Chapter 30
Max
“Mr. Obrien?” I stepped through into his office, my back as straight as a rod.
When I’d arrived at the hotel this morning to direct the cleanup, the night manager, who was on his way out, told me that Mr. Obrien wanted to speak to me before I left. I was sure he did. He’d called me on the drive home last night, and I ignored his call.
It wasn’t important. Not compared to the woman sitting next to me in the car. However, that didn’t absolve me of the consequences of walking out of the gala last night.
I should’ve known the McCormicks wouldn’t let it go.
Family and legacy, the image that provided was everything to them.
I’d watched it shape my best friend from his earliest years.
From the hobbies he had to the food he enjoyed, Todd was forever trying to cut the individualized pieces of himself off to fit into the shape his family wanted.
As he got older, they gave him a leash, but it was only long enough to hang himself with.
They played down his desire to work with me, to start MaineStems. They made him believe we wouldn’t have survived without his name and without their connections.
And Daisy…I knew from the moment I’d met her, not as her, but as Todd’s girlfriend, that she was one more notch in his long string of attempted defiance.
They let Todd work with me while slowly stripping away parts of his lifestyle that he’d been raised to rely on.
And then, when Daisy got pregnant, they decided he had to marry her, that she had to leave school.
That she had to fit into their mold too. Because of the baby.
I was sure now—I hadn’t been before, but now, there was no doubt in my mind that Mary hadn’t spoken to Todd. If she had, he would’ve been the one confronting Daisy at the fundraiser last night. Mary had lied to get Daisy to do her bidding, and she was doing it again.
Whatever power or control they thought they had, it was nothing compared to the hard work and dedication I’d put in over these last couple of years. Yes, their name had opened doors. Had garnered big clients with big contracts. But they weren’t what made my business.
What made my business was individuals. Friends. Family. Local business. Word of mouth referrals. That was what had made MaineStems grow. Not the dozen or so political and corporate contracts. Those had benefited the company, to be sure, but they weren’t the backbone.
In fact, if Mary knew anything at all, she’d know that was the one sticking point Todd and I perpetually disagreed on.
All he wanted was to leverage his name and his family position to bring in business, and I wouldn’t let him.
Even then, I guess I knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Now, if only I could convince Daisy to trust me—that there was nothing they could do to me or my business that I couldn’t withstand.
The problem was convincing her would take time.
I could see it written all over her beautiful face last night—the panic, the fear that she would be the reason I lose everything.
She was my everything.
“Please, come in.” He motioned me forward, and I strode to the chair in front of his desk, sinking into the seat.
He finished whatever he was typing before closing his laptop and sliding his glasses off his nose. “Mr. Hamilton, your flowers were truly spectacular last night, as promised. And the perfume. Above and beyond.”
Okay, maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad.
“Thank you.” I dipped my chin. “I’m grateful for the contract, and I hope we can work together this way again in the future.”
His head bobbed. Or not.
“I’m not, however, pleased with the way you walked away mid-conversation with Mr. Grant.
” His eyes narrowed as his real reason for calling me in here came out.
“I came back over with two other colleagues of mine to recommend you and your services, but you were gone. Mr. Grant was alone and annoyed.” His lip twitched, his scrutiny holding steady.
“I don’t appreciate going out on a limb for a vendor only to be… stood up.”
“I apologize, but my wife wasn’t feeling well, and I had to take her home.”
“I see,” he murmured flatly, clearly expecting more of an excuse. “While I do understand, it was still—”
“Mr. Obrien.” I sat forward, linking my hands.
I didn’t have time to be chided as if I were a child.
If he didn’t want to recommend me or do business with me anymore, I didn’t care.
“You may look at me and think my business is just pretty flowers, and that’s okay.
I’m sure there are guests who come to this hotel and think that your business is just rooms, but you know better.
I know better. You aren’t in the business of lodging.
You’re in the business of customer service and experience.
” My voice picked up a charge, sparking along every word in the hopes that one of them would catch in his mind and make him understand.
“And I’m not in the business of flowers, but of love.
Of care. What I provide shows the recipient, whether it’s one person or a whole room of people, that someone cared enough to be thoughtful, to want to give them something beautiful because they are important.
What kind of business would I be if I didn’t give the same priority to my very own, very pregnant wife? ”
I simultaneously rose from the chair and stepped down from my soapbox. “I’m sorry for my abrupt departure last night, Mr. Obrien, but my wife and baby will always come first.” And then with a brief nod, I went to leave.
“Mr. Hamilton.”
I stopped at the door because it was the polite thing to do. Even if we never did business again, I wouldn’t purposely burn a bridge. As I turned, Mr. Obrien extended his hand over his desk, a steady smile drawing up his normally severe expression.
“I look forward to working with you again in the future.”
I took it, knowing I passed some kind of test in his eyes, but when I walked out of his office, I couldn’t find it in me to care. For the first time since I’d started pursuing my dream, since MaineStems was just a seed starting to sprout, its success wasn’t at the front of my mind. Only she was.
My wife.
“And what is this regarding?” The suited secretary looked at me, his expression permanently wrinkled with displeasure that I’d shown up to Mr. McCormick’s office without an appointment.
“His son and grandchild.”
That earned a flicker of recognition.
The McCormicks could try all they wanted to keep the drama of Todd’s disappearance under wraps, but there was no hiding that he walked out on a wedding. That they’d been forced to postpone the grand wedding reception they planned without even asking Todd or Daisy. That he hadn’t shown up since.
“One moment, Mr. Hamilton. Let me check if Mr. McCormick can see you.”
He would. Mary might’ve given me a hard time, but Todd Sr. would see me.
This was the real reason I left the house so early this morning.
To end this.
I waited impatiently in the hall while he went to check with Mr. McCormick, the walls claustrophobic with formal portraits of the McCormick family going back generations.
Even Todd’s photo hung among them, though it looked nothing like my childhood friend.
I doubted any of them did. They weren’t supposed to.
The portraits were commissioned to show how they wanted people to see them, not how they actually were. The oldest kind of filter for the rich and powerful. Even the one of Mr. and Mrs. McCormick, smiling together…a show. They weren’t happy. And they weren’t together.
Few people knew that Todd’s parents lived mostly separately. They did their best to hide it from the world because they were more powerful together.
For all the time I’d spent in their orbit, even I hadn’t known until a few years ago, when Todd let it slip, and only because he’d been drinking. Even for all the times he hated them, hated what they’d done to him, he never broke rank. Never betrayed the family image.
“Right this way, Mr. Hamilton.”
His secretary led us along a rope of hallways, past Mr. McCormick’s office that I’d been in a handful of times over the years, to the back corridor of the brownstone and into the more private rooms.
Wordlessly, he opened a door and announced, “Mr. Hamilton for you.”
He shared a look with his younger secretary, and I had to wonder…
“Thanks, Jackson.”
The door closed us in together.
“Max.”
“Mr. McCormick.” I walked up to his desk.
He motioned for me to take a chair, but I refused.
“What can I do for you?”
I braced my stance. “You can tell your wife to never speak to my wife again.”
His eyes sparked. I wondered when the last time someone had spoken to him like this. He had the decency to shift uncomfortably before insisting, “I’m sorry, Max, but that’s our grandchild, and it needs—”
“She, not it,” I snapped, never feeling more pity for Todd than I did at this moment.
McCormick waved me off like it was a moot point.
“There are certain expectations for this family, Max. I don’t expect you to understand, but unfortunately, if you are going to stay married to Daisy, you won’t have a choice. There is a certain way our granddaughter needs to be raised.”
I hated everything about how he spoke. How he sounded like he was in a business meeting discussing a contract. Not a baby. Not my baby.
I moved right in front of his desk and pressed my fingertips to the top.
“Except she’s not your granddaughter, is she?” I said, my voice deadly low.
He didn’t even balk, and that was how I knew I had him. How I knew I was right.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I bent closer. “I know Daisy’s baby isn’t your grandchild because Todd isn’t your son.”
His parents’ living arrangement wasn’t the only thing Todd had let slip.
“How do you—”
“How do you think?” I charged, my voice low and taut.