or worse, I would have quite happily torn Roy limb from fucking limb. I found it interesting these four kept calling me soft when the protectiveness I felt towards them edged close to violence.
Admiring this team was quite different from asking for their help, however. If my father had taught me anything, it was that asking for help got you nowhere. And needing help was a weakness I didn’t care to explore.
“It’s a vacation, Sam,” I said firmly. It wasn’t technically a lie. Tonight, I would dutifully fold those Hawaiian shirts and pack books I wanted to read into a suitcase and set off for a stay in a luxurious hotel with an elegant history.
He tapped the Bernard file, and my fingers clenched into fists automatically. He tracked the movement.
I arched my eyebrow.
With a curt nod, Sam stood. “Yes, sir.”
“Thank you for the information,” I said.
“Thank you for taking care of yourself,” he said. “You taught me the value of that, remember?”
I glanced away, evading the compliment. “Can you close the door on your way out?”
He complied, leaving me alone for the first time in hours.
I turned back to my inbox—staring at the subject line from an anonymous sender that said: The location of Bernard Allerton.
Not surprisingly, the location was London.
2
Abe
London, England
I was taking my mother and step-mom to afternoon tea at the famous Palm Court in The Langham Hotel. Well, virtual tea. It was my first official day in London, and I was seated on an elegant, cream-colored couch sipping black tea from a fine china cup.
My phone was propped up across from me so we could video call. The two women on the screen had never been to London and both dreamed of traveling here. I worked to quiet the pesky voice that suggested a good son would have taken them wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted—I was that damn grateful to them.
Work, however, was always in the way.
I raised my cup in a cheer and allowed a small smile when my mothers raised their own, all the way from Miami where they lived in a beach-side condo with three rescue Pomeranians and more friends than I could keep track of. They were both nearing seventy but had active and vibrant lives, which I was unbearably happy to see. It had been twenty-five years since my mother’s car accident that left her with a traumatic brain injury, robbing her of her ability to speak and walk. Over four years, my mother worked day and night with a rehabilitative nurse to regain her strength and abilities—and though recovery was considered a life-long journey, she embraced life with the zeal of a person given a second chance.
And instead of clinging to her anger when my father betrayed us and left, she’d done the opposite. My mother had fallen in love with her rehabilitative nurse—Jeanette. About a year after ending her position as my mother’s caregiver, the two began dating. They hadn’t been apart a single day since.
Unfortunately, my anger toward my father hadn’t abated. It crystallized into something hard and immobile in my chest.
“Why are you wearing a suit on your vacation?” my mother asked, peering through the screen.
I smoothed my palm down my tie. “What else does one wear? Leisure is no excuse not to look your best.” Jeanette snorted and I flashed her a rare smile. “How are the dogs?”
“They miss you,” my mom said. “We miss you. I’m so glad you’re taking this time. I really am. But can you sneak in a weekend with us before you head back to the city?”
More guilt, more regret. I thought vacations were supposed to alleviate these feelings, not amplify them. “I can’t,” I said, watching their faces fall. “Next month, though? Maybe I can take a week, work from your condo if the dogs will allow it.”
“Oh they will, Abraham. They will,” my mother cheered. “We’ll clean out one of the guest rooms and turn it into a makeshift office. The glass doors open onto the beach, which would make your employees extremely jealous.”
“When I’m not inspiring fear in their hearts,” I said, “I do like to inspire envy.”
“Inspire is right,” my mother countered. I attempted a scowl. “Freya tells us all the time in our group chat what a great boss you are.”
“What group chat?”
“All three of us are watching Love Island,” Jeanette said. “Which you should watch while you’re there. Unwind. Relax a little. Maybe throw on a sweatshirt.”