Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
“Sure. Son, walk with me,” my dad commands.
“If you could point out the waiting room?” Amber asks before I can comment. “I’ll grab a cup of coffee if there is one.”
“I’ll show you,” Margo says. “I’d like a cup myself. I’ll be right back,” she assures her husband.
Amber sends me a reassuring smile, and though it grates, I stay with my father, not wanting to upset him while he is in the hospital.
We slowly head back to my father’s room in silence, and I wait until he resettles himself in bed before walking over and speaking.
“So you’re okay?” I ask.
“I haven’t gotten yesterday’s test results back yet but I think so. It’s just going to be a lifestyle adjustment.” My father shifts in the bed, getting more comfortable.
“So no more steaks and whiskey?” I pull up a chair and sit down.
“Bite your tongue.” My father’s mulish expression is typical.
“Well, I’m sure things will have to change, and Margo will make sure you’re here for a while.”
A long while, hopefully, because my father isn’t old at all. He just turned sixty last year. Margo threw a party. I made sure I was too busy to attend.
“So who’s the woman you brought with you?” my father asks before I have a chance to delve into why he wanted to see me.
Smiling at the mention of Amber, I glance at my father. “A good friend.” I have no intention of involving a man who couldn’t care less about me most days of the year in my private life.
My father narrows his gaze. “Tell me about her.”
I shrug. Talking about Amber isn’t a hardship. “She’s smart, going back to school to make a better life for herself and her son.”
“Seriously? You can do better than a single mother looking for someone to take care of her.”
I blink, any hope I harbored deep down that this heart attack softened my father gone in the second it took for that shit to spew from his mouth.
“First, I said we were friends.”
“And I saw the grin on your face the minute I mentioned her.”
I push myself to a standing position. “Okay, I came because Margo said you asked for me, but if you’re going to be your usual pompous, arrogant self, I’m out of here.”
Insulting Amber is off the table. I admire all she’s done with her life in the face of difficult circumstances. I am falling hard for her, and though I have to hide it publicly for now, I’m not letting her go. Especially not because my father doesn’t approve. I can’t give less of a shit what my father thinks.
“Wait.” My dad pauses, then adds, “Please.”
Folding my arms across my chest, I meet my father’s gaze.
“Why did you want to see me?”
My father’s expression falters, and suddenly he looks more … humble, if I had to pick a word. “When I had the heart attack, I was lying waiting for the ambulance and a lot of my mistakes flashed in front of my eyes. Things I’d done wrong, especially with you.”
I’m not exactly shocked my father had a revelation when he was scared and thought he might die. But how he reacted to Amber? The man hasn’t changed. I wait for Zachary to talk more before I pass full judgment.
“I wasn’t a present father.”
“To put it mildly.”
A muscle ticks in my father’s jaw. “I wanted a fresh start, and I thought if I threw money at your mother, I was doing right enough by you. I was wrong.”
I swallow hard. “I’m grateful Mom didn’t have it harder than she already did, raising me alone. But you were wrong. A boy misses having a father.”
Something Amber’s son will surely go through, I suddenly realize, my heart hurting for the little boy. Although she said he has a solid support system, uncles, grandparents. That ought to help. And if he meets and likes me, I could be there for him, too. A more local, present male influence. Once again, I am shocked that I, who never thought I had the time for anything more than my work and my future goals, am thinking about Amber and her son as more than just a summer fling.
“Shane. Are you listening? I said I know, and I’m sorry,” Zachary says.
“But you still have your opinions. And those don’t jibe with the way I live my life. What you said about Amber is just one example. You don’t even know her, and you found her lacking and assumed she’d be using me.”
My father nods. “You’re right. But you don’t expect a zebra to change its stripes overnight, do you?” He tries to make a joke of it, but I’m not laughing.
Frowning, I shake my head. “No. But I can’t say it’s going to be easy to have a relationship after all these years.”