After Samantha left, I sat alone at the table for a long time. Mostly, I stared into the abyss, searching through my memories for an answer about why she seemed so skittish and upset about encountering me again.
I couldn’t come up with a decent explanation. It seemed so bizarre. Women didn’t normally react to me that way, either. Most of the time, they fought to get more time with me, not less.
Eventually, I left a twenty on the table and drove home to the beach house. I parked the car in the empty space in the four-car garage and made my way through the back garden, past one of the three pools on the property. There was no denying how manicured and gorgeous the place was; my grandfather had snatched up two “fixer-upper” mansions on South Ocean in the eighties then combined the renovated buildings into one property connected with a large catwalk. House and Garden, Architectural Digest, and House Beautiful had all photographed the property, and Town and County had called it a triumph in preservation and design.
When he died, I’d inherit it all.
I shuffled into the main house still in a fog over what had happened. We’d been so close once, and I’d been in love with Sam. I couldn’t deny that, not when I looked back on the memories and was honest about my feelings. And I knew she’d felt the same. But now Samantha looked at me like I was something she needed to throw away as fast as she could.
Why?
Then another thought crashed into my mind. Why not?
Why would she want me when I know nothing about her life now? What was I thinking, barging into her life, demanding her to see me as more when I was moving nine hours away to start my career?
But she hadn’t wanted anything to do with me, and that’s what bugged me the most. We used to tell each other everything, and I missed that. But maybe she has someone else in her life who owns her heart and hears all her thoughts.
I walked straight to the wine fridge in the kitchen and pulled out the open bottle of sauvignon blanc. It wasn’t the strongest stuff in the house, but it would take the edge off and help me relax. And relaxation was hardly what I’d been doing since I’d arrived in Palm Beach. I’d mostly been on edge, so much on my mind that my body had a dull ache and my nights had been sleepless.
I uncorked the bottle and swallowed a large swig. Fuck it. Whatever. After the first gulp slid down my throat, I took another, longer one.
Then I noticed the handwritten letter on the counter, in unmistakable sharp script. Grandfather wanted me to join him for breakfast the following morning so we could “go over a few things.” I knew what that meant without him having to elaborate. He wanted to discuss the transition for me to get a larger role in the company.
My moment had arrived. He was eighty-five, after all, and well past the point of retirement. It was time for me to take on the responsibility my father had left in my hands on the night he’d killed himself. Was I ready?
Yes, I thought. Yes, I am. This is what I’ve spent years preparing for. And I should feel excited…Driven. But now I’m thinking about Sam. “Have a nice life.” Have a nice life?
No doubt Sam had heard about my father, so how she could suggest I’d have a nice life with his legacy across my shoulders was ludicrous. He stole part of my nice life when he selfishly and cowardly took his own life six years ago. To this day, I haven’t forgiven him, and doubted I ever would.
I drank another swig of wine, corked the bottle, and placed it back in the wine fridge. The old man ate breakfast at eight every morning by the pool, and he’d expect me to be there, fresh and ready to hear his demands. I needed to put my concerns about Samantha aside and remember my place as the heir to the Armstrong empire. This family, and our companies, had a future, and I was going to lead them.
The following morning, I woke before seven, threw on some clothes, and sprinted to the gym on the other end of the property, adjacent to the four tennis courts. There, I logged five miles on the treadmill, another twenty minutes lifting weights, then jumped in the shower before changing into a pair of shorts and a golf shirt.
I arrived at breakfast just as Grandad’s butler served him his morning coffee.
“Have a seat, son,” Grandfather boomed from his place behind the outdoor table. From his vantage point, he had a perfect view of the pool, patio, and gardens. He pointed at the bougainvillea that wrapped around the legs of a pergola in the garden. “See that? It’s really starting to come in.”
“Very nice,” I replied, though I didn’t care for horticulture the way he did. Grandad knew all the little details about the plants that made up his garden—everything from how to grow orchids to the exact number of days bougainvillea bloomed during a Palm Beach winter. “The purple is vibrant this year.”
The butler asked if I wanted coffee, and I ordered some. He told us breakfast would be ready soon and left us alone on the patio. Senior sized me up.
“You went to the gym this morning?” he asked, but it wasn’t a real question. He knew everything that happened on the property, thanks to a combination of closed-circuit cameras and willing staff informants.
“I did. Needed it to help wake me up since I had a late night.”
Grandpa grunted. “And did you have fun?”
“I did.”
He regarded me over the rim of his thin glasses. “As I mentioned before, I’m glad you’re down here for a little while. We have a lot to discuss now that your schooling is over.”
“Yes, we do.” I paused. “And I’m thinking of staying here a few more weeks. Spending more time in Palm Beach as we make the plans.”
“I’m glad to hear it; I’ve been considering some options.” A smirk passed across his weather-beaten face and deepened the wrinkles around his mouth. “I know you don’t want to jump too much into the business before you are able to get a handle on what we have.”
“Agreed.” I decided to measure my reactions to my grandfather. He didn’t like people to seem too eager and preferred people conduct business with a poker face. He’d often said enthusiasm could be mistaken for weakness. “I was hoping something with tech, or trends related to venture capital.”
Grandad shook his head. “I believe you have more talent than that, and besides, I have plenty of suits to take care of the legal and regulation bull we encounter in that sector on a regular basis.” He drank some more coffee. “No, I’d prefer to see you as a junior vice president, in charge of Armstrong Automotive.”
“Armstrong Automotive?” I blinked at him. I hadn’t thought of the Pittsburgh-based business in years, even though my grandfather made the bulk of his fortune with it. Manufacturing wasn’t a exactly a growth industry, and most of our family’s successful holdings centered on real estate, a tech company in Mountain View, California, and sugar refineries in South Florida. “Really?”
“I think it’s a good fit for you.”
“You do? What about something closer to our efforts in Cali—”
“We’ve downsized it in the last few years, but the main plant still has about two hundred thirty employees. That location alone does about forty million in revenue annually and still turns a profit. Great place to start.”
The butler arrived with my coffee and our breakfasts. He placed two crisp white plates full of fruit, scrambled eggs, sausage, and muffins in front of us then quietly retreated to the house with barely an interruption in our conversation.
“Are you sure that’s the best fit for me?” I asked. Too bad my coffee order hadn’t also come with a shot of Kahlua or vodka. I made sure to look my grandfather in the eye. “I recently had an idea for one of the ways we can better develop the strip we own in Manhattan, one that builds on what we’re doing in Mountain View. What do you think about a development called Gotham Gar—”
“Manhattan? It’s too big for you right now. Better to start smaller. And Pittsburgh is a good spot. Less risk.”
“But the Manhattan property is ripe for redevelopment.” I swallowed and reminded myself to move slowly. This was my chance to convince Grandad I had the chops to take our holdings to a higher level. “Gotham Gardens would be a mixed-use initiative. We can do some great things with coworking space, fair-priced condos, and incubation of fledgling tech companies. Really show the world we are investing in the trends of the future.”
“Trends?” He frowned. “We don’t follow trends.”
“But that’s where my strengths lie.”
My grandfather laughed to himself. “You know, your father said the same thing when I put him in change of that company too. This was long before you were born, of course, and he only worked there a few years. He didn’t want to run the Pittsburgh holdings either. Said it was a backward business model that didn’t have a future.”
I grimaced. Sometimes, the mere mention of my father still rubbed me raw. I couldn’t separate him from the way he’d ended his life. “Sounds just like something he’d say.”
“He wanted me to just hand him money.” My grandfather studied me. “But he wasn’t as measured as you, or as focused. You’re more like your mother in that way.”
“I am?”
My interest perked up. I liked it when people talked about my mother, if only because most people never did. She had died in a car accident in Monaco when I was three. Some memories were too painful to revisit, and my father had all but wiped her memory out of our family history.
“She knew when to hold her feelings back, especially around me,” my grandfather said. Then his face fell. “And you know, all these years, I’ve been convinced her death is what set your dad on his…let’s call it crooked…path in life. He was reckless after she died. Things stopped mattering to him.”
“He wasn’t a very good father.” I swallowed, thinking of how my perception of him had changed in the years since his death. Complicated would be a understatement. “He wasn’t kind in the end. Wasn’t—wasn’t there.”
“No, I know he wasn’t.” He picked up his fork as if he wanted to begin eating breakfast, but he shifted his fruit around on the plate instead of taking a bite. “You may not realize this, but over the years, I had to step in quite a few times and fix some of his mistakes.”
“His mistakes?”
My grandfather nodded. “He had a knack for getting into situations that he couldn’t solve himself. Heavy drinking, fast cars, all of it.” His eyes softened. “Thank God you’ve never been like that, Davis. In some ways, I think of you as the son I never had.”
“Thank you,” I said as a small lump grew in my throat. My grandfather’s praise was rare and hard to achieve. Even my graduation from law school hadn’t caused him to be this complimentary to me. “That means a lot.”
“So, it’s settled. You’re going to Pittsburgh, and that’s the end of it.”
I winced. “No, I don’t think it is.”
“No matter how brilliant I know you are, I’m not going to put our money on the risky investments of a twenty-six-year-old man who has never held a real job.”
“I wrote that app, Grandad. That was a job.”
“That was playtime.” He sighed. “I know that sounds harsh. Unfair, even. But it’s my final decision.”
I stared at him. There were times when it felt like he didn’t know me at all, and this was one of them. And what a shame, really. He always seemed to do this—draw me in then push me away.
“I’ll put it to you this way. If you do well with this, in three years or so I’ll revisit your Gotham Gardens project, or whatever you want to call it at that time. But for now, you’re taking over Pittsburgh at the beginning of the year.”
He wasn’t going to change his mind. I knew him. A fourth of his DNA flowed through my veins, after all.
No use in fighting a battle you won’t win.
“Okay,” I replied with a heavy heart. “I’ll move to Pennsylvania. And I’ll show you what I can do.”
“I sincerely hope you do. Just remember, all of this is riding on how you perform. Our future depends on what you do with the next few years of your life.” He surveyed the pool and patio as if they were part of the empire he’d spent his whole building. There are livelihoods tied to all of this. People rely on us.” His gaze floated back to me. “You’re my only heir. One day, all I’ve built will be yours. You’ll have the board, of course, and the team I have in place to help you, but the companies will be yours to run. Yours to maintain.” He studied me. “It’s a big responsibility. And you can’t let me down, Davis.”
“I won’t,” I promised. “I won’t let you down, sir. That’s the last thing I want to do.”