Page 2 of True Honey
“Let me deal with the public image of the family. I just need a little time to figure out how to clean up Dad’s mess,” I said, laying my hands flat on the table.
“Your father will rot in jail,” Grandpa said coldly as he flung his napkin across the table, “and I’ll be dead in six months.”
Mom dropped her fork to her plate, her expression filling with grief as she looked between the napkin and my Grandfather. I stared at it, hoping that this was all some scare tactic, but he didn’t move. Mom had stopped breathing altogether. Her worry rolled off her as she reached out to him.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Lung cancer,” he said back in the same cold tone.
He was ornery on the best of days but he had never been one for nonsense.
“What are they offering for treatment?” I asked, there had to be a way around it. We had enough money to pay the doctors, to get him better. My head was spinning with the possibilities. I had seen a few start-up studies when Lorraine was sick,maybe…
“Silas,” he coughed again, and I could feel the reality set in before he even opened his mouth to speak. “I have six months.”
My blood ran cold.
“No.” I said with the shake of my head.
Grandpa chuckled, “You can’t fight this one boy. It’s not a problem you can solve and I know that’s hard to hear because you’re a fixer, it’s what you do. But listen to me,” he slammed his hand on the table and Mom jumped. “Youcannotfix this.”
He was being cruel but I understood why, anything else would have provided wiggle room. I could flip kindness on its head and push for more answers. He was shutting me down.
I pressed my hand to my forehead trying to steady my breathing as my heart pounded, too fast and too hard. The sweater I was wearing suddenly became itchy and the room was wildly hot in temperature.
“When did you find out?” I asked him, swallowing back the lump in my throat.
“You’re asking stupid questions,” he scolded me as Joanna brought a plate of pie for him.
“Did you know?” I asked her as she set it down in front of him. She doesn’t say anything before patting my Grandfather on the shoulder and excusing herself. “Of course she knew. What is wrong with you? If we had known we could have—”
“Enough,” he barked and the exertion made him cough some more.
“Si,” Mom said, her voice soft as ever. She reached out to me and her fingers brushed my forearm gently. “Just listen to him.”
I wanted to yell at her, to tell her that I didn’t have time to listen to the rantings of a dying old man when it all could have been prevented if had just told me months ago about his diagnosis. I could have done something.
And now I can’t do a damn thing.
Helplessness sat uncomfortably on my chest.
“WhatcanI do?” I asked. I could feel the tears stinging the back of my eyes, and I shoved them away. Refusing to cry in front of them.
“As of right now, if I die tomorrow, Charles will become the sole owner of sixty-three percent of the shares.” He explained, his voice slow and tight.
He was sicker than I’d expected, and I cursed myself for not noticing. There was just so much going on that slowing down wasn’t an option and in my rush to handle everything I had overlooked the most dangerous of all our problems rotting right under my nose.
“How is that possible with him rotting in county?” I asked him.
“He’s not dead, which means it’s legal. The assets are seized but it doesn’t mean he can’t take ownership of them,” Grandpa said and I nodded in understanding.
Business was always a little foreign to me, I was good at nerves and muscle, bone and blood. I just knew where to put the money when Grandpa said to use it.
“How do we stop that?” I asked.
“You,” Grandpa said, his finger pointing in my direction.
I barked out a tight laugh, stopping only when I realized he was serious.
