“This is nice,” she whispered.
I wrapped an arm around her, kissing the top of her head. “What I remember growing up is we rarely argued.”
“Mark, you weren’t just my big brother, you were almost my guidance counsellor at times, but more than that, you were my friend.”
“I was?”
“Of course. And more than one of my friends had a massive crush on you. Of course, by the time you started dating Hayley, you just wouldn’t have noticed.”
“Well, I hope you still think you can come to me about things, Amy.”
“I know, but with you getting married and obviously wanting to start a family eventually…”
“Amy, I would always make time for you.”
“I know,” she said softly, “But… well, it doesn’t matter now. I learned lessons from the last dickhead I was with. I’m going to stay single for a while now.”
“Me too there. Shit, the only people I’d be willing to trust right now are you and Mum.”
“I’m sorry she hurt you.”
“I’ll get over it eventually. Knowing I have to remain married to her for a few more months’ sucks. So I’ll focus on other things, like getting my own business started.”
“I can help with that regarding the financials. You know, taxes and shit.”
“You sure?”
“Numbers have always been one of my strengths.”
I almost snorted. She had far more strengths than weaknesses. In fact, the major weakness she had was her good heart and people manipulating her. I’m fairly sure that’s what likely happened before, but she just didn’t feel comfortable enough to tell me. “I’m glad we did this, Mark,” she said softly.
“Me too.”
We chilled out the next day as the long drive knocked the stuffing out of me, though we did sit down during the day and discuss ideas and plans for the future. Amy was easy to figure out as she’d work from home. Though she’d spend time in her room, Mum assured her that sitting at the dining table or even outside wouldn’t be a problem as no-one would bother her.
As for myself, I’d spoken to Mum often about wanting to eventually start my own business, and we all knew now was the best time to start putting things together. I already had my own ute, I had my own tools, but what I needed to do was ensure I had a steady supply of work. So Mum made some calls on my behalf during the next week, while my sister and I had to go about setting up my business. There was far more to it than most people probably know.
First, there was choosing the structure. As I wanted to be the boss and sole owner, that’s what I went with. Then there was the type, applying for a business number and registering my new business, needing to think of a name for it, then registering a domain name, where Mum’s help came in handy, and at the end, it was making sure I paid the correct taxes. All in all, the business number took barely a few minutes to get, it was sorting the other stuff that did confuse me. Thank heavens for my sister.
Mum helped out by dragging in some help to get my website set up, the kids of her friends pitching in to help, while most of her calls were spreading word about my new business, and that if anyone wanted some work done to their house, office or god only knew what, then I had nearly ten years’ experience.
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