My Own Destiny

The Grangers

Seth

I woke with a start. Grabbing my phone, to turn my alarm off, and realizing it had been going off for several minutes.

I had been dreaming and suddenly there was this annoying sound which turned out to be the alarm on my phone. It didn’t wake me right away.

I got up and showered as quickly as possible and got ready for work.

I worked in my family business with my two brothers, Travis, Peter and my sister Marissa. Travis is the eldest, 35, then Peter 31. For a few years, Marissa was the baby of the family who is 29 , then I came along, a happy accident is what they always called me.

I am 24. My father owns his own business ‘Granger’s Heating and Air Conditioning’ and has recently turned it over to Travis.

My father still manages the books for the most part and gets some of our bigger contracts, but Travis is in charge of the day to day.

Today we are still working in an old factory they have turned into an upscale apartment building. We are handling all of the heating and air conditioning.

We have been working on adding the central air and are finally getting close to the end of the project.

After getting dressed, I checked the time and sighed, there was no way I had time to stop for coffee. Not like they would fire me for being late, but I tried never to be late. I quickly texted Marissa.

‘Good morning my beautiful sister.’

‘What do you want?’ She typed back.

‘Why do I have to want something, just because I’m testing you?’

‘it’s 6:30 in the morning and I’m headed into work….’ She said, like that explained all.

‘I’m running a little late, are you stopping for coffee?’ I added the little emoji with the puppy dog sad eyes.

‘You just caught me, I’m next in line.’

‘You are the best older sister ever!’

“Yeah, I’m your only sister.’

‘You’re still the best.’

‘Need anything else? Muffin, bagel?’

‘Just coffee. Thank you, thank you thank you!!’

My sister had hated not being the baby of the family. For the first several years of her life, she picked on me and made life hell every chance she got, until she hit about twelve, then she wanted to be treated as a teenager and loved to point out she wasn’t the baby of the family and for my parents to stop treating her like a child.

We have always been a close family.

Before I left, I stood watching my beautiful house guest sleeping on the couch. She looked so peaceful.

She was lying on her side, with her hands under her chin clutching the blankets tight. She had the most peaceful look on her delicate face.

Her hair was tousled from sleep which only made her look all the more beautiful.

After watching her for a bit, I started to feel like a creep, just standing and watching her.

I quickly left a note explaining I had to go to work, but would try and stop by around lunchtime. I left her my number and wish I had thought to get her number last night.

I drove as quickly as possible, it was a twenty-minute drive, but I used up some time watching her sleep. I should be there right around 7. Usually, I arrive early.

Travis was always there first, then I would get there. Peter and Marrisa usually stroll in at 7 or shortly after.

As I drove up, I could see everyone was here already, even a couple of the other employees we had working at the site with us.

My dash clock read 7:01 am. I stretched and let out a yawn, this was going to be a long day.

Rushing towards the entrance, I took a deep breath, then opened the door to the building we had been working in. I hesitated, which was all they needed. I was not expecting to see my two brothers and sister standing waiting for me just inside the entrance.

Travis, who was a few inches taller than my 5’8 had slightly darker brown hair than I did but wore it super short.

His eyes were a darker brown as well.

The next eldest in my family was Peter. He was shorter than I am probably only by an inch, it was barely noticeable, but I made sure to point it out every chance I had.

Peter had light brown hair a tad lighter than mine with a soft wave most women would be jealous of.

Then there was my sweet sassy sister Marissa. She was a few inches shorter with rich dark hair that fell below her shoulders when she wore it down, which was rare.

They stood in various poses watching me, Marissa with her arms crossed raising an eyebrow, Peter with his arms also crossed but a big grin on his face and Travis just standing with a scowl.

“Your late.” Travis grumbled out.

“What?” I looked at my watch, “Two minutes!” I countered, looking back up at him.

“Still late.” He said while turning and giving me his back.

I glanced at Marissa who was giving me a questioning look.

“Tony said you left around eleven last night, so, that’s not why,” Peter said.

I quickly looked back at Travis and saw his shoulders stiffen as he stood still.

“I only met the guys for a couple beers.” I added too quickly, knowing Travis didn’t like us drinking when we were working the next day.

“Come on,” I added, “I was only a couple minutes late, I’m never late.” I glanced at my sister and Peter, ready to throw them under the bus, “Those two are always late and you don’t give them a hard time and Peter is practically an alcoholic.”

Okay, that last was not true, Peter plays softball and often went out for a few beers with the guys after games, and practice and to celebrate the nights they had no games or practice.

Too many of them were still single and didn’t have serious jobs.

“Hey!” Peter yelled and I felt something hard hit the side of my shoulder, making me glare at him.

“Get to work.” Travis grumbled as he walked to the large table with the floor plans of the building.

“You still want your coffee?” Marissa asked in a teasing voice.

“Oh yes please.” I gave her the biggest smile as I walked her way.

“I didn’t sleep well last night.” I said as I took the hot foam cup from her hands.

I took a deep breath, letting the smell of the coffee fill my nostrils.

“Oh s**t, don’t tell me, Amber calling again?”

My euphoric moment was interrupted by hearing Amber’s name.

“No, haven’t heard from her in over a year.” I opened the lid and took a long sip as I moved closer to Travis to check on what still needed to be done.

“I’ll go to the second floor and finish up.” I started walking away, then paused, “Oh ahh, I am going to run out at lunch time.”

I continued down my path towards the stairs.

“Waaaait a minute. You always have lunch with us.” Marissa said, again sounding suspicious.

As I turned to head up the stairs, Peter jogged towards me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“Whatcha got goin’ on little bro?”

I let out a sigh, “Just need to stop home for lunch.”

He removed his arm from my shoulder, “Okay, I don’t mind going along for the ride.”

I was happy my face was not fully facing them as I knew they would be able to tell something was up.

C**p, I couldn’t think of what to tell them, they knew me well enough to know if I was lying to them or trying to hide something.

I turned to face them. “I have a friend staying with me at my condo.” I said quickly and clearly.

I could tell I caught them off guard with my straightforwardness, so I took advantage of their stunned silence and turned and headed to the second floor to work on the venting in the far corner of the building, where I would be far from the others and alone.

I had only been working in my far corner for several minutes when Marrisa came up behind me.

“I’m going to help you finish this section up before lunch.” Marissa said softly, making me wince when she mentioned lunch. I knew what was coming.

We worked for several minutes in silence, just hearing the clank of our tools and sheet metal as we worked on the last section of the venting in this area.

Then, I knew it was coming before her words even left her mouth. I could hear her stillness, like she was thinking, then she took in a deep breath, and I knew what her next words would be.

“Is it Claire?”

I felt my blood boiling, I had to think hard about laying the tools in my hand down gently when what I really wanted was to chuck them across the long hallway.

I spun around and saw the shocked look on her face.

“It is NOT Claire or Amber or any ex-girlfriend.” I said through gritted teeth.

I could see Marissa’s pale brown eyes wide, watching me. I did not often lose my temper.

“But it is a woman?” She asked softly.

I turned back towards what I had been working on.

“Yes, I have a woman that stayed the night at my place.”

I heard her make a small noise, like she wanted to say something but was maybe looking for the right words.

I decided to put her out of her misery, “This is different.” I said, letting my anger and frustration be heard in my voice.

“Oh Seth, how is this different? I know you are not dating anyone and there is no one I can think of that we already know that you would bring home with you. That means this is a stranger you brought home. Just like….”

I spun around again, which stopped her in mid-sentence. Yes, I have a history of making bad decisions with women.

Amber had lived with me for several months for free. I took care of all her needs, or at least I thought I did, but it seems she needed more than I could give her.

I came home early one day after I sliced my finger open. I went to the walk in for stitches, then went home and found another man with her in my bed.

Then Claire, she didn’t cheat on me. At least not that I know of, but she stayed with me for several weeks, then one day I came home late from work and found everything that held any monetary value missing.

We had argued the night before that I was suffocating her by being around too much. So yeah, my track record with women was a freaking nightmare, but this was different. Aurora was different.

I sighed; I hated arguing with Marissa like this. “This is different, I was about to leave the pub last night, they wouldn’t let her in because she is twenty. She was looking for some place open serving food. It was late, I saw her walking in the parking lot on the way to my car. I suggested the Mavis’ Diner. We started talking and I realized she was walking so I offered to drive her.

I ended up getting something to eat with her. We were up late talking, she is traveling from up north and was going to go get a hotel room so I offered to let her stay in my guest room.”

“And you left this stranger alone, at your place?”

I could hear it in her voice, she already did not approve.

“I did, Aurora is not like the other girls.” I knew I would probably regret it but I figured, since Peter already planned to tag along with me at lunch time, I might as well invite Marissa along too.

I figured once she met Aurora she would see, she is nothing like the other girls I had brought home.

“Come with me at lunch time, meet her.”

Marissa narrowed her eyes, “Really?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Sure, if Peter plans on coming I’ll need all the help I can get.”

That at least softened the mood, getting us both to smile.

“Okay, I’ll go with you guys at lunchtime.”

The rest of the morning dragged on until it was late enough to call it lunchtime.