31. Getting Down To Things

31

GETTING DOWN TO THINGS

" I hear you had some excitement over the weekend," Kyle said to him Monday a little after three.

Van had left work and come straight here.

"Did Christian contact you?" he asked.

He hadn't said a word to Kyle about why he wanted to meet. Just asked if they could.

"Saturday morning my phone was ringing. He wasn't happy," Kyle said.

"Nope," he said. "He didn't appear to be. Most of it was directed at me. Said I had no right to do what I had."

Kyle leaned back in his chair, his hands on his waist, and he laughed. "You had every right to do what you did. I heard his side of the story. Why don't you tell me yours if you want."

"If I want?" he asked.

"Well, you own the business. You handled it the way you saw fit. I can tell you what Christian told me, but I find that might get you off track of what happened if you're correcting things."

He liked that Kyle thought the same way he did.

He told Kyle everything that happened. Even from the food at the restaurant since he knew Kelsey would comment there.

"I didn't call you on Saturday. You're entitled to time off. Though I'm sure you don't get it. But I handled it. There wasn't much to do in my eyes. Christian was too busy comping the offenders. I still haven't heard the names of those that complained."

"I'm sure Christian would have put a stop to that. He felt he was in the right," Kyle said.

"He's wrong."

"He is. I think he's waiting to see if I'll intervene."

"You haven't?" he asked.

"Nope. I left the running of the hotels to Barry. We talked things over, but this isn't something that makes its way up to the owners, the CEO or President or any title you put on it. Shit like this happens all the time in a hotel."

"Which is why I didn't contact you."

"I don't like whiners," Kyle said, laughing. "That is what Christian did. He played the child game of coming to me first to give his side."

Guess Van played this right in his mind. All he did was act the way he'd want if he was in Kyle's shoes.

Which helped him say, "I know what I want but don't know how to get there. I know you're busy. You don't have a lot of time, but I was hoping to get some mentorship or something."

"I can give you all the time you want," Kyle said. "Tell me what you want so we can figure out how to get there."

It was the first he was saying this out loud and he wasn't sure if he could even express it right.

He thought of the words that Kelsey had said about not comparing.

"I want to oversee things as my grandfather did. I don't want the day-to-day stuff. I was there and handled that well in my eyes. The problem is, Christian isn't doing what he should be. Security was the issue again. I know noise issues are going to happen, but security should have been there to handle it."

"That is exactly what I said to Christian when he got done whining. I asked right away why it escalated to the way it had."

"What was his response?"

"That Carl was out on break or something. In the bathroom maybe. I don't buy it."

"Me neither. I want to talk to the manager and find out more there. I thought that had been done. I also was a little shocked they didn't know my name or who I was. I could be blamed for not introducing myself too."

"You could be," Kyle said. He liked that Kyle wasn't one to sugarcoat anything. "Why didn't you?"

"I gave my name. But I didn't want them to act differently knowing I was in the building."

"I understand that. Not all my employees know who I am. I'm not in every business when some of the new ones might get hired. But I expect things to run a certain way."

"That is where I want to be. I guess the next step is how do you think they should be run. The three hotels? Do you feel they are by Christian? Were they with my grandfather? I don't care if you don't think they were. We can make changes if they make sense, but I can't make a decision without knowing all the facts either."

"Now we are getting down to things," Kyle said.

"What are your thoughts on Christian? You've said he does a good job but then hinted other times he doesn't."

"I wanted your input on it," Kyle said. "He did a great job in the beginning. It's been the past year when things have gone downhill. When your grandfather had been around less and Christian felt he had more power."

"I'll make sure that isn't the case anymore," he said.

"Good," Kyle said. "I plan on staying silent in terms of those things unless you want me to be more of a presence. I can be. But things have been run smoothly enough on paper and that is all I looked at for years. Maybe it's wrong on my part, but I invested in it as cash flow for Barry and my input to get things going. I've never wanted to step on toes, and because things were going well enough, I was fine with it."

"I'd like to keep it this way if we can. For now. The fact it's going well on paper doesn't mean we are chasing problems but rather being proactive for change if need be."

He didn't want to have Kyle doing more. He was positive if he sold his half to Kyle, the guy wouldn't get involved more with the day-to-day activities. He'd have someone doing it for him.

"Then we will continue for now," Kyle said. "My next question is going to be how are you going to handle all of this?"

"I don't want to leave the island short-staffed, but I'm going to have to put my notice in. I can't do it all. It could take them time to find someone."

Kyle smiled. "I'm thrilled to hear you say that you're putting the island's interest first."

"My grandfather said my mother always loved it here," he said. "I never knew the island existed."

"I didn't know your mother, but Barry talked about the island in terms of being here most of his life. He said he brought your mother and grandmother here a lot. They lived in Boston when they could have been on Cape Cod."

"Do you know why?"

"I think your grandfather had big eyes," Kyle said. "He had dreams and goals and got cocky and greedy. Being in Boston gave him more opportunities in his eyes."

"You think that is how he lost a lot of his money?" he asked.

"Yes," Kyle said. "Part of some of those regrets. But you know the house you've got now was supposed to be for your mother. She talked about a house like the one he's made that into."

"Now it's mine," he said.

"Are you more accepting of things?"

"I'm getting there," he said. He waited a second and finally said, "I'm supposed to ask you for a key."

Kyle smiled. "You've got to be giving my daughter fits with your patience."

"Something like that," he said.

"I want to say it slows her down some. She's always been in a race to get places and do things."

"She has?" he asked. This was all news to him.

"I think that is why she swam so well. She was good. She wanted to get there first. Karen always joked that she pushed Duke out of the way so she could be born first too."

He smiled at that thought. "If it could have been done she would have done it."

Kyle got up and moved to the safe again, then came back and placed a keychain in front of him.

"It's a storage unit on the island. It's full of things from your grandfather's past. I believe some items will have little notes on them. I haven't been in it. It wasn't for me to look. But in the past year or so, Barry spent a lot of time focusing on getting things ready for you."

"He never thought to reach out to me to just talk?" he asked.

It actually saddened him to know this. That maybe he would have been so closed-minded that he wouldn't hear the guy out.

"He didn't know how you felt about things. I think he hoped that Lauren would have talked about him to you and maybe you'd seek him out. Since you didn't, he was more worried that you felt the same way Adam did."

"No," he said.

"Your father and Barry didn't like each other. Your father kept your mother from Barry. Yes, your mother could have left and she didn't. I know Barry felt that deep down and it killed him that maybe Lauren chose Adam over him. There was a time Barry was willing to let Adam into his life. When things were turning around here."

"My father would have only wanted the money," he said.

"And Barry realized that. He battled back and forth over the money being worth having a relationship with Lauren again. One of the regrets your grandfather had was he made the wrong choice. Until the bitter end, I think he thought your mother would choose him over your father."

He felt his eyes start to burn. "They shared that trait. I think my mother thought she could beat her cancer and waited until it was too late for her to call her father. She put her trust in the wrong person to do it. He didn't do it. It appears to me my mother and grandfather were both too stubborn for their own good."

He wouldn't make that same mistake.

He needed to know why his father wouldn't do the one thing his mother asked.

But he'd have to talk to his father for that to happen.

Just another thing he'd have to sit back on and figure it out.

"There are some questions you're not going to get the answers to. I wish I could help, but I can't."

"It seems I'm getting more than I bargained for."

He almost wished he had known of Barry before. He'd like to think he would have wanted to meet him.

"I think you can handle it," Kyle said.

Van nodded and left, walked out to his truck with the key in his hand. He knew where the storage locker was.

He wanted to drive there and then told himself he couldn't go alone.

That he finally reached a point in his life where he wasn't by himself anymore and didn't want to be.