Tony stares at me. Hard. “She’s mine.”
I don’t know what to say to that.
“Go on,” Tony urges me.
“Well, what do you want in a business partner?” I ask him.
“A proven track record of success. Business acumen.”
“Anything else?”
“Like what?”
“Like honesty. Ethics. Shared values, maybe. I’m assuming you wouldn’t want to deal with someone you didn’t trust or who was unethical.”
Or maybe that doesn’t matter if he has connections to the criminal world. Maybe he’s the one who’s unethical and untrustworthy.
“Are you suggesting I shouldn’t trust Eric?”
“I don’t know him that well,” I mumble, looking away.
“What does your intuition tell you?”
“What does yours say?”
“I know what mine is. I want to know what yours is.”
I shift in my seat, unsure how to respond. I finally recall, “Mo used to say how you do one thing is how you do everything.”
“Which means?”
“It means how you show up in one part of life is a reflection of how you can be in other parts.”
“Is there a reason you aren’t answering the question directly?”
I blurt, “I think he’s an asshole, and I don’t think he can be trusted. That’s my honest opinion.”
I bite my bottom lip, wondering if I was too candid.
Tony looks unfazed. Maybe it’s because he’s come to the same conclusion.
Feeling like I need to back up my statement, I add, “The Drumms have been accused of a lot of shady dealings, and though nothing has been proven in court, I’ve noticed their attorneys never address the questions head on. Instead, they resort to smearing and name-calling their accusers. But I could be misjudging it all. I’m not a business person. Maybe this is normal in the world of business, in which case, I’m glad I’m not in it.”
This time Tony looks surprised, I think because of the force with which I spoke. And the heat in my tone is definitely the result of what happened between me and Eric today. He represents all that is wrong with a profession that puts money above people.
“How else is Eric an asshole?” Tony asks.
“You probably deal with assholes all the time in your line of work,” I murmur, ready to be off the subject. I don’t want to have to relive the reasons I think Eric is a jerk.
“We come across them frequently, and sometimes we don’t have the choice of walking away. This can be the case when we have to work with government officials. But I try not to make a practice of working with assholes if I don’t have to.”
I look out the window at rows of olive trees. I still have to text James back.
“So far I agree with everything she says,” Benjamin tells Tony. “My first impression of Eric? He’s a first order wanker. He’s not a complete idiot, but his hubris drops his business IQ significantly. I think the allegations in the news are just the tip of the iceberg.”
“But if his father becomes president, those allegations won’t amount to anything,” Tony replies. “Even if this resort and golf course is a loss, which it probably will be—”
“The water costs alone could sink it. California is a damn desert.”