“I wouldn't call you on Thanksgiving for shits and giggles.”
“Vick and Bob scrutinized the letter to them for hours before sending. They received it?”
“You saw the copied e-mail with the attached letter as well as I did, Jett.”
I hummed and looked down at myself in the hall mirror. The lines on my face had deepened over the years and the muscles through my body were this tense most of the time. The business took its toll and then it kept taking.
“I can take care of it my way or we can do it your way.”
“My way’s cleaner,” I answered, but I hated to do it.
Vick rounded the corner at the base of the stairs and looked up with a smile on her face. It died when she saw my expression. She moved to my side and rubbed a hand over my chest. “You okay?” she whispered.
Bastian blurted, “That Vick with you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It does. Let me talk to her.”
“No. We do this my way. I’ll pull investments and revoke the partnership on the dairy company the FDA is backing.” My stomach should have bottomed out. I’d essentially rolled down my window and started throwing stacks of hundred-dollar bills out of it.
“It’ll be a tremendous loss,” Bastian warned.
“I’m aware, and I’m the only one capable of handling that loss without it bankrupting me.”
“It takes me a lot less to—”
“Bastian,” I stopped him. “My company. My rules. You pulled me in. Now fuck off. It’s Thanksgiving.”
I hung up, and Vick squinted at me. “Levvetor’s deal is going to shit.”
“It’s handled.”
“Handled with how many millions?” she pried.
“Lots.” I put my arm around her shoulders and turned her back toward the bottom of the stairs. “Now, let’s go get interrogated by my family.”
She didn’t move. She grabbed my bicep to stop me. “You’re sure about this?”
“You said we were saving lives with this company, right? You wanted this, right?”
She recoiled at my words. I knew she would. “I did but …”
“Don’t ever second-guess yourself if you wanted it badly enough to fight for it in the beginning. If it was worth it then, it’s worth it now.”
Her eyes searched mine. Then she straightened up and squeezed my bicep. “I think it's worth it.”
“And you’re worth it.” I winked at her and she looked at me completely confused. I pulled her down the stairs. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”
32
Vick
Thanksgiving dinner could be tacos,a salad, or even McDonald’s. So long as you were with a family that loved one another, it was special. Holidays brought waves of frustration and happiness for me.
My mother called just before we sat down to dinner.
“Happy Thanksgiving, Mom.”