18. Enough For You

The grill was lit, the carrots in water boiling. The potatoes were washed and he'd just gotten done stabbing them and popped them in the microwave.

"Do you have a bowl for me to put the salad in?" Sage asked him.

He'd pulled the salad bag out of the fridge with a tomato and cucumber that he had.

Sage had moved past him and found some shredded cheese too and he figured that was going on the salad.

He got a bowl and handed it over; she prepared that while he picked up the plate with the steaks on it.

The minute she said she wanted to try out how sturdy his bed was, he all but ran down the stairs and lit the fire pit and then the grill.

She laughed at him, but he didn't care.

Knox went outside and put the steaks on the grill and looked at the time on his watch. He had this down to almost a science. Five minutes on each side would do it, but since it was a bit cooler out and the temperature would drop in the grill, he'd give it six minutes on each side.

When he came back into the kitchen, Sage had found his plates and put them on the island and set it up where they'd sit.

He had two stools there. One more than he normally needed. He would have sat at the table if she wanted, but he never did.

"You're making more than I thought you would," she said.

"It's not a lot of work. Simple enough."

His father had cooked like this for him. They almost always had grilled meat and something boiled or put in the microwave as a side.

Nothing gourmet and perfectly fine for him.

He didn't think anyone looking at him would think there was a gourmet or fancy bone in his body.

Yet he looked at his girlfriend and knew that she was the opposite.

"Is it enough?" he asked.

"What?" she asked, looking up from the tomato she was cutting. "It's more than enough food."

"I meant enough for you. I look at you at times and then think of us and realize we are nothing alike."

"Don't go there either," she said. "I might have spent years in the fashion industry and have a friend in a high place, but that doesn't mean I'm like anything you see on TV or hear about. I obviously didn't fit in enough since I felt driven out."

She'd never used those words before. "What do you mean?"

She let out a sigh. "That isn't what I meant."

"But it's what you said. What happened?"

"I told you. It's a cutthroat business. Kate got me the internship. I'm grateful for that. We talked this week when I asked her about wearing some Holly Bloom Foundation items."

She'd told him all about that and how excited she'd been that Kate already wore one of the pieces, made sure it was visible on one of her social media sites and had been asked where it was from. Blossoms had been named and tagged and Sage said sales went nuts that day and were continuing. Kate would do it throughout the next two months with all the items she'd gotten.

He wasn't so sure why Sage was afraid to ask someone who was like a sister to her to wear a few products that were free.

Though, considering he didn't ever want to ask anyone for help, he supposed he understood that.

"What did she say about the internship?" he asked.

"That most people got an internship in the fashion industry by who they knew not what they knew. She made a good point. And I didn't care so much about that. But I felt I got my job because of her and she said it had nothing to do with her."

"Did you like your job?" he asked.

"My first job, I did. I was learning and knew there was a lot of grunt work I'd have to do. But it never ended. I'd gotten two title changes, but they were only title and money, not really responsibility. I didn't feel like they were giving me the work I could do."

"Why is that?" he asked.

"Some people micromanage. And other people are afraid to train someone else and worry their job would be stolen out from under them."

"I'm glad I don't deal with that bull crap. Though my first job was with a union and I just didn't care for that mentality. It works for some and not others."

"What about it bothered you?"

"I just wanted to work. The unions like having power so they tell you how much work to do in a day. If we got a job done two hours early, I wanted to move on to the next one or do something else. They'd say no, we'd met our obligation, just kill two hours."

It drove him nuts to do that and sit around shooting the shit. He'd rather learn and stay busy.

When he'd ask if he could work, they rode his ass about being a suck-up or making waves.

He'd learned you didn't cross the union and had enough.

"I've heard of those things before," she said. "Not sure I'd like that either, but there are plenty of people who don't mind it. Gives them a light day or something."

"Something like that," he said. "When I was looking to leave I had to figure out what to do. It was my father who suggested I start my own business."

"I'm glad he supported and encouraged you," she said.

He had to weigh his words. "He helped me. I decided this would be a good area and I had a place to live and not worry about those costs. I had money put away and started my business. That first year things were tight, but I wasn't starving. Slowly my name got out there and the next thing I know I'm hiring a few people to keep up on the jobs."

"Do you want to continue to expand?" she asked.

"I haven't decided. I don't want my whole life to be about my job or work. I saw what my father was like."

It was a complaint his mother had that was the truth. His father worked a lot. If he wasn't teaching a class at Yale, he was leading groups or tutoring students. He was giving guest lectures. He was writing articles for journals. You name it, he was doing it.

"Did he just love what he did?" she asked.

"That was it more than anything. I think he loved it more than he loved my mother."

"Or he knew what your mother was doing and was trying to fill a gap with his career and you just got lost in their drama?"

Knox had never thought of it that way. Looking back, his father did start to work more when there were rumors his mother was finding someone else to spend time with. Then when his mother left, that was when his father really dove into more of his career at Yale.

He'd just thought it was required of his father there. Maybe it was.

It didn't matter much at this point.

"Who knows?" he said. "And I need to flip the steaks."

"I'll check the potatoes and we'll get back to this."

He walked out to the patio, opened the top of the grill, flipped the steaks over and came back when Sage was starting the microwave again.

"Just another six minutes," he said.

"The potatoes will be less than that. I wanted to say that if it bothers you to talk about your father, you don't have to, but sometimes I think maybe you need to."

His head went back and forth. "I think you're right and that I need to. I've never had anyone I felt I could."

"You've not dated anyone and talked about your father?" she asked.

"I have dated but didn't get to be serious with any of them."

No need to say that the first two relationships he'd had after his father died had found out about his wealth. Things changed after that. From that. He didn't feel as if he could trust anyone enough to open up and that meant about his father.

But since Sage knew some of his past, it seemed easier at times.

Or the two of them just connected on a level he never had with another woman.

"It's hard," she said. "I understand. I'm not one to open up much either."

"And we were talking about you and your job. So let's get back to that."

One side of her face scrunched up and he assumed she'd hoped he'd forget about what they were talking about, but he didn't. He wanted to get the topic off of him and his father.

"If you must. So I felt like I got my job because of Kate even though she was saying no. Then after years of not much movement in what I was actually doing, I got this long-awaited promotion. But once I got it, all good things must come to an end because there was more talk that I didn't deserve it. That I was in over my head. I'd made one silly little mistake that was nothing. I mean nothing. But someone blew it up and everything started again. It never ended. I felt they were pushing me out or I just couldn't handle it. Then Violet told me about this job and I ran away."

"It's not running away if it"s what you need," he said. "I'm going to say it to you now. Don't do that to yourself."

She laughed. "You're right. I shouldn't. But then I'm here and I'm wondering if I'm only here because of Violet. It's almost like my whole career is who gets me a job."

"Do you think Violet got you the job? I have no idea, but you said she manages the flower shop. Not to take anything away from that, but you also said she started out part time. It doesn't feel to me as if she carries that much weight for a position that has little to do with her job."

Sage had given some background on Violet and Trace's relationship and that included why Trace was here for Kate and what came about it. Also Violet's parents had changed her name to protect her identity when she was a child and that she had a lot of wealth in her background but no more than a high school education.

"I know that," she said. "And Violet had said that. Lily even told me too. Lily is great like that. It's like she knows what we all need to help us without us saying. I started to think that I got here on my own. I'm doing a great job and I'm going to prove it to them."

"And then you asked Kate this week about the products and you're seeing the results and doubting yourself?"

"A little," she said.

"Hold that thought," he said. "I need to get the steaks." The microwave had already gone off.

"I'll get everything else together," she said.

He left to get the steaks from the grill, shut it off and then came back to see all the food on the island.

"We make a great team," he said.

"We do," she said. "This is nice."

"I'm going to say one more thing about your job and then we'll eat fast and put work behind us as we test out my bed. I need to know if I've got to get a new one or not. I can have it here tomorrow if that is the case."

She laughed at him. "I'm sure your bed is just fine."

The two of them sat and started to fill their plates. "Here is my thought. Your connection to Kate is what is helping with the Foundation sales right now. Without you in this position, they wouldn't get that boost. Trace wouldn't have asked for it for his wife. It'd make no sense for him to do it."

"That's true," she said.

"So don't think of it as someone got you here, but rather you are using your resources to give your new employers exactly what they hoped for when they hired you. Networking is part of all jobs. It's part of mine just as much as yours, just in a different industry."

"You're pretty smart," she said.

"I can be. So stop doubting yourself. Those three women wouldn't have gotten where they are today if they gave jobs away for the heck of it. Or based on their flower name."

Sage laughed. "I'd been told that before too. You've made me feel so much better."

"Great, now we eat and then you can make me feel better too."