Bad Seed

“We don’t have time for that!” Jim spat. “We’ve already spent a week waiting around for you to get off your ass!”

I nodded and let Jim lay into me. He screamed and yelled, jumped to his feet and paced around the room. The whole time, his sons continued to glare in my direction. I did my best to listen to every word he said, but I let most of it slide past my ears. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about his complaints. Not now. Not with everything else I had going on.

“Are you even listening to me?” Jim screamed. He’d finally stopped pacing, but I didn’t know when. He was standing at the opposite end of the conference table, glaring at me.

“Of course, I’m listening,” I said. I sat up straighter. “But screaming isn’t going to resolve the problem, Jim.”

“Well, you can’t be trusted to resolve it!” Jim said. “That much is clear.”

“Just let me send my technician out,” I said calmly. “He can assess the situation and then we can decide what to do from there.”

Jim’s eyes flashed. I’d never seen him so enraged. Both Trey and Turner shook their heads in disgust and turned away from me. It was too late, but I suddenly realized I’d missed something important.

“I just told you,” Jim said. His voice was low. “I already had a technician assess the fucking tools, Michael. They are all shot. Not a single one works. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I got on a goddamn plane this morning!”

I didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t realize—”

“I just fucking told you!” Jim screamed.

I flinched, and that was it. The rest of the meeting was shot to hell. Jim raged at me while I tried desperately to rectify the situation. I begged, pleading with Jim to give me one last chance to make things right.

It was no use. Jim Richardson was done. It was bad enough tha

t he flew all the way to Texas to have this conversation, but when I basically ignored him in my own conference room, his anger became too much to overcome.

“I’m done,” Jim said. He shook his head and turned toward the door.

“Wait,” I said. I jumped to my feet and hurried to block his exit. “Just give me five more minutes, okay? I’m sorry about my behavior today. I truly am. But I can fix this.”

“How?” Jim demanded.

“I’ll get your tools today,” I said firmly. “If I have to drive them to Alaska myself, I’ll get you the tools today.”

Jim was already shaking his head before I’d even finished speaking. He just shoved past me and slammed open the door.

“We won’t be working with you any longer,” Turner said simply. “I expect that our contract will be terminated without any additional charges.”

“And if not,” Trey added. “You’ll be hearing from our lawyers.”

“Trey,” I said. Desperation dripped from my lips. “Turner. Just hear me out, guys. Come on.”

“We have Christmas plans,” Turner said. “We don’t have time to waste on you, Michael.”

They followed their father out of the conference room, letting the door slam shut behind them. When it did, I sank into the first chair I could reach and put my head in my hands. What was happening to my life? How had things gotten so bad so fast?

I didn’t know how long I sat in the conference room. My head was pounding from lack of sleep and stress. Not only was my personal life in a shambles but, now, my business was falling apart, too. It was as if the entire universe had begun to plot against me overnight.

“Mr. Smart?” Marcy asked nervously. She poked her head into the conference room just as I looked up.

“Yes?” I asked weakly.

“I don’t know if you want to talk to anyone right now,” she said slowly. “But your mother is on line one for you.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Marcy.”

Marcy hurried out of the room while I slowly pushed myself to my feet. There was a phone on the opposite end of the table. I made my way over to it, wondering how my mother knew I’d be at the office.

“Hello?” I said as I put the phone to my ear.