<< Go Back

His Perfect Match

By Aminata Coote

Order Now!

Brianna McPherson scowled at the two columns of numbers on her laptop screen. These numbers were going to be the death of her. The hours she’d spent watching accounting videos hadn’t made doing her books any easier.
Still, no matter how she manipulated the figures, the expenses far outweighed the income. She needed a break so she could power through her accounting.
She pulled up their online reviews. There was at least one place where her company seemed to do well. Eyes and Ears had a four-point six rating.
“Please don’t tell me you’re checking our reviews again.”
Brianna twisted her head to look at Gabrielle Walker, her best friend, and sole employee. Her friend’s attention was on her computer screen.
“How did you know?”
“Cause I have Mommy-vision.” Gaby pointed to her sleek ponytail. “Eyes at the back of my head.”
Brianna chuckled. “Well, at least give me credit, it was the first time today.”
Gabrielle swiveled her chair. “Fingernail clap.” She hit both thumbnails together in the pantomime of a round of applause.
Gaby turned back to her computer and Brianna scowled at hers. “Can you believe that reprobate gave us a three-star rating?”
Her brother Everton’s friend had taken offense when she’d refused to go out with him after she’d helped train his team of salespeople. For free.
Brianna glanced to her left at the black clock with its large bronze numbers and puffed out a breath. She remembered when she had hung it on the wall after she had painted the room a cerulean blue. That had been less than six months ago.
She’d chosen office furnishings in various shades of blue and green. Pops of pink, orange and green potted plants paid tribute to the beauty of the island she lived on.
The color scheme had been her way of putting her stamp on the commercial office space she had rented. She’d chosen everything with her ideal customer in mind. Hopeful her company would be successful in a short time.
Brianna had done the research. Businesses needed help to get the word out about what they did. They needed more than someone to set up and manage their social media accounts. No, they needed to learn the skills that would help them position their business in the right light. That was where she came in.
She taught marketing techniques, so they didn’t have to rely on someone else to do it for them. Yet, here she was, less than six months later, already thinking of quitting. She groaned. Gabrielle spun to look at her.
“Are you okay?” Gaby moved to stand beside Brianna and glanced at her screen. “You know if you need help with something you can ask, right?”
Gaby rested a hand on her shoulder. Brianna wished she were the type to lean on others. Unfortunately, being the youngest of the McPherson clan had taught her otherwise. You couldn’t always depend on the people who were supposed to love you.
“I know.” Brianna made her lips curve as she peeked at her best friend. “Why?”
Gaby shrugged. “You’re not always good at asking for help.”
Brianna closed the spreadsheet and logged into a client’s social media account. She adopted a fake British accent. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Gaby rolled her eyes and dropped into her desk chair with an audible plop. “Right.”
Brianna suppressed a grimace. She wished Gaby wouldn’t drop into the chair like that. The last thing she needed was the expense of replacing office furniture.
“Quick,” said Gaby. “It’s five minutes until the official start of the weekend, let’s not waste it working.”
Brianna twisted to look at her friend who’d already shut down her computer and reclined against her desk.
“What’s the one thing you’re looking forward to the most this weekend?”
Brianna thought about it for a second. What she needed more than anything was rest. A solid twenty-four hours when she did nothing but relax and a bit of self-care. She couldn’t tell the last time she’d given herself a manicure. Or a pedicure.
She wished she could spend the weekend binge-watching K-dramas or going for a drive up the coast. It had been a while since she’d done something other than work or worry.
None of those things would happen. She would spend most of the weekend doing online jobs. It was what she had been doing so she’d have some money to pump into the business. But she couldn’t tell her friend that. Gabrielle had enough troubles of her own. She closed her eyes and feigned ecstasy.
“A scoop of rum and raisin ice cream.”
Gabrielle giggled. “Girl, wait until you have your first child. Then every single lick of ice cream will reflect on your hips.”
Brianna allowed her gaze to flicker over her friend’s trim figure. The two were of a similar build. Even now, they could wear each other’s clothes.
“Please, you look the same as you did in college. No one would believe you have a two-year-old.” She smiled at Gabrielle. “What are you looking forward to?”
“I’m going to take Caleb to the beach. May as well take advantage of the last remaining days when the sun’s still hot.”
Brianna hesitated, her gaze flickering back to the clock. “Do you want me to come with you?”
“Nah. It’s a good chance for us to reconnect since he spends so much time in daycare.”
“You know you can always bring him here.”
Gabrielle pursed her lips before she replied. “Yeah, but if Caleb was here, we’d get nothing done. And you’ve already done so much for us,” Gaby smoothed a hand over her hair. “I couldn’t ask you to do more.” Gabrielle stood and shouldered her bag. “Besides, this way he gets to spend time with other children his age.”
She leaned down to give Brianna a quick hug. “Love you, girl. Now I’ve got to run. You know I can’t afford to be even a minute late or I’ll have to deal with Pam’s stink eye and pay a late fee. Have a great weekend, Bri.”
Gaby was through the door in an instant, leaving Brianna free to brood about her expenses. Should she take that job with the local parish council? Tony Haynes asked her almost weekly if she’d consider taking a position with the company.
Brianna was hesitant to accept his offer. She didn’t want to spend the better part of her days building someone else’s dream. And she didn’t want to make promotional videos for the parish council all day long.
How many videos could one make about road repair and public health before they ran out of things to say? The idea of her days being limited to the needs of her parish made her shudder.
If all she had to look forward to was the next public health campaign, she’d be bored out of her mind. She’d only be able to endure a limited number of days like that before she lost a little piece of her soul.
What she needed was a high-paying job. One that would allow her to cover some of her current expenses with a little extra to put in the bank for when the lean times came, as they so often did.
She drummed her fingers against her chin. She should offer some kind of special to get some clients in. If she ran a few ads, maybe she could attract some larger companies who’d want a long-term contract.
She unlocked her phone, swiped past the social media icons, and ignored the old photo of her and Gabrielle. Back then, the only thing they’d had to worry about had been exams and boys.
Brianna opened her to-do list and added “special offer for new clients” to the already long list. So far, she’d been able to get stints to create promotional videos for small companies. But, while the experience was good, it hadn’t been enough to bring in the funds she needed to stay afloat. Still, she refused to give up.
Things would have been a lot easier if she only had herself to think about, but she also had Gabrielle and Caleb. When her friend had been widowed, Brianna hadn’t hesitated to offer her old college roommate a job.
Would her company have been more successful if she hadn’t hired Gabrielle? The thought made her head hurt. She dropped her forehead on the desk. She needed a second. A second to exhale before she could go home and have a bowlful of rum and raisin ice cream.
Brianna slouched in a chair in her parents’ backyard. She sat as close to the back door as she could and still be considered to be outside. The McPhersons were out in all their glory.
Her parents hosted a weekly dinner, which she attended about once every two months. More than that, she started wondering if she could divorce her family. It appeared she had nothing in common with them.
Bruce and Yvonne McPherson looked at her as if she were a stranger. And her siblings all seemed to speak another language.
Guilt rolled through her. Was there something she should do to integrate herself into her family? She grimaced. Probably.
They had a group chat that constantly buzzed with tidbits of information. Her sister, Tonya, would share funny things her children had said or done. She’d share random things that happened during the day. As did her brothers, Everton, Paul, and Theo.
Even her sisters-in-law were more active in the group than she was. She’d tried. She had. But when she talked about her business, explaining the importance of digital literacy, none of them seemed to understand. Their inability, or refusal, to understand, strengthened Brianna’s belief that she wasn’t one of them. Since then, she’d muted the group and only accessed the chat once a day to clear the notifications.
Her family had separated into two groups. Brianna’s eyes flitted between the two groups, trying to see them with impartial eyes. The men stood under the ackee tree, chatting. No doubt about one of their three favorite topics. Sports, politics, or religion. Three subjects she disliked talking about.
The women had also banded together, arranging their chairs so they could supervise the children. Her nieces and nephews ran screaming across the lawn.
What it would be like to have children of her own? She ruthlessly clamped down on the thought. If her family didn’t love her enough to see through her mask, how could anyone else? She returned to studying the group.
“Why are you sitting by yourself?”
She jumped at Tonya’s voice. She hadn’t realized her sister was so close.
“No reason.”
Brianna should have joined the group of women after dinner. She suppressed a shudder. Except, she had less in common with them than she did with the men. She wasn’t sure why she bothered to come to these dinners at all. Maybe some secret desire that her family would realize that she existed…even if she wasn’t Tonya.
Tonya rolled her eyes. “You’re so antisocial.”
Right, because this was all her fault. Whenever she sat with them, they’d zeroed in on her. When was she going to find an actual job? Didn’t she realize she needed to rejoin the church? Wasn’t it time she grew up and dressed like a grown-up?
Since Brianna had a healthy love of fashion, the real question was, when was she going to color her hair black? And, her favorite question of all, when was she getting married?
Usually, her sister took the lead in the interrogation, and the others chimed in. No one seemed to care that Theo was also single. Though she supposed they did the same thing to him when she wasn’t around.
“I’m not in the mood to hear a commentary on what you guys think of my life, but thanks.” Brianna gave Tonya an insincere smile.
“Whatever, Bri-Bri.”
Brianna gritted her teeth. She would not let Tonya goad her into a fight. Her sister rolled her eyes and flounced away. For such a petite woman, she had a lot of attitude.
Brianna checked her watch. She’d stay another fifteen minutes and then she’d leave. By then, she’d have met her mother’s rule about proper etiquette. She didn’t want a lecture about how rude it was to sneak out immediately after eating.
In the meantime, she would use the time to do something productive. She pulled up the graphic design app on her phone and began creating social media posts to share on her Eyes and Ears profile.

Order Now!

<< Go Back