Page 35 of Courage, Dear Heart

My father straightens his tie in the reflection. “I’m asking because it’s my understanding that you never asked her on another date again.”

And I never will, but I can’t quite say it like that. He’dtake offense to it. “I don’t think she liked me much.” Though she seemed to like my money well enough.

“That’s what you say about every woman your mother and I make an effort to introduce you to.”

My mother never tried to push me into dating anyone, but I don’t call him on that. “Not every woman. I’ve had more than one date with some of them.” The ones who were as unhappy to be manipulated into a date as I was. The ones who made it clear they were not interested in me as a potential life partner as my father likes to call them. Never girlfriends or future wives. Potential life partner. Like they had been a mutual business transaction, with these women there was an understanding. Go on a few dates, maybe even sex, keep the parents off our backs for a while.

He turns to face me then. “I’m disappointed in your lack of maturity. You’re thirty-three. I was a father three times over by your age. You won’t make partner until you’re married to the right woman.”

The right woman, meaning the daughter of a politician or a socialite, or another equally important and pampered trophy wife. “Times have changed?—”

“I have not. And neither has this firm and the principles on which it stands. It’s bad enough that you chose to be a paper-pusher instead of acquisitions and bringing this firm more money. I won’t have my only son be the last one to make partner.”

And there it is. The competition between my father and his brothers. The competition between Josh and me. Except I’m not playing their game. “Father?—”

“No.” He stops me with a hand gesture. “That’s not whatI came here to discuss with you. I want you to take over one of Joshua’s cases.”

I nearly choke on my water. Josh is a shark, the most competitive of them all, and my father knows it. He hates me. “Our areas don’t overlap. I don’t do acquisitions. I write contracts. And I don’t think my cousin will be okay with me taking over any of his cases.” He also hates when I call him Josh, so I do it every chance I get.

“Hehas no say in it. I’ve ordered him to hand over the files.”

“And everyone agreed with it?” There’s no way my uncle let that slide.

“They had a deadline. They could not make the deal. Now it’s your turn to make it work. I’ve ordered all the information to be delivered to you. It’s your problem to solve now.”

“But that’s not my job. I don’t do deals.”

My protest is ignored. No surprise there. He turns and sets the half-full glass on the corner of my desk and walks away.

There’s more to this story. Something he’s not telling me. They all like to play games and use underhanded moves. Dear old Dad dropped me in a den of vipers.

He halts at the door. “Get it done.”

I go back to the windows. No good will come of this new development. Josh will be pissed. He won’t care that I had nothing to do with taking his client. He can’t go after my father, so he’ll go after me.

There’s a knock on the door now. I turn to see Margaret, my father’s assistant. She walks into my office and places athick folder on my desk. “Megs, you are a saint. You’re the only one who can handle him.”

She comes to my side and peers down at the street. “Thinking of jumping again?”

I laugh. It’s a terrible and morbid joke between us. “If only the windows opened, Megs.”

She pats my shoulder in a motherly gesture. “Two more years. Remember that.”

“I’m counting the days.” Two years until my grandfather’s trust is released to me under the condition that I work for the firm until I turn thirty-five. Had it been a lesser amount, I may have walked away from it. But I’m not giving up ten million dollars. Especially not when the money goes to my father if I do. And knowing how petty my father is, he’d write me and my sisters off the will like he threatened to do more than once before.

I sigh. “That’s the plan, Megs. In two years, I collect my money and then walk away. He probably knows, and that’s why he’s so intent on me making partner. He thinks that will keep me here, under his thumb forever.”

Margaret reaches into a pocket of her cardigan and hands me a piece of caramel candy. She’s been sneaking those to me behind my father’s back since I was a little boy. “For what it’s worth, I told him it was a terrible idea to give you this case. Joshua’s been foaming at the mouth since yesterday when your father told him you were taking over.”

I look at her. “I don’t know how you do this—day after day, year after year, you stuck by his side. Every time you go on vacation or have a day off, the whole office walks on eggshells. He makes all the temps cry.”

She shrugs. “I was here before him, and I never let himforget it. He doesn’t intimidate me because he knows he needs me more than I need him.”

“That’s true. The old man is lost without you.” I turn to my desk and nod at the folder she brought in. “How bad is it?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t envy you on this one. It’s a David and Goliath case. Lots of pressure from a big client going after a little old lady refusing to sell.”

Fuck. I hate these cases. I hate going after the small dog. I hate being Goliath. Even if we win, it’ll feel like a loss. “You should ask him for a raise. Whatever he’s paying you is not enough.”

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