by Kelli Walker
“So, I knew you would take this route, so I started doing some research,” Kevin said. “I got in contact with the lawyers who currently rent out levels in your father’s building, and I started asking some questions.”
“Oh, perfect. Did you ask them about those vacant levels?” I asked.
“No, but I did ask them who had been there the longest and interviewed a couple of them on their knowledge of the company,” he said.
“Why would you do something like that?” I asked.
“It’s not uncommon for someone who’s been gifted a business to hire someone to help them run it while they do their own thing. Look, I’ve got it all planned out.”
Kevin slid me a piece of paper and I did him the courtesy of looking at it. There were figures scrawled out and notes on the two individuals he interviewed, but that’s all I gave it. Just a look. There was no way I was handing over my father’s legacy to a stranger, that much was for sure.
“Kevin, I appreciate your work, but this is something my father wanted me to do,” I said.
“And how do you know that?” he asked.
“Because he gave me his fucking company, Kevin. What else would he have wanted?”
“For you to make the best decisions for his business. Is allowing a woman in her mid-thirties who knows absolutely nothing about law to run his substantially recognized law firm the smartest route to go?” he asked.
“Kevin, I would go back to school and educate myself. I’m not an idiot. I know I don’t know much about this business now, but I don’t need to know the in’s and out’s of law just to run his company,” I said.
“Yes, you do, honey,” my mom said. “That’s why your father was brilliant at what he did. He didn’t just understand his specialty, he understood everyone else’s. It took him a lifetime to acquire that knowledge.”
“Well, good thing I’ve got a lifetime ahead of me,” I said.
“Tina, what about your business? Everything you’ve built? Your father wouldn’t want you to throw that away. You know this,” Kevin said.
“You don’t know a damn thing about what my father would’ve wanted, and anyway… that’s what Maddie’s for. I can hand things over to her to take care of, and step in when I need to.”
“I’m not a businesswoman by any means, but your business will surely implode that way, Tina,” my mom said.
“No, you’re not a businesswoman, but thanks for your worthless input.”
“Tina,” Kevin said.
“No, now you two listen. My father left me his company, and I intend to run it. That’s just the way it is. Mom, if you want me to move in and help, that’s fine. If not, let me know. Right now, I’m wasting time having dinner with two people who obviously don’t give a shit about what my father actually wanted, so I’m going to go to the one place I know I should be,” I said.
I got up from the table and stormed for the door and I felt Kevin race after me. I grabbed my coat and the keys to the car out front, and for a split second I thought he was going to reach out for me. I whipped around to get away from him, ready to sink my teeth into him again, but I saw my mother grab his arm and keep him away from the door.
At least someone had come to their senses.
I got into the car and began to drive. I hadn’t even stepped foot into my father’s office yet, and I knew there would be a lot of important information there I needed. I whizzed in and out of traffic, dodging cars and traffic lights alike. I needed to be alone with my thoughts so I could plot my next steps, then I needed to get Maddie on the phone and have a serious conversation with her.
If she wasn’t willing to take over my P.R. company, then I had to inform her that she needed to start looking for another job.
I parked the car across the street and looked up at the massive building. The massive family name emblazoned on the top floor of the building was strategically placed so the sun wouldn’t bother my father while he was at work. I smiled at the memory of the first time he took me to his office, then I took a deep breath before I started across the road.
The ride up the elevator to the top floor seemed to pass by slowly, like someone was trying to give me more time to think about my decision. But, I didn’t need more time. My father’s company needed me to right the ship after its Captain had perished, and he had chosen me as his first mate.
I wasn’t going to take that responsibility lightly.
But, when I walked into his office, I saw a very familiar face sitting in his office chair.
“Hey there, Tina,” Brit said.
“I take it Kevin called you,” I said.
“The mere fact that you assume that means you know you’re making a bad decision,” she said.
“I don’t need you trying to talk some sense into me,” I said.
“Good, because I’m not.”
“Then why are you here?” I asked.
“I’m here to help,” she said.
“Uh huh. And what exactly are you going to help with?” I asked.
“Anything you need. I’m at your disposal.”
I didn’t know what type of game she was trying to play, but I knew Brit better than this. She was the attack dog of our group, but she was always sly about it. If she had a point to make, she made sure it was made right underneath your nose. She wasn’t one of those women that physically backed you into a corner. Brit would simply dance around you until she slowly twirled you into one.
Like an intimate dance before a man pinned you to the wall with his hand around your neck.
“I’ll need you to get out of that chair so I can sit down,” I said.
“Alright. What next?”
“I’ll need to take a look at my father’s books. Make sure things are in line financially,” I said.
“With a company this massive, your father probably has an accountant he hired,” Brit said.
“Well, let me find his number and I’ll give him a call.”
I sat down at his desk and began digging through it. I tried to find a contact book or a rolodex-- something that housed the important numbers my father would’ve needed in order to make phone calls. I toggled his laptop and his home screen popped, and on the front of it was a picture of him and I. It was my first Christmas and I was on his lap playing with a squeaky blanket he’d gotten me. His eyes were filled with happiness while I slobbered all over the blanket. The Christmas tree lit up the background while my mother sat at his feet smiling, and all at once my emotional bucket poured over again.
I tried to distract myself by logging into his computer. I searched his files, looking at names of documents I didn’t recognize. Court cases with log numbers that needed specific passwords in order to access. Terminology I didn’t recognize with a computer interface I wasn’t familiar with.
Everything was so foreign, right down to how the leather seat felt with my ass against it.
It still had the imprint of my father on it.
I couldn’t find the numbers. I searched through his email and saw correspondents back and forth with names I didn’t recognize. They referenced things like ‘adversary proceedings’ and ‘de jure’. ‘Depositions’ and ‘interrogatories’. ‘Motions to lift automatic stays’ and ‘pretrial conferences’.
I knew what none of this was and I began to hyperventilate.
“Breathe, Tina. Just breathe,” Brit coaxed.
“I don’t-... do you know-... what’s a-... a-a-a, uh… ‘subpoena duces tecum’?”
“It’s a command for a subpoenaed witness to appear in court as well as produce documents the plaintiff and/or defendant might need.”
I whipped my head up at the foreign voice as a tall man came walking through the door. His salt-and-peppered black hair contrasted against his icy blue eyes, and his thick black-rimmed glasses provided a very intimidating barrier between myself and him. He wore a tailored suit that accentuated his long legs while his broad shoulders boasted of a strength underneath his covering.
He seemed familiar
, but I couldn’t place who he was.
“Tina, this is Peter Ranking, your father’s partner,” Brit said.
“Par-... partner? Like, partner for the company?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I helped your father start this business. I also rent out the fifteenth floor. I’m a divorce attorney.”
“Peter Ranking…” I said.
“You’ve grown from the last time I saw you,” he said.
“So, you know who I am.”
“I do. I was there the day you were born,” he said.
“Why do I not remember you?” I asked.
“I stopped coming around after my wife passed. Your mother reminded me too much of her,” he said plainly.
“Oh.”
“Tina,” Brit said, “this is the man that should be taking over your father’s company. Him handing things to you, it’s simply for tax purposes. Stock and portfolio exchanges and such. That’s your expertise. Money and books and allocations of assets. But all of this-- this lawyer bullshit we know nothing about-- there’s not way you’ll be able to learn and keep up. Your father’s business will tank in the time it’ll take you to finish some semblance of a Master’s degree in this stuff.”
“Tina,” Peter said, “she’s right. I’ve helped your father build this company for the past three decades. Hell, I practically ran it when he was taking time to help your mother recuperate from having you. I’ll do this company well. You’ll still own it and you’ll still have a say so when it comes to the books, and if any major changes or decisions need to be made, I can contact you. But, you have a life back in D.C. A life your father couldn’t stop bragging about. He’d laugh every time a senator was caught doing something because he knew it would make you busy. He was so proud of you, Tina, and it would break his heart to know you were throwing it away from something you couldn't care less about.”
“I care about this company,” I said.
“But, you couldn’t care less about law,” he said.
He was right. Not only did I know nothing about it, I honestly didn’t care for it. What I did was image restoration. I was in control there. No one held any power in courtrooms except for the judge and the jury. Who gave a shit about that? People worked their entire lives to earn these expensive degrees only to walk into rooms day after day and give their control over to total strangers.
I’d never understand it.
“Let me do what your father and I have always been doing. Let us continue to make money and help people. If anything arises that needs the owner’s sign off or input, I’ll call you. Fly you out. Sit with you however long you need and talk you through things you don’t understand. But, don’t throw away the part of yourself your father was so proud of just because you feel some sort of familial responsibility,” he said.
I felt tears running down my face as I turned my head back to his computer. The screen had locked itself again and the picture was staring at me. The picture of me sitting on my father’s lap at Christmas-time with his eyes looking down at me. The smile that ran across his cheeks was one I was familiar with, and it was one I’d never be able to sit under again.
“I miss my daddy,” I whispered.
“I know you do,” Brit said. “I know.”
“I miss him so much.” Brit wrapped her arms around me while Peter stared at his feet. I knew they were right, but I wasn’t ready to let go. I wasn’t ready to leave the town like nothing had happened. I wasn’t ready to leave my mother alone to fend for herself and go home knowing my father would never visit me again.
I wasn’t ready for life without him.
“How am I going to do this?” I asked.
“Do what?” Brit asked.
“How am I going to do this without him?”
“First off, you start by saying ‘yes’ to Peter’s offer. The rest we can figure out later,” she said.
“Peter?” I asked.
“Yes, Tina?”
“Would you like to run the business in my absence?”
“It would be an honor, Tina.”
Chapter 42
Kevin
When Tina and Brit walked through the door, I could see how dazed Tina was. Her eyes looked far away and her cheeks were red with her tears. I looked at Brit who simply gave me a solemn nod, and I made a mental note to get her something spectacular for her birthday.
“Thank you,” I mouthed.
“Peter Ranking’s going to be running the company in my absence,” she said, sighing.
“That’s probably for the best,” Theresa said. “How is Peter, by the way?”
“Looked fine. Didn’t recognize him. If he was Dad’s partner, why didn’t Dad just give him the company instead?”
“You know how your father’s always been about family,” Theresa said. “I mean, ‘always was’.”
I let go of Tina and she stumbled into the arms of her mother. Theresa held her close while Tina cried the rest of her tears onto her shoulder, then I ushered them all to the table. One by one, Brady and the rest of the gang trickled in, and soon Bernie was serving us drinks while all of us sat silently around the kitchen table.
Then, it was Theresa who broke the silence.
“If you’re still not ready to leave yet, Tina, you’re more than welcome to continue staying here. Maddie seems like a bright woman, I’m sure she can run things in your absence.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Theresa,” Maddie said.
“You remember that time Dad stumbled over the chair and broke your crystal vase?” Tina asked.
Everyone at the table turned their heads to face her as a smile slowly slid across her face.
“You were so upset with him until he took out his phone and ordered you another one, remember? You said it was the first time Dad had ever intentionally flaunted his money, and he was still in the comfort of his own home while he did it.”
“Your father was never one to boast of his wealth,” Theresa said. “That was the only time I never saw him flinch when it came to spending money. I think it was because he knew how much I loved that vase. We got it after we first married. We spent half our savings on it and kept telling ourselves that one day we’d be able to fill our home with them.”
“And you did. Those crystal vases are everywhere,” Tina said, smiling.
“Do you remember the Christmas where you got him that tie you colored for him? It was off one of those websites or something. We sent them a picture you drew-”
“And the drawing got folded on the tie in a way that looked as if he was wearing a penis on his tie!”
The two of them began laughing and it brought tears to my eyes. They were finally relishing positive memories of him-- of a man they were both going to miss. Tina had finally found enough sense to step back from the company, she was surrounded by people she loved, she was slowly repairing her relationship with her mother, and I could see her slowly starting to become herself again.
I knew it would take time, but I wanted her to know I was going to be here every step of the way.
“I remember the first time I met your dad, Tina,” Spencer said. “He was smoking his pipe. I opened his office door to tell him dinner was ready and there was so much smoke I almost threw up on his carpet.”
“You coughed all through dinner so badly you couldn’t eat. I was wondering what in the world had happened to you,” Theresa said.
“What I remember are his suits,” Brit said. “He always had them tailored the same way, and he’s the only man I’ve ever seen that can pull off a velvet orange coat.”
“I don’t know what in the world possessed him to create such an atrocity,” Theresa said. “He looked like a peanut M&M.”
“Oh, I thought he looked sharp in it. Handsome as ever,” Tina said. “And it was so soft. Do you think he still has that thing somewhere?”
“If he does, Kevin can have it. I can’t stand to look at the thing, it’s so bright,” Theresa said.
“I hate that I wasn’t able to meet him,”
Maddie said.
“He was a good man,” Tina said.
“He is. I remember the first time I met him. It was actually the weekend before I officially asked you out, Tina. He was on campus-- him and your mother. They were touring things and you were nursing that awful hangover from that party the night before,” I said.
“Was that the party where the D.J. came dressed as a chicken?” Brady asked.
“Yes. That party. I actually bumped into your father before I’d ever officially met your mother. I introduced myself and he eyed me carefully before he shook my hand. He was the first man I’d ever come across who I didn’t have to look down at in order to introduce myself. It was very unnerving, but kind of soothing as well. Like we were equals,” I said.
“Good thing your father didn’t know about this ‘party’,” Theresa murmured.
“I don’t really have any stories about him,” Brady interjected, “but I sure as hell loved that laugh of his. Stomach rumbling. Practically shook the walls of whatever building he was in.”
“You could always track him down by following his laugh,” Theresa said. “You could also gauge how drunk he was depending on the volume of his laughter.”
“That’s the truth if I’ve ever heard it.”
We all turned around at the sound and I was stunned to hear the voice. I didn’t recognize the salt-and-peppered man standing in the doorway of the kitchen, but I did recognize his voice.
“Mr. Ranking,” Tina said. “Would you like to come in and join us?”
Theresa’s lips parted slightly as Peter made his way over to her end of the table. He pulled up a chair next to her and held her gaze for quite some time, and all of us were holding our breaths so we wouldn’t miss a beat.
“You still look like her, you know,” Peter said.
“What are you doing here?” Theresa asked breathlessly.
“I wanted to come give my condolences. I understand how you’re feeling, and I wanted to tell you how sorry I was for your loss… and for everything else, for that matter.”