Then it’s time to head back to Una’s. But there’s a bounce in my step that’s new and welcome.
He was going to propose.
And now he wants to be friends. How can I resist that – or him?
9
MIKE
They say that no good deed goes unpunished, and maybe they’re right. I get back to the office, feeling like there might be something worthy of celebration in my life, only to find the thunderstorm waiting on me.
Dad.
He’s sitting on my desk, still in his golfing gear, emanating dissatisfaction. On Saturday night. I smell Scotch and guess he had dinner at the club. The office is dark, lit only by the glow of the lighting in the greenhouses across the parking lot.
“Glad you had time to show up for work,” he says, his nasty tone providing a warning. I realize that Dierdre’s computer is on, which it shouldn’t be. He came in to check on something. Judging by his tone, he found it.
And I can guess what it was.
I keep my tone mild, because it’s safer that way. “Even I can take some time on a Saturday.”
“And ignore your responsibilities again.”
“Everything is on track,” I remind him.
His eyes narrow, perhaps because he hears something different in my tone. “Where were you?”
“I went to play rugby like I always do on Saturdays.” It grates that I have to provide an alibi, like I’m a teenager sneaking into the house after curfew.
“You’re home earlier when you do that. You must have stayed out to eat…” His eyes light with fury. “There! You wentthere. You went to that Carpe Diem Café…”
“I did. It was really good.”
“You were supposed to shut it down. I told you to make sure it went away.”
“As much as I enjoyed it, Dad, I’m not sure a restaurant like that will survive long in Empire. There just aren’t enough people to eat there regularly. That’s why Leon and Dottie took an early retirement. Business had dropped for the diner, and this café is more expensive than the diner was.”
“You’re defying me.”
“I don’t see a good reason to get involved.”
“No good reason?” He spins to his feet, seizes a sheet from the printer and casts it toward me. “Probably just the way you thought you had good reason forthis.”
It is, of course, the bill from the company that provides our seedlings at the start of every season.
“I knew something was wrong. I knew expenses were too high for Q1, so I came back here tonight and hunted it down. How could you pay that much for seedlings? It’s an astronomical increase over last year and completely irresponsible on your part to authorize that expense.”
We define ‘astronomical’ a bit differently, it’s clear.
“I’ve told you, Dad, that we need to try some new varieties.”
“And I have told you that we do not.”
“But you’re wrong.” I continue before he can interrupt. “Ifyou look at our sales numbers, you’ll see that the cluster tomato we’ve been growing for twenty years is selling at a lower price each and every year. That’s because everyone grows that variety and the market is glutted. I knew we needed something special, something that only we could offer, and when I had the chance to get that seed exclusively, I took it.”
“You shouldn’t have done that. You should haveaskedme.”
“At the time, I thought it was my decision, given that you had retired and said I was in charge.”
