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Are you going to be removed from your position as the CEO? Is it true you had anger issues in the army? What does this mean for your company? Mr. Jackson, where is your daughter? Why did you move to North Carolina?
The sunglasses hide my emotions, and my lips remain sealed as I shake the hand of the smiling security guard and head into the building.
The elevator takes me up twelve levels. Each ding of a new level brings me closer to the anxious board members. I have one goal in this meeting: observe their countenance. That’s all I need from the meeting. Their reactions will tell me which chess move I have to take to maintain my position as CEO.
I exit the elevator, put my sunglasses in my pocket, and walk down the lighted hallway. At the end of the hallway, I push the large glass doors to the conference room. Six faces turn to look at me: Smitty, Berkowitz, Flounders, Luke, Wright, and Suzy. I plaster a broad smile on my face and turn on the charm.
***
“Well, that was a fucking disaster,” Luke says.
He’s looking out the floor-to-ceiling glass window as he speaks. The board meeting is over, and it’s just as Luke fears: the hit pieces are souring the board members on me. The walls of the expansive conference room feel like they’re closing in on me. I stand from my chair and join Luke by the window.
“Have you read the new piece?”
“No, you gave me the gist of it. I don’t have to read it.”
“Good, don’t. It’s fucking bullshit is what it is.”
I go to the dispenser in the corner of the tiled room and fill a glass with water. I return to the window beside Luke and sip my cup. I watch the street with a multitude of people looking like ants. The thought strikes me that everyone down there has lives as complicated as mine.
“They want me out.” My tone doesn’t reflect my anger.
“They think you’re not stable, that you’re unreliable.”
“After all these years? After all the money I’ve made them?”
“They still have billions on the line. Money turns people into greedy animals.”
“Tell me about it.”
Luke turns to look at me, his blond hair slid back. “Arriving late didn’t help your case.”
“Did you see the way Suzy looked at me? She was practically salivating at the thought of deposing me. You know she hates me.”
“You banged her right after her divorce.”
“She invited me to her house for a drink.”
“So?”
“I was mourning, and she invited me at midnight.”
Luke bursts into laughter. He knows the story; he just wants to make me feel guilty. Asshole. He puts a hand on my shoulder but remains quiet for a moment.
I can tell he’s thinking and knows what he’s about to say.
“I have to improve my image, yeah? Paint the image of a man with a settled home.”
“Half of the board members are religious. They want a leader who makes them a lot of money while controlling their household and image.”
“My life is settled. Why do I have to concoct something to make it seem more settled? I lost my wife, for god’s sake.”
Luke says nothing. He removes his hand from my shoulder and takes my half-full glass. He finishes my drink in one gulp and turns to drop the glass on the table.
“Sometimes, a lie is better than the truth.”
My mind goes to Layla and the truth I’m keeping from her. Perhaps Luke has a point. Maybe it's necessary to tell lies at times to keep the peace.
