Page 11 of A Family Affair: The Vow
The middle-aged woman with curly hair and cat-eyed glasses tilted her head, smiled. “Well, well, Rachel Darlington.”
Rae recognized the woman’s voice from their phone conversation. “Hello, Betty. Nice to meet you in person.” If she warmed up to this woman, no doubt she’d have a chance to see Vic. If not, who knew when he’d be “available”?
The smile spread. “I’d know that face anywhere.”Tsk tsk. “And those brown eyes, just like your mother.” A long sigh, followed by a sniff. “Too bad you didn’t get back to see them more often. Peg always said how much she missed you, but she and Gil knew you were doing big things and they understood that.”
Big things. Right. The only big things she’d done were make a terrible mistake by trusting the wrong man and believing a job could replace family. Of course, she couldn’t admitthatto anyone, especially not one of Vic Tramont’s employees. “Thank you. I wish I’d made it home more.” She should have made a greater effort to visit when her parents lived here, and why had she only traveled to Florida once? Why had she always opted out with “too busy” and “not a good time”? Why did it always take a catastrophe—business or personal—to make a person realize she should have stepped back, taken a breath, and not gotten lost in the treadmill she called her life?
“Your father says you’re going to run that company you work for one of these days. Of course, your mother worries you won’t slow down long enough to get married and have a baby or two. But your sister?” Betty tossed back her head, laughed until Rae spotted a line of bridgework. “She says you’re going to run the company with a baby in one arm and a briefcase in the other. I can picture that one...I certainly can.”
Why did everyone, including her own family, believe she was so wonderful? Living a charmed life? Filled with promise, happiness, buckets of joy? If they only knew, they would be so disappointed. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“No worries.” Betty Rafferty pointed a bony finger at her. “It’s going to happen, and I hear you even have a special someone. What’s his name? Robert? Roger?”
“Richard.”And he’s not my special someone, not anymore. Of course, she wasn’t going to admit that either.
“Richard,” Betty repeated as if trying out the name for suitability. “Rachel and Richard. Has quite a ring to it, don’t you think?”
“I really hadn’t thought about it.” And then before Betty could make any more comments on Rae’s personal life, she asked, “Vic Tramont. I need to speak with him.”
“Ah, of course. Give me a sec.” She pushed back her chair and disappeared around the corner humming Dean Martin’s “Everybody Loves Somebody.”
Rae heaved a long sigh, wished she did not have to confront the man she’d hoped to avoid. But some conversations needed to happen in person, like the one that warned a person to stay away from family and the other that wanted to set a few things straight.
7
Betty returned a few minutes later, pointed to the hall behind her. “It’s the first door on the right.” Her voice dipped to a whisper. “He’s in a bit of a mood, unusual for him, but it happens to the best of us now and again.”
Rae bet she knew exactly what had caused the mood. “Thank you.”
“Good luck, dear.” A pat on the arm, followed by a wink. “I have a feeling he’ll snap right out of that mood once he sees you.”
Not likely. Rae sucked in a breath, made her way to the first office on the right, stood in the doorway. Vic Tramont’s dark head was bent over a printout, a pen in his left hand. She hadn’t known he was left-handed, but then why would she know? He jotted something on the top page, flipped to the next. When he’d repeated this process three more times without acknowledging her, she cleared her throat. The nanosecond pause said he’d heard her, but he didn’t look up.
Fine, she could deliver the message from the doorway. “I want you to stop filling Josh’s head with your version of right.” No answer, not even a nod of acknowledgment or a pause in his writing. “You might be his boss but that doesn’t extend outside of this building.” Still nothing, so Rae tossed more jabs. “I’ll bet your HR department has a thought or two on bosses fraternizing with their subordinates.”
The writing stopped. Next came the sigh, followed by the toss of his pen that landed on the computer keyboard. One more sigh and Vic Tramont lifted his dark head, his blue eyes narrowing on her. Oh, but he was more handsome than she remembered, but the man staring back at her possessed none of the charm or warmth of that night three years ago. No, this one was cool, calculated, detached. Rae cleared her throat, opened her mouth to repeat her comment when he cut her off.
“You’ve got an opinion about everything, don’t you? Even when you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” The blue eyes sparked, the mouth pulled into a frown. “I’d say mind your own business but from what I’ve heard, that’s impossible.”
“What does that mean?” She wasn’t a busybodyora gossip. What did he know about her anyway?Nothingand that’s exactly how she wanted to keep it. But his next words told her maybe he knew more than he should. “How about your attempts—subtle and not so subtle—to get your parents to sell the business and their house?” Pause and a cold “I think you said something about ‘cutting their losses and pulling out of Magdalena before they were upside down with the business and their home.’”
They’d told himthat?Why would they do such a thing? She’d only been trying to help with their liquidity and ensure that the retirement years were comfortable and worry-free. Selling assets would do that, especially in a small town not known for its growth potential.
“Well?” He scratched his stubbled jaw, eyed her with what looked a lot like contempt. “Not denying it, are you?”
“You’re using my words out of context. I might have said that, but I was looking at the big picture of their finances and their future when I made that recommendation.”
“Sure you were.” The stare chilled her. “It’s always about the bottom line with you, isn’t it? Forget the emotion or the ties to the past and the memories associated with it. All that matters to you is maximizing the investment and the rate of return.”
“No, that’s not true.” Rae fisted her hands on her hips, tossed out her own accusations. “I tried to help them so they wouldn’t be stuck with a company when they needed to get out. They’re on a fixed income and it made sense to dump the business and the house for cash.” Pause and a snarl. “They didn’t see it that way.”
“Bet they didn’t. Did you ever stop to consider they might have been trying to hang on until Leah could buy the place?”
Leah wanted to buy Darlington Metals?How had Rae not known? “No, I never considered that.” She sucked in a breath, tried to stay calm, but it was a challenge. She didn’t like a stranger informing her about her family’s choices, especially when the stranger was Vic Tramont. “I thought about their future and how to protect it.”
“Of course, you did, but you never askedthemif that’s what they wanted to do. You just assumed you knew best.” He crossed his arms over his large chest, heaved a sigh filled with annoyance. “Even when you had no idea what they wanted or what was best for them, you just decided. It’s about choice, Rae. People have choices and just because you have a higher level of education and a fatter portfolio doesnotmean you know better.”
Now he was just making her angry. “I know that, but sometimes people can’t get out of their own way and see there are other choices, not just the ones they know about.”
