One for Me

Chapter Six

"What is your problem?" Lincoln walked right into his brother's office and took a seat at his desk.

"I have a lot of problems, which one are you referring to?" Grant asked as he flipped through his copy of the Wayfort contract. Heads would roll for this mistake. No doubt about it.

"Why do you have one of our most talented accountants in the file room swimming in paperwork?"

At that, Grant laughed.

"Are you trying to get her to quit?" Lincoln asked his brother with all seriousness.

"She wouldn't be there if she knew her place and stayed in it. Speaking to me as if I'm incapable of running this company is unacceptable and she will be made an example of."

"So she bruised your already inflated ego by telling the truth?"

"And what truth is that?" Grant eyed his brother. His tone said not to answer, but Lincoln wasn't just anyone. Grant's mean streak never affected him.

"Our lawyers should have caught that long ago and because they hadn't, that only leaves one of two options; either they're all incompetent or someone's in on it and buried the evidence. Either way, we should be rewarding those types of finds, not punishing them. I'd bet you didn't even say thank you."

"You know me well." Grant leaned back in his seat. "I know that's not all you came here for."

"Mother wants to see you. I'm going to see her tomorrow once I leave here. I was wondering if you'd like to come with me." Lincoln stuffed his hands in his pockets. He knew Grant coming along was a long shot but he still wanted to ask for the sake of their mother.

"I don't want to see her like that."

Lincoln sighed. They'd had this conversation plenty of times before. "She's better these days. What exactly do you expect with a stage three diagnosis?" Lincoln locked eyes with his brother. "At any moment she could get worse. How she looks now is the best she's ever going to look as this thing progresses."

"Don't say that. She could still pull through." Grant spoke through clenched teeth. He had taken his mother's diagnosis the hardest of the two of them. It had taken weeks of coaxing to even get him back into the office. Lincoln knew their mother was on borrowed time and he had already set things in place when the time came. Grant would be inconsolable. He knew this because he wasn't dealing with it now while he could.

"Grant..." Lincoln started hesitantly. "This cancer is aggressive. There is no getting better. There is only making her comfortable and prolonging the inevitable to buy us time. The sooner you accept that..." Lincoln paused and then sighed. "She's worried about you."

"Well she shouldn't." He snapped. "She needs to focus on getting better so whatever you're telling her, you need to stop!"

"I'm not telling her anything. Your absence is doing all the talking."

"Whatever." Grant dismissed while scowling at his computer screen and clicking his mouse angrily. He wasn't doing anything in particular, just clicking, hoping it would somehow let his older brother know the conversation was over.

"I'll tell her you're thinking about it because I'm tired of breaking her heart." Lincoln stood from his chair and buttoned the jacket to his suit. "I'm going to visit Wayfort with one of our junior lawyers. When I come back, your whatever better be a visitation date." Lincoln was gone before Grant could object.

•

Lincoln couldn't think of a better way to spend his Friday afternoon than with his favorite lady. The consistent beep of the vital sign monitor was the only sound in the hospital room other than Marie Bass' steady breathing. She was sitting up and awake but her eyes were closed. She had her hand clasped into Lincoln's, holding it tightly.