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Chapter 4

The leaves around Whitmore Lake began to turn brilliant yellows, oranges and reds with the changing of the seasons. Brian couldn’t help but admire them as he drove up the tree-canvassed lane that led to the estate of Nick’s girlfriend, Deanna. Brian was stunned as he pulled through an enormous iron gate and drove into view of the mansion that made his extremely large house seem insignificant. He felt as if he could be swallowed up at any moment when he rang the bell but didn’t wait long before he was greeted by Deanna and his brother. “Brian!” Deanna exclaimed placing a polite kiss on his cheek. “I’m so glad you finally made it. It’s been months since I’ve seen you.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” Brian replied only partially sincere. “I doubled my coursework this year. I’m hoping to graduate a year early. Not to mention that my father seems to see me as some sort of free intern that he can dump his grunt work on whenever he pleases.”

Brian’s tone was a bit harsh but Deanna chuckled slightly. She’d been together with Nick long enough now to have a good understanding of Mr. Harper’s persuasive attitude. She herself had been grading papers just last week. “Well I’m glad you could make it today.” She said happily, “I really need your help.”

Deanna showed him through the house out to the garage. “I’m really sorry about your grandfather.” Brian said feeling a little guilty that he hadn’t made it to the funeral.

Nick had told him once that Deanna’s grandfather was the only family she had and when he died she was left all alone. He died nearly a month before and Brian was impressed at the way Nick stepped up and helped her through the terrible ordeal. He couldn’t help but think that maybe his little brother was finally starting to grow up.

“Thank you.” Deanna said, “But it was his time.”

She stopped in front of a portrait of the old man and sighed. “He was such a good man.” she said. “He left such a legacy behind.”

Deanna's grandfather had spent his years exploring the medical field. He’d done some amazing things and even received a Pulitzer once. Brian stared at the portrait and wondered if he would ever be able to make such an impact. He couldn’t help but have his doubts. “So what do you need my help with?” he asked when he realized that his thoughts were once again turning sour.

Nick’s face lit up. “You’re gonna love this Bri!” he said practically jumping up and down.

“Well I know how you Harper boys love your automobiles and Nicky tells me that you know more about the old classics than anyone. I need your help coming up with an estimate for them.”

“An estimate?” Brian asked curiously.

“Grandfather left me pretty much everything when he died.”

Brian did everything in his power not to over react to that news. Deanna’s grandfather was worth millions. If he left it all to her then she must have been the richest 18 year old in the state of Michigan. “You mean he left you the cars?” he asked.

Deanna sighed. “The cars, the house, a few off-shore accounts. Pretty much everything that he didn’t donate to charity.”

Brian looked up at the enormous house and it’s vast surrounding and felt overwhelmed at the idea of being responsible for so much. “So what are you going to do?” he asked.

Deanna released a long woeful sigh as she punched in the security code that would lift one of the numerous garage doors. “I thought I would go smaller.” She replied looking over her shoulder at the house. “Much smaller.”

The garage door slid open with grace revealing the showroom. Brian breathed in awe at the splendor of it all. Nick and Deanna grinned at one another as Brian reverently walked through the collection of priceless antiques. “It’s practically a museum.” Brianwhispered.
“You’re not going to sell these?” He gasped finally realizing what she meant by an estimate.

“I really hate to do it. These cars were Grandfather’s pride and joy. It will be kind of heart breaking to see them gone from the family, but I don’t know what else to do with them. They just sit here collecting dust and its such a shame.”

“You can’t do it. It would be a crime.”

“Unless you can come up with a better idea.” Deanna said shrugging helplessly.

Brian stared at the room again. There had to something she could do. The wheels in Brian’s head began to turn and he spun on his heels throwing a crazed look of excitement Deanna’s direction. “Don’t do anything yet.” He said, “Just give me some time and I will come up with the perfect plan.”

In the months that she’d known Brian, Deanna had never seen him so full of excitement. His eyes gleamed as he smiled at all the possibilities. Deanna looked at Nick and he shrugged. “The man is a genus. He won’t steer you wrong.”

“Alright.” Deanna said, “I won’t sell them just yet.”

Brian shook her hand vigorously. “You won’t regret this. I promise! I’ll come up with the perfect plan.”


********

Sarah and Lance stood in front of a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the middle of a giant mall. Lance had heaps of bags draped over his arms. Sarah leaned over a railing enjoying a corndog and a slurpee. She wore jeans and a t-shirt but her hair was down and a small purse hung from her shoulder. “I don’t understand how you can eat those things.” Lance whined as Sarah threw an empty stick into a garbage can. “If I even ate one bite of something that greasy I would gain five pounds.”

Sarah laughed. “You’d work it all off just by carrying around all that weight.” She teased pointing at the mound of bags he finally set at his feet.

“I can’t believe all these hours of walking the mall and we still haven’t found what we came for.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and began walking the mall again. Lance struggled to collect all his purchases and then caught up to her. “If we didn’t have to stop in every store we passed so that you could try on five million different pairs of pants, we could have been long gone by now.”

“I have to look dashing.” Lance laughed and then stopped in front of a store where a sleek red dress hung in the window. He raised an eyebrow. “And you have to look stunning.”

Sarah followed his gaze to the dress in the window and wrinkled her nose. I’m not wearing that.” She said before Lance could even suggest it.

“We’re talking about a high profile wedding here. It’s only the biggest event of this holiday season.”

“And I’m working it.”

“Wedding planners do not work weddings.” Lance said somewhat insulted that his little protégé was missing the point entirely.

“Fine, I’ll dress up but put me in a nice pants suit, I’m not wearing a dress. And no heels!”

Lance shook his head in shame and then stopped two guys about their same age that happened to be walking by. “Excuse me.” He said resting his hand on one of their arms and pointed at Sarah with the other.

“Do you think she would look better in a boring old pants suit or something fabulous like this?”

Lance gestured to the dress in the window. Both boys looked at the dress and immediately sided with Lance. Once of them even said she would look great in red causing Sarah to blush fiercely. Sarah rolled her eyes and walked away. “I’m not wearing a dress.” She grumbled.

Lance shrugged to the guys and thanked them for the attempt before catching up to Sarah with a dramatic pout on his face.


*********

Brian sat behind the wheel of his car staring up at his house knowing that he would have to go inside sooner or later. His mother had demanded he come home for the weekend. It was his birthday and she wanted to have a nice family dinner. Brian tried hard to find reasons not to come, but his mother could be as persistent as his father when she needed to be.

It was now nearly March and even though his dorm was less than 20 minutes away, Brian had not been home since Nick’s birthday over a month ago. He just couldn’t stand being there anymore. He was working so hard and under so much pressure that sometimes he felt he was about to crack. When he came home it never failed that Nick and Deanna would be hard at work finding new ways to play. It used to make Brian happy that his younger brother could do what he wanted, but the harder Brian worked the more he resented Nick’s playing. It also didn’t help that Nick and Deanna were always hanging on one another like a couple of newlyweds.

Brian sighed heavily and turned off the ignition. As he grabbed a briefcase off the passenger seat the corners of his mouth curved upwards. At least he had a plan now and in just a couple short months he would be graduated and it would all be over. With a slump he pushed his way through the front door praying that his mother had not planed some sort of surprise. He relaxed when all was quiet.

After dropping his briefcase on the kitchen counter Brian made his way through the house in search of his family. The TV was on and a cheesy looking monster movie was playing but the sound was barely audible. Brian found his brother and Deanna asleep in each other’s arms on the couch. He couldn’t help but stare at the two of them with a frown. He thought it ridiculous the way they fawned over one another and yet tiny pangs of jealousy pricked his heart.

With a roll of his eyes Brian rounded the corner of the couch to turn off the television and jumped sky high when he felt something squirm underneath his foot. A tiny bald Chiwawa let out a high-pitched shriek before jumping up on the couch with Nick and Deanna. “The prodigal son returns.” Nick teased as Brian continued to frown at the dog.

“What is that thing?”

“This is Fluffy.” Deanna laughed picking up the dog and kissing it on its tiny nose and then talked to it as if it were an infant.

“Fluffy?” Brian asked Nick curiously thinking that the creature looked more like a rat than a dog.

“Good to see you again.” Deanna greeted Brian as she walked past him to let Fluffy outside.

Nick smiled as he watched Deanna step outside. Brian stared curiously at the grin on Nick’s face. “What’s with the dog?” he finally asked.

Nick shrugged. “She’s been having a rough time since her grandfather passed. I thought she might like the company.”

Brian cracked a smile and threw his arm around his brother. “I’m impressed.” He said, “You’ve really stepped up this time. This is the most effort I’ve ever seen you put into anything let alone a relationship.”

Nick looked out the window again and sighed dreamily. “Yeah, she needs me. I kind of like it.”

Nick looked guilty when he saw the smirk on Brian’s face. “If you tell anyone I said that you’re dead.” He laughed.

Brian playfully shook his head in shame and the two brothers fell into a warm embrace. “Happy birthday man.” Nick said as he pulled away. “I’m glad you came. It’s been real lonely around here without ya.”

“I though that’s what Fluffy was for.” Brian teased.

“You know what I mean. Things just aren’t the same without my big brother around.” Nick said, “There’s no one here to make me look bad. When are you going to be done with all that school so that you can rescue me from this place. You know, I was thinking the other day that it might be kind of fun when I go to school next year, to find a place somewhere near campus together.”

Brian was surprised by his brother’s comment. “We could be room mates.” Nick suggested almost fearful that his brother would hate the idea.

Brian stared for a minute and slowly began to glow with excitement. “We could be more than that.” He said.

Nick curiously followed him into the kitchen. Brian became excited as he popped the snaps on his briefcase. He pulled out a thin booklet and handed it to Nick. “We could be partners.” He explained.

Nick flipped through the pages and then looked at Brian with anticipation. “What is this?”

“It’s a business proposal.” Brian announced proudly. “I had to create one for one of my classes and I figured why not make one for real. We’ve always said we wanted to go into business together.”

“What kind of business?” Nick asked now scanning the papers.

Brian grinned. “Remember when I came to see Deanna’s grandfather’s cars and she told me she didn’t want to have to sell them?”

“Yeah?”

“Well it’s sort of a rental company. Deanna would be a full partner of coarse and you and I could run the biz.”

“You mean we rent out Deanna’s cars?”

“Yeah! People would love it. Think about it. Wouldn’t you have loved to take your homecoming date to the dance in one of those? People would rent them for all kinds of special occasions.”

Nick starred at his brother pondering the possibility. Brian pointed to a graph near the front of the proposal. “I’ve already done the research. It could work. It wouldn’t take much of a loan to start up if we already had the cars and Deanna did say that she wished there were some way she could put them to use. Do you think she would like it?”

Nick flipped through the pages of the proposal again. They may as well have been typed in a forgien language, but the idea itself was crystal clear. Finally he formed a smile. “You know Bri? This just might work.” He said instantly becoming excited.