Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“Ah, Jensen. Yeah, you’ll have to tell him I said hello.”
I had no intention of doing that. Like most of my family, Jensen was hardly a fan of my father. It probably had something to do with him trying to undermine Morgan’s ascension to CEO. Or maybe having a second family. Or maybe just his existence. There was a long list of misdeeds to choose from.
Still, I was the intermediary. I was the one who kept the peace.
“What’s going on? Do you have plans?”
“Oh, just here and there,” he said. Which meant no. “I do have business in Austin next weekend though.”
Oh no.
“I thought that I could pop up to see you while I’m there.”
“Just me?” I asked even though I knew the answer.
“Well, all of you,” he said.
All of us. Jordan, Julian, me, West, and Harley. His two families, all happily together…without him.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
As far as I knew, Jordan and Julian were still no contact. Harley didn’t see him, even when she went home. West had seen him in LA when he signed with Cosmere, but I didn’t know what their current relationship was like. And me? Where did I factor in all of this? I didn’t know. I couldn’t put two and two together when it came to him. I’d told the others to give him a chance, and I wasn’t sure I even wanted to.
“Come on. It’d be great. We can do dinner or go golfing. Whatever y’all want to do.” He cleared his throat. “I’d appreciate it if you ask everyone for me.”
I looked to the blue sky. Summer clinging on stubbornly while fall waited in the wings. It would have been nice to enjoy it.
“You want me to ask everyone for you?”
“Well, no one else took my call,” he said sullenly.
I sighed. “Dad…”
“I know. I fucked up. You all want to punish me forever for it, but I’m still your father. I want to be a part of your lives. I regret a lot, but having all of you, raising all of you…never.”
Raising us. I couldn’t even comment on that. How could you raise people when you spent, at most, half of your time with both families? And Jordan and Julian had always gotten more of him than we ever had.
But I said none of that. It wouldn’t matter to him.
Maybe Harley had been right, and I should have ignored him.
“I’ll talk to them,” I said like the faithful soldier I was.
“Thank you, Whitt. I appreciate it. I love you. Have fun at your party.”
I said my good-byes and then hung up. Well, this was going to suck.
I stepped into Jensen’s lake house. It was immaculate. Big windows on all exterior walls with a panoramic view of the lake. A huge open floor plan, currently covered in children running loose and parents with only half an eye on them. I clocked Colton on the patio outside with his arms crossed, ignoring the entire world for his phone. Poor kid.
I shook hands with Jensen, agreeing that I’d be at his next mayoral event—a silent auction in a few weeks that led up to the election. Then, I went about rounding up my various siblings. For once, I was glad that Eve wasn’t here yet.
Once I had them all in a room off of the main area, where purses were piled up in corners, I closed the door and said, “Dad wants to come into town.”
“What?” Jordan asked.
“No,” Julian said at once.
Harley crossed her arms and shook her head.
West pursed his lips. “Why?”
“Look, he said that he has business in Austin next weekend and that he wants to see us.”
“Why are you even still answering his calls?” Julian asked.
“I agree with Julian. I know that our relationship with him was different from yours, but honestly, isn’t it worse?”
“I don’t want to agree with Whitt,” West informed them, “but he did seem changed the last time I saw him. I think it’s gotten to him.”
“Isn’t that what he deserves?” Harley snarled. “He did this to us. We didn’t do anything to him. Fuck him.”
Julian pointed at Harley. “Seconded.”
“What she said,” Jordan said.
“He tried to see me when I was in Seattle, even after I told him no,” Harley said. “Even talking to him is a bad idea. That’s how he worms his way in. No contact is the way to go.”
“He probably invented the Austin trip,” Jordan added. “You know how he is.”
“Definitely. I’d bet there’s no business involved. He’s just trying to find a way in,” Harley said.
“That doesn’t say something? That he wants to know us?” Whitt said.
“He just feels guilty,” Jordan said with a sigh. “I wish it were more. Fuck, I wanted to believe him so many times, Whitt. So many times. Julian and I gave him a million and a half chances. I don’t have any more to give.”