“I also happen to know you’ve done some backhanded things to try to win votes over to your side. I am willing to overlook those things if you are willing to drop this now, and let us never speak of it again. That’s my offer. Take it or leave it.”
He spread his arms out and waited.
A range of emotions crossed over Hal’s face. Anger, betrayal, irritation, shock. None of them were good. He coughed again and shook his head.
Dad seemed to ignore Hal.
“In light of what has just happened, I think this calls for an emergency meeting on Monday to further discuss what has been brought to light today. I expect everyone in this room to be there and if some major changes, including those in staff, need to be made.” Dad scanned the room, making eye contact with each and every person in the room, even me before he sat down.
Hal’s voice broke the silence following Dad’s speech. “This isn’t the end of this, Walter. For now, it will be. But this isn’t over.” That was a threat if I’d ever heard one. Something told me that Dad and Hal’s relationship would never be the same after today. It was a shame. They’d been such close friends for so long. I’d only been friends with Sloane since college and losing her would be like losing one of my arms.
Hal and Dad sat back down and there was the largest silence I’d ever experienced in my life. Someone coughed and then Mr. Buckley cleared his throat and tried to get the meeting back on track. As if the previous incident hadn’t happened. It took a moment, but soon everyone was back in meeting mode. Except me, of course. And Hal. And Dad. I kept trying to catch his eye, but he wouldn’t look at me. Lilia passed me another note.
Holy crap! That was basically my feeling on the matter. Now that the moment of crisis was over, all I wanted to do was talk to Dad and make sure he was okay.
The minutes dragged and dragged, and I had to stop checking the clock because it never seemed to move. Lilia was taking notes, and I hoped she could fill me in on what was going on, because everything I was supposed to be paying attention to was just a blur of PowerPoint slides and words and numbers and percentages.
It seemed like I had entered some sort of alternate universe where time stood still. Or maybe the same minute was repeating itself over and over. Groundhog Minute.
“Well, that’s, uh, all we have for today. Have a good weekend everyone.” Mr. Buckley seemed beyond relieved that the meeting was over, and I had to agree with him. I tried to get to Dad, but he was attacked by several other Board members, not including Hal, who left with a group of other members who all had pissed expressions. That must be the anti-Walter Clarke group. I made a mental note on each of them for future reference.
“You okay?” Lilia said as she tugged at my sleeve. I nodded. I didn’t want to talk about anything when there were so many ears that could hear.
I wasn’t going to be able to talk to Dad right away, but I finally caught his eye and he nodded. I hoped that meant I could go see him later because we definitely needed to talk.
“That was interesting,” Violet said as she walked by me. That was one word for it.
“Yeah, do you want to go back to my office and discuss it?” I had to talk to someone, and Lilia and Violet seemed like the only ones, apart from Lucah, I could talk to.
“Great idea,” Violet said and we quickly exited and went to my office where I shut, and then locked, the door.
“What the hell just happened?” Violet said as I sat down at my desk. Lilia leaned against the table with the water pitcher and glasses on it, and Violet took the seat across from me.
“I mean, did you know that was going to happen?” she asked me.
I considered for a moment what to tell them. It was so hard to trust anyone at this place anymore. But when I looked at Lilia and Violet, I decided that these were two of the people I could.
“Yes and no. I knew there was going to be some kind of confrontation, but I didn’t know it would be like that.” Nothing could have prepared me for that, which was probably why Dad didn’t tell me much.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Lilia said. “I thought they were going to start punching each other.” Me too.
“So what now?” Lilia said, folding and unfolding her arms.
“That is a good question I don’t have the answer to,” I said. For that I’d have to talk to Dad. I couldn’t imagine he and Hal could go back to working together like they had before, but what did I know? Maybe Dad could convince him to step back to avoid any excess drama. Now that Hal knew he didn’t have the upper hand, he might be more willing to back out while he still could.
“Batshit crazy,” Violet said, shaking her head. “Oh, sorry for the language.”
“No, no. It was warranted,” I said. I’d gotten almost completely desensitized to cursing because of Ryder. Also, because I was a frequent user of said words.
“I really need to go talk to my dad,” I said, looking at the door. The other two seemed to be lost in thought.
“Oh, sure. Of course. I’m going to go back to my office. Would you mind letting me know what you find out? I’m rooting for Team Clarke.” I had to laugh about that comment.
“Absolutely, I’ll let know what I find out,” I said and Violet went back to her office.
“Need a therapy session? Just call me,” Lilia said and left as well. Before I marched myself down to Dad’s office, I decided to call first.
“Hello, Rory. I think I can guess why you’re calling,” Mrs. Andrews said.
“I’m sure. Is he available?”
“Hold on dear, let me check.” She set the phone down and I waited for her to come back.
“Come right on over,” she said and I hung up and walked briskly down the hall. His door was open, but he motioned for me to close it when I walked in. I hadn’t seen his face so grim since we’d found out about his friend (and my former assistant) Sal’s ailing mind.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said, scrubbing his face with his hands. “I wish I could have shielded you from it, but there wasn’t any way. I knew it was going to be ugly, but I thought if I gave them an out, they’d take it. This is going to tear the company apart. Not to mention the relationships I’ve built over so many years—” his voice broke and he bent over, his back heaving with sobs.
My heart shattered and I couldn’t do anything else but get up and put my arms around him.