Granny Apples 05 - Ghost in the Guacamole (4 page)

The threat of fighting over the business in court only enraged the diminutive Rikki more. “Over my dead body will I let you win, Lucy. I swear that to you.”

Lucy's smug smile spread wider. “Get in my way, Rikki, and you might just get your wish.”

A
FTER
Lucy left, Rikki sat back down in her chair with a heavy thud. With elbows on the table, she rested her face in her hands as if the weight of her head were too much to bear. “I don't know what's gotten into Lucy. Ever since Dad died, she's been determined to divorce herself from everything our family's built.”

“Why don't you buy her out?” Emma suggested. “Let her go her way and have the family retain Roble Foods. I'm sure you could find someone to run the corporate end for you.”

“When she first told me she wanted to sell, I suggested that. I even suggested she leave to pursue her own dreams and retain her stock. I know several people capable of taking over the reins of the company management-wise. Tomas Mendoza is our chief financial officer. He's not on the board and isn't an owner but is Lucy's right hand and has been with the company for several years. They met while getting their MBAs. Lucy was the CFO and stepped into the CEO spot when Dad died. The board promoted Tomas to CFO. He's doing a great job and Lucy likes him. And he'll be family soon enough.”

Emma leaned forward. “What do mean by soon enough? Is he dating Lucy?”

Before Rikki could answer, a tall man in an immaculate suit approached the railing. “Are you okay, Rikki?” Without waiting for her reply, he quickly went to the entrance of the restaurant and entered, nodding to Ana as he strode past her. Emma noticed that as he passed the young coed, Ana lifted her chin and her chest and gave him a beaming smile. He seemed to have a similar effect on a couple of women passing by the restaurant at that moment. Hector had just come out of the restaurant. The man stopped, said something to Hector, and shook his hand. For the first time since she arrived, Emma saw Hector flash a hint of a genuine smile. Pleasantries exchanged, the man came up to their table. “Are you okay?” he asked Rikki again, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I was told that Lucy came down here on the warpath.”

Instead of answering, Rikki turned to Emma. “Emma, this is Tomas Mendoza. The person I was just telling you about.” She made the introductions.

Tomas held out a hand to Emma and shook hers warmly. “Call me T.J.,” he told her. “Everyone does.”

Emma smiled and did a quick study of T.J. Mendoza while he turned his focus back to Rikki. He wasn't a handsome man. His nose was too crooked, his chin and eyes too small, and his face slightly pockmarked by the ghosts of acne past. Tall and slender in build with wide shoulders and good posture, he exuded take-charge masculinity and competence like a heady scent. In reaction to his presence, Emma found herself straightening her posture just like the much younger Ana had. When she caught herself doing it, she chided herself with an inward eye roll. In spite of his perfectly tailored designer suit and freshly shined shoes, Phil would have tagged T.J. a man's man.

Almost immediately, Carlos appeared and placed a
café con leche
on the table in front of T.J., who thanked the young waiter in Spanish and offered his hand. After a slight hesitation, Carlos shook it. T.J. said something else to him and the boy beamed. T.J. turned to Emma. “I was just telling Carlos how proud we are of him. He'll be off to college soon with a scholarship.”

“So Rikki told me,” Emma answered. She smiled at Carlos. “My daughter is about to start her final year of college. Before you know it, you'll be almost done, too. Enjoy it.”

“Thank you,
señora
,” Carlos said shyly, the anger of earlier either forgotten or masked. “I will.” He picked up Lucy's abandoned cup and left.

T.J. slipped out of his suit jacket and draped it over the back of the chair next to Rikki. “It's pretty warm today.” He sat down and lifted the cup of coffee to his nose. “But never too warm for a
café con leche
.” He smiled then said to Rikki, “Is your sister gone?”

From the way he looked at Rikki, it was clear to Emma that she was the Ricardo sister T.J. was dating, not Lucy as she'd originally speculated.

“Yes,” Rikki told him. “You just missed her. Did Isabel also tell you why she was upset?” She glanced at Emma and explained, “Isabel is the executive secretary at Roble Foods and one of Lucy's minions. In fact, she's Queen Lucy's top handmaiden.” T.J. shot her a reproving look but she shook it off. “The Queen is what most of the office over there calls Lucy,” she explained to Emma.

T.J. took a sip of his coffee before answering. “No, I was just told that Lucy got steaming mad after a call to your mother. Was the reason for her anger your plan that involves Emma here?”

“It sure was,” Rikki admitted. “Mom told her about my meeting today and what I was hoping to accomplish. She told me she's selling the company even if it's over my dead body. She's threatening to take me to court to force the sale.”

“Can she do that?” Emma asked T.J.

T.J. shrugged. “According to the shareholder agreement, a sale of stock can only be made to family members unless there is unanimous agreement between all stockholders. It could be structured as an asset sale instead of a stock sale, but again there's language in place that it can only be done with the approval of all board members. In this case,” he explained, “the shareholders and board members are identical—Lucy, Rikki, and their mother, Elena. Without unanimous consent, any potential sale is at a stalemate. Lucy could file a lawsuit as a shareholder claiming Rikki is not living up to her fiduciary duty as an officer and board member and is causing harm to the company, but she'd also have to prove that the company is being financially damaged by Rikki's actions.” He laughed. “Since Roble Foods is doing better than ever, that would be a very hard sell to the court.”

“How do you feel about the sale?” Emma asked him, wondering if he'd answer truthfully in Rikki's presence.

Before he could answer, Carlos approached the table and said to Rikki, “Excuse me, but Hector said you're needed in the kitchen.”

After Rikki excused herself, Emma repeated the question to T.J.

T.J. took another sip of his coffee and leaned back casually in his chair. After a bit he answered, “Frankly, either could be good for me personally. I have a very good job that I love at Roble Foods, so if the company isn't sold, I'm good. If it is sold, Lucy would probably leave and the new owner might keep me on to run the place.”

“You mean as CEO?” Emma asked.

“It's possible, depending on whether or not they intend to run it separate from their own company. Or if they merge it into their own organization, they also might make a place for me. The third possibility is that there's a sale and I'm canned. In that case, I'd leave with a very nice severance package per my employment contract, which would leave me with a cushion while I pursue other options.”

“So the sale would not affect you that much?”

“Oh, it would affect me a great deal, Emma, but it wouldn't necessarily be a negative impact in either circumstance.”

Emma was impressed. T.J. seemed a very pragmatic man. He'd looked at his situation from all sides with intelligence rather than emotion. But his answer still didn't tell her on which side of the fence he was sitting.

“Seeing that you're rather neutral when it comes to yourself, as a businessman which way would you go?” she asked.

“Great question, Emma.” T.J. took another sip of his coffee and leaned forward. “But I'm not going to answer you as a businessman, but as a man in love.” He gave her a shy smile. “Rikki, like her father, loves this company. It's her life. I don't want it sold because it would break her heart. I've tried to influence Lucy to sell off just her part since she's so set on getting rid of it, but she's not budging. She's determined to remove Roble Foods from all their lives.”

“Do you know why?”

He shrugged and loosened his tie a bit. “She claims it's because it's stolen so much from them—time, their father, her dreams. Lucy never wanted to be a business executive, even though she's quite good at it. Her father pretty much forced her to be a business major and get her MBA and take her place running the company. He did the same with Rikki but funneled her into the restaurant end. Rikki loves and thrives in the business. Lucy despises it.”

“Rikki said something about Lucy being an artist.”

“Yes,” he answered simply. “She loves to paint and is quite good. She wants to do it full-time, not as a hobby when she has time, as she does now. She thinks of herself as a modern Frida Kahlo. Lucy has made it clear that as soon as the company is sold, she plans to travel the world painting and sketching.”

“It still doesn't make sense,” Emma said. “Why get rid of the company when she can just sell off her stake in it and do what she wants?”

“Spite, Emma. After their father died, Lucy's resentment of Roble Foods became so deep she won't even entertain that option. It's like a big ugly bleeding gash to her gut. I've known Lucy Ricardo a long time, longer than I've known Rikki. She's always been very spiteful and vengeful. Even in school when someone got in the way of something she wanted, she'd never find a way around them. She'd roll right over them to reach her goal, whether it be a plum assignment or project, a business deal, or even the affections of a man.”

“Did you two ever date in school?” Emma asked.

He nodded. “For a very short time, but we soon discovered we were much better friends than lovers. At Roble I often act as a buffer between Lucy and the rest of the company, and that's okay, but in my personal life I prefer the sweeter nature of Rikki. She's still a sound and tough businesswoman, but Rikki also has a good heart and treats employees with kindness and respect.”

Emma thought about the way the two sisters handled the situation with Carlos's tattoos. Even though the waiter didn't care for Rikki's discipline on the matter, he took it much easier than Lucy's harsh accusing words.

Emma turned her cup around on its saucer as she readied herself to ask the next question. “And what do you think of Rikki asking me to assist her?”

A slow, embarrassed smile crept across his face and he looked toward the entrance to the dining room, as if hoping Rikki would return at that very minute and save him from answering. Almost a full minute later, he turned back to Emma. “After she told me her plan, I watched a couple of old episodes of your show online. Very impressive. I like that you often present both the paranormal and scientific sides of your topics and handle them with an even hand.”

“Thank you,” Emma answered. “My goal isn't to force the paranormal issue, but to let viewers make up their own minds. There's still a lot I'm learning and a lot I don't believe in myself.”

T.J. smoothed down his tie and leaned closer to Emma before speaking. “But you do believe that people can communicate with the spirits of the dead?”

“Yes,” Emma answered with conviction. “I do and I have done it myself.” She wanted to add that she does it every day, but she wasn't ready to disclose that she was that close to the spirit world, specifically that she was besties with a ghost. “When it first happened to me,” she continued, “I didn't believe it, but over time there has been too much evidence and too many interactions with the other side for me to ignore.”

T.J. nodded as he digested her words. “You know that Mexicans hold a deep belief in the spirits of their dead?”

“Yes,” Emma answered. “I know that
Día de los Muertos
is a big celebration in Mexico and even here in the Latino community.”

He ran a hand over his chin. “
Día de los Muertos
was celebrated long before Christianity came to the people of Mexico. In fact, the observance can be traced back almost three thousand years. We celebrate and remember our dead on those days and many believe the dead return to earth during that time.”

“Do you believe the dead return on those days?” Emma asked, her eyes meeting his.

T.J. pointed to himself and chuckled. “Me? No. I believe the dead are dead. But Rikki does believe the spirits of our loved ones can walk among us. She's hoping you can call out the spirits of her father and grandfather now and not wait until the end of October for
Día de los Muertos
for them to make an appearance. Can you do that?”

Emma thought about the ghost of Felix Ricardo already making his appearance. “I have already felt the presence of Felix Ricardo today,” she admitted. “But I haven't told Rikki.”

Coming to attention in his chair, T.J. Mendoza stared at Emma. “You've already made contact with Felix?” His question was said in jest. “That's fast work.” His dark eyes studied her and Emma knew he was looking for deception.

“I said I've already felt his presence,” she clarified, not taking her eyes off his. “But for argument's sake, what if Felix does communicate with me and tells me to advise Rikki to sell Roble Foods?”