Her tirade is cut short by the sight of Emily sitting with her knees drawn up on the couch, wearing sweats, makeup streaked and crying like someone cut up all of her credit cards, which Father has probably done now. I stifle a guffaw. The sight of my haughty little sister brought to ruin would be borderline hysterical, if it weren’t so pathetic. This is a reckoning that’s been a long time coming for Emily and my father both.
Ironically, though he’s not gloating in his victory over my and Margot’s plans, he looks absolutely downtrodden. The realization hits Margot at the same moment, and she goes to the bar.
“Anyone?” She gestures to the whiskey decanter. My vacation ended in Damon’s garden in Kauai, so no day-drinking for me. My father shakes his head ‘no’ but Emily nods in the affirmative through a fresh curtain of tears. Jesus, what a mess.
“Listen to me, girls,” Father says. Suddenly he sounds like the caring, compassionate father I always wish I’d had. “I know you have questions, and you deserve answers. But I can’t give them all to you right now. I just can’t. There are…mistakes, problems, the depths of which you have no inkling. So, for today, you just need to know that it’s done. As for why Damon, he came to me with the only feasible solution to keep the family name and the company out of the gutter, and me out of serious trouble. It’s really turning out exactly as you girls wanted—except for Emily, of course.”
I can come up with about a million aspects of this situation that aren’t exactly what I wanted at all. But I don’t have the energy for that. I know what he means though, and I was right when I told Clark that all the hard work has been done for us. It’s ironic that we have Damon to thank.
“So, what happens next?”
“There’s an official meeting at the Beverly Hills store day after tomorrow,” Father explains. “Since I’m the owner and majority shareholder, there is nothing to legally contest about the sale. The current Board will be invited to stay, and Damon will replace those who choose to leave. After the meeting, there will be a walk-through. Then we hand over the keys and get on with our lives.”
Margot brings Emily her drink and clinks her own glass with it. Margot downs her drink and Em just sips hers like a teenager taking her first nip. We all sit in silence until Father says he’s hungry for lunch. There’s nothing in the house, so Margot whips out her phone and orders sandwiches delivered from a local deli. God knows Father can’t afford to buy us lunch there anymore.
22
Amanda
To saythat our last meeting at the store is awkward is putting it mildly.
It’s not just that we’re saying goodbye to our lives as we know it, but being in my office again after so long is especially strange. Technically, it hasn’t been my office since Father fired me at the last Board Meeting. But since I haven’t heard any objections to my being at the meeting, or in my old office, I decide to have one last look around.
I see notes from that day strewn about, and even my favorite mug now with a stain left behind after my tea evaporated that day still sitting on the corner of my desk. The old me would scour the room for scavenged treasures, souvenirs of this life I built in the servitude of my father. I’m sure no one would begrudge me the right to take my personal belongings, but I can’t. I just can’t.
Instead, I sit and look around the room and I keep asking myself how we all ended up here today. The series of miscommunications, the dark comedy of errors just doesn’t line up. I look at my watch and realize that it’s almost time for the walk-through. I don’t need to see the rest of the store again and I certainly don’t need to be sitting here when Damon and his entourage come through. As a matter of fact, I’d be happy not to have to see Damon ever again. I only came here today for the sake of the family, for the sake of dignity.
The instant I stand up to leave, Damon enters my office.Damnit.
“Amanda—”
“Hi, sorry, I shouldn’t be here. I was just leaving.”
“What’s your rush?”
“There’s nothing left for me to do here,” I say.
“I beg to differ,” he says. “What’s the matter, Amanda, don’t you want to participate in the dismantling of Grayson’s company?” It doesn’t seem possible, but his eyes are even colder, haughtier than they were that first night in Kauai.
“This is fun for you, isn’t it? Punishing Father like this—punishing me.”
“Just as much fun as you had reeling me back in again, pretending you wanted me back to my face, but telling so random friend ‘…I wouldn’t take that bastard back if he begged me…’”
If Damon’s words were daggers, I would have died instantly.
“Is that what you think—Damon, that’s not what happened at all.”
“Really? Well, why don’t you enlighten me then. Because I know what I heard.”
“You know what youthinkyou heard,” I say. It takes everything inside of me not to let my voice crack. I refuse to give Damon the satisfaction of crying in front of him. “But it’s clear to me that you wouldn’t believe me even if I tried to explain it to you.”
I step from behind my desk and start to move toward the door.
“You’re right about that—I’ll never believe another word that comes out of your mouth. Unless of course, it’s a confession of how you planned to seduce me back for my money. Now that I’m wealthy, now that I’m acceptable to you and your father. And I can save the company.”
I pin him with my own stare this time, incredulous at first, and then I see the truth in his dark gaze. Damon honestly believes that was my plan the whole time, that I’m actually capable of such a thing. He hasn’t saved the company or our family—he’s destroyed us.
“Goodbye, Damon,” I say and step around him to leave. We’re dead to each other.
