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He was a fuckhead, or worse. I agreed with Lara.
Back inside, I washed up and checked the fridge for dinner makings. When I looked out the back window, darkness was on its way to winning the war with daylight, and Ernst was gone.
* * *
Josh
Back home aftera full afternoon at Tuscan Foods—or Rossi’s as they called it—my head throbbed like I’d been butting it against a wall all day.
After going over the financials and a few operational issues, I was more confused than when I’d started. One thing was clear: Rossi’s recent cash flow sucked. They had no clue what they were doing. It was a miracle they were still in business.
Several Advil and a glass of wine later, the throbbing had been reduced to a dull ache.
Dad picked up after three rings. “Hi,” he answered with more cheer than I’d felt all day. “How’d the first day at Tuscan go?”
“It’s a complete mess.”
“They always look that way when you start. You probably don’t understand them well enough yet to see the upside.”
“The CFO’s out for the week, but one thing’s obvious: I’m going to need a cash infusion to get it stabilized.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“I’ll need twenty million minimum, but thirty would give me more room to maneuver.”
“No.”
That wasn’t the word I’d expected—not by a long shot. In the past, asking for twenty would always have netted me fifteen or eighteen.
“The company is taking on water, and it needs a little help.”
“They’ve been in business over fifty years without my help. I’m sure you can figure it out. I got the bank to reinstate their credit line and loans just as they were. It was good enough last week; it’ll be good enough this week.”
He was being unreasonable, and this tack wasn’t getting me anywhere.
“They’re no good to us if suppliers won’t ship because of credit issues.”
“Who is they?”
“We’re talking about Rossi’s, of course.”
He chuckled. “It’s nottheyanymore. It’s you. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I have faith. Come to me with a plan, and I’ll consider it. Nobody else out there is going to give you money without a plan. That’s not the way the world works.”
Faith was in short supply on his end of the phone line tonight.
“Your mother’s getting dinner ready here, so if that’s all, I’ll talk to you in a few days.” He hung up.
Why wouldn’t he want daily updates if there were big problems?
Something had changed. I’d been dropped off the cruise liner and into a leaky dinghy in the middle of a storm, and I had no idea why. This was worse than his usual tests.
With nothing much in the fridge, I ordered a pizza and sat down with another glass of wine to go over the financials again.
Instead of focusing on the papers, my mind wandered back to last night. For the first time in my life, I’d slept with a girl I hadn’t fucked first. Sure, I’d woken up wrapped around a girl before, but not with blue balls.
I wasn’t a cuddler by nature, but that’s all we’d done. After promising to keep her safe, I couldn’t have refused her request to join me without making myself a liar, and I wasn’t ever going there.
Then my mind moved to today. Nicole officially hated me after the deal Dad and her uncle had put together.
