Page 76 of A Little Too Late
She’s out of the room and closing the door almost before the words are out of his mouth.
Hell. “Let’s take a step back and talk about your options,” I try.
“My options are to sell, or not to sell,” he snaps. “It’s not that complicated.”
“The third option is to buy the land from Block,” I point out. “I could help you with that. Hear me out. What if you just retire from running the day-to-day operations of the resort? Ava is ready to do that job. You could retire tomorrow, do some traveling, and then come back to work on a deal with Block. Just explore some possibilities.”
“Jesus,Reed,” my father explodes. “I don’t want to deal with Block! I don’t know why you even think that’s an option! I can’t buy him out. I can’t expand the resort withoutsellingthe resort because we are asset rich and cash poor. Whatever Block’s land is worth, it’s more than I have in the company checking account.”
“But I’d help you with the financing,” I say. “Funding good ideas is my day job. We’d just need some investors.”
“Investors.” He says the word as if it tastes bad on his tongue. “I don’twantinvestors. You’re talking about a complex, years-long project without a guarantee of success. That is the opposite of what I am trying to do. How many times do I have to say it?”
“Dad, I’m willing to—”
“Go home to California, Reed. At no point did I ask for your help.”
A cold kind of dread spreads through my chest. I’m losing this fight, even if I don’t really know why. “Why is itsohard for you to admit that I might know a few things? That I can make this work?”
His face turns red. “Why is it so hard for you to admit you’re a decade too late? If you had shown even theslightestinterest in this place before last Tuesday, I’d be tempted by this idea. But you can’t ride in here and tell me not to accept the offer of a lifetime. The time for hypothetical solutions is past!”
“It’s not hypothetical,” I snap. “I can do this. Iwantto do this.”
My father scoffs, and his tone is mean. “You are so full of shit. Youaregoing back to California, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah. But maybe not permanently. I’d like to—”
“Do you not hear what I’m saying? Am I speaking a different language?”
I take a deep, calming breath. And I give it one more try. “I’m standing here because I care, and I want to help. I care what happens to this place.”
“Do you care enough to quit your fancy jobtoday, move back to Colorado, and see it through?”
I hesitate for a second, because I haven’t worked this part out yet. I think it’s possible for me to still do VC work, but also spend significant time here in Penny Ridge.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” my father says with an arrogant snort. “You’re all talk.”
“Dad.Jesus. My whole attitude has shifted, but I need some time to work out the details.”
“Right. When do you go back?”
Fuck. “Very soon, but—”
“And I’m supposed to turn down a check for millions and sit back while you go back to Silicon Valley? So you canforgetfor another ten years that this place exists?”
“I’m not going todothat.” And I guess it all comes down to one thing. “Do you trust me, or not?”
I regret the question immediately.
“Why the fuck should I trust you?” His anger is so white-hot that it singes my heart. “You walked away from here fourteen years ago. Gone, except for a trail of canceled tuition checks. You showed your brothers the door, and then they did the same damn thing!”
“Wait, you blame me for Weston and Crew, too? How is that fair?”
He doesn’t shout at me again, but his cold, indifferent tone is worse, somehow. “I’ve been making decisions by myself for a decade. You don’t get to walk in here and fuck with me for fun.”
As if this emotional roller coaster is fun. I realize now that I’ve made a terrible mistake. He was never going to listen, and hestilldoesn’t give a damn. “So you’re going to sell to those sharks just to spite me? That’s an asshole move, even for you.”
His eyes bulge with fury, and then he does shout. “It’s not aboutyou!I made a promise to Melody. I’m not going to break it just because you’re on a wild hair, remembering this place still exists.”
