together to bottle the unkind words that immediately sprang to mind. “You’re doing some good, I’ll grant you that. But it’s not like you’re fixing the big problems, anyway. I admire the way you’re chipping away at health disparities, and trying to help people. You know I do, I’ve told you that. But it just seems like the game is rigged against you right now. You get grants, but they’re not the right ones that count for tenure. You jump through all these hoops, meanwhile, the budgets for grants at the NIH and National Cancer Institute have been slashed. Plus, you’re already competing against an insane number of other smart people who are also investigating incredibly important things, all of you fighting for rapidly dwindling funds. It’s a losing proposition, Z.”
Despite myself, I had to admit that it was a remarkably accurate and astute summation of exactly what had been happening for the past few years. That didn’t make it sting any less.
“Please, Tavia. Leave it be.” My voice broke. “Not right now.”
“Just think about it.”
“What did you want? When you sent the text, asking to meet?”
“Well, since we’re talking about future plans . . . I might need your help with a few things.”
I cracked open one eye. The faintly sheepish note in her voice matched what was on her face. “What have you done?”
Her eyes left mine and settled on the tabletop, her slender fingers drumming a frantic rhythm.
Uh-oh. A speechless, nervous Tavia? Real trouble was afoot. Concern and trepidation gripped my heart in equal measure.
“It’s that bad?”
“I may need you to help me with Walker.”
God. Not again.
“How exactly would I ‘help you’ with Walker?”
“It’s just that he listens to you. He never listens to me.”
“And you think you listen to him?”
She huffed and took an aggressive gulp from her water glass. “I’m thinking about the future of this company. Walker is happy to maintain the status quo. If it wasn’t for me, pushing, we wouldn’t have expanded past Knoxville. He’d be happy with the same little Green Valley branch. He’d be happy never to leave Green Valley at all.”
I considered my sister and the scowl marring her features. “You’re not in New York anymore, Gordon Gekko. You went to Wharton and then you graduated to handling multi-million-dollar accounts. Why’d you leave New York, Tavia? You knew the score before you came back. Dad wants Walker in charge, he’s drummed that into everyone’s heads since we were born. I don’t necessarily agree that his Y chromosome automatically qualifies Walker for the keys the kingdom, but then again, I’ve never wanted to rule from that throne. What are you trying to do, exactly? You can’t keep going over Walker’s head when you don’t agree.”
“He doesn’t have vision!”
“He doesn’t have your vision. Doesn’t mean he’s wrong. Have you tried talking to him about your ideas? Walker’s never been unreasonable. I know he’d hear you out.”
“Yes, we’ve talked. And we just don’t agree.” She selected a piece of bread the from the basket between us and tore it in half.
“So, is browbeating him until he finally goes apeshit the best negotiating tool in your arsenal? How much longer do you think this cycle’s going to last before one of you kills the other?”
She chewed on her lower lip. “I know you’re the communication expert, but I didn’t come here for life coaching.”
I rested my head in the cradle of my hands. “You came here because you want something from me, though.”
Her nails resumed their drumming again, a dull, successive click, click, click. “Walker is mad at me.”
Ah. Now she was ready to unveil the mess she’d made. No doubt I’d be expected to grab my hazmat suit and wade in for clean-up. Just like always.
I shook my head wearily. “How mad?” I looked up at her continued silence. “What happened?”
She scratched the side of her face. “He, uh, he swore at me. Told me to get out, that he didn’t want to see or hear from me again. Said if I wasn’t his sister . . .”
Her throat worked.
I felt a reluctant stirring of sympathy. But I was also exhausted from the whiplash of their moods and the growing volatility of their conflict.
My brother likely wasn’t completely innocent. But it was Tavia’s way to bulldoze through opposition, to throw her weight around until her relationships were only broken shards of glass. Any demonstration of remorse was always far too late, and delivered long after her opponents’ wounds had festered. I recognized