Page 56 of Cameron's Contract

CHAPTER 16

WE WERE AGAINST the clock and every vote counted and Mia knew this.

Shay had relayed to Mia how his meeting had gone and filled her in on Blackwood’s concerns. Mia would have also known the responsibility of her intentions, the need to get this right.

My confidence in her was unwavering.

The driver parked our Bentley SUV outside Carnegie Deli on55th St.and we picked up lunch, eating a selection of sandwiches and drinking Coke on the way to our next destination.

We pulled up outside board member Elliot Rice’s home at one in the afternoon, and within the hour I’d had his guarantee he’d support us. Of course the offer of inviting his Yale educated grandson into the company and fast tracking him through to a senior position in marketing had sealed the deal.

The rest of the day went surprisingly smooth.

In between visits, I enjoyed watching Shay and Henry interact. Their friendship was based on trust and a past that few would ever understand.

Their stories had them both cracking up, and Shay lessened the tension of what had happened back at Blackwood’s by having Henry talk about it.

His calmness had returned, and his self-awareness was a sign he was coping.

The car took us back to the Blackwood’s.

We picked up Mia in the early evening. She appeared in a flurry of wayward hair and sun kissed cheeks, then flopped down in the seat opposite ours.

“Well?” I said.

“We hung out in the garden for a few hours with me trying to shoot those suckers,” she said. “Nina, his wife, is on her third therapist, and we got some alone time to discuss Freud vs. Jung.”

We all leaned forward, fascinated.

“And?” Henry nudged her on.

“Mrs. Blackwood seemed to have a lot of unresolved issues,” said Mia. “So I just told her my opinion.”

“Which was?” I said.

“That we really have to stop blaming our parents. If they were messed up and we know that, we can use what we learned to empower us.”

“Fuck,” snapped Henry.

“You told her about your dad?” I said quietly.

“And I told her how you worked out something so complex about my past from merely the evidence you’d gathered. That you saved me.”

Her honesty, her ability to find no shame in her transparency, silenced us all.

She pointed to Henry. “And I told Mrs. Blackwood how brave you are. Didn’t reveal anything personal. She knew a little of what happened to you from the papers. I told her you deserved a future at Cole Tea after dedicating your life to your country.”

“Mia,” I said. “That’s…”

A reaction to such a monologue could have gone either way.

Mia beamed at us. “Blackwood’s on board!”

We cheered together.

Henry collapsed back and laughed. “His wife persuaded him. Mia went through his wife.”

“Of course,” said Shay.