by Mike McCrary
“Cut the shit, Todd. Tell me something good. You’d better have something really, really good.”
“Please. Hear me out.”
Davis resets, grinds his teeth together and exhales hard through his nose. There’s something in the way Todd is speaking. His voice is not the same as usual. His tone is different. His word choice off. None of it normal.
“Two things,” Todd says. “One. You are going to be very, very upset with me. Two. You’re also going to be very, very rich.”
Davis feels his heart skip a row of beats. He can’t begin to form the words needed to ask a rational question. His mouth and tongue are failing him, fumbling over any form of communication with his friend.
“You still there?” Todd asks.
“Yeah,” Davis barely gets out. “I’m here.”
There’s another audible sigh from Todd followed by a deep breath. “That investment firm I’ve been talking to you about? I sold the company.” Todd stops speaking, lets his words hang in the air.
Davis can’t even process what’s just been said.
“I tried to talk to you about this, but…” Todd stops, then starts again. “They’re a huge money manager with a massive quant model they use for picking stocks. They’re going to use the language software, the one you built, and fold it into their model. Use it as part of a way to predict earnings based on CEO speech patterns or some shit. All with your language algorithm. They paid us more than the original offer. A lot more.”
Davis feels himself drop as if thrown from a building. Then comes the sensation of floating above the bed. It’s as if he’s not here, no longer a part of this world. The thoughts running around his head are now spinning out of control, whipping into a dizzying blur of random, useless characters and pictures of pictures. It’s as if he’s floating, watching himself from above, watching someone else have this conversation with Todd. Davis imagines that he isn’t even in the room. He’s drifting like a kite above the house looking down, but listening to everything.
“Davis, I know you’re beyond pissed at me right now, I get it, but hear this.” Todd pauses for effect. “You will never have a single money problem ever again. Let that sink in, man.”
Upset, Davis thinks. He said I’d be upset.
“The money from the sale is tied up right now with all the contract and lawyer shit. It’ll be a few days before we get it, but the deal, it’s all done. They’re going to pay us each a fat eight-figure check, and then keep us on as advisors.” He sucks in a breath. “Davis, salary of a hundred and fifty grand. That’s in addition to the multi-million-dollar cash dump. Are you listening to me, man?” Todd waits. “You’re going to be stupid rich.”
Todd’s words barely land, bouncing off like rain.
“You can take that money and go create something else even better than what we just sold. You’re free. You can do whatever you want in this life.”
Davis can’t even process what his friend has done to the business.
To him.
“Hattie can quit, or do whatever she wants. The girls’ college is taken care of. You? You are free from all that mental money shit you’ve been hauling around.”
Davis starts working through the timeline in his head.
“You hear me, Davis? The future is limitless.”
Todd got full control of the company and took advantage of the situation. Did what he’s been wanting to do all along.
“Will you say something?” Todd asks.
Todd used him. Somehow he pulled the strings to all of this. The dots aren’t all connecting yet, but Davis knows he’s been betrayed by his trusted friend. Manipulated somehow into a business deal he never agreed to. Davis feels the bubbling rage rising up inside of him.
“Please?” Todd begs.
Then it hits him.
Todd pulled off what he’s said he loves doing, pulled off the best kind of sale. He got the other guy to think it was their idea. He got Davis to think of signing it all over to Todd. That allowed Todd to do what he did. Davis telling Todd to draw up the paperwork and fast-track the legal docs unknowingly helped set all this up for Todd. He handed Todd the keys to the kingdom and Todd wasted no time getting what he wanted.
How long has he been planning this, piecing this together?
Had Todd been working this angle before LA, or did he wait until Justin helped provide an opening? A crack. An angle to exploit. Is there a difference between Justin and Todd? Two people who simply want it more.
Davis feels the inside of his mouth turn to dust, dry as a desert. Disbelief firing through every part of him.
How could I be so stupid?
“What have you done?” Davis finally asks.
“Davis—”
“What did you do?”
“I did what I thought was best for both of us.”
“By blowing up everything we’re doing?”
“Davis, think about—”
“You’ve sold us out. We’re a commodity now. You made us a piece of someone else’s robot."
“You’re upset—”
“There’s that word again. Upset. Of course I’m fucking upset you fucking asshole. You sold us to a company, a corporation. The very thing we were trying to leave in the first place. Don’t you get that? You destroyed what we made.”
“I made us rich.”
That stops Davis cold.
“You were sending us to bankruptcy, and I made us rich.”
The words hit him hard. The truth of his friend’s words hurt more than Davis could ever imagine. Todd betrayed him, there’s no way around that, but Davis can’t question the result. The business was failing, and Davis wasn’t doing much to help it. He may never forgive Todd, their friendship is probably beyond repair, and he certainly will never trust him again. But as Davis’s shock and anger fades a bit, there’s a sense of calm coming over him as he starts to process.
He doesn’t have to worry about the business anymore. The idea that money is no longer a problem is difficult for him to get his head around, hard to imagine. He’s devoted most of his adult life to worrying about money. Stretching it. Not having enough of it. Not providing the right life for his family. Failing them and himself.
With all this new information plowing through his broken mind at such a high velocity, he’d almost forgotten the situation he’s in. Almost forgotten about Justin. His beaten mind failed to realize the obvious – with the money from this deal he can shake this guy off of him.
“When will the deal close?” Davis asks.
“Look, there’s more, a lot more. I’ve been driving all night to get there. That’s why you couldn’t get ahold of me.”
“There? Where are you?”
Another pause on Todd’s end of the conversation.
“There are some parts to this that need to be said in person, for several reasons.”
“You’re here in town?”
“Come out and meet me. We need to talk face-to-face. Found a coffee joint. Not like our normal spot, but it’ll do. Meet me. Now would be good,” Todd says. “Please.”
The word please stabs into Davis. Not a word Todd uses.
Davis throws on some clothes, not completely sure what he has on.
Doesn’t care.
Grabbing his keys, as quietly as he can he slips out from the room. The girls’ door is still closed and there’s no sign of activity in the house. It’s still fairly early, so maybe Hattie decided to lie back down with them. Or maybe she’s in there helping them get dressed. Either way, Davis sees an opportunity to slip out without them seeing him in the state he’s in. He knows his face is a battered mess. Last thing he wants to do right now is explain his appearance. Create another line of lies.
Davis moves in long, silent strides across the living room floor, wanting to maximize his efficiency to the door. His muscles burn and ache. He can still feel his face swell and pulse. The knuckles on his hands are misshaped masses of various colors. He can barely feel his right hand as it holds his
keys.
He closes the front door carefully, making as little noise as possible. He stops for a second, then looks down toward the pier. He wants to be sure that his family isn’t out there again. To see they are not down there, and to make sure Justin is not there either.
No sign of Hattie or the girls.
He locks the door.
He pulls his phone out as he slides into the driver’s seat and sends a text to Hattie, thinking he still needs to cover himself in case they come out of the room too soon.
I wanted to get out of the house and get some air. I’ll be back soon.
He’s not sure what this face-to-face talk with Todd is going to yield, but there’s a feeling of uneasy calm coming over him. He imagines this is how terminal patients must feel toward the end of road. Sad to be at the end, but glad the pain will stop. After all the misery, he can rest soon. When the fight is over he can maybe find some form of peace. This is all coming to an end.
One way or another.
35
The diner rests out on the edge of Lake Oswego.
The place is packed, buzzing with a morning rush of sorts. Davis was forced to find a spot behind the coffee house near where the employees park by the dumpster.
Davis steps in and the bell above the door chimes. It’s a cozy place, nestled in the woods with a great view of the water. The inside is small and tight, but still feels inviting and homey. Dark, rich, wood walls and tables are filled with locals and tourists alike enjoying the simplicity of a family-owned diner. Smells of roasted coffee drift and mix with the tantalizing scent of freshly cooked bacon.
He breathes in the smells of the place. It’s the first time in days he remembers smelling anything. He must be feeling better. Or he’s finally losing his grip on reality. Giving up. Letting go of it all. Davis doesn’t know which, but seeing Todd at the back of the place staring out at the gorgeous picture window view of the rippling lake doesn’t help keep his warm and fuzzies around very long.
Davis stands at the door watching his former business partner, his former trusted friend, who sits there shoving eggs and bacon into his face as if this was any other day. As if nothing was wrong and this was just another meeting between them.
It is not.
Today is the day Davis learned his friend betrayed him. Davis isn’t even thinking about the money now. Deep down he knows time will heal this wound, and that mountain of money will certainly help speed up that process. But right now? Right now Davis is more than a little pissed off.
There’s more to this story. Davis knows it. Something deep and dark.
He tried not to think of what Todd wanted to tell him, what he needed to say in person. Davis wanted to walk in here cold, with as clear a mind as possible and have Todd explain it to him. Whatever it is, Todd drove here through the night and wanted to say it to Davis’s face. Davis couldn’t help it however. He thought about Todd’s visit here over and over again on the drive here. There are really only a few things it could be, none of them good.
Davis balls up his fists.
Todd snaps off a bite of bacon.
Davis burns.
Todd turns, finally noticing his friend standing in the doorway. His face drops, then perks up into something forced. Pasted-on happy. He motions for Davis to come over and sit down with him. Taking in a deep breath, Davis moves to the table, taking a seat across from Todd. Davis’s back is straight, as if propped up by a slab of steel. His shoulders are gaining tension by the second.
They sit without speaking. The sounds of the coffee joint buzz and chime around them. Davis recalls this same feeling in the air with his family.
A kindly older woman asks Davis if he’d like some coffee as she pours, filling his cup, then leaves without requiring an answer from him. He pours in some cream and stirs, working his coffee to the perfect caramel color. This is their ritual, their coffeehouse meeting routine. Davis remembers the first time they sat down like this back home.
They ended up at that coffee place because it was convenient, really. There was no big discussion as to where they should meet on a regular basis; it was simply where they happened to end up. That first meeting was about leaving their jobs, about walking away from the corporate hell. They laughed and carried on like children, running through ridiculous scenarios. Fantasies of tearing down cube walls, dancing on desks and causing a major scene, along with other forms of workplace mayhem.
It was fun. It was exciting.
This meeting, the one they’re having now, is anything but that. Neither of them could possibly have envisioned they would end up like this. Davis stirs his coffee, his insides becoming volcano-like. He can’t believe it’s come to this.
Todd leans in. “You gonna to talk to me?”
Davis watches the coffee swirl inside the thick, off-white mug, spinning into an almost pleasing color. Close to caramel-colored perfection, but not there yet.
“I know you’re mad as hell, I get it, but this can still be a good thing.”
Davis adds a touch more cream, then stirs some more.
“Come on, man. Say something, for Christ’s sake.”
Coffee looks perfect.
Davis looks up.
“When did you put Justin on me?” Davis sips his perfectly colored coffee.
Todd’s face goes blank. All bravado lost, torn away from him. Arrogance wiped clean. A man stripped of his armor, left with only an expressionless slate. There’s no denial, no defenses to throw at this or excuses to be made. He closes his eyes and leans back in his chair, letting the jab of the question sting.
The kindly older woman returns, refilling their coffee. She offers Davis a menu.
“Only coffee for me, thanks. I’m not eating.” He turns, motions his hand across the table. “Todd? Hungry?”
Todd shakes his head, pushing his plate aside. As she leaves, Davis adds more cream to return the balance. This is the first time he’s felt in true control of a conversation with Todd. With anyone, really. He hates that he likes it so much.
“Tell me you didn’t know what he was.” With each word Davis speaks, his rage bubbles and pops, barely containing it underneath his skin. “I want you to explain when you thought inserting that man into my life was good idea.”
“I didn’t realize what he was going to do, how far he was going to go. That woman…” He stops, then starts again. “The offer from the investment company was in serious jeopardy. Time was—”
“You took the leash off that animal. Bad things have happened. Because of you. You’ve put my family in danger, you piece of shit. My family!”
Davis slams his palm down to the table. His coffee jumps. So does Todd. Davis fights to get ahold of himself. He needs to understand, and him losing it here won’t help anything. He breathes in and out, glancing toward the lake. “What did you think was going to happen? What the hell, man?”
“There’s another software package out in the market, an app, cloud-based, not too unlike ours. Similar guts as yours. Not as good, but not far off. The investment company was looking at them as a backup if things didn’t work out with us.” Todd pauses. “It was a lot of money, Davis. It is a lot of money. The kind of money that could get everybody to good.”
Getting to good is a concept they’ve always talked about, even from the beginning. Making enough money so that everybody is all set. All good. He’s gone back to this idea a lot lately as he’s thought about Hattie, the girls, and his family’s financial situation.
Can we ever get to good? Is it even possible?
“I got desperate and made a move. It was wrong. I should have looked into that guy more. Hell, I should have talked to you more about it instead of getting that guy in the first place,” Todd says, looking down. “I know it doesn’t mean shit, but I am sorry.”
Davis wipes up the spilled coffee from the table and sips from his cup, letting Todd talk. He wants to hear it spill out from him, knows that Todd is dying to be free of it all. He can tell. Todd’s probably kept it
all bottled up for a long while. Davis has become way too familiar recently with holding the truth back. Familiar with the weight of it all.
“I talked to a buddy from college. Hedge fund guy. He’s used Justin in the past for… things. He said the guy was discreet and professional and he would adapt to whatever I wanted.”
Davis feels the anger surge up again, but pushes it back down.
“Before your trip to LA, I called him and told him to show you a good time. A real good time.” Todd stops, tilts his head away toward the window, unable to look Davis in the eyes. “Maybe get some pictures, charge you some money to make them go away.” Todd swallows hard, as if saying the words out loud made it all too real.
Davis wants him to say more. “And?”
“And what?” Todd asks. “Isn’t that enough?”
“No. You need to tell me why you chose that.”
“What?”
“You need to explain to me why you went with that. That plan. Why the money? You could’ve gone a thousand directions.”
Todd can’t turn his way. He picks at his napkin, then his spoon.
“Tell me. You wanted to talk face-to-face, right? I’m here. Talk to me about how you knew that would work. How you told him that I didn’t have the money. That I’d crumble. That I’d fall apart because I don’t have that kind of money.”
Todd squirms.
“That was it, right? That was the key to the plan. Using the financial problems of my past against me. Weaponize my love for my family. Am I missing something?”
“No,” Todd says, almost inaudible.
“What was that?”
“No, that’s pretty much it.”
Davis pushes away from the table and stands, looks down at Todd. A fire blazing inside of him. His fists are balled up against his sides, struggling to hold them back.
“This is over. Call your dog off of me. Do whatever you have to do, but I don’t want to be anywhere near you.” Davis makes it about two steps then stops, turning back. “And, oh yeah, make sure I get my share of that damn money.”
Davis leaves, heading toward the door.