After the Climb (River Rain #1) - Kristen Ashley Page 0,97
for that!” Sasha cried.
Dad rounded the back of Sully’s neck with his hand and squeezed, warm and tight.
“Sul.”
“Hey, Dad.”
“You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah?”
He knew what Dad was asking.
“Chloe says she’s a fool.”
“Chloe is always right.”
“Now, that should go on a coffee mug,” Chloe decreed.
Everyone laughed.
But for Sully, the rest of his tension slipped away.
Because Dad’s hand was on his neck, Dad was there, Dad got that this sucked for him.
And when he was with Dad, everything was always all right.
His father let him go, looked at what was in Sully’s hand, and around the room, and then asked, “Christ, what are you all drinking?”
“Snowmen Jack, would you like one?” Chloe offered.
Duncan Holloway didn’t even bother.
He turned to his youngest and ordered, “Gage, get your old man a beer.”
Everyone laughed at that too.
Gage took off to the open-plan kitchen, which was, yeah, all white.
Even the counters.
And the counter appliances.
“So what do you think of a white tree with pink ornaments?” Dad asked him. “That is, the ornaments that aren’t white.”
“No offense, Genny,” he said to her where she was standing in the curve of his father’s arm, then to his dad, “I think it sucks.”
Genny giggled.
Dad’s eyes all crinkled, he caught him by the neck again.
“Now, that’s my boy.”
Yeah.
Everything was all right.
*****
Tom
The doorbell rang, and he went to open it.
The man stood outside.
“Duncan,” Tom greeted.
“Tom,” Duncan returned.
He stepped aside. “Come in.”
Duncan entered.
Tom closed the door behind him, led him to the living room, and asked, “You want a drink?”
“You got beer?”
He looked to the guy. “I was going to have a whiskey.”
Duncan tipped up his chin. “That’s better.”
Tom went to the drinks cart, asking, “Ice? Water?”
“Straight.”
Tom nodded and started to pour two fingers into two old fashioned glasses.
“Nice place,” Duncan remarked.
He didn’t look at the living room with the sunken seating area, the wall of windows that had a view to his lit pool, the stark but comfortable modern furniture.
It was the house he’d bought, and paid to have decorated, not giving much of a shit because he didn’t think he’d be there very long.
“Thanks. Hear yours is pretty spectacular.”
“Work hard, reap the rewards.”
He couldn’t argue that.
Though, he’d learned some rewards were more important than others, and if you didn’t continue nurturing them, they slipped through your fingers.
He handed Duncan a glass and inquired, “Sit outside?”
“Sure.”
Tom led him through the opened panel doors to the firepit right outside that had two chairs angled to it.
Phoenix was Phoenix, but in the winter the nights got cold.
He lit the firepit.
When he was done, he saw Duncan was still standing.
“Sit,” he invited, going to his own seat.
They sat.
Tom started it.
“Decent of you to come here.”
“Should be you and me first. Get over the awkward,” Duncan replied. “Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and it starts.”
“Right, yeah, but you didn’t have to come all the way out here.”
“You live in North Scottsdale, man, it wasn’t that far.”
Tom nodded, took a sip, stared at the fire. No more had to be said about that. Both men knew it was more than decent that Duncan agreed to meet for the first time on Tom’s turf.
Neither of them said anything for a long time.
Too long.
Even if Tom had played in his head how he wanted this to go so they could move on and have…whatever it was they had to have for Genny and his kids.
Duncan broke the silence.
“Listen, we need to get past this so they can be good.”
Tom looked to him. “I feel I need to explain.”
Duncan shook his head. “That’s not mine, that’s Genny’s.”
“Not that,” Tom returned. And he ignored the taste in his mouth when he had to say, “But she was yours when I was an ass to her, and that I have to explain.”
Duncan looked surprised.
Tom kept talking.
“I thought we still had a chance. She wasn’t dating, and to win her back, I wasn’t about to look at another woman.”
He watched the man hiss in a breath.
Quietly, Tom said, “I think you’ve proved she’s not a woman you can get over.”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“But I love her, and I’ll always love her, and doing so, want what’s best for her. And you make her happy. My daughters adore you. My son…”
He couldn’t finish that by stating the truth.
His son liked Duncan Holloway, respected him and gave him his time.
None of which he gave his father.
“He’ll come around,” Duncan muttered.
Tom looked to the fire. “I taught him too well not to let anyone harm his mother.”
“That’s why he’ll come around. ’Cause while you were teachin’ him that, Genny was