Double Lines
Chapter 16. Moving On

POV – Ethan/ Lincoln

I never saw Mikaela after I opened the door for her at the Campus Administration Building. And because I only had her first name to go on and didn’t know how it was spelt, the only thing I had to go on was where she was from, Batemans Bay. I couldn’t even go through the university records to try and replace her. Not to mention it would have been a breach of my job.

When I graduated at the end of that year, my uncle offered me a position in his head office in Brunswick. But instead, I chose to work at the Pinnacle offices in Lewisham, the biggest city closest to Bateman’s Bay. I know why I decided to work here; I wanted to live near where I thought Mikaela would be. But after four years and a hectic career, I was no closer to seeing her than if I had moved to Brunswick.

I know I should move on, forget her, and I’ve tried. But she still invades my thoughts. Not daily as it did after I slept with her, but still, often. Declan laughs at me and calls me a lovesick loser, but Adele, his girlfriend, thinks it’s sweet.

I’ve tried dating, but it never eventuates to anything. Declan has tried to set me up with women, and Adele has introduced me to her friends. Even David, my uncle, has suggested a girl he knows—his girlfriend’s niece. But I’ve constantly shaken my head and told them I wasn’t interested.

I step out of the shower and wrap a towel around my waist. I’m moving back to Brunswick in a week. My uncle, who raised me since my parents passed away when I was ten, is there, and it is also where Declan lives. I moved to Lewisham when we both graduated, and Declan returned home. We still caught up, but after four years, I think I’ve been away from home far too long.

I dress and walk out of my room when the doorbell to my apartment rings.

“Linc!” Declan greets. I smile and give him a hug hello. Even though Dec moved to Brunswick, we catch up every time he has business in Lewisham.

“Lincoln,” Declan’s girlfriend, Adele, greets. I hug her as well and kiss her cheek. I like to tease Adele and tell her she doesn’t work, as she owns her own handbag business and operates from home, so when Declan comes to visit me, she comes too.

“How have you both been?” I ask as I stand aside to let them in.

“I’m good, but Dec works too much,” Adele says, rolling her eyes.

“At least he has a job,” I tease.

“Ha ha,” Adele states, taking her shoes off.

“Ad's got a new line of fashion bags out at the moment,” Declan tells me proudly.

“Yup, it’s a new travel line. We’re trialling them out on this trip; it’s an official business trip this time,” Adele comments.

“And they haven’t fallen apart yet?” I ask Dec, who laughs with me.

“Did I mention I hate you?” Adele asks.

“No, you don’t,” I tell her, making her shrug.

“Tolerate. I tolerate you,” Adele corrects, following Dec and me into the kitchen.

“No, you love me,” I tell her, to which she shakes her head.

“What has Jane made for us today?” Declan asks.

“Roast,” I smile, opening the oven to check the food. David hired Jane as the housekeeper for me when I moved to Lewisham. She works three days a week cooking and cleaning for me and makes the most delicious meals.

“I’ll set the table,” Adele states, going over to my drawers and cupboards to get the things she needs.

“Told you she was useful,” Declan says with a wink.

“Shut up,” Adele scowls as she walks out with plates and cutlery. I pull the salads from the fridge and hand them to Declan before going to the oven to pull out the roast meat and vegetables.

We make two trips each to get the things we need for dinner before eating at the table.

“Are you looking forward to coming home?” Declan asks. I shrug my shoulders.

“I don’t know. It was okay here, but it’s time to move on,” I say. I’ve been packing, and my apartment has boxes all over the place, half-filled with things.

“Well, I hope you like the home we chose for you,” Adele smiles. I smile back. I didn’t have time to replace a place to move into when I returned to Brunswick, although I could have moved back in with David. So, I asked Adele to help Declan replace me a place to live. The house they found was a mini-mansion, and I’d seen photos. It was a prominent five-bedroom place with a living room, sunroom, recreation room and private dining room.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” I tell her. Quite frankly, I would have been happy with another apartment, but Adele insisted that I buy somewhere near my uncle because, as she had put it, family needs each other.

“Will you be bringing Jane?” Adele then asks, making me laugh. Jane is a short Filipino grandmother who calls me guwapo (which she tells me means son, but Adele says does not).

“No. I’d like to, but her family is here, and she doesn’t want to leave them,” I tell Sofia.

“Such a pity; I love her food,” Declan comments.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Yup. I’d marry that if she wasn’t already taken,” Declan adds, making me laugh when Adele scoffs.

“I can cook,” Sofia mumbles under her breath.

“You burnt water!” I laugh. Declan chuckles. The one time Adele offered to cook, she tried to boil some eggs but forgot what she was doing and left the water to burn dry. I don’t know how she did it, but let’s just say we don’t leave Adele in the kitchen alone anymore.

“I was trying to do something nice!” Adele says sadly.

“I know, baby. It was a nice thought,” Dec says, pulling Adele towards him and giving her a hug.

After we finished dinner, Declan and I cleaned up while Adele looked through Netflix to see what we could watch.

“The latest episode of Strange New Worlds should be out,” Declan says as we walk into the lounge room.

“Star Trek? Really?” Adele asks, not bothering to stop and look at us.

“Can’t beat Star Trek, kitten,” Declan says, sitting next to Adele and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“Luke, I am your father,” Adele comments.

“Wrong one, Ad,” I smile.

“I know! Whatever. At least Ethan Peck is cute,” Adele adds, searching for Star Trek.

“Who’s Ethan Peck?” Declan asks. I laugh.

“The guy who plays Spock,” I tell him.

“What? I don’t look anything like that guy!” Declan protests.

“Poor baby. He has cute eyes, though!” Adele teases. I roll my eyes at their relationship. Declan met Adele at a function two years ago. She is the daughter of Conrad Bird, from the law firm ‘Dutton, Bird and Lynch’, one of the top law firms of Brunswick. Adele is the first girl I’ve seen Declan settle down with since High School.

“La’an has cute eyes, too,” Declan comments under his breath, making me laugh.

“What? Come on, Linc, which one do you like?” Dec asks.

“None of them,” I say.

“Really? Come on, if you could, which one would you choose?”

“Number one?” I answer, more like a question.

“Figures,” Declan says.

“Why do you say that?” Adele asks.

“Number one looks a bit like…”

“Mikaela,” Adele finishes in understanding.

“Yeah.”

“Not really,” I comment. I mean, they have the same-coloured hair, brown, and the same eyes and eyebrows, but no, Mikaela doesn’t look like Number One from Star Trek.

“Right, which episode?” Adele asks us.

//\\///\\\//\\

I paid for a moving company to finish packing up my apartment and moving it to my house in Brunswick. I had another week in Lewisham to finish my work and would stay in one of Declan’s hotels.

“Lincoln, can you come to the staffroom?” Xavier, one of my personal assistants, asked me. I smile at Xavier. He is a year older than me and has Autism. One of the changes David made, which I discovered when I started working here, was that the company had become more inclusive, employing people with special needs. Xavier was one of those hires. He began in the mail room but was asked to do some filing one day. I overheard him saying we should copy everything onto PDF and put it on the computer, so I asked him to do that for me. Once that was done, Xavier suggested putting all the information on an Excel sheet, so I also gave him the go-ahead to do that. Since then, Xavier has been doing all the technology consultations with me. I could do this myself, but with Xave doing it, I had more time to finish other things. Quite frankly, Xavier was a godsend, and I didn’t know how to cope without him.

“Sure thing, Xavier,” I smile, saving my work on the computer and following him.

“How’s your housemates going?” I ask as we walk to the staffroom. Xavier lives in assisted housing, which means he gets a discount on rent and utilities. The downside is that he doesn’t choose who he lives with, and as Xavier likes things put back in their proper place, he’s struggled to regulate himself.

“Rocky still doesn’t do his dishes after he uses them, and we’ve been getting cockroaches. Cassie emailed Disabilities, and they’re getting a housekeeper to come in once a week,” Xavier explains. Xavier’s younger sister Cassie finished law school three years ago.

“At least that’s a start,” I comment.

“Yes, but all he eats is mac and cheese, which hardens like concrete if you don’t clean it,” Xavier complains. I nod. Unlike some people with Autism, Xavier likes to eat various foods, his favourite being prawns, funnily.

I shake my head and follow Xave into the staffroom.

“Surprise!” everyone yells out, jumping out from behind the table in the middle of the room.

“Hey! I told you not to do that!” Xavier yells, holding his chest and looking angry.

“It’s okay, Xave. Are you alright?” I ask, trying to calm him.

“Yes, but they shouldn’t have done that!” Xavier complains.

“It’s okay, Xavier. We have chocolate cake?” Mandy, my other personal assistant, says, taking Xavier by the arm and directing him to the cake on the table. I smile at her as I watch her walk him away. Mandy is an older woman, a little younger than my uncle, who has been working with me for the last six months. I went through several PAs before I met Mandy; the others were… unsuitable.

I wander around and talk to the staff I will be leaving behind, enjoying the conversations I’m having with them.

“Speech! Speech!” Alex, the COO of our branch, calls out. The room goes quiet, and I try to hide behind Colleen, one of the staff members. Colleen laughs, taking a step to the side and exposing me.

“No!” I say, shaking my head.

“Fine, I will give a speech,” Alex grins.

“Okay, okay, so listen. Three years ago, I was told by David Rosebanks that his nephew wanted to work for my team, and I was like, oh shit,” Alex says, people laughing.

“I thought, here we go, a rich playboy who wanted to sit behind a desk and play boss. I mean, the number of female staff he went through before we got Mandy would make you think that, right?”

“He’s too young for me!” Mandy shouts, making the room laugh again.

“But it turns out I needn’t of worried; thank god for that because when he started here, I thought, lawsuit!”

“Anyway, all jokes aside, I first met Lincoln when he was a teenager. He was a diligent, studious person back then…”

“Nerd,” someone in the room calls out, and I laugh.

“…and he hasn’t changed at all. Lincoln, it has been an honour working with you. You have grown so much in this job and have shown what a true businessman you can be. Oh, and Lincoln, thank you for not taking my job,” Alex says, winking at me.

“Your turn!” Mandy calls out. I shake my head, only to have Mandy give me her pleading face.

“Alright, alright. I want to thank everyone here who has dedicated themselves to my family’s company. This place would not function without the work you all contribute. I will miss you, but I need to move on. My family is in Brunswick, and my uncle wants me back. I wish I could take you all with me, but I know your lives are here. Thank you for this… farewell, and I promise I will be back to visit!” I finish, everyone applauding me.

“Now, everything you don’t eat, you’ll have to take home!” Alex says to cheers.

- edited