I hoped beyond hope that Dad playing golf was a good sign, and that it had to do with him wanting to push the launch all of a sudden. This was a good thing, so why was I freaking out about it?
“I’ve never met anyone as paranoid as you,” Lucah said as we walked toward the T terminal. We alternated taking cabs and riding the T most days. “You really take it to a whole new level.”
“Shut up,” I said, punching his shoulder.
“Ouch. You know it’s true. It’s crazy to try to coordinate this when we’re still reeling from everything else. And it will be less stress on Walter. So what’s wrong with that?” I glared at him.
“It’s suspicious.” He burst out laughing.
“Of course it’s suspicious. I was just playing Devil’s Advocate. And I’m guessing by the look on your face that you want me to do what I do best and maybe do some detective work.” He looked at me with a self-satisfied smile.
“Bastard. You knew I was going to ask all along.”
“I’ve been waiting and waiting for you to ask. In fact, I’ve been checking into things ever since I changed positions. Do you want to know what I found?”
“I don’t know, do I?”
“I know you, and I know that you would want to know.” He waited for me to get myself together.
“Okay, tell me.” The second the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to reel them back.
Lucah took a deep breath.
“They want to get rid of Walter.”
Four
I probably shouldn’t have screamed, “You can’t be fucking serious!” on the crowded sidewalk, but it wasn’t the worst thing anyone had yelled in Boston, I was sure. I did get a dirty look from a woman who hurried her children along past us.
“This cannot be happening. How can they do that to him?”
“They think his leadership isn’t strong enough. They think that he’s been too lax,” Lucah said calmly as we kept walking. I was still in semi-shock.
“Is that what you think?”
“Of course not. But that’s what they think. So they’ve been using the headhunter to find someone new. Someone they can control. They’ve also been meeting with the stockholders and trying to win them over so they have enough votes to do it.”
“And Dad knows nothing about this?”
Lucah shook his head.
“As far as I know.”
“We have to tell him.”
“I know.”
~*~*~
“Sunshine, you have got to calm down. Normally I find your freak outs cute and only somewhat annoying, but you don’t need to do this right now,” Lucah said an hour later after trying to get me to sit down and breathe and do yoga poses or some such shit. I couldn’t sit. My mind was spinning too much and I had to keep moving. Had to. Couldn’t stop.
“I do need to do this. They’re trying to take his company away from him. After he gave them jobs. I just . . . I can’t believe it. What makes them think they have the right?” I threw my hands in the air again and Lucah just nodded and waited for me to wind down. I hadn’t been this wound in a long time, but it was for good reason.
And then something occurred me that I hadn’t thought of.
“If they get rid of him, are they trying to get rid of me?” One look at Lucah’s face was all I needed to confirm it. Then I stopped pacing.
“Oh my God.” Suddenly I felt as if I’d been slammed with a thousand punches at once and almost knocked to the floor. But Lucah moved fast and caught me before that happened.