Perfectly Lonely - Jessica Marin Page 0,75

for our weekend in Los Angeles.

29

Chase

I stare out of my office window and watch as dusk settles in the background on the North Shore Mountains. This is one of my favorite times to be in the office since it’s quiet due to most of our employees already gone. I take this time to reflect on how things are going, the beauty of the sunset calming me from the hustle of the day.

Today was a big day for Wilson Enterprises as the first batch of bottled ice wine was exported. We were blessed with the perfect hard freeze this winter, which enabled us to produce a larger than normal production of wine. Due to our extensive marketing and advertising campaign featuring our celebrity endorsers, demand for ice wine was on the rise. We also were able to increase our radio and telecommunication coverage, courtesy of our newly signed investor, Roger Davis, which helped reach new customers. Because of the heightened visibility, our orders for ice wine were the highest in Wilson Enterprises history.

Our hockey team, the Kelowna Lynxes, are only six points away from clinching a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Rhys has been working closely with their sales and marketing departments to increase advertising and promotions in order to sell out these last remaining home games that are left in the season.

There has been a buzz of excitement within the office these last couple of months. Employee morale is at an all time high due to the positive changes we have made for the company, which has included the importance of employee development.

Professionally, this has been one of the best years in my career, even more rewarding since Rhys and I were officially named co-CEOs of Wilson Enterprises.

Personally, this has been one of the worst years of my life.

I was spiraling out of control, trying to numb the pain of the loss of Layla with alcohol any chance I could get. I was physically present at the office, but was mentally unavailable. I was barely functioning and not making any headway in my personal relationship with my family or getting Wilson Enterprises back on track. One day, Ellory showed up at my office to take me to lunch, when in reality she drove me to the airport where my mother and brother were waiting to take me on a week long family therapy retreat in Salt Spring Island. That week of closing off the outside world and just hashing out our family problems kickstarted the journey to emotional wellness. We were able to have closure on the subject of my father and forgive one another for all the wrong doings and blame we had placed that stemmed from his actions. I left all of my emotional baggage that had my father’s name on it on that island and haven’t looked back since. When I do think about my father, I try to feel gratitude toward his hard work at setting up Wilson Enterprises in Canada and leaving that legacy to us.

Rhys and I have continued going to therapy to work on our relationship. We have forgiven each other for our past mistakes and have agreed to start on a fresh, clean slate. The change in each of us toward the other is night and day. Stoic, emotionless Rhys has not reared his ugly head in months. Instead, I have an energetic, enthusiastic partner in crime who is ready to conquer the business world with me. We are closer than ever, something I would never have imagined possible.

“I think Wilson Enterprises needs to step up our game and get back into the venue business,” Rhys says, as he enters my office with a stack of papers, interrupting my quiet time.

“Depends on what venue you have in mind. If it’s in a desirable location and we can keep it occupied, then it could be lucrative.” I consider, remembering the times when we were successful in the past with our former venues before we had to sell them all in order to gain cash flow.

“I already have interest in a certain property.” He throws down a stack of papers of what looks like to be a contract drawn up between Wilson Enterprises and Castle Entertainment, the owners of the House of Royalty night club. I look up at my brother in shock, my reaction only causing his smile to widen.

“It’s time for you to go back to Chicago and claim what’s yours, brother. Castle Entertainment was looking to sell and their lawyers