Faking It

Chapter 5

Nathan

“Dad, I cannot believe how much weight you are putting into this arbitrary part of my life!” I felt my neck growing hot. He stood at the opposite end of the conference table, calmly collecting his paperwork into folders and placing them into his leather briefcase.

“It’s not arbitrary, Nathan. It has real world consequences.” His tone remained even and firm. He didn’t even look up to look at me, which enraged me.

“What f*****g real world consequences?”

He looked up at me finally and sighed, an expression nearing pity on his face. I could feel my ears growing hot and I began to feel claustrophobic and restrained in my suit.

“There is no need to swear, Nathan.” He placed the fingertips of both hands on the table and leaned forward, a movement that I had seen him use many times in negotiations as a way to captivate attention.

“Committing to a woman and a home life protects you, which in turn protects our assets. I am not willing to turn over everything I have built to you, just to have you knock up some girl and be forced to pay her exuberant amounts of money each month, or to have you philander around and waste all of the potential of the company. There are jealous and wicked people out there, women included, who would do anything they can to obtain a piece of what you will inherit.”

“I could marry a woman who turns out to be using me! She could take half of everything! What makes it any different?”

He smiled at me with a knowing expression.

“Pre-nups, my son. Pre-nups make the difference.”

I threw my arms up in exacerbation.

“So, you are not going to even begin to train me in the workings of the company until I get married? Am I going to keep doing glorified desk work forever?”

He put the last folder in his briefcase and clicked the clasps shut before looking up at me.

“Married, no. But a serious girlfriend, or better yet, a fiancé, yes.” He lifted his suitcase off of the table and began walking towards the door, but stopped and turned to me. “I am trying to retire soon, Nathan. If you keep messing around like this, I will have to hire a CEO to look after things properly.”

My mouth fell open. He had to be bluffing—he wouldn’t hand over the decision-making power for a company that he built from the ground up over to some type of businessman shill, would he? A single fleeting thought entered my mind and I spoke before I could stop myself.

“I am seeing someone, Dad,” I nearly choked on my own words. He turned to fully face me, his eyebrows raised. I tried to stop myself from stammering: “I mean, I do have a girlfriend. I… wasn’t going to tell you until I was sure of it, but you are really forcing my hand here.”

“Oh, really?” I could tell by his face and the inflection of his voice that he didn’t believe me. “And what is this girl’s name?”

I hesitated for a moment, then responded with the first name that came to mind.

“Sophia.”

“Well, that is great to hear,” he offered, although I knew that he still was not buying it. “Tell me about her.”

I wracked my brain for vague descriptions.

“She is… uh… blonde. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

His eyebrows raised again—I had caught his interest.

“She doesn’t come from money, though, but I like that about her. She is really down to earth. I can talk to her about anything,” he put his suitcase on the table again, obviously intrigued.

“Well, that is certainly okay. Sometimes, dealing with wealthy families can come with baggage of its own. Your mother and I did not come from much, as you know,” I could tell I was convincing him, but I began to panic about the gravity of the lie I was weaving. I wanted the conversation to stop before I had to give any more detail.

“Right. We are very different, but that makes me like her more.”

“Well, that is great, Nathan, I am glad to hear it. I hope that you feel comfortable with us meeting her soon.” Relief rushed over me when he picked up his bag again and left the room.

“f**k,” I muttered under my breath, running a hand through my hair. Sophia? How the f**k was I going to get a girl to bring around my parents when I knew that I wasn’t ready to commit to anything like that?

“You okay, boss?” I looked up to see Logan leaning through the door of the conference room. He had been my friend since grade school and worked under my dad, at the same level as me, although he had recently taken up jokingly calling me “boss.”

“Yeah, I’m good. What’s up?”

“The guys are going to The Stallion right after work for a drink or two tonight. You down?” I could think of nothing that I wanted more right then than a stiff drink.

“Of course.”