nudged Lukas’s foot under the table. “Tell your mom about that parrot you told me about yesterday. The one the older woman adopted not realizing how much it would repeat things.”
Lukas raised his chin and gave John a grateful look before turning to his mom and telling her quietly about Frank the parrot, who told the entire office he’d spank them for being naughty. Lydia was laughing hysterically halfway through the story, just like John had been, but he noticed Dave was frowning down at his plate, pushing the rest of the food around.
John finished his own plate, then stood and nudged Dave with his arm. “Come with me for a second.”
Dave glanced up and scowled, but he eventually stood and gathered his own trash. John dumped his plate in the garbage but tucked his wiped-off utensils in his pocket. He caught Dave rolling his eyes, but neither said anything.
Once they were halfway to the lake, John finally spoke up. “Everything okay, man?”
Dave shot him a look before turning back toward the water. “Everything’s fine. Why?”
“I don’t know. It just seemed like you were upset with me about Singer, then you were kinda shitty to Lukas about his job. Just wanted to see if there was anything bothering you.”
Dave stopped and turned to John with narrowed eyes. He wasn’t quite as tall as John was, but he was just as broad after years of hard labor. He crossed his arms over his wide chest and held John’s gaze. “I think you’re being shortsighted when it comes to Singer, and my son is my business.”
John clenched his teeth together and matched Dave’s stance. “Even if I am, that’s my business. And Lukas and I are friends. I know you just hurt his feelings by dismissing something he’s so passionate about. He loves his job.”
The tension leached from Dave’s shoulders as he scrubbed at his face. “I thought… I thought he’d get the whole animal thing out of his system if he worked there a couple years, you know? Then he’d come work for me and learn how to manage the business. He’s supposed to take over for me when I retire, but instead he prefers… I don’t know, playing with puppies and kittens or whatever.”
He sounded lost and frustrated, but John knew Lukas was frustrated too. “You thought he’d quit and come back to Brown and Son? He hasn’t worked for you since he was in high school. He loves his job, Dave. He’s not going to quit it.”
Dave gripped the back of his neck and turned away, back toward the pavilion. “I thought if I waited, he’d eventually come around. That he was just rebelling against his old man or something. But he still shows zero interest in coming back and helping me. My own kid…”
John reached over and clapped his shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze before letting his hand drop. “He’s not a kid anymore. You gotta let him live his own life. And maybe—oh, I don’t know—show some damn interest in what he likes and stop being a baby about him not living up to some bullshit idea you had when he was born.”
Frowning a little, Dave stared at where his wife and son were still talking, Lukas using his hands to tell some story and looking so happy and beautiful it was like a punch to John’s gut, but in a good way. He wanted to keep Lukas looking like that for as long as he could.
“I built my business from nothing,” Dave was saying, still looking at his family. “Who am I supposed to leave it to if my own son doesn’t want anything to do with it?”
John stepped up next to him and tapped the outside of Dave’s shoulder with his fist but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have an answer for Dave. All he knew was that Lukas would never want to be a contractor or run his dad’s business, so Dave needed to stop being an asshole about it.
Lukas and his mom were cracking up over another story he’d told when he noticed John and his dad reenter the pavilion. His dad was frowning but didn’t seem angry, just like he was thinking hard about something. When he met John’s eyes, John winked at him and smiled reassuringly. Lukas’s heart warmed at that look.
“Are you all packed up, sweetie?” his mom asked, drawing his attention back to her. She was smiling at him, but there was a strange twinkle in her eyes.
“Pretty