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“I’m sure I can,” I assure him, determined to prove it.
He grunts, more approvingly this time. “Dave’s heading up the project. I put in a call to his office this morning and he’s happy to loop you in. Touch base with him at your leisure to schedule a jobsite visit and discuss the next steps.”
I smile, but not too widely. As far as my father is concerned, even joy is something best expressed with restraint. “Wonderful. Thanks for that. I’ll follow up with him later today. Any other business before I get to work?”
His brow furrows as he leans forward. “Yes, actually. I know this isn’t technically work related, but…” He shifts his keyboard to one side, pulling a familiar newspaper clipping from underneath, making my mouth go dry. “Is this who you’re dating these days? This…DJ?”
I shake my head. “No, Adrian is just a friend,” I say, deciding to keep the fact that Adrian and I were romantically connected in the past to myself. Coming out to Dad about Gideon is going to be tricky enough without adding further complications. “He needed a plus-one for his fundraising party and asked me to join him.”
Dad’s forehead smooths as he sits back. “Good. We do business with his father’s company, G.P.G. Green, the one Uncle Mitch works for. They’re actually the contractor on the shelter project, and I’d prefer you didn’t mix business with pleasure. Not with the Gabaldons.”
“Really?” I ask, surprised. “Why’s that?”
“G.P.G. Green started as a retrofitting organization, but in the past ten years, they’ve moved more heavily into acquisitions and development. They opened an office in Vermont and rumor has it a third location in southeast Asia is in the works. They’re still a valuable partner, but a partner with…ambition.” He arches an ominous brow. “Ambition that might need to be tamped down in the future, should it continue to interfere with our own goals.”
I nod, my stomach tightening. “I see.”
I do see, but I don’t like what I’m seeing, not one little bit.
“Good,” Dad says. “I wouldn’t want you to end up in the middle of something uncomfortable.” His lips curve. “But do keep your ear to the ground with your friend. He’s not involved with his father’s business, but you never know when useful information might slip out in a casual conversation. That’s one of the reasons I’ve remained close with your uncle Mitch. He’s a friend, yes, but he’s a friend who gets chatty about his business victories when he’s had a few tumblers of scotch. That’s been useful over the years.”
Useful. People who aren’t “useful” in some way don’t last long in my father’s social circle, but still…it hurts to hear him talk that way about a man who has gone out of his way to show me kindness. Mitch is a good man and Gideon’s friend, which makes me feel even more caught in the middle than I normally would.
But I can’t flat out tell my father that I don’t “use” my friends. That would only lead to a fight and wouldn’t change anything in the long run. My father is who he is, and he doesn’t see anything wrong with exploiting the loose lips of friends and co-workers alike. In his mind, if you don’t want your words used against you, you should keep your mouth shut.
So, I keep my mouth shut, simply nodding and saying, “I’ll keep that in mind, but Adrian and I really aren’t that close. I wouldn’t spend much time with him at all if my roommate weren’t dating his best friend.”
“How is Noelle?” Dad asks. “I saw her father on the links on Saturday. He was caddying again and seemed in good spirits. I assume the cancer is in remission?”
“Yeah, it is,” I say, comforted by the glimpse of my father’s softer side. “He’s still in remission and training to run the marathon this year. Noelle and her mom are so proud of him.”
Dad nods, his lips curving. “Wonderful. I wanted to make sure he was in good health before asking him to join the board for the charity fundraiser event this year. Peter doesn’t have much to give personally, but he brings in donors from the cancer charities we can’t reach without a connection to that community.”
So much for his softer side. But that’s Dad for you. I really should know better than to expect anything but friendship-for-profit from him by now.
“I’m sure he’d be happy to join the board. Noelle’s family has always been supportive of charities that help women and children in need,” I say, rising from my chair. “Thanks for the meeting. I’ll touch base with you end of day Thursday to give you an update on where I am with this week’s objectives.”
“Excellent,” he says. “And let me know if you’re interested in joining me in The Hamptons this weekend by Wednesday. If not, I may invite a friend to join me. Can’t let what could be the last good fishing weekend of the summer go to waste.”
I smile. “Will do. I’ll see if I can make it work.”
I already know I won’t be joining him, but I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I’ll come up with a good excuse by Wednesday and ask him if he wants to meet up this coming Sunday evening for dinner. That should strike a nice balance between time for my personal life and time with my father. And honestly, we both enjoy each other’s company in smaller doses. Every time I’ve joined him at the beach house, we run out of things to talk about by Saturday afternoon, and he ends up inviting our neighbors over for dinner anyway.
I leave Dad’s office and head over to my smaller, fishbowl office on the opposite side of the open seating area in the middle of the floor. The overstuffed couches, armchairs, and glass tables for holding coffee and snacks were meant to create a gathering space for the executives to network during the day. In reality, they mostly sit empty, while my father’s VPs remain glued to their computers and cell phones in their offices, none of them wanting to risk a rival overhearing the details of their latest deal.
I wouldn’t say the environment at Watson Global is toxic, but it’s absolutely competitive, and anyone who’s made it to the forty-fifth floor knows to watch their back.
I should watch mine. If anyone from the company sees me with Gideon, I’m sure my father will know all about it by the time I make it home on the subway. And then I would be scrambling to explain myself instead of controlling the conversation.
I need to hit the timing on this just right…
If Gideon and I are still going strong in a few weeks, I’ll have to find a way to break the news to my father before anyone else does. After this morning’s revelations, the thought is enough to put a knot in my stomach, but not enough to consider calling this off.
Gideon is already too important to me to even think about that.
We’ll just have to be careful for a little while. And that’s not such a big deal. I’d rather be alone with him than out at a fancy restaurant anyway.
I text him, asking if he’d be okay with getting takeout and eating at his place tonight. He texts back in a few seconds, saying—Absolutely. I’ll take as much alone time with you as I can get. I just didn’t want you to think I wasn’t interested in courting you properly.
