Chapter 17: The Vote

The boardroom of Tamblyn Route had a table for twenty and eleven leather chairs.

I had not answered Camille's offer to meet before the vote.

Joanne said we had the recording, and her texts could wait.

Ten of the directors were already seated when Joanne and I walked in.

Barbara sat at the head in her gray suit with her hands folded.

She had not expected me, and she did not show it.

"This is a closed session," she said.

"I'm his wife," I said. "I have a claim on every share he owns, and Joanne has the filing that says so."

Joanne laid a blue folder in front of the empty chair beside her.

"Mrs. Tamblyn has standing to attend," said the company's lawyer, a man in a dark suit who studied the ceiling.

Barbara said nothing, and I sat.

Russell came in last.

He wore the same navy suit he had worn on the dock.

He took the chair at the far end, as far from his mother as the table allowed, and he did not look at me.

"We have one resolution," Barbara said. "It names Russell sole founder in the prospectus."

"And the second part?" asked the lawyer.

"It bars anyone not on the payroll from the exchange floor."

"Seconded," said a director with a red face.

"Before we vote," Joanne said, standing.

"Sit down."

"Under your own bylaws, Mrs. Tamblyn, you must hear a statement from a shareholder."

Barbara's pearls moved with her breathing.

She nodded once.

Joanne put the black recorder in the center of the table and pressed play.

Barbara's voice filled the room.

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Chose Her. I Chose Divorce from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.