Chapter 3
Avery
Snapping the last photo to attach to the long-running email I had pulled up on my phone, I felt a sense of peace wash over me.
For the first time since starting this entire process of disentangling my father’s laundry list of fuck-up’s, running into Brandon Anders—now Carmichael—was by far the best accident I never thought would happen.
We’d grown up together in this town, spending practically all of our waking moments together and being so ingrained with each other’s lives that it was impossible to tell where he began and I ended.
There had been plenty of times that people had accused us of being together that we’d laughed off, even after he’d come out to me.
I never cared. None of that ever changed what we had between us—a rock solid friendship that was unshakable until I was forced away and slowly cut off from everything that I knew.
For some reason, it never occurred to me that he may still be in Edgewood. Having left the area myself, I figured he’d do the same.
He’d looked good—still had those soft features that used to get him into trouble while we were in high school with the guys that were too chicken shit to admit that they thought he was pretty.
Seeing him all grown up was a shock, but a good one.
Sending off the email, I slipped my phone back into my pocket and pulled the garage shut. The keys the facility allowed me to borrow were hanging off of my finger by the key ring, both of them clinking together while I walked back to my own car and climbed in.
The off-property garage was about fifteen minutes away from the McAllister residence, located in a highly secure facility with guards that were monitoring the property 24/7.
Getting up here and showing all of my credentials had soon granted me access to my father’s rented space, allowing me to see just what had been collecting dust for the past few months since his death.
According to the property manager, the last time my father visited the garage was several years ago, leading me to believe that after the purchase of these cars, he’d set the rent on auto pay and promptly forgot about them.
While I wasn’t that savvy on classics, they seemed to be in relatively good condition. So whatever buyers Brandon had in his books would soon be getting a call once I’d gotten the all clear to sell them.
I was excited for what he had to say, mainly because I was eager to talk to him again. His wariness back at the shop wasn’t lost on me at all, however I was ready to chalk that up to the odd situation that brought us together in the first place.
Showing up at his work so out of the blue like that was no doubt jarring, especially when there had never been any type of correspondence after we’d lost touch. He didn’t seem freaked out, which was a positive.
It spelled good things for our future.
Pulling around to the admin office at the front of the facility, I dropped off the spare keys and then headed out.
There was a good possibility that I’d be back sometime soon.
Pictures could only do a car so much justice and with how Brandon used to be when it came to working on things, he was a hands-on sort of guy.
I was excited for him to come with me, if only for an afternoon. I was dying to catch up with him, to know what exactly was going on in his life over the past decade and a half.
As soon as I pulled out onto the main drag running through town, my car’s alert system chimed with an incoming call with my ex-wife Carrie’s name attached to it.
Tapping on the phone icon on my steering wheel, I said, “Hey you.”
She laughed. “Hey there, stranger. How was your trip?”
“Fine. Long. The air up here feels like I’m breathing in a straight tank full of pure oxygen.”
“I bet that’s doing wonders for your brain power.”
“I’ll be crunching stock numbers in my sleep.”
She laughed again. “Glad to hear it. You doing okay, though? I bet it’s weird being back there.”
It was. More than I thought it would be.
Carrie knew much about my gripes when it came to my father.
Our relationship was always volatile, but she got to witness front and center how toxic we could be with each other.
The day we’d gotten married, my father had decided that bringing his flavor of the week as his plus one would hardly be noticed.
If we were any family other than the McAllisters, I might have been willing to let it go for once.
However, we were never so lucky.
Reporters had shown up in droves for the chance at a glimpse of our wedding. Two powerful conglomerate families coming together in a formal union like ours was the kind of news that happened very seldom. Something that my father very much knew when pulling the stunt that he had.
Our fight had been horrible, resulting in my father, along with his date, being banned from the property.
That was the first time I’d cried in front of Carrie during our entire two and a half year relationship. My disappointment in my only living parent not attending my wedding through actions of his own doing had been the tipping block to send me right over the damn edge.
Still to this day, I had no idea why she ever went through with marrying me.
Maybe she felt sorry for me—recognizing the lonely child that still lived inside of my man-sized frame.
Or maybe it was a classic case of obligation, the pressure of which had been placed upon her shoulders by her own family.
Either way, I’d always be forever grateful for her sticking by my side through some incredibly tough times. Even if it did eventually end in us divorcing.
“I’m all right,” I finally said. “I certainly won’t complain when everything is said and done.”
“Yeah, I hear you. When you do come back, we’ll get together so you can tell me all about it over lunch. Eva misses you.”
Instantly, I felt myself softening. “You get her in with that early development school yet?”
“We’re still on the waiting list. Ryan said that if by next week we don’t hear anything, he’s totally flashing my family name at them.”
Both of us laughed together.
Coming from a wealthy family myself, I tended to try and not wave my status around to get whatever I wanted. Not for any particular reason outside of the dying need to want some kind of normalcy that aligned with the rest of the world.
I was no stranger to my own privilege. Having grown up with a silver spoon in my mouth and living among the working class of Ellington Heights had shown me that much at a young age. Brandon had shown me that quite clearly.
However, I would be lying if I said that sometimes being the son of a billionaire didn’t come with quite the expansive list of temptations.
And Carrie was no different.
“We do what we can for our kids,” I said.
She let out an exhausted sounding sigh. “Too true. You okay if I call you after Eva goes down for bed?”
“Yeah, of course.” The offer to read her daughter a bedtime story was on the tip of my tongue, quickly squashed once I remembered the conversation I had with Carrie a few weeks ago about our boundaries.
“Great! I’ll call you then,” she said and then ended the call.
My fingers drummed along the steering wheel while I edged my car through a four-way stop.
I hated feeling shut out of Carrie’s life.
Her fiancé, while not at all on our level in terms of family wealth, treated her well. After our divorce, Carrie had—much like me—stayed out of the dating pool for quite some time, only ever branching out when her friends had decided to set her up on a blind date with her now fiancé.
He was a nice guy. Wasn’t all that interested in her family, outside of getting to know them like any normal boyfriend would while dating. Seemed to genuinely care for my ex the way she’d always needed to be. And didn’t seem to mind that she and I were still good friends.
In my book, that was enough for me to approve of him.
After the birth of her daughter, though, things seemed to change.
It was gradual at first. Subtle comments here and there.
A guiding arm away from me whenever I got too close to the baby, or he felt like I was becoming too involved with helping Carrie navigate early motherhood while he was working overtime.
Carrie had done so much for me over the years in terms of helping me navigate my world out from under my father’s thumb. Repaying her in kind by stepping in where her fiancé lacked was second nature and never needed to be asked of me, despite Ryan’s growing attempts to keep me away.
I bonded with Eva. Became like a pseudo uncle to her. She was such a wonderful little girl that I couldn’t help but feel that paternal love toward her.
And then it all came crashing down.
No longer was Ryan so casual in his attitude toward me.
He’d grown overprotective of both Carrie and their daughter seemingly overnight.
It was devastating to receive that phone call from Carrie expressing that Ryan wasn’t comfortable having me around anymore, especially in Eva’s life, and that I needed to take a step back from their family altogether.
I’d been crushed.
My pseudo family ripped away from me in the blink of an eye.
Before that, I never thought about wanting a family. Once it was gone, I’d mourned the losses like they were dead.
I supposed in a way, that’s kind of how it was. I wasn’t allowed to go back to those times, no matter how much I missed them. I had to come to terms with my new reality, just like when I’d been forced to leave Brandon and my life in Ellington Heights behind.
There was a part of me that had hope Ryan would eventually come around. Then again, in his shoes, perhaps I would be feeling the same way. My fiancé’s ex constantly popping in and out of the picture certainly could lead to some unresolved issues no matter how amicable Carrie and I were.
Stopping at the town’s main intersection, I pulled out my phone to send Carrie a quick text to tell her that it turned out, I was going to be busy tonight, only to be distracted by the email notification on my top bar.
Pulling it down, I saw Brandon’s name listed.
Immediately, I tapped on the notification.
‘Hey, Avery. Thanks for the photos. From them, it seems like the cars are in great shape, so you should have no problem selling them. However, I wouldn’t be able to give you any kind of estimate on what they’re worth unless I actually look under the hood.
Where is this garage located? Is it local?
I’m going to have to meet you so that I can get a better look.
Let me know what your schedule is looking like for this week so we can figure something out. Best, Brandon Carmichael.’
My heart leapt in my chest.
I’d missed him so goddamn much.
Even the stilted professional language he was using was charming.
Behind me, a car leaned on their horn, causing me to jolt up and realize that the line for the light was already gone. Tossing my phone into the passenger seat, I stomped on my gas and continued through the light.
Once I was home, I’d email Brandon back and set up a time to meet him.
I’d only be in Ellington Heights for a little while, but in the meantime, I’d soak up as much time with him as I could before I’d be forced to say goodbye once again.