Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 115198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
“I could have breakfast with him tomorrow,” Alex says, wedging his shoulder between Ray’s and West’s and frowning in a way that looks like his brand of excitement. He consults the calendar on his phone like we aren’t on a private island with all the time in the world. “Around nine?”
“Am I your secretary?” Ray laughs a get-a-load-of-this-guy laugh and hooks a thumb at Alex. “Just take care of it.”
“On it,” Alex says again, furiously typing something into his phone.
Jake pulls his attention away from this and pretends to see someone across the room, wandering off. Charlie and Janet start bickering about some details of the wedding. The family dynamic is so loud, it’s thunderous.
With Alex vying for Ray’s attention, West takes the excuse to pull me aside. “Let’s get out of here.”
“It’s barely been an hour,” I say. “Are you sure that’s okay?”
He nods. “It’s perfect. You met Charlie. You met Alex. My family saw us here. Let’s go.”
We walk to the bar, grabbing cocktails to take back to our bungalow, and then duck out a side exit.
The stone path is smooth under my bare feet as we walk in silence. A look at the water shows the tide coming in, the waves frothy in the moonlight. Phthalo Blue, Cadmium Yellow Light, and a touch of Titanium White, I think, still pondering over the right mix of colors. A little Burnt Umber to capture the way the water moves in the moonlight.
“Charlie is a delight,” I say, and do a quick hopscotch once we hit the sand. “I feel like I’ve had a personality shower.”
“She’s great. A little sheltered…” A pause, and he amends, “A lot sheltered, in fact, but she has a good heart. Charlie is a pure soul living in a very plush bubble.”
West’s tone is flat and detached, incongruous with the gentle words. I glance up at him. His jaw is tight, eyes narrow and focused on the steps ahead of him. “On the other end of the spectrum,” I say, hoping I’m reading him right, “your dad sure is something.”
“Mm-hmm.” The jaw clenches tighter.
I know it’s not fair to compare our fathers. They come from completely different worlds, have led starkly different lives, but all I can think as we walk is David Green would NEVER. “A dad like that casts quite a shadow, I imagine.”
It’s a good five-second pause, but then we both burst out laughing. “I wasn’t making a short joke,” I say, still laughing, “but now that I said it, I mean, it’s odd! I expected him to be tall, too!”
“The height is from my mom’s side. You’ll notice she never wears a heeled shoe.”
“I would say we love a short king, but in your dad’s case, I’m not sure we do.”
West laughs again. “We do not.”
“And what’s the deal with Alex? Based on the way you talked about him on the plane, I expected you two to jovially poke at each other, but that was like dragging a proverbial sword through each other with your eyeballs.”
“It’s always been like that between us.”
“But why?”
“Well, mostly because he’s an asshole. But also, kids growing up in a normal family get to be themselves, whoever that may be. But in families like ours, one where everything basically revolves around keeping a single person happy—my dad—everybody has a role. My therapist used to refer to Alex as a flying monkey.”
I laugh, sure I’ve heard this wrong. “A what?”
“Like in The Wizard of Oz? Alex was my dad’s willing henchman, doing everything he said, kissing his ass, stirring up shit just to turn us all in, then sit back and look like the good guy. He’s never grown out of it.”
“That sounds healthy.”
“And for all of Alex’s ass-kissing, Dad is probably the hardest on him.”
“So if Alex was the ass-kisser growing up, what were you?”
“If you asked Alex, he’d say I was the golden boy.”
“And if I asked you?”
“I’d say I worked hard so I didn’t embarrass my father.”
This sends a tiny spear of pain through my side. “And Jake?”
“As soon as Jake could, he just stayed away from home. I mean, like when he was ten, eleven. Jake was the invisible son. He does whatever he needs to do to fly under the radar. Work for Dad? Sure. Crack a well-timed joke to defuse tension? Sure. Avoid Dad at all social functions so he’s never in the spotlight but also doesn’t risk doing something wrong? That’s Jake. It’s one of the reasons Alex thinks Jake doesn’t deserve his current title. He thinks Jake didn’t put in the time learning from Dad and walking in his shadow, and he’s probably right. But in my opinion Alex spent too much time doing that. Dad wants us to listen to him and do what he says, but the irony is he doesn’t respect a yes-man. To Dad, Alex’s drive looks like desperation instead of ambition.” West runs a hand through his hair, blowing out a breath. “I tell you what, Alex is not going to be happy if he thinks I’m back in the picture.”