24. Life Lessons
LIFE LESSONS
“Hi, Fletcher. I was surprised to get your text.”
“Thanks for meeting me, Avery,” he said an hour later.
When he’d heard London talking to Paris in the apartment, he knew there was no way for him to sneak out.
Hell, if she asked him to, he would have been insulted.
So his best play was to just... let it play out.
The last thing he expected was Paris to get so embarrassed over her sister’s ribbing.
“Anytime,” Avery said. “You said you had something you wanted me to look into.”
He’d reached out to his best analyst at the bureau. One he could trust. One who had a knack for decoding and hacking into things.
If he had a need for this with The Carlisle Group, she’d be the first one on his list to present to West.
They moved up in line at the coffee shop they’d met at close to his old office. He’d texted her when he got out of the shower at Paris’s and she’d let him know a good time to talk.
He would have left Paris’s when her sister got home if he didn’t have to kill ninety-minutes.
But then leaving would have smacked as cowardice and he honestly wanted to know what Paris thought of what the two of them had.
All this dating shit, it was new for him.
He wasn’t the casual type for anything in life.
He’d thought the two of them had that conversation.
And maybe it was a bit of a test to see how she reacted to her sister’s knowledge.
Or even how London reacted.
Seemed London had no issue at all and even said, other than Spencer, she wouldn’t let anyone else know.
“I’ll take a small black,” he said to the barista.
The teen snorted and rolled her eyes as if to say he was in the wrong place for that.
“I’ll take a grande iced oat milk latte with two pumps of white mocha, one pump of hazelnut, and extra caramel drizzle,” Avery said.
“Ugh, how can you drink that shit?” he asked.
He paid and they moved to the side.
“Don’t say that too loudly or they will revoke my card.”
He ignored her, then moved to the end to wait.
His coffee was placed down immediately, but it was another few minutes before Avery got hers.
He pulled the USB out of his pocket. “Can you look this over? It’s password protected, but I’m positive it’s not anything major.”
“Sure,” Avery said, taking it and putting it in her purse. “Do I get a heads up of what I’m looking at? Some deep secret for that new job of yours?”
“Nothing for West,” he said. Everyone knew where he landed.
Hell, half asked him to put a good word in to get them jobs.
And some, he would, if he had a need.
“Then who?” Avery said. “Got to give me something.”
“Westerly Consultants is under his umbrella. It’s family on top of it. One owner has had a bit of trouble.”
“Trouble you’re not going to share?”
“Nothing worth mentioning right yet. She finished a job and went back through, trying to see if she missed something and found this file. She didn’t remember seeing it before and can’t get into it.”
“So not much cloak and dagger stuff. Has to be driving you nuts,” Avery asked.
“It’s not that bad.”
“You’re lying.”
“Nah. Just takes some getting used to.”
“Sure you’re not just saying that?” Avery said. “I won’t tell anyone. Maybe I want to know what it’s like on the other side.”
He smirked. “It was hard at first, but yeah, it has its perks. I’m not being shot at anymore.”
“You stopped being shot at when you got your promotion.”
“True.”
He’d taken that job for the money, the reduced risk, and the time home with his family.
Which all felt meaningless in the end.
Though if he hadn’t taken that job, he might not have come to the attention of West Carlisle. Or met the woman who was making him feel like a man again.
Like someone who looked forward to going to work daily hoping to see her again.
That she’d find some excuse to stop up and talk to someone else just to catch a glimpse of him.
Or hope that she’d need him to take her somewhere.
“If this is as easy as you say, I should be able to find something in a day or so. I just took a break right now. Working on a big case.”
“No rush. I know what it’s like.”
“Give me a few days,” Avery said, standing with her coffee. “And I need to get back. If you don’t hear from me and need it sooner, just shoot me a text.”
“Will do.” He stood with his coffee and walked back to his condo.
He’d parked and walked over after leaving Paris rather than going into his place.
He knew Ian would question that and the less his son knew the better.
He finished his coffee, put the empty cup in the first garbage bin he saw, then entered his building and rode the elevator to his floor.
When he opened the door, he smelled sauce.
“What are you making?” he asked Ian.
“Sauce and meatballs. Well, I made it earlier and left some out for you. You didn’t say how late you’d be.”
Scallops and salad didn’t exactly fill him up, but he wasn’t turning down spending time with Paris either.
“Thanks.” He pulled out the cooked pasta that was in the fridge, dumped some in a bowl and warmed it up in the microwave. “How is school going? Anything I need to know about?”
“It’s all good,” Ian said. “Not much going on.”
He ladled sauce out of the pot into his bowl over the pasta when it was done, then added a meatball. “I’ve got to say this is nice to come home to.”
“I’m glad,” Ian said.
His son wasn’t acting normal. Nothing outrageous, but not his usual talkative self.
This was more like the kid he was a year ago.
He hated that something could have set him back.
“If school is good, and this dinner is great, then something else must be going on. Did you talk to your mother?”
His son glanced up quickly.
Not so hard to figure that one out.
“She called a few hours ago.”
When he wasn’t home. When he was spending time with his girlfriend.
Was that what people were called now when they were dating at his age?
Fuck. How the hell should he know?
Just like that tongue twisting drink Avery got. He couldn’t say it let alone drink it.
But Avery was in her late twenties and that just felt so... young to him.
Avery would probably have more in common with his son than she did with her old boss.
“What did she want?” he asked around a mouthful.
He probably should have changed and showered like he always did.
He hoped to hell Ian didn’t catch on.
But he’d showered already at Paris’s, so really, just change.
“She wants to see me,” Ian said. “She’s coming here soon with Zach for work.”
“You haven’t seen her in a while,” he said. “Did she tell you when?”
“Not yet. They are still working it out. Do I have to see her?”
Fletcher sighed. Not what he wanted to deal with tonight, but if Paris could stand firm with her sister, he could with his son.
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “Unless you’ve got something else going on.”
He studied his son for a long moment.
Ian wasn’t defiant. He wasn’t angry. He was wary. He was tired. He was being a stubborn teen.
“I might,” Ian said. “I don’t know when it will be.”
He set his fork down carefully. “Then you figure it out when she gives you dates. But yes, you should see her.”
Ian’s shoulders tightened. “Dad—”
“No,” he said gently but firmly. “Listen to me.” He sat back on the chair at the island. “You don’t get to pick and choose when it comes to your mother. Whether you’re irritated. Whether it’s inconvenient. Whether you’d rather be somewhere else.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t fair,” he said evenly. “But character? That’s a choice.
” His son was studying him. As much as he didn’t want his kid to hate him, he couldn’t coddle him either.
There were life lessons everyone had to learn.
“You show up,” he continued. “You be respectful. You give her your time. Not because she’s perfect.
Not because everything’s easy. But because it’s the right thing to do. ”
Ian’s jaw clenched. “Even if she hasn’t exactly shown up for me?”
That one hit. Hard.
He refused to flinch over that question. “Yes. Even then.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does,” he said. “You don’t let someone else’s behavior dictate yours.
You don’t become small because they were.
You become the bigger person. Be the person who can say at the end of the night that you did the best you could.
Always. It won’t always feel good. It won’t always be fair.
But you’ll be able to look in the mirror and respect yourself. ”
Ian was quiet for a long time. “Do you always do that?”
“I try to.”
“Even with Mom you did?”
He held his son’s gaze. “Especially with your mother.”
“Okay. I’ll see her. But I’m not giving her a lot of time.”
He wouldn’t push more. “Good,” he said. “And if you’ve got something else going on? We’ll work around it. But you don’t avoid her.”
His son nodded once. “Got it.”
“And one more thing,” he added.
“What?”
“You don’t carry my drama. Or hers. Whatever happened between us? That’s ours. Not yours.”
Ian’s eyes softened just a fraction. “I know.”
“I know you do, but sometimes we all need a reminder of the past.”
And maybe it was a quiet one that his past was just that. In the past.
He had something else staring him down.
He just had to figure out what to do and how to handle it.