“Horse therapy,” Leyla says. “Poppy is pretty good with patients. Arden is learning to ride with her.”
Blaire summarizes to Leyla what is wrong with my mom and Leyla says, “Well then, Pierce will have to help me with this.”
“Not sure if you’re suggesting this to help me or just to make his life miserable.”
“At this point, you should know that I can find ways to do something good and yet, make his life a living hell,” she says with pride.
“I’m emailing you a form so your mom or her guardian can sign it. It gives me and Hayes permission to discuss her health with her primary doctor,” Blaire informs me. “We’ll strategize and come up with a plan that might improve her quality of life and will keep her close to you.”
“Thank you,” I say, feeling slightly better. “To both of you.”
“If you need anything else let me know,” Leyla offers. “Until the building where I’m setting my practice is ready, I don’t have much to do.”
“I heard a rumor that the vet lady is already seeing patients,” I tell her.
“God, can you stop checking Baker’s Creek social media?” Blaire grunts.
“They are better at telling me what’s happening in town. You two omit a lot of information,” I explain to them.
“So what if I treated a couple of cats and a dog,” Leyla asks.
“That’s not all,” I counteract. “You’re already working. How about the baby cow?”
“Josie Morgan’s cow had a calf. I helped during the birth,” Leyla explains. “It’s like Blaire says, you don't have to limit yourself because of a building. We have a duty to our patients. Listen, these guys might have the intention of helping this town, but they can only do so much. It’s like the factory. Aldry’s Sweets can’t be saved by any of them. Only you.”
“Which is why I have to be there, isn’t it?” I ask the obvious and actually calm myself because being close might cut the time that it’s taking me to convince the employees we’re not closing and that their cooperation will help the transition to the new administration. Not that I know who is going to be in charge.
“She’s right,” Blaire agrees. “I wonder if William thought about the lives he’d impact when he decided to write this will?”
“He was up to something,” I inform them of what I’ve found so far. “I’ve been going through the books for the factory, and three years ago he just stopped caring about it. Before that, it was running smoothly. It’s the same with The Lodge. Almost at the same time, he drafted this crazy will. Listen, if he had done that with Aldridge Enterprises, he’d have lost everything and ended up homeless within months of fucking up, unlike the rest of his assets and businesses.”
“Pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed at the late stage. I doubt he had three years to live unless… When and how was he diagnosed?” Leyla asks.
“We don’t know the exact information,” Blaire informs us. “His doctor claims that it would violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy policy. We could try to figure out a legal way to get that information, but the guys don’t care about any of it.”
“What if he planned all this?” I ask, almost pulling out my old Nancy Drew notebook to write down the clues we’ve got so far.
“Does it matter?” Leyla interferes. “The means don’t change the end result. We are all trapped in this game, but only because if we bail, thousands of people will be affected.”
“You could just sign the divorce papers and be done with the Aldridges,” I remind her.
Leyla chuckles. “We both know it’s not that easy to get rid of these men.”
“She can’t,” Blaire refutes. “If all goes well, she could go for it early October, but for now she’s stuck with us.”
What does she know that I don’t?
I want to ask them about it, but I have to organize my place and figure out what I’m bringing with me, what I’ll have the movers pack, and what’s staying until I move back.
“See you tomorrow,” I say with more energy than I had before.
I found my motivation. Henry is going to pay. His father got away with his nonsense, but someone has to teach his son that he can’t just play God with everybody else’s lives.
Henry
Firing my vice president of operations was a wise move, but it’s going to be hard to find someone to take over his position. My grandfather hand-picked him to be one of his executives. He said I should trust him, within reason of course.
Did Cyril know about his behavior and just let him get away with it?
Everything that Sophia sent me is from when she started working with me until recently. Human resources has some complaints filed from former employees, but they never took any action. They should’ve done something. No one can answer if they brought this issue to my grandfather, and they certainly never brought it to me.
The company has to compensate and apologize to all these people. I mean, they deserved better than to be harassed by a man in a position of power. No wonder I can’t get anything done. Between this new development and Sophia, I can’t concentrate.
What am I supposed to do now? Pierce is looking into the legal repercussions.
Also, I need a way to compensate these people. From what I’ve read, Sophia has been taking care of them, but is that enough?
I trust her, which is uncharacteristic of me. I was raised never to entrust my company to anyone, but I never doubt anything she does. As I always say, this woman knows my company better than I do.
I take a break during lunchtime and head to the gym. After a vigorous workout, I still can’t concentrate on anything but Sophia. My biggest concern is how I’m going to handle my situation with her after what happened between us last Saturday.
I don’t have much experience with women. When I decide to date a woman, it’s usually casual, and yet, she has to sign a contract. A man in my position has to be careful. However, Sophia Aragon isn’t just any woman. Not only that, I wouldn’t want to lump her in with the others. She’s special—so different from anyone I’ve ever met.
My biggest problem isn’t that the company my grandfather entrusted me with might get fucked. It’s that I don’t have any idea what I want with my assistant. However, I can’t stop thinking about her.
Needless to say, I spend the rest of my day miserable and being an asshole to anyone who approaches me—or calls me. Around four, Vance knocks on my door and doesn’t wait for me to speak. He just lets himself inside.
“Make yourself at home,” I say sarcastically.
He glares at me. “There’s a piece of paper filed in your drawers that says I can go in and out of any room in this hotel to ensure our guests’ safety.”
“You’re in charge of security. That doesn’t give you carte blanche to do whatever the fuck you want,” I remind him. “You can’t abuse that power.”
He’s the head of security of The Lodge and Aldry’s Sweets. There is a disclaimer clause for every room that lets our guests know that security has access to their room. However, they’ll only access the facilities if there’s any immediate threat to them or someone in the hotel.