Chapter 1 #2
His face is filled with the excitement of a kid in a candy store. “Yeah. From the studs. We pick the architects, the designers, approve the concepts, and do the walkthroughs. Let’s get our hands dirty. A real father-son project.”
I scoff. “It’s a colossal undertaking.” Typically our firm just deals with the numbers.
When your corporation is worth billions, you hire people to hire other people.
We sign the checks; they make the magic.
I don’t do site walkthroughs until the project is finished, or someone needs to be fired.
Getting involved in the details turns one step into fifty.
“What do you say?”
A reluctant, “Fine,” breaks through my lips. “Let’s do it.”
“What about being my best man?”
Agreeing to that would make it difficult to stay in denial about this marriage. But this is my dad… He’s the best guy I know. He didn’t give up on me during my darkest times. He was patient and supportive when I made decisions he didn’t understand. I can’t not do this for him.
I let out a deep sigh of exasperation. “Your bachelor party—strippers or no strippers?”
Dad laughs and pulls me into a rib-crushing bear hug. “Thank you, son. I knew I could count on you.”
“Congratulations, Dad. I mean it.” I wish I didn’t sound so sullen. It’s not only that I’m not particularly fond of my father’s soon-to-be bride, it’s also a painful role reversal. I asked my dad to be my best man, too. For a wedding that never happened. Three years later, it still hurts miserably.
He releases me with a broad smile on his face. “Great. I’ll call Jules and let her know. She wanted me to tell you before she announced it on social media.”
“That’s considerate,” I say dryly.
“Are you sure your lunch plans are concrete?” My dad lifts a brow so high it disappears underneath his hard hat. He doesn’t even pretend to buy my excuse.
“Yes.” I have to make my peace with this marriage…but not today. “Anyway, I have to get back to the office. You just dumped a shipwreck on my plate. Time to get started.”
He chuckles. “All right, then.”
I turn on my heel and head toward the building entrance as Dad calls out, “Before I forget, HR hired you another assistant. They start on Monday, next week.”
I stop in my tracks and wheel around. “We talked about this.”
“Nate, don’t start with me.” His voice grows thick with warning.
He’s a great dad, but he has a switch. You don’t maintain a multibillion-dollar business without being a hard-ass when you need to.
Just because I’m his son doesn’t mean he hasn’t chewed my ass out a time or two.
“This is a massive endeavor, for both of us. Not to mention the wedding coming up. You need help.”
“I don’t,” I say, clipped.
“Too bad. I say you do. HR had to recruit out of state to find a decent executive assistant willing to work for you. You’re starting to get a reputation.”
He’s not wrong. I’ve been through seven assistants in the past year alone. One even placed her resignation letter on my desk with a yellow sticky note that read, Attn: Asshole.
“What’s my reputation?” I take a few steps back toward him.
Dad strokes his chin with one finger. “We started offering exit questionnaires for corporate employees who resign. We ask them to give feedback, positive and negative, on the company and their direct managers.”
“That can’t be good.”
Dad gives me a dry smile. “Your complaints are very well fleshed out. You only had one positive comment. It was from your most recent assistant who quit, Helen.”
That’s surprising. I barely spoke to her. I also didn’t remember her name until Dad just mentioned it. “What was the positive comment?”
“‘He didn’t sexually harass me once,’” Dad recites from memory as he looks at me expectantly. “Do you understand what that means?”
“Not really.”
“It means that out of a dozen assistants, the only positive comment anyone could muster is that you’re not a sexual predator.”
I bite down on my smirk. “That sounds like a win.”
“Nate,” Dad grunts. “Get your shit together. I’m serious. I’ve tolerated this for so long because after Elise passed, and they took Claire away, I knew you’d need time.”
Hearing their names takes me back to the bad place. The hopeless place. I’ve been surviving for three years by not dwelling on this. “I am fine.”
Sadness cloaks his face. He holds his hand out like he wants to comfort me, but he leaves a foot of space between us. When it comes to this, Dad is used to me pushing him away.
“You know I’d spend every penny I have to bring her back. I’d happily spend the rest of my life piss poor, under a bridge, if I could take this pain away from you, son.”
There are some things money can’t fix. I’m not sure if by her he’s referring to Elise, or her daughter, Claire. Both are impossible situations. My fiancée is dead. Her daughter is kept from me by an army of legalities that not even the great Hatcher family can pay away.
I want to tell my dad I appreciate his sympathy. Maybe I even want to close the gap between us and let him hug me. But something stops me every time. Opening up about the greatest trauma of my life means feeling it.
“I’ll make you a deal,” I offer.
“Being?” The way he’s looking at me, I know he’s disappointed at my avoidant behavior.
“Get rid of the new assistant and I’ll go to lunch with you and Julia today.”
His eyes narrow. “I thought you had lunch plans?”
I pull out my phone and pretend to check the screen. “Look at that, they just canceled.”
Pressing his lips together, he shakes his head in a clear sign of disapproval. “No dice. Your assistant stays. And just so you know, she was offered a contract and salary advance. You won’t be able to scare her off by being an outright dick.”
“Waste of money, Dad. I don’t need a babysitter.”
He levels a stare, a flash of condescension crossing his face. “Then quit acting like a baby.” He smacks me on the back chummily as he strides past. “Jules and I will be thinking of your starving ass as we’re enjoying the best dim sum Chinatown has to offer.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
He hasn’t won. The new girl won’t last. They never do. One way or the other…my assistants always leave me.