The Ghost by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page B

Kong next year, but I want to put in another year here first. It sounded sensible to Charlie, and he nodded.
    What about you? Ben had already said to several friends that he didn't think Charlie would last six months there. He was far too advanced, and too creative to waste his time recycling garbage.
    They agreed to send me back to London in a year. But he was already concerned about Dick Barnes, who might not be willing to give up running the London office, and that could turn out to be a serious problem.
    I wouldn't bet on it, Ben said knowingly. If they like your style, they're going to try and keep you here forever.
    I don't think I could stand it, Charlie said, nearly in a whisper. It was a far, far cry from what he had done in Europe. But he could give them a year. He had promised them that, and he was ready to fulfill his obligation to them. But on Monday morning he got in an enormous argument with Bill and Arthur over a complicated construction they had going in Chicago. It turned into a week-long fight, an ideological debate, and eventually challenged everyone's integrity and ethics. And Charlie absolutely would not relent about it. But everyone was drawn into the debate, and it divided the entire office into factions. By the end of the week, everyone had finally settled down again, tempers had calmed, and most of the participants retreated to compromise positions, though the main issues were not entirely resolved to Charlie's satisfaction. And within days, a similar argument broke out over a project in Phoenix. It was all about design and having the courage to move forward, and not selling the same old tired concepts to unwitting clients. But they were doing the same thing in Phoenix they'd done before, and the building was almost identical to one they'd done in Houston, but the client didn't know it.
    What is going on here? Charlie ranted at both partners in a closed meeting in his office a week before Christmas. It had been snowing all week, and three of their architectural associates had been unable to come in from the suburbs, which made the pressure on all of diem somewhat greater. But the battle about Phoenix had been raging since early morning. What exactly are we doing? We're not selling anything original. We're not even selling design. We're becoming contractors, that's all we are. Don't you understand that? Both men sitting in the room with him bristled at the accusations, and reminded him that they were one of the most respected architectural firms in the country. Then why don't we act like it, and start selling design again, not this crap that could be done by morons. I really can't let you do this, he said, and the two partners looked at each other, but Charlie had his back to them and was looking at the snow out the window. He was completely frustrated by what they were doing, and humiliated by what they were selling. It really had been a disastrous year for him, and as he turned to face them again, he was surprised to hear them remind him of it. They had already discussed it several hours before, and they were trying to salvage a very delicate situation.
    We know you've had a hard time ' we heard about your wife, they said cautiously, that must have been stressful for you, Charles. And moving back from Europe after ten years can't be easy either. Maybe we were wrong to ask you to just step right into the job in a matter of days, without even pausing for breath between New York and London. Maybe you need some time to adjust' . What about a little vacation? We've got a project in Palm Beach you could go down and supervise for us. In fact, there's no reason for you not to stay there for a while. You could easily spend a month there. As they said it, alternating sentences, they both looked somewhat sheepish.
    A month? In Florida? Is that a polite way of getting rid of me? Why don't you just fire me? In fact, they had discussed that too, but given his immense success abroad, and the contract he'd signed,