Slipperless Series (Book #4)(19)

My stomach sank as she issued her ultimatum. First of all, Gabe had no idea about my grandmother and her dire health situation. Knowing him, he would be very upset I hadn’t shared that information with him in the first place. Frankly, given the state of our relationship, I wasn’t sure whether or not he would take that out on me or be forgiving.

I really had no idea.

But, no matter what, the simple fact of the matter was that my grandmother was running out of time. Whether Gabe would’ve come down in a way that’s favorable to me or not, I really didn’t have the luxury to wait.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry Mrs. Jameson, but I’m afraid I don’t have time for that.”

“Okay then, Fiona,” she began. “I’ll just have you fill out the paperwork for your leave of absence. You should be aware, however, violating company policy in this way could lead to your termination. You do understand that don’t you?”

I swallowed hard and nodded, tucking my hair behind my ears. With a sniffle of defiance, I replied, “Yes, Miss Jameson, I understand exactly what you’re saying.”



GABE

It had been well over two years since I had taken any time off. In the early years of my business, it wasn’t uncommon for me to work one hundred hours or more in a week. As I became more successful, however, I was able to dial that back a bit.

Now most weeks I averaged about eighty hours or so. Even though that sounded like a lot, the truth was, there was nothing else I’d rather do.

I’ve always loved almost everything about what I do. Specifically, the challenge of the business, coming up with new and groundbreaking ways to treat serious illness. When you have that kind of affection for what you do, there’s no need to take a vacation.

At least, that’s the way I used to feel until a few days ago.

Although my love for the work hasn’t changed, I’ve found I’m letting my problems affect me more than I ever have in the past. I’m not the type of person to openly discuss things that are bothering me. Over the years I’ve found what works best for me is being alone and taking time to think through my issues.

And so, that’s exactly what I hoped to achieve with my brief retreat at one of the island’s most secluded spots.

In the wake of our failure to get the Link Protocol ready in time for the investor meeting and the subsequent fallout from it, I needed to clear my head more than ever. Not only was I dealing with the pressure from that, but also from the feelings I had towards Fiona.

I decided to go off the grid entirely.

I gathered up enough supplies to last me for a few days, but otherwise left everything behind, including my computer and cell phone. After just the first day, I already knew it would turn out to be just what I needed.

I spent my days swimming and hiking, while at night, I would sleep on the beach under the clear tropical skies.

The thing that always struck me the most about nighttime in the islands was the overwhelming number of stars. Back home, I could barely see any, while here it seemed as if the sky wasn’t big enough to hold them all.

For as far as I could see, blinking white filled the vast void overhead. It was all but impossible not to reflect on life in a situation like that. And that was exactly what I did. Lying out there for several nights in a row, I came to a number of conclusions.

The first of these revolved around my own life.

I was by no means an old man, not even close, but if I wasn’t careful I’d wake up one day and find myself middle-aged, worth billions, but on the declining side of life. That just wasn’t a scenario that I wanted for myself.

You have to make extreme sacrifices to achieve extreme success.

I’d known that since the day I started my business. None of that bothered me, because I had every confidence in my ability to achieve my goals. I’d put everything I had, including most of the last ten years of my life, into building it. And the truth was that whether the Link Protocol proved successful or not, I already had more money than I could possibly spend in my entire life.

It occurred to me I’d been so driven, so focused on leveraging the Link Protocol and propelling Hawkins Biotech into a market-leading position, I’d allowed my desire for that to seriously fuck up my judgment. If I weren’t careful from this point forward, there’s no telling what the fallout would be, if I continued to make bad decisions like I had.

I didn’t regret challenging Fiona in the way I had.

After all, she volunteered to go back to the lab and fix the situation. Even so, I began to wonder if it was realistic to expect her to pull this off on her own. Right now, there was no way to have a clear answer about it. I would just have to find a way to apply pressure, but at the same time try to stay patient.