Chapter 19: One Vote

The Lowell Hospitality boardroom was on the forty-first floor, with a table long enough to seat a wedding.

I sat in a chair against the wall, because the bylaws let a shareholder bring one witness.

Preston had asked me to be it, and he had said please three times.

At seven that morning, in Nan's kitchen, I had given him a copy of the old man's pages.

I had kept the recording of Gwen in my pocket, and I did not mention it.

That was for a bigger room than this one.

Eleven directors sat around the table in dark suits.

Helen took the chair at the head, in a cream jacket, and she did not look at me once.

Gwen sat behind her with a laptop, taking the minutes.

She had on the soft cardigan again.

"Item one," Helen said. "A matter raised by my son, who I'm afraid has been unwell."

"I'm well, Mother," Preston said.

He stood at the far end in a borrowed gray suit, with a folder in his hand.

He had shaved badly, and there was a nick on his jaw.

"I hold nineteen percent of this company," he said. "My father's stock, which I have never once voted. I'm voting it today."

A director coughed.

Helen smiled at the room.

"He's never read a thing he's signed. Let him have his moment."

"I've read this."

He walked the length of the table and put a photocopy in front of each director.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Foolish Husband's Regret Comes Late from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.