AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He nods. “In a plane crash, yes. He was in the semi-famous crash that killed a few well-known Philadelphia-area businessmen.”
“I was young, but I remember it being all over the news, and my parents watching the coverage for hours. You were about fifteen?”
“I was. Needless to say, I was devastated. I went through a tough time after that. I felt very alone in my family. I never met my grandmother. You’ve seen how my parents are. My grandfather was everything to me. I was in bad shape for a long time.”
I’m silent for a minute as I stare at him. “Carter, did you consider yourself a happy person?”
He looks surprised by the question. “Why do you ask that?”
“I can admit that I googled you before we met. What struck me the most was how you never smile in photos. You look unhappy in every single one. You’ve smiled a lot with me. None bigger than when you showed up on your bike. You have a nice smile. It’s not captured in a single photo though.”
He slowly nods, more so in thought than in agreement, though I’m not quite sure. “I’ve never thought about it. Reagan, I’ve had very little choice in my life. Everything has been predetermined and regimented. I didn’t have a normal childhood, growing up with a verbally abusive father, and a depressed, distracted mother. I always had to do what was expected. I went to Harvard undergrad. I went to Wharton grad school. I started working at the company as soon as I graduated business school. I’ve had to suffer through working side-by-side with my father for the past ten years. It’s just expected that I’ll be the CEO one day. I have no free choice.”
“If you could choose, what would you do?”
“Hmm. No one has ever asked me that before. I don’t think I’ve ever let my mind go there. I can admit it’s important to me to honor my grandfather’s legacy at Daulton Holdings. I’m not saying I don’t want to work there, and I really don’t want to sound ungrateful for the significant advantages I’ve been given. I’m not blind to the fact that I was born into wealth, and I’ll likely always be wealthy.”
“I don’t think you sound ungrateful. That’s not why I’m asking or what I’m getting at. For what it’s worth, I don’t think wealth is measured in dollars in your bank account. Wealth is measured in happiness. If you’re unhappy with a bottomless bank account, are you wealthy? I don’t believe you are.”
He stares at me for a moment. “You’re a pretty special woman, Reagan Lawrence.”
I shrug. “I call it like I see it.”
“Getting back to your question, I guess the honest answer is that I do want to work there, but I don’t want it to be with my father. I don’t want it run the way he runs it. I want it run like my grandfather ran it. There was no backroom dealing. It was honest, hard work. We helped small companies become something special. We helped the little guy get into the arena with the big boys. We would have made a reasonable offer to a company like yours to come under the Daulton umbrella, you included. We would have then worked with you on marketing and expansion to help your company reach its maximum potential. That was my grandfather’s vision. My father has bastardized that with dirty takeovers.”
“Man, you really hate your father.”
“If he dropped dead tomorrow, I wouldn’t remotely care. I mean that.”
He sees my reaction to that statement and squeezes my hand. “Oh my god, Reagan. I’m so sorry. That was really insensitive to your situation with your father.”
I shake my head. “It’s okay. If I hadn’t met your father, I’d be more upset. I understand why you hate him.”
“Will you tell me what happened to your father?”
I nod. “It was the summer before Skylar started college. I had just finished my second year of college, and Harley had just finished her first year of medical school. He was out playing tennis, as he did most Saturday mornings. I think my mom was at an exercise class with Aunt Cass. She came home and found him collapsed on the family room floor. He had a heart attack. His father and grandfather died young from heart disease too. He made extra efforts to exercise and eat healthy. He was in great shape. But genetics won out in the end.”
“It must have been horrible for your mom to find him that way.”
“It was. She tried desperately to revive him, but it was too late. He was already gone. She was in pretty bad shape. She wouldn’t go in that room for over a year. She ended up selling the house. It was all too painful for her. As I told you, she was pretty much a mess until Jackson came into her life three years later.”
“They’re pretty damn cute together. They’re like teenagers.”
I smile. “They are.”
“Where does Cassandra fit into all of this?”
“She was my mom’s freshman year roommate in college, and they’ve basically been inseparable since. Even when my dad was alive, Cassandra was like a parent figure to us. She actually lived with us for a while when I was really young. She never missed anything in our lives. She was there for everything. I’m kind of lucky. It was like I had three loving parents growing up.”
“Is Trevor her first husband? Are Brandon and Dylan her only kids?”
“She had three unsuccessful marriages, one of which was abusive. She never had kids, and, once she reached a certain age, assumed she never would. I’m sure that’s in part the reason she’s so ingrained in the lives of my sisters and me. We were kind of her surrogate kids for such a long time.”
“How the hell did she end up with Trevor?”
I laugh. “They saw each other in secret for a long time. I know the age difference makes it seem really weird, but if you know them, it’s not. They’re such happy, funny, joyful, and equally batshit crazy people. They’re made for each other. I’ve always been a supporter of their unconventional relationship.”
“You seem pretty close with Trevor. A little more so than Hayden and Payton.”
