Page 174 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 5-8

‘Eric,’ she said, smiling as she turned to greet the CEO. ‘I’m hoping it’s good new—’ But something in her colleague’s face stopped her in her tracks. Eric looked ten years older than he had yesterday, the lines around his nose and mouth turned to crevices, his eyes bloodshot, the corners of his eyes recessed, resembling black pits either side of his nose. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. She swallowed. ‘They turned the loan down.’ It wasn’t a question. What else could affect Eric this way?

He shook his head. ‘No.’

‘Then what…?’

He sighed as he sat down on the edge of her desk, before looking up at her sadly. Almost apologetically. ‘I withdrew the application.’

‘But why? We were so confident.’

The older man gestured with his eyes towards her chair. ‘You might want to sit down. This is going to come as a shock.’

Mari swallowed as she numbly complied. She felt as if she’d been strapped into an emotional rollercoaster ride that had started last night with Valerie’s phone call and that clearly wasn’t about to end any time soon. ‘What’s going on?’

Eric sucked in air, as if he needed the fortification. ‘There’s no need for a bank loan anymore.’

‘But the expansion—’

‘Will be handled by someone else.’

‘I don’t understand. Who? You founded this company, it is your baby, your pride and joy. It was your dream to take Cooper Industries to the world.’

‘Wasbeing the operative word.’

She shook her head. ‘But what’s changed?’

‘I’m sorry, Mari, but I’ve sold the business. As of nine this morning, I no longer own Cooper Industries.’

‘What? I don’t understand.’ There’d been no hint of a sale in the offing. No whispers. As far as Mari was aware, the expansion plans were only waiting for a decision from the bank before they proceeded full steam ahead.

Eric shrugged, his body seeming to sag in on itself. ‘I’m afraid there’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll say it straight. I’ve been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.’

‘No!’ It was unthinkable. Unbelievable. Eric had been a father figure and mentor combined since she’d joined this company ten years ago. And Eric might be well into his seventies, but he was still running regular half marathons. ‘You’re the fittest man I know.’

He shook his head. ‘I wish, but I went looking for a reason for these pains in my back I’ve been having, and I found it.’ He gave a self-deprecating chuckle. ‘So much for my powers of self-diagnosis. Turns out it wasn’t the wrong running shoes after all.’

For all his attempt at humour, Mari knew that such a diagnosis might be a death sentence. She licked her lips, trying to form the words for her next question.

But Eric was one step ahead of where her thoughts were heading. ‘Three months, maybe six if I’m lucky.’ He attempted a chuckle, but it died in his throat. He blinked. ‘Of course, Helen is hoping for at least six. She’s been wanting me to cut back my hours and focus on home and family for years. She’s got a list of things longer than my arm to get done. I have a horrible feeling I’ll be busier in the next few months than I ever have been.’ He gave up trying to smile and pulled out a handkerchief to bat at his eyes and swipe at his sniffly nose. ‘Maybe I should have thought about winding back before now.’

Mari was fighting back tears too but losing the battle. ‘Oh, Eric,’ she said, blinking tears from her eyes, ‘that’s such dreadful news. I don’t know what to say.’

He shook his head. ‘There’s nothing anyone can say. But I wanted you to know why I had to make the difficult decision to sell.’

She sniffed. ‘I understand.’ Wanting to spend whatever time he had left with his wife and family made perfect sense. Perfect, ghastly sense.

‘Thank you, Mari, for not making me feel worse than I do. You’ve put so much of yourself into this company, and you put so much work into the loan applications and the reports. I feel like I’m letting you down.’

‘No, you mustn’t think that! You have to put yourself and your family first. I’m sure whoever is taking over Cooper Industries will see the potential it has. I’m equally sure it will go on to great things with whoever is at the helm.’

He leaned over and squeezed her hand. ‘That would be something. Apparently, he’s been watching Cooper Industries for the last twelve months but only showed his hand in the last few weeks, trying to convince me to sell.’

Her head snapped up. ‘You never told me that. You never hinted—’

He shrugged. ‘There was no point bothering you. There was no way I was going to sell. I was too invested—we all were—in securing that loan. That was my focus.’ He paused. ‘At least, that was my focus before my diagnosis.’

Mari nodded, even as he looked away from her and shook his head.

‘Unfortunately, you think you’re doing something for the best and then you discover that things might not work out like you planned.’

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