Oliver put his fork down onto his plate and leaned back against the fabric seat of the booth. He watched Andrew’s movements. The man picked up his glass of red wine and put it to his lips. The lips no amount of lies had fallen out of.
‘No one got anything to say? Fine, I’ll start,’ Cynthia said, a heavy breath coming from her lips. ‘Oliver, I owe you an apology.’
He sat up a little more and pulled the cuffs of his shirt into line.
‘I should have told you about my relationship with Andrew personally and I should have told you weeks ago.’ Cynthia looked to Andrew, reaching for his hand. Oliver clenched his teeth tight together at the show of solidarity as Cynthia continued. ‘It’s a difficult time of year for us all and I thought it was better to wait until the New Year before going public.’ She swallowed. ‘But that wasn’t fair on you, Andrew.’
It felt as if Jesus’ tombstone was clogging his airway. He couldn’t sit here and listen to much more of this, watching Andrew create this fantasy right in front of him.
Andrew patted Cynthia’s hand, looking into her eyes like a lovesick puppy. The ravioli started to repeat. He’d had enough.
‘I have something I’d like to say,’ Oliver spoke up. He cleared his throat and picked up the file of paperwork on the seat next to him. He flicked the pages, his thumb making the dust between the sheets fly up into the air.
‘I’m hoping it’s going to be that you’re putting the merger of the two companies back on the table,’ Cynthia stated.
Oliver shook his head. ‘No.’ He looked to Andrew. ‘But that will be perfectly OK with Andrew because he never really wanted it in the first place.’
He held the older man’s gaze, looking to see if these first words would start everything dropping into place.
‘Oliver,’ Cynthia said. ‘Why would you say something like that? That article inBusiness Voicewas nothing but bravado. Andrew knows it was the wrong thing to do and he’s going to print a retraction as soon as the deal is back on the table.’
‘You’re not listening, Mom.’
‘He’s right,’ Andrew responded. ‘I had my doubts at first.’
Oliver baulked. Was he about to confess? He hadn’t been expecting that.
‘I wasn’t sure to begin with, Cynthia. You know Richard and I always had very different views on the direction of our businesses.’ He sighed. ‘That was always the reason we never worked together. But when you raised your concerns about Oliver’s ability to carry the company forward, I knew I had to look at it again.’
‘You liar!’ Oliver let every drip of loathing come out along with the words. ‘That isn’t true.’
‘Oliver.’ The plea came from Cynthia.
He was hit by the expression on his mother’s face. She did have concerns but not about Andrew: abouthimand his ability to run Drummond Global. This was so wrong. He couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer.
‘Don’t say anything else, Mom.’
‘Oliver, I know you’ve found things tough this past year and all the support the board has tried to offer you’ve categorically turned down. I didn’t know what else to do,’ Cynthia continued.
‘If you or the board had a problem, you should have come to me,’ Oliver stated.
‘You always shut me down.’
‘That’s just not true.’ Oliver shook his head.
Cynthia sniffed, tears forming. ‘I was trying to protect you, hoping you would work it out for yourself. I know running this business isn’t what you dreamed of but it’s your father’s and Ben’s legacy. I thought at least that meant something to you.’
It was like his mother had stamped on his chest with her court shoes on. Was that how she really felt? Did she think that he didn’t care because it wasn’t his dream? Before the Globe, his father and Ben were the only reasons he had for driving the company on.
‘The two companies merging was for your benefit, Oliver, not mine,’ Andrew stated, looking pious.
Oliver drew his lips into a firm line. ‘Bullshit.’
‘Oliver!’ Cynthia exclaimed.
He snapped open the file of papers and pushed them past the water jug, into the middle of the table.
‘The merger was a distraction, nothing more. He never wanted it to happen. The only reason he got so distressed when I called a halt on it was because he wasn’t sure he had enough time to implement his real plan, the one he’s been working on since my father died.’ Oliver glared at Andrew. ‘If I hadn’t pulled Drummond Global out of the deal, you would have done it yourself. Because it was all fabricated.’
