“I figured it was time to get back on breakfast duty.” Ordinarily, she had made him a hearty breakfast every day. He had a long day of classes and hockey practice ahead of him. He was a tall, powerfully built boy, like Brad, and needed fuel to keep him going. He smiled as he got out of bed and headed for the shower, then she went downstairs to make him his favorite breakfast of bacon and eggs, sunny side up, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. She knew he’d gulp it down before he flew out the door. He was downstairs twenty minutes later, his hair still damp from the shower, and he was happy to see her. She looked tired, but as though she had drifted back to earth again, after nearly four weeks since his father’s shocking death.
Aden was thinner and seemed suddenly older too. It was a hard way to grow up, and Buck Williams, his hockey coach, had been concerned about him, and had taken him under his wing. He knew from Aden that his mom had been close to nonfunctional since the crash, and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder herself, which wasn’t surprising. Buck wanted to keep Aden on track, still coming to practice and focusing on school as best he could, despite the changes in his life. Buck hadn’t asked but he wondered if they would have to sell their house and move, now that they were without Brad’s earning power. Since Brad was the breadwinner, and he was gone now, anything was likely to happen, which could destabilize Aden’s life even more than it just had been. Buck hoped Aden would be able to get a hockey scholarship, a full ride, so he could still go to college. He’d sent a note off to the athletic directors of all the schools Aden had applied to, asking them to consider his applications even more favorably, and Buck felt it was justified. Aden was an outstanding player, and might even have a shot at the NHL after college, if he wanted that. It wasn’t what his parents had hoped for him, but maybe that would change now. Despite all of Brad’s plans for him, Buck knew that the last thing Aden wanted was to become an accountant. Aden wanted to be a marine biologist, or a commercial fisherman in Alaska, or a test pilot like his grandfather, or preferably something outdoors and exciting. He had even thought about becoming a mountain-climbing guide or a ski instructor, none of which had pleased his parents. His future had been mapped out for him from the moment he was born. He was going to work with his father as an accountant in the family business his paternal grandfather had built forty years before. Brad had helped it grow into a sizable business, and it was thriving. They weren’t rich, but they were solid and lived well, and everything they had and saved was focused on Aden, a burden he didn’t enjoy.
Maggie dressed after Aden left the house. She wore a simple black pantsuit and tried to look businesslike. She had seen Brad’s will, and knew that he had left her the business. She had no idea what to do with it, or how to run it. She liked working there two days a week, helping out, filing and putting things away, but she knew she didn’t have the skills to take Brad’s place. She wanted to keep it going until Aden grew up, and could start working there after college, but he was still years away from stepping into his father’s shoes. She was counting on Phil Abrams to run it until Aden was ready. Probably after business school. She hoped he’d go to Stanford for that, like his father, or Harvard, but Aden wasn’t the student Brad had been, at least not yet, and he was a much better athlete than his father.
The ride to Brad’s office was short, and Maggie felt like she was on autopilot on the way there. She kept reminding herself that Brad wouldn’t be there, so it wouldn’t be a shock, but part of her kept expecting to see him in his office when she walked in. She looked pale and tense, bracing herself for disappointment when she arrived. Her dark hair was pulled back in a neat bun, her face was sheet-white, as it had been for a month, and she had worn no makeup. She had realized that there was no point, since she’d end up crying anyway. She cried almost constantly, although she was dry-eyed as Phil greeted her, and after hesitating for a moment, he walked her into his office. The door to Brad’s had been closed for a month, ever since he’d left for New York.
Phil was older than Brad, and had worked for Brad’s father. He’d been with the firm ever since he’d gotten his CPA. He was in his fifties and had put four kids through college working there. His son was a doctor, both his daughters were lawyers, and his youngest son was a CPA. Brad had viewed Phil almost as an older brother, and frequently sought his advice about practical matters, and running the business after his own father died. They had stayed very much with his father’s model, after modernizing it somewhat. They were highly respected in the community as a firm with integrity. Phil had thought of going out on his own early on, but once he had a family, he needed the stability that Mackenzie and Son offered.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” Phil offered when she sat down.
“No, I’m fine,” she said, but didn’t look it. He noticed that her hands were shaking, and she kept glancing at the closed door to Brad’s office, as though she expected it to open at any minute, and the large teddy bear frame of Brad to walk through it. Phil had felt that way at first too. He was a slight, gray-haired man, who looked older than his years. When Brad died, he felt as though he had lost a brother. He was still reeling from the shock himself. But he also knew that they had decisions to make.
“Are you doing okay, Maggie?” he asked, concerned about her. He hadn’t seen her since the funeral, and she’d been through a lot herself, having been in the crash. She nodded. She didn’t want to tell him about the headaches, the nightmares, or the sleepless nights. Her doctor had given her sleeping pills, but they left her groggy and hungover and even more depressed the next day, so she didn’t want to take them.
“I’m okay,” she said softly.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and it may be too early for you to talk about this, but sooner or later we need to think about the business. It’s running smoothly now, and it could for a long time, but it’s going to be years before Aden is ready to step into it, and Brad wasn’t sure he’d ever want to. He’s young, and he doesn’t know what he wants to do yet. Brad wanted to be a professional baseball player as a boy, but he outgrew it,” and Maggie knew that a broken elbow in his pitching arm had changed that, and he had settled into his father’s business. “Whatever he decides, Aden won’t be ready to take over for at least ten or twelve years. That’s a long time, and Brad was part of the magic here. Clients need someone they can relate to, and I’ve always been more of a behind-the-scenes man.”
“What are you saying, Phil?” Maggie looked worried and was afraid he wanted to quit. She couldn’t run the business without him, and she knew she couldn’t do it herself. She wasn’t an accountant and didn’t have the skills. She was more of a girl Friday when she came in to help Brad out. She didn’t deal with clients.
“I thought about it a lot, and I don’t know how you’d feel about it, but I’d like to buy the business, or even enter into partnership with you. My son Bill is a CPA now, and he wants to come into the business with me. I’d already spoken to Brad about it, and he liked the idea. We need some young blood here, until Aden is ready. Clients like that too. But now we don’t have Brad to run it. I’d have to step up to the plate on that. I will anyway. But I want to build something for my own family, a legacy we can count on and that I could leave them one day. If you’re interested, I’d like to have the business appraised, figure out a fair price for it, and start paying you. I’d rather have full ownership, if I can afford it. I’d be willing to sell my house to do it, and put that money into what I could pay you. It would be worth it to me, Maggie. And, of course, I would preserve the name. Maybe we could call it Mackenzie, Abrams, and Sons. I think I might have just enough to pay you a decent price for it, if you could be patient, and let me pay you in regular installments over a year or two.” She looked stunned. She wasn’t sure how Brad would have felt about her selling the business, and Aden no longer having it as an option for a career later on. But she also wasn’t at all sure that Aden would ever want to work there, and Phil was right, Aden was a dozen years away from stepping into his father’s shoes, and maybe not even then. It was a long time to keep the business warm, and Phil would be retired by then, and couldn’t help him. Phil was an honest man, who had loved Brad and genuinely cared about the business.