Working on My Brother's Best Friend — Sharon Cummin

It had been five years since my twin brother Gabe had moved to California when I got the call that changed my life forever. He was my family, the only one I had, and he was gone. I sat in the cold, dark funeral home while people moved around me. I could hear them talking, but all I could do was think. How could I have let him go? How could I have lost five years with him? Why hadn't I gone too? There were two reasons. One was to take care of my grandparents. They'd both passed in the five years he'd been gone. The other was the one person I couldn't stand, my brother's best friend, Doug. He'd gone with him to help him start his company. I'd been under my covers in the same clothes for two days when my phone rang. It was my brother's lawyer letting me know that I needed to be in California the following morning. If I didn't show up, my brother's company would stop running. It took all I had to get out of bed and shower off the funk I was feeling, but I did it for my brother, his company, and the people that worked there. When I walked into the room to wait for the rest of the people to arrive, I thought about Gabe and how proud I was of what he had accomplished. When the door opened and his best friend walked in, it took all I had to remain in that room. I couldn't wait for the others to walk in and fill the space between us, but that never happened. There were no others. Then it happened, the lawyer began to speak, and I thought I was going to lose it. Gabe left everything, including the company, to his best friend and me evenly. But that wasn't all, not even close. There were rules we had to follow before the papers would be signed and everything would be split. 1. We had to work together at the company for six months. 2. We both had to live in my brother's house the entire time. I was done. There was no way. My brother had always been a jokester, and that was by far his best joke ever. I was ready to leave when his lawyer added one last thing. If we didn't follow those two rules, the company would be sold and everything would be given away. I couldn't let that happen. There was only one problem, and his name was Doug.