Chapter 14

I was flyinghigh after the events of Sunday and such a great weekend. My bolstered mood kept a smile on my face all through the night and into the morning. I couldn’t believe sweet, shy Bodhi had basically asked me out in front of my family. More and more, he seemed to be coming out of his shell, and after our kiss on the ridge, I’d hoped we were progressing toward a date.

Of course, Yaya had to jump the gun. In this case, I was glad she did. My heart warmed at the thought of how fast he’d agreed to a date.

I reminisced as I poured our Monday morning coffees into travel mugs. Now I had to plan a perfect date. Should it be in town, or should we venture out into the city? What would he like? He deserved to be spoiled. With that in mind, I set about planning our date as Bodhi finished getting ready.

After a great weekend, it was hard to get back into work. We had such a busy week ahead that Seb, Lyric, and I were all working on cars. Bodhi had started answering the phone and organizing the office. He was better on the phone than Lyric, or at least, quicker because he didn’t flirt with every customer, something I was thankful for.

We fell into a domestic rhythm, living together and going to work. I hadn’t had a chance to bring up the date yet, so we were in a holding pattern. Did he regret saying yes to a date or feel pressured because of my family and Yaya’s little dig? The last thing I wanted was for him to feel obligated.

Bodhi had made himself at home in the office and was working through our backlog of clients, ordering parts we’d needed, and taking on all the office work that had fallen to the side. He mentioned updating the computer system and downloading a few additional apps that he wanted. He said the apps would help him work better. I was happy to let him have access to anything he needed.

He refused to rest, and after sitting around for those first few days, he insisted he wanted to be useful. I approached him on numerous occasions with the offer to pay him for his time, but he flat-out refused.

After over two weeks of Bodhi taking control of the office, we were on top of everything. The shelves were stocked, and we were running more efficiently than ever. On Thursday while I was doing the annual service on Mama’s old Toyota Corolla, Seb and Lyric approached me.

“Hey, we need to talk about Bodhi,” Lyric said, looking very stoic.

“What’s wrong? Is he okay?” It wasn’t like Lyric to be so serious. I was immediately worried.

“Calm down, dude. He’s fine.” Lyric rolled his eyes.

Seb clapped me on the back as I wiped my grease-stained hand on a rag. “We want to talk to you about bringing him on officially. He’s doing such an amazing job in the office that he deserves to be brought on board, don’t you think?”

“I’ve tried offering to pay him, but he keeps turning me down.”

“We know, but we thought if we write a new hire letter and offer him the role officially, from all of us, he might be more inclined to accept.”

“If you think that could sway him, then I’m on board!” I was so happy someone had a new approach. Bodhi deserved this fresh start and to be paid for all the amazing work he’d done. He’d really helped us out more than he realized. “When do you want to approach him?” I was happy to do it sooner rather than later but didn’t want him to feel ganged up on.

“Give me this morning to write up a letter, and Seb can go over it at lunch. We could ask him after work today. How’s that sound?” Lyric smiled.

Impressed, I raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re being surprisingly serious, not that I’m complaining. What’s up with you?” I loved my brother, but I’d never known Lyric to knuckle down and take on responsibility so quickly—or be so subdued or pensive—ever. Now that I thought about it, he’d been a lot more dedicated to his work and hadn’t once arrived late in the past few weeks.

“Nothing.” He shrugged, which was completely unlike Lyric. “I just like Bodhi, and he’s done a much better job in the office than I ever did.” He smirked, but it didn’t fully reach his eyes.

Seb was studying Lyric, too. “You sure nothing’s wrong?”

“I’m fine, just focusing on work like Atty hounded me to be for years!” Lyric exclaimed, getting agitated. “I’ll go get something written up. I’ll be at Jolt.” With a final scowl, he left Seb and me gaping after him.

“What was that about?” Seb asked.

“I have no idea, but there is definitely something up with him. I’ve never seen him so normal. It’s weird. Maybe we should ask Kay,” I said, thinking out loud. “He’ll know if something’s up. They tell each other everything.”

“Maybe.” Seb sighed. “If he’s still in a funk in a week, it’s something to consider.” Seb clapped me on the back, and then we both got back to work.

The rest of the day passed much the same as always, and by the end, we were all filthy and in need of a shower, but we had one more very important thing to do. Seb had given the thumbs-up to Lyric’s offer letter without any issue, and as Bodhi was closing the office down for the day, we all approached him.

“Hey, Bodhi, can we talk to you for a sec?” Seb asked, standing back because he knew Bodhi didn’t like to be crowded, especially by Seb’s bulky frame.

“Sure,” Bodhi said hesitantly as he came out of the office and saw all of us standing there.

“Let’s grab a seat.” I gestured to the break room table, and we all moved to sit. Lyric and I took a seat on the other side of the table while Seb came to lean against the wall behind us. I gestured for Bodhi to take the seat opposite us.

“It’s okay, it’s nothing bad,” Lyric said with a grin.

Bodhi carefully took a seat and visibly relaxed at Lyric’s words.

“We want to offer you a job,” Seb said.

Lyric handed Bodhi the letter. “You’ve done an amazing job in the office and on the phones. We want you to come on board and become an official Greek Brothers employee.”

Bodhi looked stunned. He sat stock-still, reading over the offer letter. His glance flicked to me.

“This isn’t just coming from me. Seb and Lyric both approached me with how well you’ve been doing. We all want to welcome you to the team, officially.” I tried to reassure him. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort him with the knowledge that he’d done this himself. His work ethic, organizational skills, and great customer service had landed him the role. He wasn’t getting the job because of pity. We wanted him on the team. Hell, we needed him on it.

Bodhi appeared skeptical. “You’re really offering me a job?”

“Yes!” we all said in unison.

Bodhi couldn’t help but laugh at our synchronicity. “I was just doing things to pass the time. Plus, I’m slow with things and have to use workarounds because I have dyslexia. I couldn’t have been that helpful.”

“Dude, seriously!” Lyric exclaimed, not even reacting to Bodhi’s mention of being dyslexic. “You are so much better than I ever was on the phone and that office is so organized, even if you needed to use workarounds. Whatever you’re doing is working. I can’t use the excuse that I can’t find anything anymore. It’s annoying.”

“You really have helped the business more than you know. Those parts you’ve been ordering and organizing are things Atty and I would do on weekends. You’ve given me my weekends back and for that alone I’m thankful!” Seb flashed a wide grin.

Bodhi was now smiling bashfully. A pink flush colored his cheeks. “I would love the job, thank you.”

Grinning from ear to ear, I was so thankful he’d accepted! “We need you to fill in the form with the offer letter, and we can get you on the books tomorrow. Congratulations, Bodhi!”

He sent me such a sweet smile.

“This calls for a celebration!” Lyric ruffled Bohdi’s hair. “Dinner’s on me. Let’s meet at Elpízo in an hour.”

With that, we all left for our respective houses and prepared to celebrate Bodhi’s new job.