A lie, but a necessary one.
“I’m glad to hear that you’re over him because I heard a big old rumor this afternoon.” Hallie looked around and then she, too, was lowering her voice. “I think he’s getting married soon.”
He’d already found someone else? It had been mere hours since she’d told him no. “To who?”
“I didn’t know Rene was seeing anyone,” Sera said.
“He isn’t.” Hallie sat back, obviously satisfied no one was listening in. “He’s spent the last couple of years working, updating things at the company, and taking care of his mom.”
Cricket Darois had battled cancer the previous year and was only now starting to get back on her feet.
Sera looked at Hallie over the rim of her margarita. “Then how is he getting married? Is this one of those arranged marriage things rich people do?”
“Sort of, but not really. The way my mom told it, his cousin Charles is forcing him into a position where he could lose his place if he doesn’t get married,” Hallie explained. “It’s like a law or something in the company.”
Hallie did not understand how private businesses operated. “No, Charles wants to challenge him for the CEO seat,” Sylvie said. “The company is completely family-owned because they’ve never taken it public. The family votes, and Charles is telling the older members of the family that Rene can’t steer the ship because he’s not a true family man. It’s the business version of mean-girl bullying, but it could potentially work.”
If the rumor was already out there, then she should at least set the record straight.
“I’ve heard those aunts and uncles of his can be ruthless. His dad used to keep them in line, but it’s been hard since he passed,” Sera said. “Cricket recently started going to book club, and I hosted them last month out at the B and B. She was talking to Celeste Beaumont about how hard it’s been on Rene. Celeste told her she had the name of a good assassin. I think she was joking. I hope she was joking. I can never tell with Celeste.”
“I think there’s got to be some other way besides getting married.” Sylvie had thought about the problem all afternoon. “He needs to make it clear that he’s better than Charles. Charles has far less experience. I think they have these meetings once a year, so even if everything goes wrong, he’ll have another chance.”
“But what about the house? I mean, it would be awful to have to move his mom out of her home.” Hallie took a sip of her sangria. “Cricket’s been in that house for almost forty years.”
Sylvie hadn’t heard anything about the house. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, Darois House actually belongs to the company. It’s tradition for the CEO to live there, according to my brother.” Sera’s brother, Remy, was a friend of Rene’s.
She’d known that somewhere in the back of her head, but it hadn’t hit her what Rene could lose. His job. His home. His mother was still fragile.
What had it taken for him to walk in and ask for her help?
“Who is he marrying?” Sylvie forced herself to ask the question. Had she made a mistake? Rene hadn’t even mentioned all the things her family owed him for. He hadn’t asked for payback from the time her mother’s salon flooded and the insurance wasn’t enough. He hadn’t mentioned that she probably owed his family for at least part of her college education since the Darois Scholarship Fund hadn’t existed until she’d needed an extra ten grand a year to go to Tulane. She’d been ready to refuse her acceptance and go to a state school when that scholarship had saved her.
He hadn’t pointed out that he’d saved the people of this town time and time again.
Who was going to step up when Rene needed help? She hadn’t even asked him how much time he had left or what he’d already tried. She’d told him no and then arrogantly asked if he’d tried everything he could.
She hadn’t even offered him a seat. She’d been so eager to get him out that she hadn’t thought about what he was going through. She’d only thought about her pride.
“I have no idea,” Hallie admitted. “I only know that there’s a rumor he has to get married and he’s got someone in mind. He used to date that woman who was the runner-up to Miss Louisiana, and now she’s a weather girl. I’m supposed to say meteorologist, but she’s mostly big boobs and a pretty smile. She’s not very good at her job. She would probably say yes.”
“Rene is one of the nicest people I know.” Sera turned Sylvie’s way. “Are you sure you’re all right? I know you say you’re over him, but you avoid him like you are absolutely not over him.”