Page 126 of Hold Me Instead
She braced herself. Daniel was probably about to tell her the practice was in trouble, not knowing Zachary already had. She was prepared for this, she would tell him she’d still buy in, that it didn’t matter—
“Charlie, I’ve transferred the practice over to Zachary.”
“Dad,” Zachary choked out.
Charlie blinked at Daniel, shooting a quick glance at Zachary before looking back at her boss, her mentor, once again. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I had the paperwork drawn up this week. EFVH is now in his name. It was best for everyone, believe me. I understand you’re aware I was in some financial trouble.”
She swallowed hard. “I had heard, yes, but I don’t understand.”
“There are certain tax laws and breaks that come with it moving between family.”
“Right, family…” Charlie said absently.
“Dad, you couldn’t be a little more gentle with this?”
Charlie turned to Zachary, registered his lack of surprise.
Zachary looked at her. “I’m sorry, Charlie, I didn’t ask for—”
She looked at Daniel. “When was thisdecided?”
“I had the paperwork finalized yesterday. This doesn’t mean anything about your work with the practice, Charlie. Your dedication has been above and beyond.”
“Just not family level,” she said. It was the most brash tone she’d used with Daniel in all the years she’d known him.
“This has nothing to do with your ability to run things, Charlie.” His gentled tone didn’t matter.
She felt her heartbeat in her throat. “Then why not talk to me about what was going on? You owed me that, Daniel.”
He firmed his lips. “It was something I had to take care of myself.”
“You didn’t think you could even talk to me about it?” Charlie scooted to the edge of the couch. “After all this time?”
Daniel looked to Zachary, a gaze passing between them that Charlie didn’t understand. Zachary held up his hands.
“This isn’t my thing, Dad. You surprised me too.”
“So now I’ll have you both mad at me,” Daniel said.
She was fuming. She couldn’t remembereverbeing mad at him. He’d only ever guided her with a kind hand, been there for her throughout all those years of schooling, of learning. Was someone she could consult, could securely admit when she didn’t know something—because, like he’d always reminded her, how could she know everything? There was always something new to learn.
A lesson he must have forgotten.
It was a major reminder that their respect didn’t go both ways.
“Charlie, I still want you there. This doesn’t change that.”
“You know it’s not what we agreed to, Daniel. It’s not what we’ve talked about all these years,” Charlie said. She choked up, tears threatening, but she was too angry to let them spill.
“That can still be an option. Right now, things will shift over to Zachary until we can get on more solid ground.”
She looked at Zachary. “So, youarestaying?”
“I haven’t actually agreed to or signed anything yet.” Zachary looked between her and his dad. “I’m still trying to figure all this out.”
She nodded slowly. “Yeah.” She blew out a loud breath. “This forces you to stay in town, take over for your father, see me when we were supposed to be temporary. That must be really throwing you for a loop.” She huffed out a crazed laugh and stood, running her hands through her hair. “Um, I’m going to go.”
