Rodney
Everything was a mess, and at the same time, everything was perfect. Danielle wasn’t in a good spot after Mark had kicked her out of the house. She struggled with it. She had been very close to her father, closer than to her mother, and it had cut her deeply that he had been the one to cut her off.
At the same time, we were in a better place than we had ever been. I knew what I wanted and where we stood now. I had made a choice–finally–and I was sticking to it, no matter what. I had been a fool to fight it for so long. Now that Danielle and I were together and I knew it was what I wanted, we could face anything together. We would get through it the same way we had gotten through this first obstacle.
Together, as a unit.
After Mark had left, our weekend had been strange. It had been a series of highs and lows. I had been so grateful for my mom and the way she’d been with Danielle. It had made all the difference, I was sure. When someone was on our side, it made it a little more bearable.
On Sunday night, Danielle had left to see her friend Lisa. She needed someone she could talk to, a friend that would be on her side, too. Someone that would understand what it meant to be disowned. She had stayed away for a long time, and the entire time, I had worried, but I had let her be because she wasn’t a child. She was my equal, and I had to start seeing her that way if we were going to make it work between us.
If I treated her like a child, we weren’t going to make it very far.
But I had stopped seeing her as my best friend’s daughter, as the babysitter, as the girl fresh out of college. If the past couple of weeks had taught me anything, it was that Danielle was more mature, responsible, and stronger than a lot of people that were my age. And that was saying something.
When she had returned after seeing Lisa, she looked like she’d cried a lot, but she had smiled at me, and I had known that we would be okay. We had sat down and talked about where we were headed and how we were going to deal with everything.
She didn’t have a place to stay now, so we had decided that she would move in with me. It would be easier to have me around with the pregnancy, and it made sense for her to come to me rather than getting an apartment of her own. We were going to raise the baby together, so it would be pointless getting a place for such a short span of time.
After we had talked about everything, we both had felt like we were going down the right path, and I had taken Danielle to bed with me that night, pulling her against me, holding on to her as if I could fend off every single thing that had already hurt her.
On Monday, it was time to do damage control. I had spoken to my investors over the weekend, and they had told me to get rid of Danielle to ensure the future of the company. We had to build the company’s image back up, especially with the launch of our new software so close at hand.
Danielle and I had agreed that the best way for us to go about it was to publicly announce her resignation. Danielle and I drafted a resignation letter that could be made public, and after I filed it with HR, I phoned the journalists that had been plaguing me for interviews all morning. I gave them each a copy of the letter.
At lunchtime, I walked down the podium that was set up in front of my building. Word had gotten out, and there was a crowd of journalists, reporters, and television cameras waiting for me to make a statement. Gallagher, my top investor, had suggested a press release, and I had agreed that it was the way to go.
“Thank you for hearing me out today,” I said into the microphone. My voice sounded loud, echoing all around me. “There have been many rumors about my relationship with Danielle Brown, my former secretary. I’m here to shed light on the topic as stories tend to grow and change in the retelling. Miss Brown handed in her resignation letter this morning out of respect for Berry Software. I am here to make it clear that her resignation was not because either of us has anything to hide. I do care for Danielle, but our relationship did not start because of her employment or because of who her father is.”
By now, it had come out that Mark was her father and an investor in the company. I was willing to bet Monica had shared a lot more than was her business, but that was always the way. There was always someone who hoped to cash in on someone else’s misfortunes.
“I believe in soul mates and true love, and Danielle and I were unable to fight our feelings for each other. Our relationship was unexpected to the both of us. It came out of nowhere, and we tried to deny ourselves and each other for the sake of the company. During the time she worked for me, Danielle received no special privileges as an employee, as it is against what I stand for, and she expected nothing else than for me to be true to who I am.”
After my speech, I answered a few questions, but I wouldn’t stand there all day. I kept it short and sweet and headed back into the building with the press hounding me with more questions. I ignored them. There was only so much I could say and do to make things right. In the end, people would always jump to their own conclusions. Some would hate that in the midst of a scandal, we had still managed to find a slice of happiness.
I walked back to my office to prepare. I had a meeting with the investors coming up, and it was the last leg of our chaos control. I had to see them all face to face if I wanted this to work out the way I needed it to. If I wanted a world where Danielle and I could be together without losing my company.
When I walked into the boardroom, all the investors, including Mark, were present. Everyone was neutral, but Mark, who glared at me. He looked like he wanted to attack me again and cause me physical pain. I couldn’t blame him. Danielle was his daughter, and I understood the protectiveness of a father. But she was old enough to decide, and he had kicked her out. There was nothing he could do to me now, other than pull his funding. His hands were tied, and I knew from years of experience that he hated it.
“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me,” I said, starting the meeting. “I know this business became ugly in a way no one had anticipated, and I appreciate how understanding you’re all being.”
Mark still glared at me. I could feel his eyes burning on my skin. I tried to ignore him, but it was harder than it looked.
“I saw the press release,” Claire Holt said. “We’re happy with the steps you took to make a public declaration.”
The others agreed.
“I hope we can put this nasty business behind us and move forward to greater things,” Gallagher said.
I was relieved. They were all on my side. They were happy that I had done what they had suggested, and it looked like the only person I would lose in this was Mark.
I hated that it had come to this, but my company wouldn’t go under.
“So that’s it?” Mark asked, disbelieving. He looked at the other investors one by one. “You’re going to let him off the hook just like that?”
“There’s no reason for us to make a bigger thing of it than it already is,” Holt said. “We decided on a course of action, and Rodney followed through.”
Mark pulled a face as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. “So, you’re going to fund someone that’s willing to do something like this? She’s half his age.”
The investors shifted in their chairs, uncomfortable.
“It’s not illegal,” Gallagher said. “There are a lot of older men with younger wives or girlfriends out there. If we rejected them for that alone, we would lose many a good man.”
Mark narrowed his eyes at Gallagher. “You’re a fool,” he said. “You all are.”
“Might I point out that this is the first scandal Rodney has been involved in?” Holt asked. “He has had a clean slate until now, which is saying something, considering the publicity he gets from time to time.”
“And we’re still profiting,” Gallagher added, and all the investors agreed. “Jones has had a rise, and we’re not pulling out. It would be foolish to pull out after we’ve seen the numbers and seen how we stand to gain.”
Mark shook his head, giving up. He was done with the conversation, and I was relieved. Mark’s fury was personal, and I didn’t like that he tried to draw my business into it.
“I trust all of this is behind us now,” Gallagher said to me. “Keep up the good work.”
He stood to leave, the meeting adjourned, and the others followed suit. They left the boardroom one by one until it was only me and Mark, like it had always been. But this time, there was a wedge between us. We were on opposite sides of a line, and it wasn’t the same as it had been at all.
“Mark,” I said. “Can we talk about this?”
“What do you want to talk about?” Mark asked. “How you fucked my daughter behind my back? She’s a child, Rodney. We were friends, for God’s sake. What the hell were you thinking?”
I shook my head. “I know you’re angry, but you know what it’s like to be in love. Remember what it was like with Nina.”
Nina and Mark had come from different financial backgrounds, and their relationship hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing.
“She’s my age, Rodney.”
I sighed. Mark wasn’t going to let the age thing go. I had, and Danielle had. I hoped everyone else would, too. But Danielle was Mark’s little girl. I guessed I couldn’t blame him.
“Was it worth it?” Mark asked.
“What?” I asked.
“Throwing our entire friendship away?”
I shook my head. “Don’t do this,” I said. “Don’t make it look like I chose one over the other. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Mark laughed bitterly. “You think you can have everything just because you want it. Well, it doesn’t work that way. I would tell you to choose between her or me, but you’ve already done that. I’m not going to stand by and watch you sink yourself and ruin my daughter’s life.”
He walked toward the door. “We had a good run, Hot Rod. Pity you had to fuck it up when we were in the home stretch.”
He said the last over his shoulder without looking at me. I couldn’t respond before he slammed the door behind him, and I was alone in the boardroom with his words clawing at me as if he hadn’t already left.