In the middle of the month, my dad called me into his office for a chat. I wasn’t expecting the news he was about to share.
“I think I’m going to have to file Chapter Thirteen, Terri.”
“What! Why haven’t you said anything before now? I’m a senior partner here Dad!”
“Honey, I know. I was trying to shield you.”
“Dad, you don’t shield partners. You’re honest and open with them. I knew the market was down, but you led me to believe everything was steady with Mitchell Properties.”
“I’m sorry honey. It was wrong of me.”
“I’ll say.” My heart had slammed to the floor. “Does Mom know?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Something wasn’t right here. “What? What’s going on here?”
“Your mother and I are having problems Terri.”
“What?” This was turning into a tropical shit storm of epic proportions.
“I’m sorry. We didn’t want you to know.”
“What am I...twelve? I can’t believe you two. And you with this business thing.” I got up and headed out the door.
“Terri, wait.”
“No Dad, I’ve waited long enough. I have some thinking to do. My reputation as an agent and broker is on the line and I do believe you have royally fucked me. I also have some damage control to do.”
I stormed out of his office and headed straight to mine. I picked up all my files that I needed and grabbed my computer. I looked around the office to see if there was anything else I would need for the next couple of days. This was going to be bad.
Alana was sitting at her desk and I stopped to speak with her.
“Did you know?”
“Know what?”
I looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone around. “Look, I just had a little chat with my dad. He’s getting ready to file Chapter Thirteen.”
Her face crashed straight to her desk. “I didn’t know.”
“I’m going to try to keep my listings and open up my own place if I can set my own business up before he files. Will you come with me? Just the two of us? We might have to work out of my house for a while?”
“Hell yes. I’ll go with you.”
“You wanna be an agent?”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
“Sign up for school then. I don’t have time to waggle around here while this business crumbles and he takes everyone down with him.”
I zoomed out of the parking lot and went to work at home. By the end of the day, I had set up my own business, Terri Mitchell Real Estate, and notified everyone that had a listing with me of the change. I also sent out notifications to all the other real estate firms in the Tri-County area of my change. John Remington, the Middleton family attorney, had been most helpful. Terri Mitchell was no longer a part of Mitchell Properties.
That night I went to my parents’ house. My mom was at home alone. My anger shot through every argument she tried to put against telling me, and when I left, I’d made it plenty clear they had messed up. I had one more thing to do and that was to hand over my letters of resignation and legal separation from Mitchell Properties to my father. I headed over to the office with the intention of leaving them on his desk.
When I pulled into the parking lot, his car was there. Good, I was fully prepared for my final showdown. Unlocking the door, I marched straight back to his office and noticed the door was shut. Not thinking anything about it, I swung it open and was greeted with the most unpleasant scene imaginable. There was my dad, sitting on his desk and there was Angela, the office whore, with her head in his lap doing the dirty to him.
I gagged. Out loud. Then I yelled, “What the fuck? Is this why you and Mom aren’t getting along? At least you could’ve had the sense to have better taste and chosen someone who’s damn ‘thingy’ hasn’t been fucked by everyone in Charleston. You disgust me. Here’s my letter of resignation and letter of separation from the organization. Have a great life Daddy.” I flung the documents at him and left.
Furious couldn’t even come close to describing how I felt. I got to my car as fast as my bionic leg would carry me. Believe me, it wasn’t fast enough either. My phone started to ring and I answered it, my voice quivering.
“Honey, what happened?”
It was Justin and I told him everything.
“I’m on my way over. Don’t drive.”
“I can’t stay in this parking lot. I’m going home.”
“Please Terri, stay there. I’ll come and get you. I don’t want you to drive with you being this upset.”
“I can’t stay here,” I screamed.