Page 94 of The Lookback

“But you’ve been married,” Tommy says. “Why did you sayif?”

“When were you ever married?” Helen shakes her head. “No one in their right mind would be willing to put up with a lifetime of this misery.” She’s smiling.

But Tommy’s not.

“I think Tommy’s talking about my wedding to Jedediah Brooks,” I say.

Helen’s laughing even harder. “As if.”

“Tommy, I have something big to tell you,” I say slowly. “And I meant to do it after Helen left, but I guess there’s no time like the present.”

Helen’s not laughing anymore, somehow grasping that the tone has shifted. “You know what?” She stands. “I’m going to put you down as a yes, and I’ll see myself out.”

I don’t argue with her.

Once the door has shut, I continue. “You started pressuring me years ago, threatening to come back here and tell Jed how I felt if I didn’t do it myself.”

“I was hoping you’d tell me you didn’t like him anymore,” Tommy says. “It was stupid, I know.”

I look down at my hands, weathered and worn. “I was scared that you might really do it, so I lied.” I look up, forcing myself to stare into his eyes. “I didn’t ever tell Jed that I liked him, and we didn’t get married, and I never traveled the world either. In fact, I made all of those things up for one reason. I was fond of Jed, and when he cut me off, it hurt. I found out after he died that he’d fancied himself in love with me for decades. But all that time, the guy I really liked. . .was you.”

22

HELEN

Back in business school, I thought I wassolucky, meeting someone like Oliver. His family was impressive. His parents were picture perfect. He was gorgeous. And he likedme.

It wasn’t until after he stole my idea that I realized what a bullet I had dodged when he dumped me.

When I saw him again, I got a little nostalgic, and for one very stupid second, I actually wondered if I was making a mistake, putting my effort and time into someone like David Park. Someone who wanted things that were fundamentally different than what I wanted.

But David has always been willing to lead me to water, and he’s always been patient waiting for me to drink.

Oliver has been impressively consistent in an entirely different way.

“He did what?” Abby asks. “I’m going to castrate him.”

“Not kill him?” I lift my eyebrows.

“No, I want him to live with his misery for a very long time,” Abby says. “And I want to make sure he can never ever make any more little monsters like him while he suffers.”

I place my hand on my belly. “Like the one I’m growing right now?”

“Yours won’t be a monster.” Abby’s face softens like it always does when she looks at my stomach. “Yours will be an angel.”

“Not this again.”

Abby rolls her eyes and changes gears quickly, as usual. “What’s our plan then, if not castration?”

Oliver alerted the board about our plan to force a vote, when he knew I didn’t have enough votes yet. By my calculations, I’m still one percent shy of taking the company for the price I want—a price that will make us all a lot of money.

“There’s not much we can do,” I say. “Except talk to the shareholders about what I think they should do and how it will benefit anyone who votes with me.” I shrug. “This is how this kind of thing goes. He’ll forfeit his share of the gains if we can prove he disclosed after signing that agreement, and we’ll do what we can to repair anything we can.”

Once Abigail has lined up a sitter for her little guy—Beth is proving to be very willing to help out in a pinch when I throw money at her—we both hop on a jet and head for California. We go over the particulars of the speech I’ll make to the board on the way.

“You’re ready,” Abigail says. “After that speech, I’d hand over my votesandmy retirement fund to you.”

“It’s about time,” I mutter. “It’s offensive you have that money invested in REITs.”

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