebody on staff. Maybe Belinda? Even though she doesn’t work for us, she’s in and out of here all the time.”

      She shook her head. “Belinda knows better.”

      “I don’t know. Maybe it’s one of her people. Either way, it’s Campbell’s job to handle that stuff, so just pass the stack to him.” He reached up, stifling a yawn with his hand.

      She rolled her eyes. Whoever was leaving her brother’s work on her desk would catch pure hell from her if she ever caught them. Pushing that aside for now, she spoke again. “Listen. While I’m in here, what’s going on with the shoot for the new TV commercial?”

      He opened the cover of the black leather-bound planner he kept with him at all times, dropping it on his desk. His eyes were on the pages as he answered her question. “We’re supposed to shoot next Wednesday and into Thursday, if necessary. We hope to get it on the air right after the New Year.”

      “Does it have a script? Are we doing voice-over? Who’s going to be in it?”

      He looked up, his brow knitting as if he were confused. “Yes, yes and I’m going to be in it. Why are you asking all these questions about the commercial, anyway?”

      She shifted in her seat, pushing away her discomfort with his scrutiny. “I have some ideas for the commercial. You know, to punch it up a bit.”

      Now he looked annoyed. “What’s wrong with the commercials we’ve been making, Hadley?”

      She cleared her throat. “Nothing, per se. I just think it’s time to try a new direction.”

      “I don’t know why you’d say that. Monroe Holdings isn’t lacking for business, despite competition from Rent-A-Retreat and Homeshare Plus, so the commercials must be working.”

      “Sure they are. I’m not saying they aren’t effective.” She did her best to temper her response, knowing how much her brother enjoyed being the face of MHI, and how much he hated being contradicted. She was sure the commercials worked, to a degree, and especially with the female audience. Savion, just like Campbell and their father, was a handsome man, and possessed enough charisma to sell sand at the beach. Still, she thought a change of pace would be nice. “I just think it would be good to film an updated concept, something new to add to the rotation of ads.”

      He wore his skepticism like a mask. “Hadley, why rock the boat? People know me as the spokesman for MHI. It’s comforting, familiar. And isn’t that what we’re all about? Providing clients with comfort?”

      She sighed. This conversation isn’t going anywhere. Once again, her brother had dismissed her idea before she’d even had a chance to properly express it. “Never mind, Savion.” She rose from the seat, vowing not to waste any more of her time on the matter—at least not today. “I’m going to go deliver the forms to their rightful owner.”

      Savion nodded, then returned his attention to his planner.

      On the heels of his nonverbal dismissal, Hadley left the office, seeking out her other brother. Before she could make it to the end of the hall, Campbell dashed out of his office and jogged past her.

      Spinning around, she called after him. “Cam. You have to get this stack of repair requests—”

      “Not now, Hadley. I’ve got a meeting.” He kept walking, his long strides taking him out of the corridor and into the main lobby.

      She followed him, half tempted to shake her fist. “A meeting or a date?”

      He glanced back at her long enough to shoot her a crooked grin. “Don’t hate, sis.”

      She rolled her eyes. “Cam. It’s the middle of the day. You have to do some actual work around here.”

      “I’ll get to it later,” he called back as he slipped out through the glass doors, letting them swing shut behind him.

      Standing in the lobby alone, Hadley propped her fists on her hips, feeling her face crunch into a frown. Her work at MHI had begun to seem like a combination of babysitting and playing secretary, neither of which she’d signed up to do. Her brothers had always been expected to remain in Sapphire Shores and continue the Monroe legacy of controlling most of the rental property on the island. As the baby of the family, and the only girl, she hadn’t had those expectations placed on her. Still, she loved her hometown, and loved her family more. When she’d turned down an executive position out of state to work for the family business as office manager, she hadn’t considered it a sacrifice. But as time went by, and she put in more and more work only to be dismissed and undervalued by her brothers, she wondered if she’d made the right choice.

      With a shake of her head, she returned to her office. The small digital clock on the desk told her it was almost noon, and as she plopped down in her chair, she contemplated what she’d do for lunch. Leaving the office sounded fabulous, so she decided she’d walk a few blocks down to the nearby shopping center to grab something. The walk would likely do her good by helping to clear her mind and giving her time to let her irritation with her brothers dissipate.

      She eyed the stack of repair requests still sitting on her desk. Eight of their rental units needed some repair or other, and four of those were currently occupied. As was standard, those units with people staying in them would take priority over vacant ones. She thought about Campbell, and with no idea of where he’d gone or when he’d be back, she picked up the phone to call the plumbers and technicians needed for the occupied units.

      Erring on the side of caution helped her cope with situations like this, and as she waited for the plumber to answer her call, she vowed to give Campbell a smack upside his head the next time she saw him.

      * * *

      Devon thumbed through the pages of Reader’s Digest as he sat in the waiting room of Stinger Urgent Care. He’d only been in town for forty-eight hours, and already the pain from his herniated disk had become worrisome enough to bring him here. This was the last place he’d wanted to spend the first Friday of his winter vacation, but there hadn’t been any way to avoid it.

      Trying to take his focus off the pain in his back, he half read an article in the magazine. While he read, he shifted his hips in the seat, a vain attempt at getting comfortable. But with the searing pain radiating through his low back, achieving comfort was an impossibility.