Perfect Storm

35- Ian

It took a couple of days for me to get sober, and now that I am, I'll be on a mission today to fix the mess that Alexandra created, a mess I fell for, and then do everything in my power to work on getting the love of my life back.

Hannah isn't too happy with me, and I don't blame her. I'm not too pleased with myself either. I should have known my actions would create the mess I'm in. I knew it was wrong to do it, but I did it anyway. Now, after dealing with Hannah yelling at me these last couple of days, bringing up my past, Tawny's past, and Tawny's present, I've realized that I could've handled the issues at the club much differently.

Hannah may be my baby sister and hasn't been around as long as I have, but if I were, to be honest, she's much more intelligent than me in areas where I thought I was smarter than her, so I give her credit for helping me open my eyes more than I thought they were. So I owe her a lot, especially since she took the rest of the week off from the resort to help clean my house after the tornado—me—had ripped through, destroying the kitchen and my living room.

She also left my poor mother in charge of everything at the resort. My mother running the resort makes me nervous, but I know my mother can handle it herself. The biggest problem I have is as lovely as she is, I worry guests will take advantage of her laid-back ways. Hopefully, Jason does as I asked and will step in and help if needed.

Now, I'm on that mission to take care of business.

My first stop is to see Isaac and Andrew after my drunken ass missed the Monday morning meeting. Well, it was because of me; Tawny missed it. But since I was the idiot who fucked up that morning, it's me who needs to fix it. And I will not allow Tawny to lose out on another golden opportunity because of me.

She doesn't deserve that.

Not at all.

I proudly carried Tawny's paintings under the pit of my arm, securing them from getting wrecked as I walked into the building. After entering the conference room, I placed each picture on the easels provided. Then I sat in a chair, waiting for the two men to arrive.

The door opened, and in came the two brothers. "You look like shit," Andrew said as he sat across from me.

I rubbed my chin. I haven't shaven since Saturday, and after my shower, I never combed my hair, as I was in too much of a hurry to get things done. "I'm going for a new look," I groaned. I didn't care how I looked at the moment. All I wanted to do was get Tawny's paintings to where they needed to be. Here, for Isaac and Andrew's eyes to see her beautiful work, with hopes they're sold on them so that Tawny will have more money in her bank account.

"Where's Tawny?" Isaac asked, looking towards the door after he looked around the room.

"She's not here, nor will she be coming. But I did bring her paintings," I enlightened, my arm extending towards the easels. "Those are the paintings she wanted you to see."

Both Isaac and Andrew looked at the paintings; they made notes, then Isaac curiously asked, "Who's that little girl between the man and woman, smiling while they swing her into the air?"

I looked at the painting and adjusted my tie, trying hard not to choke up. It was a beautiful painting of the three of them, all with smiles, along with beautiful landscaping in the background—a mixture of fall-colored trees, a lake, a boat tied to a dock, and a string of fish in her father's other hand. Looking, they had just come back from a day of fishing. "That would be Tawny. The woman on her right is her mother, and her father on the left."

Andrew took notes, then looked up and said, "We will need release forms signed by her mother and father before it can go into production."

I nodded. "Okay, we can get that for you. But, unfortunately, except for Tawny's mother's signature," I added, "she passed away a couple of years ago. Will that be a problem?"