Chapter 31 #2
I won’t show up at Symphony Hall tonight. I won’t show up at Symphony Hall tonight.
“I’m coming over when you get home and sleeping with you.”
“Is that a promise, Doctor Playboy? Do I get the full Luca Abbot-Fritz treatment?”
I practically growl, my dick getting harder because he knows what that voice is. That’s her sexy, you’re gonna get some voice and my guy is ready, front row for that action. “Anything you want.”
“Good because I might want to play a game tonight.”
Shit. I groan. I can’t even stop it. “What kind of game?”
“The one where you punish me for staying late with my boss.”
Motherfucker. I just leaked into my boxer briefs and now I’m getting off the exit for my parents’ compound.
“I’m spanking your ass tonight, Little Bird, and then eating your pussy. From behind. And then fucking you. Again, from behind.”
“Promises, promises. I have to go. See you tonight.”
She disconnects the call and if I didn’t want to save all my batter for later shenanigans and not get arrested for public indecency, I’d whack one off before pulling into the driveway.
As it is, I’m the first one to arrive, which was sort of my plan since I missed Sunday dinner and feel just a touch guilty about it.
Parking my car, I hop out and then head for the front door. My father cuts me off before I get very far. “You’re early.”
“Yeah. So? That a crime?”
He glances warily over his shoulder and my blood pressure climbs.
“What are you hiding from us?”
He shakes his head, clasping my shoulder and leading me through the massive downstairs to the back where his study is. “Nothing,” he says as he shuts the door. “I’m hiding nothing. But your mother is upstairs resting before dinner, and I don’t want to disturb her.”
“So you’re aware there’s something going on with her?”
“Suddenly you’re an attorney?” He levels me with me a look before he goes about pouring us both a drink.
My hand wraps around the crystal cylinder, pulling it to my lips.
He can tell I’m not amused. “Luca, your mother has cancer. Recurrent cancer. I don’t know what you and your brothers and sister were expecting, but it’s serious stuff. ”
I swallow and choke on the liquid as it burns a path down the back of my throat. “We know. We’re not stupid.”
“But you assumed she’d have surgery, a round of chemo, and then dance around Boston again?”
“Something like that,” I admit, which likely makes me sound foolish. I’m a doctor. One who deals with cancer on a daily basis. I know its ins and outs better than most. But this is my mother, so yeah, it’s different.
“She’s tired. She’s anemic. She’s not hungry. But she’s fighting because she knows she has to. You guys coming in here and demanding things from her isn’t going to help.”
I take another pull and think about this. Because what he’s saying…
“We’re just worried.”
“As am I. But don’t think for a second I haven’t noticed every nuance of every move she makes. I study her, Luca. I would be the first one to drag her into the hospital if I felt it was more than what it is. I made her promise me she wouldn’t hide anything either.”
“We can’t lose her, Dad.”
“And you think I can?” He downs his drink in one large gulp and for the first time, I’m seeing what my mother’s cancer is doing to him.
All this time, we’ve been so consumed with how it’s played out on her.
On us. But we haven’t considered him, and how foolhardy is that?
She might not have started out as the love of his life, but she sure as hell ended up being that.
“Do you want me to call off the brigade?”
“Just have them tone it down some. I promise, if there is cause for concern, I won’t hold back.”
And with that declaration, I text all my brothers, who are headed this way at this very moment. My dad is right and it’s difficult to face as adults and doctors and nurses, but yeah, he’s got this.
“Raven was here this morning.”
I grin. I’m such a hopeless fool, but I grin all the same. “I know.”
“She and your mother talked for a couple of hours. Told her that you’re winning her heart over again.”
“Winning? That means I haven’t completed the job yet.”
My father smirks the smirk of a man who’s been married for more than half of his life.
“Son, take it from me, you’ve never completed the job.
We’re always winning but will never have won.
The fact that you’re winning means you’re in the game and she’s letting you believe you have the upper hand.
You never will. You should go into it knowing that now, but she’s letting you think you do and that’s winning. ”
“You think she’d marry me if I asked her to? I mean for real this time?”
“I think she’d likely break your nose if you tried.”
Probably. Is it strange that that’s not a deterrent?
The door swings open with a knock and Landon comes in, eyeing the two of us, and then goes to make himself the vodka that he prefers.
“Do you have any idea how big Thanksgiving is going to be this year?”
My father and I exchange glances and then I stare into the back of Landon’s head. “You’re talking to us about holidays and guest lists?”
He takes the chair opposite us, sipping at his drink before resting it on his knee. “I’m just saying, it’s weird, right? In the last six months, we went from Rina being the only one of us coupled up to all of us being in that boat with the exception of Kaplan.”
“Grace always came for Thanksgiving here if she wasn’t working,” I argue.
“Yes, but now she’s coming as Carter’s. Not as Oliver’s best friend.”
“True. Does this mean I get to invite Raven?”
My father stares down into his bourbon. “She’s invited every year, Luca. This is the first year in four she’ll likely accept, though.”
“Thanks for the kick in the nuts, Dad.” I reach over and smack his shoulder. “I never can get enough of those.”
“That’s what I’m here for. But truly, it’s just adding on Amelia, Layla, and Elle. Nothing too crazy.”
“Will Mom be up for that?”
My father hits Landon with a look. “Your mother wouldn’t miss Thanksgiving with her family for anything.”
“It’s less than two weeks away,” I say, suddenly realizing the date with a note of panic. My drink somehow clangs on the table, my hands in my hair as I stare down at the carpet.
“What’s all this?” my father asks.
“Treesprite,” Landon supplies for me. “He’s freaking out about it because he’s dying to win it, but he has no idea what he’d do if he did.”
“Ah. I see. Well, I won the Heartstrong grant when I was a new cardiothoracic surgeon. That had me in India for a year.”
“Mom came with you for some of that and that was before you had Kaplan,” I mumble before picking up my glass and finishing it off.
“And you don’t feel Raven would be willing to do that?” he surmises.
“He doesn’t feel he can ask her because she just started with the symphony and the hospital, and they’ve already been down this road once before.”
I point at Landon, who has decided to be my voice when it was always the other way around. Falling back in love and forgiving himself has changed him completely. He’s the man he used to be before Reese died and nothing—I repeat nothing—makes me happier. Still, it’s a weird role reversal.
“Luca, love and commitment mean being there for the other person. Sometimes it’s not always easy or convenient. Sometimes it’s a sacrifice. But wouldn’t that choice be hers to make?”
“I don’t know. She’s so headstrong, Dad. She follows her heart and—”
“And you made that choice for her once. She was young and it was likely the right call given where she is now, but she’s not a kid anymore.
You love this woman and talk about marrying her.
That means you owe it to her to give her the choice, Luca.
To respect her headstrong mind and heart. Whatever they decide.”
I didn’t give her the choice the first go around. I decided for both of us. Wrong or right, I did that. My father’s right. If I get this grant, I have to give her the choice.