Curtis (6 page)

This went on for nearly an hour. Daniel
would read a little and call his brother. She was beginning to think that
Daniel wasn’t the lawyer she’d thought him to be when suddenly the door slammed
open and Curtis came in.

Kylie looked at Daniel. She could swear
that she heard him say, “It’s about fucking time,” but not with completely
certainty. She stood up to go when Curtis barked at Daniel.

“It’s all right there. Fucking read it. I
swear to Christ that if you call me once more about this thing I’m going to
brain you.” He took some papers from the desk and then slammed them back in front
of Daniel. “See, right there. I told you twice. I even told you what page,
paragraph, and line.”

“Then do it yourself.” Daniel stood up,
grabbed his jacket, and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Both she
and Curtis stared at each other, neither of them moving.

She picked up her purse and coat and
moved to the door. She didn’t want to do this at all and she certainly wasn’t
going to do it with him. She stopped when Curtis spoke.

“Your father is broke. Not just broke,
but he can’t meet payroll this week. He barely did last week.” She turned to
him. “If you don’t sign this deal, you both will lose everything.”

“You lie. My father has been running
this business since he got it from his father. He could buy and sell you twice
over.” She had no idea how much the Hunters were worth, but she’d bet it was
more than they had at the moment.

“I don’t lie. Ask him. And at one time
your father was a great businessman, but he let things slip, things that should
have been upgraded. The computers, for one thing, the building for another.”

“And what do you think you can do to
help him? Come in with guns blazing and make it all right for him? I doubt
that. You’re a selfish prick.” She tried to pull in her temper, but it was too
late. “I’d rather live on the streets than to—”

“You’ve said that before, and you will
too. As well as your father. He mortgaged everything including the house you
live in and his. The cars will be taken today if…” He picked up the papers off
his brother’s desk. “Take them to him, Kylie. Ask him. Tell him what I said and
have him deny it.”

“If what?” He turned away and gathered
the papers. She wanted to jerk them from him and burn them. “If what? What will
you do to keep the creditors at bay?”

“I can pay them off.” She stared at him,
not understanding what he was saying. But he explained. “I own the place where
he bought them. I know…I’ve known for some time that your family has been
having money problems.”

“You bought the dealership to own my
dad?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew they weren’t true. “I’m
sorry. That was uncalled for.”

He handed her the file he’d had and took
several steps back. She looked at him and her body seemed to want him to make a
move to her. But her mind kept thinking about him telling her he was sorry. She
turned toward the door and left without another word. She rode the elevator
down, trying not to think, not to feel. She was in her car when she called her
dad.

“Hello, darling. How was your meeting
with Daniel?” He chuckled. “Did you get all the business things worked out?”

She leaned her head back against the
headrest and closed her eyes. “It was mostly with Curtis. Dad…how bad is it?”

He didn’t answer right away and she
brushed at the tears on her cheeks. He cleared his throat several times before
he began.

“Bad. More than bad, it’s…we’re going to
lose it all. I know that if I sell to the Hunters, they’ll…I guess I hoped that
they’d bail me out enough where the staff would at least get their last checks.
I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t want to tell you.”

“How long? How long have you known?” She
knew that she wasn’t going to like the answer, but she needed to know how long
the Hunters had known. “When did you realize that if you didn’t sell it would
be gone?”

“Seven years.”

Seven years. Since she’d gone to grad
school. Since she’d spent time in Paris. Since… “Dad, why didn’t you tell me? I
would have helped, I would have…I would have done things differently.”

She heard him sniffle and knew that her
strong, vibrant dad was crying. She wanted to go to him, wanted to pull him
into her arms and tell him it would be all right. She looked up at the big
building she was next to and knew that there lay the only answer.

“I wanted you to be young. Carefree. I
wanted to give you everything. I didn’t…I knew what I was doing. But I thought
I could fix it. Make it right. But I couldn’t. Then it got to be…I failed you.”

“No, Dad. We failed each other.” She
looked at the building again. “I’ll be home later. I have to go…I have
something I need to do.”

He told her he loved her and hung up. She
looked in the mirror on her visor and fixed her makeup. When you were going to
grovel it was best, she thought, to look good. Getting out of the car she took
the file with her. Even stopping at the security desk took too little time. She
was led to the elevator by the same Officer York.

“It can’t be all that bad, miss. The
Hunters are a good bunch. Noisy and a little headstrong, but they have good
hearts.” She nodded and, when the door opened, he spoke again. “You’ll be fine.
Just let them help you.”

When she got to the desk outside of
Curtis’ office he was waiting. She knew that the guard had called him. He let
her go in to his office in front of her and she sat down. She pulled out the
file from her purse.

“Where do I sign? I have Dad’s power of
attorney and I’m ready to sign it over to you.” He didn’t move. She was afraid
that he’d changed his mind. “I want to do this. I have to do this.”

The door behind them opened and Royce
and Mrs. Hunter walked in. She turned to look at Curtis, embarrassed beyond
words.

“I have another plan. They have to be…we
all own this company, but Mom and Royce are the major holders. They have to
approve it before we can move on.” Mrs. Hunter sat next to her and Royce stood
against the wall behind his brother’s desk.

“I don’t want another plan. I want to
finish this so that I can…I guess I’ll have to move out. My dad and I will. We’ll
have to find an apartment somewhere. Cheap, I guess.” She closed her mouth to
stop the flow of words that they could care less about. “I’m sorry. I’m a
little overwhelmed right now.”

Suddenly, she was sick. Not just sick,
but ready to throw up. She put her hand over her mouth and Curtis stood and
showed her where the bathroom was. She barely made it and didn’t really have
time to lock the door before she was kneeling before the commode and throwing
up hard.

~~~

“Poor girl. She didn’t know, did she?” Curtis
knew that his mom didn’t require an answer and he didn’t have one. He’d been
telling Jon to tell his daughter for weeks. “I like your plan. Do you think she’ll
accept?”

“She doesn’t have much of a choice.” He
looked at Royce. He sounded as sorry as Curtis felt. “You’ll have to convince
her to do this.”

Curtis wondered when it had become his
job. But he wanted to help her. He looked toward the bathroom and wondered if
she needed anything. His mom picked up the telephone and ordered her some tea
and crackers from the dining room.

Royce paced. He had come in case Curtis
needed to convince her. When Jay had called to tell him she wanted to come up,
he was nervous. He thought for sure she was going to say that she’d rather live
in her car again or some other nonsense. Like he’d let that happen. When the
door opened from the bathroom, he looked at her.

She was pale and her eyes were red. When
she staggered slightly, Royce got to her first. She tried to brush him off.

“I’m fine. Just…I don’t think I
remembered to eat breakfast again.” He picked up the phone and ordered her the
special. “I’m not hungry. Please, can’t we just get this over with? I need to
get home and…I need to get home.”

Curtis nodded. But he did ask to have
the food sent up for both him and her as soon as possible. He’d missed lunch
too. When she sat down, both he and his brother did.

“We’re not going to close you down. Not
entirely anyway. We’re going to set up your company up in one of our buildings.
All new computers as well as someone there to train you how to use them, how to
set up the company so that you can go online right away.” He waited for her to
say something and he nearly smiled when she did. He didn’t want her to hurt
him.

“You’re not going to shut us down and
give us computers.” She snorted. “Why would you do that?”

“Because we’ll own the company, at least
most of it, and we’ll make it make a profit.” Royce handed her another sheet of
paper. “This is what you’re in debt for. We’ll pay all this off, as well as
take the building. It’s not worth as much as it says on paper, but we can use
it. Once we get it back up to code, if your business is doing better, we’ll
move you back into it if you want.”

“My business. You just said that you’d
be the owners. I won’t own jack.” She looked at their mom. “You agree with
this? Even though you’re going to take on a great deal more debt than the paper
is worth, you still want to do this?”

Mom looked at him and Royce. The knock
at the door gave them a little time to answer. He didn’t have a clue how to
tell her what they’d already done and, when he did, she was going to be more
pissed than ever. His mom bullied her into sitting at the small conference
table while he sat at his desk. And where the hell was Daniel?

He’d called him, or had tried to call
him, as soon as Kylie had come back. He picked up his cell phone to see if he’d
called. Nothing. As he ate his sandwich he thought about Kylie and how best to
tell her the list of things he’d already put into motion. He thought the best
way was to simply tell her.

“We’ve already paid off your father’s
house. Yours we couldn’t because it’s in the business name and not on a
personal loan. The car is also paid and the salary for the next three months is
covered.” She stared at him and didn’t speak. He moved down his list. “The
taxes are paid up to date and—”

“Taxes? You mean he hadn’t been…how long
have the taxes been behind? Close to seven years by any chance?” He looked up
at her from his notes and nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

“Kylie, it’s not as bad as you think. We’ll
close down for a little while and reopen with—”

She cut Royce off. “You said that I only
had to sign off on this, correct? Sign the papers and you’d have it all?” Curtis
didn’t move except to look at Royce. “Answer me, damn it.”

“That’s the way the contract is worded,
yes, but I’ve made some changes on it so it’ll reflect what you owe as well. We’ll
make sure that your house is paid off and that—”

“I don’t want it. I don’t want anything
for me. I appreciate you seeing to my dad, but as for me…” She stood up. “Where
do I sign, Mr. Hunter? I want to sign it and leave. I have a great deal to do
and very little time…could we please simply get this over with?”

Curtis looked at his family and they
stood as well. When the door closed behind them he moved to the front of his
desk and asked her to have a seat. She paused for so long that he thought she’d
leave and not let him talk, but she finally sat down. He wanted more than
anything to pull her into his arms and hold her. She’d been through a great
deal in the past few days and he felt horrible for being the biggest part of
her misery.

“We want to help you. We have the
resources as well as the capital. We are always looking for ways to expand and
this is simply one more thing to move in that direction.” He saw the tears in
her eyes and decided that the pat answer that they gave every buy-out wasn’t what
he wanted to say to her. “Did you know that your dad gave me my first job? He
let me deliver papers and paid me too much to do it. I had a great sense of
ethics as well as a strict mom. She said there is no job that you shouldn’t give
your all.”

“Dad said that he knew your father. He said
there was never a man in this world that loved his family like he did.” She
reached for a tissue on his desk. “What does this have to do with me signing
the papers? You’ve no idea how much I just want to go home, crawl into a deep
corner, and wait for this nightmare to be over.”

“It doesn’t have to be a nightmare.” She
laughed a bitter, short bark. “It doesn’t. Kylie, we’re going to need someone
to run the paper. We’re going to have to have someone take the people from one
kind of reporting to the next level. We know that you can do it.”

“I don’t want it.” This time when she
stood, he did as well. “Either I sign the papers or I sell to the man who’s
been calling my dad to sell to him for months. I don’t care anymore. Please,
give me this.”

He nodded and decided he’d talk to her
dad. He’d be able to convince her to do what they’d set up for her. After she
signed, she left. Not another word, not even a goodbye. He cursed his brother
Daniel for not being here for her when she needed it.

Curtis put the contract in the file and
took it to his brother. Royce, like all of them, had law degrees and something
more. Curtis’ second career was that of a cook. Le Cordon Bleu, as a matter of
fact. Royce’s was real estate. He put the file on his desk and headed for the
door, but his brother stopped him before he could touch the door.