Page 73 of Daddy's Game

29

GRACE

Ientered my office and slammed the door so hard plaster fell from the wall. Selma winced from her spot across my desk.

“I told you not to see him.”

“I had to, Selma. I wouldn’t have had closure otherwise.”

I sniffled, and she hastened to hand me a tissue.

“Here.”

“Thanks.”

I cleaned myself up as much as I could. Then I plopped heavily behind my desk and tried not to cry all over again.

“He was going to ask me to marry him, Selma.”

Her mouth formed an O.

“Seriously? After he stole the center or before?”

“Apparently before. He had no idea I knew he was behind the zoning board re-designation until I told him.”

She shook her head.

“You’ve got to admit, that takes guts. Or stupidity. Or maybe he just completely underestimated you. A lot of people do that, you know.”

“I know. I’ve struggled to be taken seriously by those in power my entire life. I just…I never thought Brock would be one of them.”

“Well, screw him. We don’t need Brock. We can save the center on our own.”

I laughed bitterly, lifting my gaze to meet her own.

“Are you crazy, Selma? It was a long shot that we could take on the multinational as it was. Now that I know Brock is part of their side, I…I just don’t see how we can win. He has more money than God, Selma. He says one word and people in the highest halls of power start pissing themselves. I don’t think we can win this time. It’s over.”

“Hey, stop that.”

Selma stood up and came around the desk, throwing her arms around me in a fierce hug.

“You stop talking like that, you hear me? You’ve been the Giant Killer since day one. Every time that I thought for sure we were done for, you bolstered me and told me it would be alright. And you know what? It was all right. It has been all right, every single time.”

I clutched at her arm, blinking away tears.

“So don’t give up. There are still things we can do to fight back. We already started the grassroots movement to protest at the zoning board. We still have allies like Nate.”

I laughed and wiped my eyes.

“It’s funny, Brock tried to tell me that Nate was one of my biggest anchors weighing me down. He said Nate was incompetent. But you know something? I think Brock just didn’t like Nate because Nate has real character. Nate would never stab me in the back like this.”

“Oh, honey.”

She squeezed me one more time and then stood up straight, though her hand remained on my shoulder.

“Brock stabbed you in the heart. Don’t minimize it. I know it hurts, and you deserve to cry and rage and break down…later. Right now, this center needs you to be strong.”

“You’re right, Selma.”

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