Chapter 61 #2
I didn’t hesitate. “I’m down. When do we leave?”
“Wednesday.” She wrinkled her nose as she looked back at me. “We’d have to call out of Fit Gal on Thursday, so I’ll understand if you’d rather leave later or even not come at all so you can work on your presentation.”
“Wednesday it is.” I turned off the heat on the eggs. “Your breakfast will be served soon, milady. Take a seat. I just need to dish up.”
A surprised smile played across her lips. “Seriously, you’re willing to skip out of Fit Gal and a few days of presentation prep, and you’re serving me breakfast? Who are you and what have you done with Simon?”
“I’m a new and improved version,” I joked. “What do you think so far?”
Her eyes sparkled as she sat down on a stool in her breakfast nook. “I think these improvements might’ve been worth the wait.”
“Glad to hear it.” I buttered her toast and served our food, sitting down to enjoy breakfast with her.
For the first time in a long time, there was zero tension or uncertainty between us, and if it hadn’t been for golfing with my dad, I was pretty sure I would have stayed with her for the rest of the day.
As it was, I kissed her soundly and said goodbye at the last possible moment that would still allow me to get home, shower, and change before I had to go meet him.
At the golf course later on, I shook his hand when he reached me. “Thanks for coming out.”
Dad eyed me curiously. “I’ve missed whooping you in golf.”
I chuckled. “We’ll see, old man.”
As we teed off, he glanced at me, not defensive, cold, or angry for a change. “So, why did you ask me to play today? It’s been a long time.”
I gripped my club, deciding to come right out with it instead of easing him in. Obviously, he knew we weren’t only playing for old times’ sake, and I didn’t see any point in hesitating. “Why were you so set on me leaving Abigail back in the day?”
For the merest of seconds, my dad actually seemed a little taken aback. He blinked a couple times before he sighed. “This again?”
“This again.” I definitely wouldn’t apologize for it. “I’d also like to know why you’re so against her now.”
“I don’t have anything against her,” he said as if I was ridiculous for even asking.
I scoffed and straightened out of my swing. “Dad, we need to have this conversation.” I slid my club back into my bag and turned to look at him. “It’s time. Just give it to me straight, would you?”
He sighed, turning his gaze out to the trees surrounding. “I knew she would hold you back, Simon. I wanted my son to go make something of himself and honor his family. Keeping your high school girlfriend back here would’ve fogged your ability to succeed.”
As he said it, I knew instantly where he was coming from.
Brooks had done crazy things, including going to that party that he hadn’t come home from for a high-school girl.
She’d been his flavor of the week, and although their relationship had been nothing like mine and Abi’s, I was suddenly starting to understand things from my dad’s point of view for the first time ever.
It also definitely hadn’t helped that I’d been with Abigail the night my brother had died. I’d always had a feeling that he’d held that against her. “Do you blame Abi for me not being with Brooks that night?”
Dad focused on his swing, suspiciously silent as he hit the ball with a hard thwack. It soared through the air and he followed it with his eyes. I watched him, seeing the profound sadness etched into his gaze even though he wasn’t looking directly at me.
“I couldn’t have saved him, Dad,” I said quietly, my chest aching for us both as I thought back to that night. “Just as much as you couldn’t have. Abi had nothing to do with his fate, but she does make my life better.”
He didn’t say anything for a long minute but finally inhaled a deep breath and turned to face me again. “Now that we both know you’re seeing her and it’s out in the open, let’s address the elephant on the course.”
“What elephant?”
“You do realize she’s who we’re competing against for Fit Gal, right? You have to call it off, Simon. It could cost you the client and then your distraction could cost you your place in this company.”
My heart pulsed, but I stood my ground. “Is that a threat?”
“Does it need to be?” He handed his club back to the caddie before he ambled over to our golf cart.
I didn’t move a muscle. “Need I remind you that I’m a grown man who will make decisions for himself? If you can’t accept that, you might as well take the wheel of that thing and say goodbye now.”
Dad chuckled, turning on the seat to rest his elbow on the back of it.
He held my gaze with a mixture of suspicion and amusement.
“How do you know she’s not just using you to get to the client while you’re focused on her?
It seems pretty odd timing to me that she’d want to rekindle just when you’re going for the same client.
You’ve both been in the same city for years, so why now? ”
“Abi isn’t like that, Dad.” That much, I was absolutely sure of. “It’s not about the client. It’s about us.”
As he smirked, my stomach went cold, but I kept a straight face. “Son, you’ll see in your own time that you will have to choose. The girl or the client. You can’t have both, even if I know that you’re not seeing it that way just yet.”