Remembering Us

"Shut Up and Kiss Me"

Hey! Little change!!
Calebs dad was VP but I'm changing that. He's just a regular employee. Sorry!

"I'm sorry for punching you." Ryder says calmly and I can't help but mentally pat myself on the back.

He's a good boy, apologizing is admitting you did something wrong and Ryder is willing to do that.

I smile at him as he sits at my desk, my chair close to swallowing him. I can see, ten years from now, him still in that chair, leading.

"Mr. Carp," he addresses Caleb's dad, who's actually a decent employee. "My dad and I have been reviewing your work and we've discussed how well you're doing."

"Oh." My employee asks, his nervous frown turning to a smile.

This causes me to frown. Ryder, this isn't how we fire people.

"Which is why we're putting the San Antonio office in your charge." All eyes widen. This is not what was discussed.

Flabbergasted, my employee looks to me and all I can do is nod. "Well work out the paperwork tomorrow." Carp has a strong work ethic, and honestly, he is someone I would appoint as a manager but I am confused with Ryder's tactic. This is why you don't let pre-teen boys run companies.

"I can't thank you enough Mr. James!" He grins, holding out his hand. "My wife will be thrilled, San Antonio is where she grew up you know!" He vigorously shakes me hand for a solid minute before letting go. His son is glaring daggers at mine who is smirking.

"Yes, well, it was Ryder's idea." Out of instinct my hand moves to rest on my son's shoulder. "I'm trying to start training him early."

"I look forward to working for you, Little James." Carp hold his hand out and Ryder takes it firmly. "Come on Caleb, lets go tell your mom!"

Silently the little brat follows his father out of my office and when the door closes I turn to my smirking son.

"You wanna explain what just happened?" I ask, raising my eyebrows when Ryder starts laughing.

"His grandpa," He starts before cackling so hard he's unable to finish. I peek at Amelia who looks both amused and concerned. "His grandpa made his parents promise to put him in military school if they ever moved back to San Antonio." He bursts out laughing, a tear streaking down his face. "Military school!" Once he calms down he smirks as he looks at me. "Plus, now he can't ask Emily Hall to the fire and ice dance."

A bark of laughter leaves my throat and even Amelia struggles to hide her smile.

Seeing her, standing by the large wall of windows and laughing, it causes memories to surface.

"Come in." I address the knock on the door.

"Hey," Amelia pokes her head into my office and I close the file I was looking at. "I brought lunch." She walks in carrying a box of pizza from the pizzeria up the road.

The pink sundress flows loosely around her as she walks into the room, stopping a few feet away from my desk.

"You didn't have to." I say, standing, thanking my lucky stars she did. We haven't talked much since her date with Kai and I've been going crazy. "But thank you!" I say quickly before she feels the need to leave.

"Yeah." She smiles at me, setting the box on my desk. "I know you've been busy and I didn't have anything to do today so I thought we could do lunch together."

"I appreciate that." I stand and move around the desk. "I've actually been hungry for the past few hours but haven't been able to pull myself away."