‘Hey, kids!’ Mr. Powell says from the open door. After a round of hugs, he told them that records from the kids in the orphanage before they assumed management was missing.
‘I asked them about all those records when we arrived, and they told us about a break-in years earlier. Those idiots trashed the whole place. Do you know what the biggest surprise was? The only thing the looters absconded with were records of all the kids living here. Since most of you guys have grown up and moved on, they never bothered to restore the missing data,’ he said. ‘I think the old caretakers should have fixed the records because there is always a chance that someone might return.
‘Pa, were there any other pictures you could show us from before?’ Max asked hopefully.
‘Nah, but you know what, I was cleaning out a few boxes a few months ago and found a bunch of negatives. You’re welcome to look through them or maybe get a few developed, see if you can get something useful out of ‘em? Let me go get the box,’ he said as he left.
‘Boys, why don’t you help Pa look for that box,’ Ma shooed them away. She needed time alone with Clara.
-=-
Max and Jeremy found the boxes in the dusty storeroom. There were more pictures than they expected, and so many innocent youthful faces looking back at them brought a lump to Max’s throat. ‘These are all the kids that were here since we were kids?’ he asked after clearing his throat, making his voice scratchy. So many abandoned youths, so many unloved kids. He felt their pain.
‘Some of them transferred to that young adult facility Clara had set up for the homeless youth.’ replied Pa. Clara had provided a facility for older teenagers. Ones that were usually turned away from the orphanages, so they could make something of themselves. Studying and learning life skills so they do not go out into the world without being armed with knowledge.
‘You know you guys did good, setting up that place. Some of the teens took up trade skills, then some graduated from the local college, and some of them are working for your company.’
It was easy for Max to convince people to help, because of his natural skill in conversing with people. He convinced several wealthy individuals and their companies to sponsor their non-profit organization and make it thrive. This is why they could sponsor more than one orphanage and set up several young adult facilities.
‘Pa, are there really no records of anybody? I wanted to check mine. Can you see and let me know if you find something?’ Max inquired.
They left without really accomplishing anything, and he felt disheartened. His sister did not get her picture, and he did not find out anything about his past. Who would want to steal records from an orphanage, anyway? It must have been so important that they wanted to hide their tracks? ‘Why do I have the niggling feeling that this had something to do with me?’ Max wondered as he tried to squeeze his brain for information. If he wanted to know more about his past, maybe he should start with his birth. Maybe, he could scour the registry database for kids born around the same time he was born and find out where they are now. That can’t be that hard. He was not at the top of his class when it came to programming, and it’s been years since he got in front of a computer, but he could always manage a simple search command, right? Or he could always hack into these websites that specialize in these databases and these searches.
‘What am I thinking? Maybe it’s better that I don’t know who they are. Why would I want to know who my parents are, anyway? They clearly abandoned me. Why should I go looking for them now?’ Doubts crossed his mind. ‘But what if they got into an accident and they don’t know where I am? What if they died? Maybe I could visit their graves and learn who they are. Get closure, as Clara will get as soon as she talks to her parents.’
‘Is it bad that I feel a little envious that Clara is not an orphan anymore? The bond that kept us together all these years is beginning to crumble. I don’t want to lose her. I hope they don’t want her so we can keep her.’ Before he could think more sordid thoughts, his phone buzzes in his pocket.
‘Took them long enough to start tracking me down. Okay, who is the lucky lady tonight?’ he wonders as he fishes the phone out of his tight jeans. He was getting horny. It’s been months since he’d last seen a naked woman, and it was all because of Celine, but she was not giving him the time of day. So he had to go to extreme measures.
Max hired a novelty gift shop near her office area to deliver a cute item from their shop every day for the past 2 months.
‘So I’ve been receiving your gifts, and it’s been 2 months, I think you should stop it, they’re running out of items to send to me, and they know me by now, they probably think we’re weird.’ the text from Celine reads.
‘Nah, I like getting a picture of my cute gift every day. I don’t know why they included you in the picture, but you look alright.’
‘What? I didn’t need to be in the picture?’
‘Just kidding,’ he answers. ‘I enjoy seeing your reaction and whatever cute number you are wearing for the day.’
‘That’s unfair! You get to see me every day.’
‘I can send you a pic every day, too, if that’s what you want.’
‘NO!’ she answers.
Max had been romancing Celine the past few months, and this was the first time he had the inclination to do this with anybody, maybe because he wanted to tread lightly when it came to Celine because Clara might end up being his sister and he can’t just sleep with her and forget her. That might sever his relationship with Clara faster than he can say his name. Or maybe deep down in his heart, he was feeling something else other than just lust.
‘Okay, I’ll stop if you go out with me.’
‘Fine, one more date. I guess I still owe you from last time. Friday night, 7 pm. I’ll text you the details later.’ It was a text from Celine and it brought a smile to his face. It seems like Celine hasn’t shot down his chances.
Jeremy texts Max that Sebastian is in the building. ‘Give me 15 minutes before you come to my office. And don’t forget to pay up.’ Sebastian Colfer is in their office, and Max knows he came to see Clara and nothing else. The brothers had been betting on the two CEOs ever since the Installation three weeks ago. Max guessed he would be there after the one-month mark. Believing Sebastian would hold out and pretend he was not that interested in his sister. Jeremy said it would be less, claiming the CEO wanted to hurry things along. His sister and Sebastian have been butting heads the whole time, but he could see that the attraction was not one-sided. Clara felt something, otherwise, she wouldn’t have risen to his bait. Typically, she would just walk out and give him the bird*, but she stayed the whole time. An
‘These bozos can help you with that. I have no time right now,’ she said dismissively as she looked at her papers.Sebastian replied, ‘Oh, I had a meeting with someone at the Embarcadero yesterday and thought I’d drop by to see you guys - say hi.’ Max caught the intense look he gave her. ‘There was is no tamping down the intensity with this guy.’‘I remembered you cycled, so I was going to invite you to show me the trail near your area. It looked very scenic. I remember Max saying it circled a lake, and your social media was full of pictures of it. So I wanted to experience it firsthand. Will you give me a tour?’ he asked confidently.Max kept on texting Jeremy regarding their bet.
-=- Clara’s secretary called her brothers to come to her office for lunch as she laid the food on the table, but there was nobody in the office, and she did not know if Clara came back from her bike ride, so she left. Max and Jeremy came in laughing. They were teasing each other and betting on Clara again. They were trying to guess where they would find the two CEOs, and what they would be doing. Yeah, it was a bit mean to bet on their sister, but they had nothing else to do at the moment, and her love life was the hottest news right now. Their plan was to catch them, ‘making out,’ they both said in unison as they barged into her bedroom. When they saw Sebastian with his arms wrapped around Clara, they high-fived. But when the couple never pulled apart, it seemed lik
Every time he closes his eyes, he can see Celine’s teasing smile when they flirted that night. And then that guy Dante showed up the next day. It showed him she was no pushover. He liked that she was feisty and asked him to leave, which meant she had a fire in her, and he wanted to see it burn brighter. He wants to be the person who made her fire shine. ‘I wonder how she is in bed? I hope she’s as equally responsive.’ He was getting a hard-on just thinking about kissing her, having her in between the sheets, under hi--‘Sir, please return your seat and your tray back in its upright position. We are ready to land.’ The flight attendant interrupted Max’s sexy daydream, alerting him to how close he was to seeing the object of his fantasies. He adjusts himself before doing what the attendant instructed. He can’t scare his fellow passengers by sporting a boner.
-=-Celine was nervous. This was their first official date. After that disastrous night at the club. Then followed by the equally unpleasant lunch. Even she wouldn’t want to go out with her. It seemed like trouble followed her wherever she went. And just to prove her point, the zipper of the flowy Sunday dress she was going to wear broke apart, leaving her with no option but to ditch the dress and look through her closet for another one.She tried to pretend not to care about this date. It wasn’t a big deal, just another regular date. That’s what she said to herself, but she knew she wanted it to be special. There was something about Max that drew her to him. Actually, it was their group. The siblings looked like a very fun group to be with. With their ages being close together, she envied that they looked like they were each other's bes
Now she understood why the hostess bothered her. It was because Max was smiling at them as they walked toward him. Celine hoped his smile was only for her, and it seemed the hostess felt the same way. ‘Is she seriously competing with me?’She stared Max straight in the eye, testing to see if he was going to break contact and look at the blonde bombshell coming toward him, but he never strayed. He had passed her test. It seemed that he only had eyes for her. ‘For now.’ her evil conscience taunted her. ‘He’s only looking at you because of what you’re wearing.’She was wearing a simple dark blue A-line dress with butterfly sleeves and a deep V neckline that led down to gold buttons on the front of her dress and stopped at her knees. It would look simple if someone else wore it, but on Celine, Max thought she looked s
After dinner, Max invited her to walk around the outdoor shopping area that surrounded the ‘V.’ There were little gift shops, cafes, ice creams parlors, and restaurants that littered the area to entice people to relax and go shopping.The food they ate didn’t really satisfy their hunger, so they stopped at a cafe to have some cake and coffee for him, a milkshake for her. The atmosphere at the cafe was more relaxed, probably due to the fact that it was a more open environment, and there was less expectation to act more sophisticated and classy because the cafe was more casual. Which lightened the mood a bit until Max started running his hand up and down her arm while they were talking about mundane stuff.She was so aware of how his thumb was lazily caressing her arm, giving her goosebumps, and the nerve endings from her arm were just igniting
Celine kept refusing her friends, but they kept begging and dragging her to the bar so they could ask her about her date. They knew he wasn’t from the area, or they would have heard about him already. Most of the time she could stand mingling with the women who talk about nothing but fashion and the latest shopping sprees, but these women that spotted her were the ones she called “the vultures.” They were prey animals that loved criticizing and making fun of people who were not up to their level, and right now, Max was on their radar.These women always knew what was happening in town and would disseminate news as fast as their fingers could type on their phones. Celine would have gladly not have associated with them. But she learned that it was always better to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.She tried not to be a