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I looked back and he ran a hand over his hair. “Sit.”
I sat, carefully, ready to bolt the second he made this worse.
“I understand how you feel. I felt the same way at your age. And my father wanted me to follow in his footsteps. He was a miner and he felt the only place I could learn to be a man, provide for my family, was by following him into the mines. I never wanted to go. It was no way of life. The miners lived hard and died young, and barely saw the light of day in between. But I tried it, just for a week, for him. Because I saw how much it meant to him.”
He fell silent and I waited.
“I guess, well, I’ve done the same to you. And I know you have no interest in what I’ve built, but I built it for you. You and your brother.”
I sucked in a breath. All those late nights, those missed rugby games, the brief holiday dinners, it had all been for us. I wasn’t ready to forgive, but maybe I could reconsider.
I scooted my chair in to the table and poured myself a glass of water. “Alright, Dad.” I saw a flicker of emotion at the word I never used. “Tell me how you got the idea to start the firm.”
38
Margo
Once upon a time, I had thought things between Andrew and I were awkward. I had thought he hated me and that I had hated him. Turns out, I had no idea what awkward was or what hate looked like.
Because now, it was all I saw. We had been sitting in silence in our shared office for two hours. And before that, I had asked him one question, received his a cool response, and seen the back of his head as he turned back to his computer.
We were working on what I hoped would be the final version of the purchase agreement for Bankman, though I had no idea how we would finish it if Andrew wouldn’t speak to me.
“Andrew.” I cleared my throat. “The changes we got back from opposing counsel on Section 5 don’t make any sense. It looks like they are changing the calculation methodology.” Section 5 was the meat of the agreement, where purchase price was covered. There shouldn’t have been any edits to that section, but it looked like they were trying to change the calculation for the payments that would be made over time. If so, this deal was about to blow up in a big way and Spencer was going to be furious at us, as unreasonable as that was.
Andrew turned to me, perfect face set, under-eye circles betraying his lack of sleep.Good. At least neither of us is sleeping.“Margo, I’m tired. I can’t do this. Please, just send me an email.”
I inhaled sharply.So this is how it’s going to be.
“Got it.” I turned back to my computer, sick with anger and shame.
This is what you wanted, remember?
* * *
An hourlater and I had finally put all my thoughts on the purchase price changes into an email for Andrew. I gritted my teeth. He was so immature. This would be so much easier if he would just face me.
I saw him reading it over, out of the corner of my eye. He was nodding. I was right. Of course I was fucking right. I opened my mouth to tell him that, but remembered his rejection of me earlier and clicked my jaw shut.
I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t sit here and pretend we were strangers, that he hadn’t seen me naked, met my parents. It had all meant nothing to him in the face of his ambition.Didn’t you do the same?My conscience was an unwelcome angel on my shoulder and I stood in a rush, wiping sweaty palms on my skirt. I stumbled to the bathroom and leaned over the sink, shaking. Andrew and I could never be together. Both of us were too driven, too ambitious. I wouldn’t sacrifice my dreams for him and he wouldn’t sacrifice his. The knowledge hurt, but so did the thought of pretending we we were strangers.
I walked woodenly back to the office, trying not to stare at Andrew, but failing miserably. He was just hanging up the phone, scrubbing a hand over that delicious stubble on his jaw. I pushed into the office and he looked up at me, eyes wary. I looked away quickly and moved to my desk. If nothing else, we needed to fake friendship for the sake of our jobs.
“Andrew, I —“
My phone rang.
“You and Markman, my office, now.” Gerald’s clipped tones came from the other side.
When we got there, Gerald was pacing and my stomach twisted. This was bad. Andrew and I arranged ourselves on opposite sides of the room.
“Explain to me why I just got an irate call from Spencer about the deal docs.” His voice was low and angry, his jowls shaking.
Shock jolted me. “I have no idea —“
“Explain to me!” Gerald burst out. “Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you can’t put off your petty bullshit long enough to get this deal done. There are mistakes in the purchase price and that is unacceptable.” He deflated but my hands still clenched reflexively around my pen.
“Those mistakes came from the other side!” My voice was angrier than I intended and Gerald’s brows lowered.
