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He pinched the tops of the sugars and flicked them to get the granules to
the bottom of the packets, blue eyes on me, then the chair.
Did I want to obey the eyes that commanded me to sit without saying a
word, or the strong, graceful hands that promised so much more without
guaranteeing it?
“So, you want to talk about getting married,” I said, sitting on the
couch. “Why?”
“Mandy said she told you.” He was so confident and sure, so dapper and
traditional, that this meeting was simply the first step in a reasonable, timetested
process.
“I want to hear it from you.”
“The only thing I ever wanted to do was run Crowne Industries.” As he
spoke, he tented his fingers around the cup’s edge. “We all figured Byron
would be the guy. But I wanted it, and I was going to be ready to take it. I
majored in business. Got a Harvard MBA. Top of my class, by the way. But
my brother? I love Byron, but everything’s easy for him.” He shook his
head, drinking pensively. “He split and did his own thing for five years. My
chance, right? I busted my ass to prove I could handle it. Five years, and he
strolls back into his old office like he owns the place. Like that.” He
snapped his fingers. “I’m sidelined. And I’m going to stay sidelined unless I
get married.”
“Is that an official rule or a feeling you have?”
“My father thinks I work too hard. He brought Byron back in so I’d
have time to find a wife while he retires to take care of my mother.”
“Is she all right?”
“No.” He put his hands up to cut off further questions. “And I know
what you want. I can execute that for you. We’ll start buying up shares after
the first six months. The buys could take time, but I’ll own enough of
Papillion to exert pressure by the time we’re done. I’ll sign it over to you as
part of the divorce.”
He made it seem so simple. He was absolutely positively sure that if we
did this thing, stuck to it, waited an allotted amount of time, we’d both walk
away with what we wanted.
I believed we could walk away, but I wasn’t so sure getting us both
what we wanted would be that easy.
“So,” I said, pressing my praying hands between my knees. “That’s it?”
“That’s it. The rest is in the details.”