“Step up or step off” was something my father often said. Competing with Jared pushed me to do just that.
It could have been an ugly situation, but my father also cultivated a friendship between us. He encouraged us to play off each other’s strengths rather than try to take each other down. Winning took on a deeper meaning when viewed in a collective manner.
When I began to excel, my father suggested Jared start his own e-commerce company, Seacrest Solutions. It would complement rather than compete with our business. Wenham Global invested generously in and partnered with Seacrest Solutions on many projects. In the industry, our companies were formidable in their own right. When either was challenged, they both pulled together and were indomitable. Despite market fluctuations, both companies were riding high and expanding.
It made no sense that my father would choose now to retire. His whole justification for it sounded like a late-life crisis, but I was doing my best to honor his wishes. He and I had butted heads many times in the past, and I’d often thought he was dead wrong. Things would never be easy between us because, according to him, we were too much alike. What others might’ve called hardheadedness, we called perseverance.
My phone vibrated. Jared. I accepted the call and put him on speakerphone. “Don’t.”
He laughed. “Time away from the office has done nothing for your personality, I see.”
I didn’t dignify his comment with a response. I couldn’t even summon anger for how much amusement he was finding in my situation. If our roles were reversed, I likely would have done the same.
In a more serious tone, he said, “I had dinner with your father last night. He explained his reasoning behind temporarily cutting you loose.”
“It’s only temporary if I fulfill his requirements. Did he tell you what he wants from me? I have six months to get engaged, but not to anyone I’m currently dating. He wants me to find a ‘normal’ woman.”
Jared chuckled. “So no models or heiresses. How can you possibly meet a normal woman? Oh, wait, walk down any street. The world is full of them.”
“Very funny. I have no intention of getting married.”
“You may change your mind if you expand your circle.”
“Oh, I’m fine with meeting new women. I just have no desire to legally bind my life to anyone else’s. Not now. Not in the future. Never.”
“So what will you do? We both know how Hamilton gets when he thinks he’s right. Are you prepared to watch him hand the business over to someone else? He would do it.”
“I know he would.”
Jared cleared his throat. “For transparency’s sake, you need to know he asked me if I would want to buy out Wenham Global if you fail to get engaged. The only caveat was that I fulfill the same requirement.”
It wasn’t shocking that Jared would be my father’s plan B, but that he’d already mentioned it to Jared was not a good sign. I now had another equally pressing question. “What did you say?”
“What do you think?”
“Ours is a multibillion-dollar company that would easily fold into yours. I have no idea.”
“That’s insulting. I said no.”
“Because you know he’s off his rocker?”
“No, because I would never do that to you.” His claim was a far cry from the insults he’d tossed my way when my father had first hired him, but we’d both grown since then. If it came down to it, would he actually pass on buying our family’s company for what would likely be a steal? Only he knew for sure.
“And you don’t want to get married either.”
He laughed. “There’s that as well.”
After a brief pause, I said, “My father hasn’t been himself since he came back from those two funerals. I understand why Winston’s hit him hard—they golfed together on a regular basis. I’m not as clear on why Rutger’s funeral pushed him over the edge. I guess the deaths of friends happening so close together was too much.”
“It was a wake-up call for him. Hamilton faced his mortality, and that can make a man question if the path he’s on is the right one.”
“Don’t tell me you agree with what he’s doing.”
“Not at all, but after talking to him, I understand his reasoning. He’s rethinking what he wants to do with the time he has left.”
“My father is free to live the rest of his life any damn way he wants, as long as we don’t all have to go on that ride with him.”
“You might not have much of a choice.”
I shook my head in disgust. “There’s always a choice. I’m not exactly broke. I’ll start over if I have to.” Better than anyone else, he knew I meant it. The one thing my father had done exceedingly well was to push me beyond fear. It was a trait that served me well in business. Some called me cocky, but that term implied an attitude that was based on ego rather than aptitude.
“With the amount of work you’ve put into the company, no one would judge you if you fought to gain control of it via a legal battle. He technically didn’t have the right to remove you.”
Jared was correct. I had heavily invested my own money in the company, and with the right lawyers I might win—not just my position back but my father’s as well. It wasn’t a scenario I was willing to consider unless my father’s behavior began to endanger himself or those around him. For now, he was simply acting irresponsibly. He was missing meetings, forgetting to return calls, and procrastinating on closing deals we had in progress. Normally I would have been in the office, but that was the second bombshell my father had dropped on me: he’d asked me to temporarily step away from our family company. I’d agreed to, because I didn’t have much of a choice. That didn’t mean I wasn’t still very much involved. I had the people nearest him running damage control. It was a complicated situation. My father was a proud man who would be furious if he knew I was propping him up.
“I’m still acting president on paper, just on leave. Two funerals in a row would shake up any man. I’m certain that when my father’s head clears, all of this foolishness will end.” I wasn’t actually certain about that at all, but the truth would have prolonged our discussion of a topic I wanted to wrap up.
“For your sake, I hope so.”
“It’s the only reason I agreed to take a leave. There is no winning head to head with him—you know that. Confronting him would only push him to do something more drastic to make his point.”
“And if the board starts to lose confidence in him?”
“I’ll deal with that if it happens, but I don’t see this going that far.”
“I’m here if you need me. No one wants to see your father’s legacy tainted,” Jared said.
“If things get ugly, you’ll be the first call I make, but let’s hope this ends up as nothing more than an unexpected vacation.”
“Or that you find your soul mate.”
I groaned. “It’s all nonsense. He also wants me to find a hobby—an interest completely unrelated to work. He’s never had one.”
“Maybe that’s the point.”
“You don’t have one.”
“Hey, hey, this isn’t about me.”