climbing up through your bedroom window.
She smiled at his suggestion, picturing him calling up to her like Romeo wooing Juliet on her balcony.
What are we, high schoolers?
I feel like a high schooler when you’re around.
Fancy hitting some bases with me?
You want to play baseball?
Won’t that wake the kids up?
You have a lot to learn, London.
Then teach me.
Oh, I plan to.
Another promise veiled as a threat. She was getting used to those.
‘I’ve been expecting you.’ Ryan’s father sat back in his tall leather chair, his hands steepled in front of him. The sleeves of his expensive wool suit showed just a hint of his white cufflinked sleeves. His office was spotless and paper-free. Everything was carefully in place, the way his father liked it. Even as a young child, Ryan had known how much his father hated mess. Every night, half an hour before his dad was due home, his mother would run around the house picking up toys and books, then drag Ryan into the bathroom and make him scrub his face and clean his teeth. Anything less than perfection wasn’t allowed.
He stared at his father for a moment, trying and failing to fathom him out. ‘Then you’ll know what this is about.’ Ryan hadn’t been able to get it out of his mind since Thanksgiving. He’d been stewing on it for days.
‘I was hoping you’d reconsidered my offer for your shares.’
Ryan sat down on the corner of his dad’s desk, purposely avoiding the low chair Matthew Sutherland had pointed to.
His father winced. ‘That’s a three thousand dollar desk,’ he pointed out. ‘Made from Carpathian elm. I’d prefer if you didn’t scratch or dent it.’
‘I’d prefer if you didn’t sell the wharf to some developer.’
‘Well it looks as though neither of us will be getting what we want today, doesn’t it?’ His father folded his arms across his chest.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you were planning to sell?’
‘It’s business. You may be a shareholder, but we don’t have to pass every executive decision through you. As long as we keep our end of the bargain and keep delivering dividends, you’ve got nothing to complain about.’
‘Does Mom know?’
His father’s eyes narrowed. ‘She doesn’t need to. As I pointed out the last time we met, you’re merely a shareholder, and so’s she. You’ve never worked in this business, and you have no say over how it’s run.’
‘That’s not true, I could call an extraordinary meeting.’
‘And say what? That you’re upset because we’re selling some piece of shit land that’s been haemorrhaging money for years? That as a business we’ve been shoring that place up, without any hope of ever turning it into profit? It’s prime real estate, Ryan, selling it for development is part of what we do.’
‘But it’s not just a piece of land, is it? It’s part of our history. Part of the Shaw family. It’s where my grandparents met, where I grew up. This isn’t just a business transaction, some company is going to buy that land, overdevelop it and take away the one thing that makes this town beautiful.’
‘Try telling that to the rest of the shareholders. There’s no place for sentiment in business. We’re here to make money and nothing else.’
‘Grandpa made me promise to take care of that place. You know how much it meant to him. I can’t believe you’re just going to throw all that away for a few bucks.’
‘If you’re so worried about the place, buy it yourself.’
Ryan scowled. ‘I don’t have that kind of money.’
His father leaned forward, resting his chin on his fingertips. ‘I know a way you can get some. Maybe think about selling your shares.’