AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’s standing beside his chair, half smiling in that wry way he has. “I think Stella got carried away.”
“It’s beautiful. I love it.”
He can’t seem to look away from my face. “All right,” he murmurs. “Then I won’t complain.”
He helps me into my seat and then pours the wine. Stella brings out salmon and salad and risotto and fresh-baked bread. She’s hiding a smile as she serves our meals with extra decorum. I’d swear she’s almost as giddy as me.
Arthur and I chat about the books I’m currently working on, and he tells me about his time in college and how he always wanted to go to graduate school and study history or philosophy but his father made it clear he had no choice but to manage the family’s assets—so vast and complex it’s always been a full-time job for the Worthing heir.
“Can’t you reorganize things?” I ask at last.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean can’t you reorganize things so you don’t have to be so hands-on? I know all that stuff needs active management, but do you really have to do all of it yourself? I guess I don’t really know what all that work consists of. I assume you’re not just moving money around. Are you running companies your family owns? Can’t you put other people in leadership roles in those companies?”
“They already have leadership in place. But everything has been structured so that the Worthing in charge is the final decision-maker on everything.”
I make a face. “That seems like nonsense.”
His eyes narrow.
“I’m not trying to be mean, but isn’t that just a remnant of the past rather than an inevitable fact of existence? Can’t you change it?”
He’s looking at me strangely. Almost like he’s never even considered the possibility before. “Why would I?”
“So you could do something else. Something that would make you happy.”
“I’m forty-six, baby. It’s a little late for a new career.”
“Why would it be? You might be only halfway through your life. Why spend the rest of it doing work you don’t even like?”
“It’s not that bad. I’ve done a decent job.”
“I’m sure you have. You’re so smart you could do anything you set your mind to, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it. Give the folks in leadership more authority. You could even sell some stuff off to make it more manageable.”
He looked as pleased as a boy at the compliment, but his expression shifts as he considers my suggestions. “Generations of Worthings would turn over in their graves.”
“So let them. They can’t do anything about it now.” I hesitate before I summon the courage to add, “Your dad can’t control you anymore.”
He winces and jerks his head to the side. Then his shoulders rise and fall in an extended breath. “Yeah.”
“You could go back to school.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “What?”
“Graduate school. Like you always wanted. Or you could do something else if you’d rather. Write a book. Start your own business. If you weren’t tied down by all these chains of the Worthing past, you’d be free to do anything. Anything.”
His face works strangely. “It sounds too good to be true.”
“It’s not. It would take an adjustment, I’m sure, and some planning, but it’s got to be doable. What about your cousins?”
“What about them?”
“You have a bunch, don’t you? Maybe they’d want to be involved and take leadership.”
“A couple already are.”
“Well, there you go. Work with them to figure something out. You’ve spent all this time hiding from life, but you don’t have to do it forever.” I reach over and cover his hand, which is fiddling with his dessert spoon. “Do you?”
