“Noah, you don’t have to?—”
“I want to. You’ve been through hell this week. The least I can do is explain today’s fiasco.”
I let my silence answer, and he continues.
“It started when I was young. He expected the best. Always. Failure was not an option, and anything but a win was a loss.”
His explanation bleeds into an answer for so many of the questions I’ve had about him and his peculiarities. Nothing like family to fuck you up just enough.
“After an undergrad in accounting, I wasn’t sure what I wanted, so I just stayed in school. When I graduated with my MBA, he offered me a spot at his company. It was nearly perfect—all the benefits I wanted with a job, and only half the responsibility as I eased into the role. But about a month into my position, I started hearing things around the office. Things I didn’t like. Rumors about my father and his friends as well as a concerning one about money disappearing from one of the charity accounts. Then, last summer when we were on vacation in the Maldives, my dad received a call from his attorney. He was being sued by three of his shareholders.” Noah takes a long pull of his drink and I wrap my hands around my glass.
“Of course, my father tried to explain it away. Claimed they were just bitter about his success. But I connected the dots and saw the truth. The money disappearing wasn’t so much of a rumor after all. I didn’t want to turn on my own family, so I tried to reason with him. If he came clean and fixed it, I would stay on with the company and make sure it didn’t tank before he was out of prison.”
I frown. The articles I read didn’t mention anything about this. For as big as Asco Tech is, it seems like something that would have made the news. The headlines practically write themselves: BIG TECH STEALS THE SHOW. I shake out of my thoughts as Noah continues.
“As I’m sure you can imagine, my offer did not land. He lost it. I’ve never seen him that angry. Yelling about how his son didn’t appreciate him, and would be the first to push him under a moving bus.” Noah holds up his elbow and points to a faded pink scar. “He even threw a stapler at me.”
I make a face and signal to the bartender that we need another round. I have a feeling we’ll need a couple more by the end of the day. The curve of Noah’s sad smile pulls his cheek as I work to focus on the story.
“However, as you witnessed today, in the world of Carlisle Graves, anything can disappear with the right motivations. I don’t know how he did it, if he paid them to disappear, or threatened to have them ruined beyond recognition, but almost overnight, the charges were gone. One of the shareholders even went as far as writing a formal apology for themiscommunication.”
I wince, his father’s offer for me to help ruin Flourish packing more of a punch now.
“I told my dad I didn’t want anything to do with his sham of a company, and quit on the spot. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I couldn’t very well go to work for a competitor—the contract I signed involved an erroneously long non-compete agreement. But then Mark came along and offered me an opportunity with Flourish. I laid out my conditions, including a relocation package so I could get away, and he met them. I left everything behind when I moved to Portland, so hearing my father mock it after being the reason I’m in this position didn’t exactly sit well.”
“God, I’m so sorry.”
Suddenly all of Noah’s dedication to this project including his being here to smooth things over with Tom, makes more sense. This is the only thing he’s ever had that’s justhis,no one pulling the strings, or swooping in to save face for him.
He shrugs. “If you can believe it, I’m not even upset about him. I’m more upset at my mom for trying to force us back together. It was sneaky and unlike her.”
I don’t know enough about Vivian Graves to speak for her, but it doesn’t stop me from scrambling for some form of comfort for Noah.
“I’m sure she wasn’t trying to be sneaky. She probably just hates seeing her family torn apart. Moms seem to be that way.”
Noah huffs a chuckle. “She likes you.”
“What are you, psychic?”
“No, but when you went to the bathroom, before my dad came strutting in, she couldn’t stop raving about you.”
“I talked to her for like five minutes.”
“You make an impression.”
I snort. “I suppose that’s true.”
We fall back into a lull, sipping on cold beer and pondering the wounds only family can leave. Desperate to lift the cloud, I cup my glass and quirk my head to the side.
“I suppose there is one silver lining.”
“What’s that?”
“I can one hundred percent sayyouare the Graves I like best.”
Success blooms in my chest as Noah throws his arms up in celebration and grins. “Well, then I guess we can say it wasn’t a total loss.”
“I mean, the bar is stilllow,”I say, bringing my glass up. “But you surpassed it.”
