Adam wasn’t convinced it had made things any better, at least not for him personally. Parading around Manhattan with his fake girlfriend made him feel like a human puppet, and for someone who had his own ideas of what he should be doing, that was uncomfortable. He settled into one of the leather club chairs opposite his father’s desk. “Dad, I’ve told you. It isn’t real. It was Ms. Costello’s idea, remember?”
“I know what I saw in those pictures. You’re happy together.” Roger collected a handful of envelopes and neatly arranged them on his desk blotter. “Sometimes a man needs to open his eyes to what is already in front of him. You’d be a fool to pass up a woman like Julia.”
All Adam could think was that the woman who was already in front of him was Melanie. And she wanted nothing to do with him, at least not romantically.
“Julia is beautiful and famous, Adam. She’s exactly the sort of woman your mother and I would love to see you with. You’re a man. She’s a woman. I don’t see the problem.”
The problem is that I don’t feel anything when I’m with her. Adam took another sip of bourbon. His father was accustomed to getting what he wanted. Adam wasn’t about to deny a dying man, but he wouldn’t lie. “I need you and Mom to keep your feet firmly planted on the ground. Unless something drastic happens, there is no Adam and Julia.”
“Son, let me ask you this. Do you know what I saw when I looked at you and your sister on the days you were born?”
Adam pursed his lips. “Wrinkly newborns?”
“I saw the future. I saw a boy to carry on my name and my legacy. I saw a girl to give your mother and me grandchildren.”
“What about Aiden?”
“I thought I saw the future in him, too, but it turns out that I was wrong.”
“Dad, don’t say that.”
“It’s true. I have very few days left on this earth. The only thing I have left is hope that you and your sister and your mother will be okay after I’m gone. I need to know that you will have the lives you want. That means a husband for your sister and a wife for you. That means a roomful of grandchildren at Christmas for your mother.” His dad’s booming voice softened and wobbled. A single tear rolled down his cheek.
Adam sucked in a deep breath. He’d seen his father cry only once, the day his Grandmother Langford had died. Adam knew that his dad had a heart as wide as an ocean, even if he could be stern and demanding.
“You can’t worry about us like that. We’ll be fine. And you have to stop assuming that you won’t be around for those things, because you never know.”
“I just need you to know that the three of you are the most important thing in the entire world to me. You’re my only thought when I wake up in the morning.”
Of course, Adam knew that his dad’s statement wasn’t entirely true. Willing to admit it or not, Roger Langford had an awful lot of ego wrapped up in the future of the corporation he’d built from the ground up.
“Dad, you know we need to talk about Anna and LangTel. You really hurt her feelings at dinner, and I don’t understand why you refuse to see what an amazing job she’ll do.”
“It’s not her abilities I question. I put her in charge of organizing the gala, didn’t I?”
“That’s not the assignment she was hoping for.”
“She’s a smart girl, but you have to be bulletproof to do my job, and I’m not willing to put my little girl in that position. It’s my job to protect her. Call me an old man if you want to, that’s just the way I feel.”
Adam would’ve simply grumbled if he weren’t so dead set on proving his dad wrong on this point. And it wasn’t just selfish reasons that motivated him. There was more to it than his lack of enthusiasm for running LangTel. His sister had grown up in Adam’s shadow, and he hated it. She was just as smart as him, maybe even smarter, innovative, quick on her feet. It was just that she’d had the unlucky lot of not being a boy. She was at an unfair disadvantage from the outset.
“Anna is as tough as any man. Maybe tougher. And you know, she helped me a lot when you put me in charge during your surgery and first wave of treatments. I don’t understand why you won’t give her the chance.”
“You said it right there. She helped you. I can see her in a subordinate role. Perhaps she’s senior assistant to the CEO or some such. You’ll be at the helm, just as you’ve dreamed about since you were little.”
Adam had to say what was on the tip of his tongue. “What if I don’t want to run LangTel?”