Faith

Six Months Earlier

My sister annoys the hell out of me, "Grace!" I yell up the steps. Nothing. "Dammit, Grace, we're going to be late!"

Grace and I are identical twins, but in looks only. I'm the more responsible one of the two of us, she's the more confident one. Something is wrong with her, but she's not telling me what's bothering her. It drives me insane because we have always had that intuition thing going on. No matter where we are, we can sense when something is up or wrong with each other. We're so close that we can even feel each other's pain, whether physical or our heart is breaking.

Right now, her heart is breaking, and I have an idea who's causing her pain. I honestly thought that she was over his sorry ass. So, why is her heart hurting so much?

Finally, I hear her coming down the stairs.

"Sorry. I was on the phone." She quickly apologizes when she sees me standing with my arms crossed. "What?"

I shake my head and laugh, "Come on, we're already late." I hand her a bagel and her coffee.

"Thanks, Sis." She smiles brightly at me.

We drive the fifteen minutes to our office in silence because Grace is busy eating breakfast. I pull up to the front of our building and park in our designated parking spot. I open my door and rush inside. My dear sister takes her sweet time.

"Good morning!" Our best friend and assistant, Liza, greets me as I enter the building.

"Good morning; any messages?" I inquire.

She handed me a few messages, "Your 9:00 called and asked that you push it back to 9:30. I didn't see anything on your schedule, so I went ahead and changed it."

"That's fine." I don't even look up when I hear Grace come in.

"Good morning, Grace. Here are your messages." Liza holds out Grace's messages.

"Thank you." Grace begins to look over her messages as well.

I look up at Grace, "Our 9:00 changed to 9:30, so we have some time to breathe before they get here."

She silently nods her head and walks into her office.

"What's up with her?" Liza asks me curiously.

I shrug, "I wish I knew. Something is up; I can feel it, but Grace keeps telling me everything is fine."

Liza raises her eyebrows. "Drinks after work?"

I laugh, "I hear you! You want to get her drunk, hoping that she'll spill it."

"Guilty," she admits.

"Perfect!" I smile. "Go ahead and make dinner reservations; we'll make an evening of it."

"On it!" We share a smirk, and I go into my own office to prepare for the 9:30 meeting.

I peek into my sister's office, "Are you ready for our meeting?"

She looks up from her paperwork, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be." She stands and follows me to the meeting room. She's the artist of the two of us, and I have a way with words. We make a perfect partnership for our advertising business, Double Faced Advertising. I came up with the business name, and of course, Grace designed our logo.

We had just finished setting up when Liza announced that our client, Real Estate mogul Benson Easton, had arrived. Grace and I walked out to the reception area to greet the man we hope will hire us for his promotional video.

I must keep my jaw from dropping onto the floor when I see Benson Easton in the flesh. I knew that he was an attractive man, with a different model on his arm in every photo of him, but damn! He's panty-dropping gorgeous!

"Hello, Mr. Easton, welcome to Double Faced Advertising. We're honored that you have allowed us to work with you." My sister says while extending her hand to him.

I finally found my voice. "Yes, welcome, Mr. Easton. We're very excited to show you what we've been working on for you. Please follow me." We shake hands, and I turn on my heels to direct him into the meeting room.

We offer him the seat at the head of the table. He sits, and Grace and I sit on opposite sides of him. Liza comes in with a tray of coffee, tea, and some almond and chocolate croissants as we get seated.

"Please, help yourself." I push the tray closer to him. He raises his eyebrow at me. I quickly change my tactic. "Coffee or tea?"

"Coffee, black, please." He speaks for the first time.

I pour his coffee and place it before him. I set a napkin next to his coffee and picked up the plate so that he could choose his pastry. I catch Grace's eyes. She knows that it's taking everything in me not to lose my shit. What an asshole!

Grace promptly begins to speak in an attempt to keep me from saying something that I'll regret. "We're looking forward to showing you the promotional video that we put together with the information and requirements that your assistant sent to us. We'll watch the entire video, review it again, and pause where we want to ask questions, make an assessment, or comment. Is that satisfactory?"

He nods and brings his attention to the screen at the other end of the table.

We play through the video. Mr. Easton stares at the screen. I glance at him now and then, trying to understand his thinking, but his face does not give anything away. When the video is complete, he stands.

"Send the video and the contract to my assistant as soon as possible," he commands.

Grace and I both quickly stand as well. I'm closest to the door, so I open it for him. As he makes his way down the corridor, we walk behind him.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Easton. We'll send the contract immediately, then the video once the contract is signed," I inform him.

He stops suddenly and turns towards Grace and me and doesn't say a word. He looks from Grace to me several times before nodding his head and turning back around, leaving us both speechless.

"What the fuck was that?" I say as soon I'm sure that he's gone.

Grace shakes her head, "I guess we got the job. Liza, please send the contract over to Mr. Easton's assistant. Once it's returned signed, send the video."

Liza responds, "Why didn't he sign the contract before he left?"

Grace and I look at each other and shrug. "Hell, if I know." Grace and I say together.

"He watched the video and told us to send it to his assistant, then left. He may be easy on the eyes, but his personality is downright ugly!" I adamantly add before heading back to my office.