BEFORE I LET GO: CHAPTER 4
DUKE
Bernard and I decided to meet for lunch. After talking last night, we both have some concerns about taking our clients to the resort. The news that Drew and Blake had gone off to Florida with nary a word to their partners was troubling. If they couldn’t even communicate enough to say ‘Hey, I’m going out of town for a few days’, I wonder if it will be any better in the same place without anywhere else to go. And I know Bernard is thinking the exact same thing.
“Sorry I’m late,” he says as he sits down, ordering a drink in the same breath as the waiter passes by. “Fucking Motormouth Morrisons! If they spent half as much time talking to each other as they spend talking about everyone else, they wouldn’t need therapy.”
I laugh. “Sounds like you and Barry share the same problem.”
“You would think so, but not quite. They both are like cackling hens. Although more like braying jackasses, would be a better description. I don’t know how they put up with each other. With the Novotny-Bruckners, only one member of the partnership is like that. The Morrisons are currently in therapy because they disagree about one of their grown daughters dating their neighbor’s son. What’s worse is that the two people in question both have lucrative careers and live in Sewickley. Apparently, the problem is that the neighbors are not social like they are, and they think it will make for awkward get togethers. Yet, both of the Morrisons have been known to fuck various members within their community, including the neighbors on the other side. Is it any wonder why that young man’s parents opt not to be overly neighborly to the literally fucking Morrisons?!”
That’s it! I couldn’t stop the loud guffaw if I wanted to! Bernard is probably the most even tempered of all of us, so when he’s fed up, we all take notice. But he has a way of putting these vivid pictures into your head that are a major source of hilarity. Sobering as much as I’m able, I ask, “So what are you going to do about them?”
“I don’t know. But I swear they make solving Ted and Blake’s non-communication issues seem like taking a vacation. With them, the trouble will be actually getting them to talk; with the Morrisons, it’s getting them to shut the fuck up.”
“Well if it helps, I know why Blake left for Florida. Drew called Emmett last night to tell him that Blake’s grandfather had asked to see him immediately.”
“Then why the secrecy? I mean, he could have told Ted that.”
“You can’t be that dense? Perhaps I should psychoanalyze you for not noticing why Blake decided not to tell Ted.”
He thought about it for a moment before a look of chagrin graced his face. “Sorry. My brain is still fried from dealing with Fuckzillas all morning.”
I chuckle. “I would imagine so. But back to the real reason we’re meeting. I put in a call to Drew, requesting that he call me back. I haven’t spoken to Emmett today yet, but I know that he said he’s going to the resort. I suspect Drew will be too. He knows a lot more about this situation than he’s been saying. Judge Marcus had already spoken to Emmett, so that cleared the way for me.”
“I wish she would talk to my clients. I know that she and Ted used to be quite close; much like how Justin and his female bestie Daphne had been. I haven’t seen her around lately. No doubt if she had been, Brian and Justin wouldn’t be in the state they are in now.”
I couldn’t help but nod. That young lady always had a way of cutting through the Novotny-induced bullshit where the Taylor-Kinneys were concerned. “Last I heard, she was on a big high-profile divorce case in France. Because it’s international and involves diplomats, she’s being sequestered and all communication monitored. It’s just easier for her and Justin to be M.I.A. right now. If she knew what he was going on though, she would have a shit fit. She never did like Michael. I think if there was a way for her to extinguish him and still stay on the right side of the law, she would have done so many years ago.”
“She’s not the only one,” he mutters, before taking another sip of his drink. “So now the question is, how we proceed from here. I know that Ted is going to the resort, but I don’t know how to get Blake to agree to it, based on that little display and resulting defection yesterday. Ted really fucked up.”
“Yeah, he did. Do you know why?”
“According to Ted, it saves his sanity not to argue with Michael. He’s become quite ‘go along to get along’ where his friendship is concerned. Yet when dealing with Kinnetik business, Ted is a veritable pitbull in the boardroom. You can certainly see Brian’s influence, but to see Ted’s confidence in his own abilities is truly a wonderful sight.”
“You have?”
“Yes. I’m on the board for my dad’s internet business. With Brian’s vision and Ted’s financial planning of the entire venture, we’re seeing the promised 150% return sooner than we all predicted. When dad’s accountant tried to lowball getting the same services for a fraction of the costs, Ted told Brian that no matter what the account was worth, they could pick up six other companies, charge half the price for the amount Henry was offering in my father’s name, and still make twice as much money. Basically, he told Brian that our company was not needed to see the profit margin Kinnetik wanted to see this year. The idea that my father would lose out on quality advertising to skyrocket the company based on a penny-pinching pencil-pusher didn’t sit well with the old man, especially since that also meant that there would be no return on the initial investment. So we went with Kinnetik at the full price, and Henry no longer works for my father.”
“So Ted is capable of playing hard-ball. Why doesn’t he do it with Michael? What is the hold he has on them?”
“I don’t know. But if I had to guess, it really has to do with Debbie.” At my protest, he held up his hand. “Hear me out and think about it. What is it that Ted, Brian, and Emmett all have in common? Or at least did until Ted’s mother came around to accepting him? Their families were less than accepting. As a result, Debbie opened her arms, heart, and home to all of them when they needed a nurturing touch. If they lose Michael- upset him in any way- they lose that close connection with Debbie, who was basically a mother to them all. It doesn’t help that in return for her affection, she, knowingly or not, blackmails them into making and keeping Michael happy. He plays on the fact that she took them in when they all had no one and he uses her love as a club, wielding it to keep them all in line. Although Ted, Brian, and Emmett are confident men when dealing with other people, their partners notwithstanding, they are still little boys seeking a mother’s love. Essentially, we all are.”
What he says makes perfect sense. We’ve all borne witness to ‘the Novotny tantrum’ enough times to know that if it came down to any one of them or Michael, Debbie would always choose Michael, even if he’s wrong. She would defend him publicly while chastising him privately. It’s always sent mixed messages to the rest of the group. Or in a better, more accurate perspective, it sent a very clear message to the others that she can criticize or come down on Michael, but the rest of them had better not. The few times that Brian had done just that, he’d paid an emotional price for it. The Lesbian anniversary party of several years ago was a prime example of that.
No one, except Alex, and perhaps Barry, really know why Brian punched Michael that long ago day. No one bothered to find out either. All that had mattered was that Brian had metaphorically ‘bitten the hand that fed him’, when he had no one else. I know that it had always bothered Ted that he was always the first to jump to the bad conclusions about Brian before he really got to know him. I also know that it bothered Emmett to know that something was terribly wrong, but he’d lost his courage to say anything about it because he didn’t want to upset the matriarch of their little family. So while Brian was being blamed and called an ‘asshole’ and an ‘animal’, his covert antagonist once again played victim and reaped the rewards of pity-infused attention. I wonder if Brian, if any of them really, even stand a chance to save themselves and their relationships. It’s clear that as long as Michael is holding the proverbial anvil of ‘Mother guilt’ over their heads, they are all fighting a losing battle.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Bernard asks me.
“More than you know, Bernie. More than you know”
“We need to call Alex and Barry in on this.”
“Yeah we do, but first we need to find out what’s going on down in Florida.”