We follow her into the enormous gourmet kitchen. My jaw drops when I see the expansive spread with too many types of food to count. An older lady is busy at the double wall oven, removing hot scones that smell so good they make my mouth water.
“This is Louise. She manages everything related to the house, the staff, and she keeps Rod in line in her spare time.” All three of us laugh, knowing there’s not much chance of that, and Louise and I exchange hellos.
“Make yourself at home, my dears. The house may look formal, but nothing could be further from the truth.” Louise plates the desserts and urges us to eat as much as we want.
When I look to Juliana to let her go first, I realize the walk between the living room and kitchen depleted any energy she had when I first arrived. Her skin is pale, and she’s gripping the back of the chair to remain standing.
Though I’m not certain of exactly what she’s going through, I know Rod has temporary custody of Isa. Glenna said Juliana has cancer, but she didn’t have more information than that. Nothing about the prognosis, type, or how long she’ll be out of commission. The scarf tied around her head and draped over her shoulder must be to hide her hair loss, so my best guess is she’s undergoing treatments now.
“Juliana, why don’t you have a seat with the kids, and I’ll make our plates. You’ve already done so much, it’s the least I can do.”
She manages a slight smile, but her eyes reveal the truth. “You’re so polite, and I appreciate it, but it’s really not necessary. We can talk openly. Isa knows everything about what’s happening to me. I’ve taken a lot of time to explain my condition to her. I have a form of leukemia, so the high doses of chemo and radiation make it difficult to perform even the easiest tasks. But I’m not in inpatient isolation anymore, so I consider that progress.”
Louise sets a plate in front of the chair where Juliana stands, then winks at me when she returns to the oversized island for more food. “It’s no wonder Rod’s wrapped around your little finger. You are beautiful on both the inside and outside.”
“Um, I think you have me confused with someone else.” I pick up two plates and pile them with food for both Landen and me, while Louise makes Isa’s. “If you know about me, then you know Rod and I didn’t part on the best note.”
“Why don’t I move the kids into the playroom and let you ladies have the kitchen to yourselves?” Louise takes Landen’s food from me and calls for them to follow her.
After I take the seat opposite Juliana, she studies me closely for a moment before speaking. “Louise is right, you know. I’d never betray my brother, but he’s betraying himself in this case. Did you know he called me from Punta Cana and told me all about you?”
My chest feels like it’s been hit by a two-by-four at full force. My lungs seize and I can’t breathe for a moment. Why would he call her to talk about me? I’m too curious about this conversation to remain cool and unaffected by her revelation. Now I need all the details, what he said, what she said, what his fucking problem was our last day together.
“No, I didn’t. That’s not what he told me about the call. He said he asked questions about his personality flaws. Why would he tell you about me?” The plate full of scrumptious food has lost its appeal. I’m not sure I could force the first bite past the lump in my throat now.
“Rod and I didn’t have the best childhood experience. Our dad left to pick up medicine for me and never came home. Mom worked herself to death just to make ends meet, so Rod became a parent in addition to my brother. No matter what we faced, we had each other, and he has more than tried to make up for what we went through as kids. But those experiences have scarred him in ways he doesn’t even recognize.
“When he called, he said he wanted me to verify if something Kevin said to him was true. But I know him better than he thinks. The underlying reason for the call was because he fell head over heels for you, and that scared the shit out of him. I had a frank conversation with him. He and I are extremely blunt with each other, and I thought I’d gotten through to him. Before we hung up, I even told him not to come home without you.”
“But he did. He made sure of that before our trip was even over.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, what happened? He wouldn’t tell me anything, only that I didn’t need to worry about him right now.”
Before I can catch myself, I word-vomit the entire story, beginning to end, telling her every humiliating detail of that day and how badly it ended. When I finish, I realize how quickly I unloaded on her and immediately regret it.
“I’m sorry. That was inappropriate of me, but now I can’t take it back. You probably weren’t expecting all that.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m glad you told me. Now I can kick his ass when he gets home.” She nibbles on a finger sandwich, but her pallor still hasn’t improved yet. “He knows better than to treat anyone like that. He has a lot of explaining to do.”
“When will he be home? Should we expect him anytime soon?”
“No, I told him to stay away until I call him. He confessed to approaching you in the restaurant parking lot and paraphrased what happened, so I banned him from this meeting so you and I can talk freely.”
“The last thing I want is to cause problems between you two. Even from the few times he mentioned you, it’s clear he loves you very much. What happened between us was a shame, but it’s hardly the worst thing I’ve endured. I’ll find a way to move on and put this behind me too.”
“Don’t worry about my relationship with my brother. After everything we’ve had thrown at us, no problem in this world will ever separate us. But you’re right, you need plausible deniability, so I’ll drop the subject for now. How is Isa doing in your class? I was so worried about her when my doctor put me in an isolation room in the hospital.”
“She has her good days and bad days, but I haven’t seen anything that would be considered out of the norm for kids her age. She’s very smart. I get the impression she understands more of what you’re going through than she has stated outright.”
“What do her bad days look like? What does she do?”
“Sometimes she’s quiet and doesn’t interact with the class as much. Other times she’s more irritable than usual and can’t seem to concentrate. Nothing has been severe enough to cause a specific concern about her, though. Should I be looking for something in particular?”
She shakes her head slowly, then stares at the food on her plate. “You’ll think I’m being a helicopter mom with an overactive imagination.”
“Try me. I had you two figured out in three seconds flat.”
“Her father, Gabriel, skipped out on us when she was three months old. The situation with the two of us was different than what my parents faced, though. I’ve become the queen of the Google symptoms search, and I’ve diagnosed him with either bipolar disorder or clinical depression. I haven’t decided which yet.
“Isa has so much on her at such a young age, moving in with Rod, the uncertainty she must feel when I’m in the hospital, knowing I’m sick. My fear is his mental health issues are hereditary, and they will surface in Isa because of all this stress.”
“I’m not a doctor by any means, but I have seen a lot of behavioral problems in children. Nothing in her demeanor has suggested an underlying mental health issue to me so far, but I’ll keep watching her. You’ll be the first to know if there’s the slightest concern.”
With her concerns about Isa settled for the time being, she finishes her meal and her color improves. We move to the lanai which has large patio heaters spaced between the lounge chairs surrounding the enormous pool. Why wouldn’t the outside be every bit as stylish as the inside?
Juliana and I talk for hours, sharing our life experiences and heartbreaks, until Louise interrupts to tell us the children fell asleep in the playroom floor. She and I built a genuine connection within the last few hours, and I feel as if I have a new friend for life. When I glance at my watch, I’m surprised to see it’s already almo
st eleven o’clock.
I can’t hide my smile when I realize we have banned Rod from his own home all night.
“Before you leave, can I ask for one more imposition?” Juliana bites her lower lip, obviously anxious to finish the question.
“Sure. What’s on your mind?”
“With my rigorous chemo and radiation schedule, I rarely have the energy to work with Isa when she gets home from school. Are you available to come over and help, maybe tutor her, even if it’s only a couple of days a week? I’ll gladly pay you for your time.”
“You want me to tutor your kindergartner? You don’t think she gets enough learning at school all day? She’s a very bright little girl.”
“I’m really afraid that Gabriel is bipolar, and he passed it on to Isa. If she’s under too much stress, disrupting her schedule could cause some of those behavioral issues to present. I just can’t stand to think of her being alone or lonely because of me. Landen is welcome to come with you. We’d love to have a standing playdate for both of them.”
“That’s a very sneaky way of using the guilt trip method.” I arch one brow at her, and her lips curl upward into a full smile. “This isn’t a secret ploy to get me to spend time with Rod, is it?”
“No, I wouldn’t do that to you. If he’s being a jerk, he has to fix that on his own. My request might be as much for me as it is for Isa. I’ve enjoyed spending time with you tonight, and I think Isa will need more motherly love as my treatments progress.”
“All right, then. For you and Isa, I will do it. We should be finished before Rod gets home from work, anyway.”
“Thank you so much.” She throws her arms around my neck for a hug. “You don’t know how much I appreciate this.”
Despite her statements to the contrary, I suspect her request is a plot to force Rod and me together. But I’m not worried about that. Avoiding him won’t be a problem.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Rod
“Did you have a good Thanksgiving? Enjoy your week off?” I ask Kevin when he walks into my office first thing Monday morning.
“Yes, I had a great week. Daisy’s parents came up from Florida and her sister came in from Savannah, so Tracy and I ate with them. We were at her house for so long I thought we were spending the night there too. You would love the entire family, man. Her parents are the least pretentious people I’ve ever met, despite their success. Some of her aunts, uncles, and cousins showed up, too. She has an enormous family.” Kevin continues rambling about Daisy and her family, ignoring the dirty looks I’m shooting him.
“Great. So happy to hear you won the who was stuffed more contest against the turkey.”
“How was your week? How’s Juliana doing?” He ignores my obvious jab.
I turn away from the computer screen and scrape my hands down my face. “Not so good, for either. We had a rough week. Juliana took a sudden turn for the worse and went back in the hospital. Isabelle had a complete meltdown over her mother’s illness. She can’t sleep without having terrible nightmares and waking up screaming and crying. She’s convinced Juliana will die and leave her. And… I’ve had to face a hard truth about myself.”
“What’s that?” His tone is tentative, showing he’s unsure of how to react to me being on the verge of a breakdown myself.
“The truth is I can’t do it all by myself anymore. Take care of Juliana and be there when she needs me. Be a father to Isabelle, staying up all night to comfort her and convince her we’ll get through this together. Keep this company going, meet the customers’ expectations, gain more clients, and meet the constant demands. I’m tired—physically and mentally. I need a break.
“Over the past few days, I’ve rehearsed what I’d say to you when I saw you again. For the record, my speech contained nothing I’ve said so far. The bottom line is, I want to put a vote before the oversight board to make you interim CEO while I take some much-needed time off to take care of my family and myself. You know I don’t doubt your ability, but I wouldn’t put this responsibility on you without talking to you first. Technically, I don’t have to go this route since it’s a privately owned business, but their vote of confidence carries over to our clients.”
“I’m speechless, Rod. This wasn’t even on my radar as a possibility when I took off last week. I’m sorry. I should’ve called you to check in. How long are you planning to take off?”
“Three months, give or take a week, starting New Year’s Day. Juliana should finish this round of treatment around the end of March, and we’ll know what the next steps are by then. With Isabelle’s three-week Christmas break coming up soon, this is the perfect time to begin preparing our clients for my upcoming absence. I can call for an emergency board meeting, complete the vote, and spend the next two weeks catching you up on what I’ve been working on. What do you think?”
“I’ve never let you down before, Rod. I’m not about to start now. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help you and those girls, regardless of how long it lasts. A week or a year makes no difference to me.”
“Thank you, Kevin. I never doubted you, but hearing you say the words makes me feel so much better. This company has been my entire life since I was a teenager, staying up late to learn programming language on my own. But I said I’d do whatever was best when it became a household name. There’s no one else in the world I’d trust more to take over my baby than you.”
I call for an early afternoon emergency meeting, even though every board member isn’t available on such short notice immediately after the holiday. We only need the majority vote, though, and there are enough around to cover that. After I explain the situation with my family and Kevin’s interim role, they unanimously vote him in as interim CEO with full confidence.
For the next solid week, Kevin and I spend as much of our days together as possible to ensure a smooth handoff of my open items. I’ve introduced him to most of my key contacts and have tried to steer them in his direction when they continue coming to me for assistance. For the most part, the transition is as seamless as I anticipated. But there’s always that one client who refuses to deal with anyone else. That one client, in this case, happens to be a vitally important one to our company.
For them, I’ve still attended every meeting and answered every email, keeping Kevin on copy as an added emphasis. Today, that client is experiencing multiple issues with the integration of our software with their new interface. Downtime for any business is deadly to the bottom line, so we’re all-hands-on-deck to find the mismatched data and correct it. My assistant clears my schedule so Kevin and I can work with the team of developers to locate the problem. We roll up our sleeves and return to the trenches where we started, all packed in one room so we can quickly share discoveries.
After hours of combing through data, I glance at my watch and realize it is already time to pick Isabelle up from school. With the bumper-to-bumper Atlanta traffic between my office and her school, there’s no way I’ll make it there before the staff leaves.
“Kevin, can you give me Daisy’s number, please? I’m late leaving work to pick up Isabelle, and I need to ask if she can stay in Daisy’s classroom until I get there.”
He’s torn, but ultimately, he understands there’s no other way. He texts her contact information to my phone and I call her as I rush out to my car. She’s been coming to my house a few afternoons during the week to help Isa with her work and distract her from Juliana’s absence.
“Hello?” Her tone is tentative over the unknown number calling her.
“Daisy, it’s Rod. Don’t hang up. This is about Isabelle.”
“What do you need, Rod?” She’s strictly business with me, cutting me no slack.
I explain the situation and make my request. She’s silent for a moment, but then she replies. “I’ll bring her to your house, so just meet me there. I promised Juliana I’d still work with Isa after school, and that promise is even more important now that Juliana’s back in the hospital.”
“
That’s even better. I can’t thank you enough. I’ll be there as fast as humanly possible in Atlanta rush-hour traffic.” I hurry out the door and jump into my car, winding through traffic and cursing the red lights until I finally reach my house.
When I pull into the circular drive, Daisy and Isabelle are already there waiting for me. I meet them at the front door and invite Daisy inside with us.
“Thanks again. You saved my neck.”
“Today is one of the days I’d be here to work with Isa, anyway. There’s no need for you to leave work early every day. If you update the documentation in the office, she can ride home with Landen and me after school. Technically, she wasn’t supposed to leave with me since I wasn’t on the approved list.” Daisy keeps her tone all business, not giving an inch on her no Rod’s allowed stance.
“You’re right. Consider it done. I’ll also give you a spare key so you can come and go as you please, even when my house staff isn’t here. I appreciate your help more than I can tell you.”
“Will she stay here with Louise while we’re out of school?”
“Yes, she will.” I don’t bother to tell her I’ve taken off work to spend time with Isa and Juliana starting then.
“I’ll come over earlier in the day during the school break so I won’t interrupt your evenings.”
“Whatever time is best for you works for me. You’re not interrupting anything. It’s time for an after-school snack. Landen, are you hungry?”
“Yes, I’m starving. Lunch feels like it was forever ago.”
“Let’s go to the kitchen and see what Louise made for us today. I bet it’s something good.” Landen takes one hand, Isabelle takes the other, and three of us venture off to find food. When we turn the corner, I catch Daisy smiling after us.
All of Me: Rod & Daisy Duet Box Set Page 22