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Taking her at the letter of her word, if not the spirit, I burst into the conference room like a freight train.
“What the hell is this?” I demanded.
“Cooper, so good of you to join us,” Mom beamed.
“What the heck is going on?” Sarah repeated, coming in behind me.
“The attorneys should handle the decision,” Anderson pointed out.
“Stuff it, Glen,” Mom ordered.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sarah nearly laughed at this show of force. I was far to shocked to feel anything close to amusement.
“I’m still waiting for an explanation,” I said, wondering what treachery was afoot.
“I tracked down Lars here,” Mom said, indicating Ivanov, “to sort out this mess and ended up spending a lot of time with him.”
“He’s a gangster, you know,” I said coldly. The drums rearing up for a rousing rendition of Zulu Dawn. Fantasies of Aden with his bloodied baseball bat dancing in my head.
“Associated and not anymore,” Ivanov explained.
“Tell him the other thing,” Mom prodded in that unique way of hers.
“I-I’ve always been really impressed with you, Jones. Cooper.”
“Mr. Jones is fine,” I said sharply.
“Your work really is top stuff. That’s why I wanted you to work on the account. I really did think you would do a good job. It was my honor to support your career. M-my son died. Killed when my wife drove drunk. You reminded me a bit of the man I thought Seth would become if he’d had a chance to grow up.”
“And the threats and the bomb and what you said about Camilla?”
“I have no excuse for the last. I was wrong, that’s all there is to it. I was just trying to get to you, and I sincerely apologize.”
“Damn right, you do,” Mom chided.
“The bomb wasn’t me. Or any of my former associates as far as I know. And the threats, well.”
“Tell him, Lars,” Mom prompted.
“I want to drop the whole thing,” Ivanov continued.
I was in shock. It was evident that Ivanov was obsessed with me, but I thought it was for revenge. I’d had it all wrong, and the reason was a lot more benign, even touching when viewed from a particular perspective. I had really misjudged him. No wonder her had sounded so terrified when I went berserker on his car window.
“I did drop the contract early, and I’m willing to settle on that.”
“Nine grand,” Anderson tried.
“Lower,” Ivanov said firmly.
“I’m not just friendly with Lars,” mom said, out of nowhere, “he has proposed, and I said yes.”
The world spun in a most disconcerting way. I grabbed onto the edges of the table to keep from going down, sweet Sarah taking hold of me from behind.
“A-aren’t you moving a little fast?” I asked.
“I had a vision, dear. I know we are going to be very happy together like I knew with your father.”
“Dad walked out on us, mom.”
“We were happy before that, honey. I know you will adjust. You always do. Remember that I knew you needed me. Another one of my predictions also came true.”
“Do you believe this?” I asked Ivanov.
“I do,” he said, seeming genuine.
I couldn’t tell if he was nuts or just nuts about my mom. Though he did seem to really believe it. It did honestly seem genuine. I could almost see the sparks flying between them. I still didn’t believe in psychics but did think they would be happy together. It might be tough having Ivanov for a stepfather, but I could deal if it made my mom happy.
“Tell him the other news,” Mom prompted.
“I’ve decided to sell the casino and move to Santa Fe with Sequoia.”
“That’s great,” I enthused, meaning every syllable, particularly in terms of Ivanov moving out of state. It was going to be so much easier to get along with him when he was living hundreds of miles away.
Chapter Sixteen
Sarah
We left the conference room hand in hand, a new pride swelling within me. Cooper had seemed to handle it all really well. Especially how wrong he had been about Ivanov. He was still pretty creepy, but not in the way we had both thought. It also went a ways in explaining why he had been so annoyed when I said I was Cooper’s lawyer. The suit apparently some kind of ruse so he could get close to Cooper. Talk to him, maybe. Turns out, my brilliant strategy wasn’t much help at all. The situation had been a lot different than either of us had thought.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as we walked out on to the street.
“I’m okay,” he said, it sounding sincere.
“Do you really think Sequoia is moving too fast?”
“No,” Coop said after a while, “he seems like he would be perfect for her.”
“Because of the psychic thing?”
“Absolutely not. I agree with her, in terms of her opinion, at least, and I am definitely not psychic.”
“How do you think Sequoia will feel when you tell her that I’m the one for you?”
