AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Because it makes them look good,” Lucas finished the sentence with a taste of bitterness in his mouth.
Lucas sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair once more. He gazed out at the view of the Toronto skyline. The other tall buildings glistened under the shining sun. It was a picture perfect day outside. He wished he could say the same about inside his office. Or inside his heart. The sun certainly wasn’t shining there at the moment. It was a dark and cold place inside him. He felt as if nothing could make that gloominess go away. Nothing.
Lucas thought for a minute. Was the foundation seriously blaming him personally for the loss of their biggest contract? What was he supposed to do? Barricade himself inside his own home and become a recluse? Never to associate with anyone again? Never speak or say anything? Ridiculous. And not happening.
He remembered an old saying he’d read somewhere in college. “Well,” Lucas broke the silence in the room. “You know what Aristotle once said, right? ‘To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing…'”
“Be nothing,” Zack added with a smirk as he finished his brother’s speech.
“And we all know, Lucas is not one to go away quietly, Granddad,” he said with an air of coolness.
“What do you mean by that?” Toni leaned forward in his chair across the table.
“They’ll be people who criticize me no matter what I do. I’m not playing into their game. Nor will I go away quietly. I’m truly sorry we lost the…Carlson College account,” Lucas said as he rose from the table. “But we’ll move forward on all the other trial programs for the new version of updated software programs across the board.”
“And?”
“And those who are with us, are with us, and those who aren’t…well, I bid them adieu.”
“You’re not leaving the meeting now, are you?”
“Yes.”
“But we’re not finished yet,” his secretary Mary pointed out.
“I’m finished. Ever since the meeting started, the agenda has always come full swing to my behavior or my actions that cause embarrassment for the corporation and the foundation. Well, I’m taking a break…” Lucas glanced down at his watch. “Right now!”
Lucas walked over to where his grandfather was seated and kneeled beside him. “Granddad, I love you. It has nothing to do with you. I just need to work out some things.”
The elder Romero did not look the least bit impressed.
“Listen, why don’t we meet back tomorrow morning?” Zack posed to the team. “Lucas and Granddad, I’m sure you need to discuss a few things.”
Those words provided the cue for everyone else to clear out of the boardroom.
Lucas got up from kneeling and heaved a sigh. His grandfather’s face was stone cold. Lucas shoved his hands in his pockets and paced by the window.
“What is with you, Lucas? Why do you have to be such a hardhead? The more you encounter opposition, the more you try hardest to be a jackass.” The pout on his grandfather’s face was priceless.
In spite of himself, Lucas turned to face his grandfather and burst out with a hearty guffaw.
Soon, his grandfather’s lips melted into a smile then he, too, laughed. “Lucas, what am I going to do with you, grandson?” The affection Toni had for Lucas was evident in his voice.
Lucas and his grandfather always had this understanding with each other as long as they’d known each other. It was always an inside thing that no one else could understand.
“I don’t know, maybe give me back to the stork that delivered me to my parents. Probably the old bird lost direction and sent me to the wrong family.” Lucas shrugged.
He watched as his grandfather mockingly rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Are you alright, grandson?”
“I’ll be fine, Gramps. Don’t worry about me.”
“Are you sure? Lucas, you’re a fine young man. Sometimes you can be a bit rough around the edges but you’re so brilliant at all the work you do and the lives you’ve saved through that wonderful Healthy Start pre-screening program. You’ve made so many people happy. I just want to see you happy, my boy.”
