Love in Darkness (Castles on the Sand 2)

Twenty-Six

“Excuse me?” says Aunt Ellie.

We’re in the conference room of the Wilkstone Foundation office, me, my aunt, and my cousins, and they all stare at me as if I’m psychotic. Dylan’s in a suit with his collar and tie loosened. His hazel eyes search my face as if I’m a puzzle he doesn’t know how to solve.

Lisa’s in casual clothes, but has the air of an executive, frowning at me as if I’m a stain on the company reputation that she’s going to have to really scrub to get out.

I’m in khakis and a French blue shirt, Kailie’s instructions. “I want to be director of the Foundation,” I repeat.

“Are you on your medication?” says Dylan.

“Yeah…” I say, “thanks for the support. Really.”

“Alex,” snaps my aunt.

“Hey, I’m the one who lives here, all right? I’m the one who knows people, and I’ll bet I’m the only one who’s read this thing from cover to cover.” I pat my grandfather’s binder.

“There’s a lot of pretty advanced legalese in there,” says Aunt Ellie.

“Yeah, but your letter saying it’s all a waste of time doesn’t have much technical jargon in it.”

“Be serious.”

I practiced for this moment. I look her straight in the eye and lift an eyebrow, just like my father did. I’m still not sure if his visitation was real, what with the fact that I’ve got a psychotic disorder and all, but if he was a figment of my imagination, my imagination was pretty darn accurate in this respect.

All the color drains from Aunt Ellie’s face.

“I’m a Wilkstone,” I say. “I’m a direct descendant, and I know this town. This is my home. I’ve served these people. I know their needs.”

“You know their cop and their jail,” she shoots back.

“Justin’s a good guy. We’re friends. And yeah, all the dumb stuff I did in high school, not that different from his adolescence.”

“This new business in town,” says Dylan. “The disabled care company-”

“Kirsten and Kailie. Yeah, I’ve helped them a little with that. They’ve offered me a job as a care provider.”

“And the Madison Lukas factor?” says Aunt Ellie.

“Ye-ah… about her…” I chew my lip, enjoying this. “See, the thing about Madison Lukas is that she’s kind of my girlfriend.” I shrug. “She has been since high school, so I think I’ve got a pretty good understanding of that whole situation, her business and all that.”

“Wait, what?” says Aunt Ellie.

“She drove me home from the hospital. She’s been my support person in my family therapy sessions. It’s not like it’s a big secret.” Now, I know, is not the time to bring up my plan to give her my grandmother’s diamond ring. To the LDS community, Madison and I are two returned missionaries who’ve been in a long term, stable relationship. Lot’s of people in our situation get married. Dr. Maliki’s worked with the two of us together and agrees that we’re ready for commitment. To the rest of the world, though, we’re a couple of crazy, clueless kids.

So I change the subject and pat the binder. “I’ve been reading up on real estate development, how to solicit bids, stuff like that. We’re going to have to increase the number of low income housing units given how things are going here in town.”

Dylan and Lisa exchange a look.

“Alex,” says Lisa, “you are on your medication, right?”