Page 3 of No Such Thing as Serendipity
His melancholic gaze surprised me. Of course, why wouldn’t he be sad? He was soon to retire from the company he loved. One he’d built from the ground up. Letting go must be hard as he faced his own mortality. I’d been so wrapped up in my own ambitions, I’d not considered the impact on him. No wonder he’d aged a dozen years in the past two.
“Ah, Blake,” Terrence said when he looked up. Martin squirmed in the seat next to me, but I kept my gaze on Terrence. “You’ve been my most loyal and steadfast employee.”
“Thank you, sir.” My response was stilted, but this whole scenario was odd. I’d expected a celebratory vibe, not like I’d just set foot into a morgue.
He deserved to relax and enjoy his remaining years. “Is everything okay? Are you feeling all right?”
He raised his hand and shook his head. “Don’t you worry. I’m as healthy as a horse.”
One that’s being put out to pasture.Instead, I said, “I’m glad to hear that.” I considered pushing the agenda, but something told me I needed to follow his lead.
He met my gaze and held it. “I started this company forty years ago with all the cash Sylvia and I’d saved for a house. She almost left me. Then...”
I’d heard him tell this story so many times I could finish it for him, but I patiently listened as he told it again. As he neared the end, my ears perked up.
What had he just said?“Pardon?” I interjected.
“You heard me. My kids hate me because of Fortitude.”
I stared at him. He’d never said this before. Downplaying an old man’s ravings seemed like the best option. “Oh, come on, I doubt that.”
“It’s true. All these years, building this...” He waved his arms around the room. “This empire. Sylvia was the only one there with them. I missed everything. Every milestone in their lives. I didn’t even make it to Jenna’s college graduation.”
I remembered. We were in the middle of one of the biggest acquisitions in the firm’s history. “Surely, Jenna understood.”
He shook his head, looking even older than he had when I’d entered his office. “Hardly. They moved on with their lives without me.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.Why was he telling me all this?Should I offer sympathy?No.That wasn’t my style, so I went for the practical. “But look at what you’ve accomplished.” I repeated his gesture from moments before and waved my hand around his office, ending by pointing toward the spectacular view out his window. “You built one of the most respected private equity firms in the country—in the world. Other CEOs admire and fear you. You’ve reached the top.”
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. In all the years I’d sat across from him, I never noticed how immense his desk was. Now the distance between us seemed insurmountable. I bristled at my thought.Insurmountable.What an odd word choice. I leaned forward, trying to bridge some of the distance.
“And yet, my family doesn’t respect, admire, or love me. Fear me, maybe, since I hold the purse strings. Which only makes them resent me more.” He met my gaze, and his eyes glistened.
What the hell?This was getting weird. While he’d been like a father to me, he wasn’t the type of father who shared his feelings. He was the stoic kind that taught me the way of the deal. How to survive in this cutthroat world. Still, he was an improvement over my cliché father who ran off with his pregnant secretary when I was five years old. He never looked back after he started his new family, leaving his old one behind.
Focus.Terrence was looking at me expectantly. I needed to utter something brilliant, but what? “They’ll come around, um...once you...um…”Shit.I didn’t want to be the first to broach his inevitable retirement. That was why I was here, so he’d finally speak the words to me.
His eyes lit up. “Leave here.”
The muscles in my shoulders relaxed. “Yes. Once you turn it over...” I paused. Should I be bold? It was my style, so I pushed on. “Once you leave it in capable hands.”
The strain on his face relaxed. “I’m so glad you understand.”
Why wouldn’t I?I’d waited for this moment since he’d turned seventy, two years ago.
He nodded toward Martin, who I’d almost forgotten was in the room. “Martin has put everything in writing. I think you’ll find it more than fair.” Terrence ran his fingers over the manila file folder in front of him.
Wow! I guess I wouldn’t get the opportunity to give him my list ofasks,or was this just his way of testing me—playinghardball? “You’ve always been fair.” I thought it was the best approach. There would be room for negotiation later.
He put his hand against his chest. It was a gesture I’d never seen him do before. I struggled to decide if it was heartwarming or disconcerting. “I’m so glad you feel that way. I was afraid how you might react.”
Afraid?Was he trying to lowball me?
He slid the folder across the desk toward me. With the desk being so large, I had to stand and pull it forward. I left it sitting on the corner of his desk, waiting for him to give me a clue how I should proceed.
He stared at me for several beats before he said, “Go ahead. Open it.”
I flipped open the file and stared at the Post-it note, written in his handwriting. The number shocked me. Eight figures. High eight figures. It exceeded my wildest expectations. I squinted.Wait.Was it my sign-on bonus or my annual salary? Surely, Fortitude couldn’t afford to pay me this much annually, but damn, it was a generous bonus! I couldn’t recall a time when anyone received one so high, not even Terrence.
