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Air had rushed from my lungs, and my throat swelled—and I’d slammed the door on those fucking feels along with the horrible image in my mind.
Safely encased in my shell, I had strode into the room to greet my father who had barely acknowledged my presence.
Half-opening Mom’s door once more, I poked my head in to find both my parents unmoved. At least my imagination stayed firmly locked up.
“Dad,” I whispered, “I’m going down to get a coffee. Do you want anything?”
He shook his head. Didn’t turn around. Just sat and stared at mom’s pale face.
I couldn’t keep my brow from furrowing.
Had I been asked to guess why he refused to pull the plug, I would have said love, but I’d never once seen them be affectionate with each other. Not one word of appreciation had been shared between them within hearing distance of their only son in the eighteen years I’d spent under their roof.
As I’d grown older, I figured theirs had been a marriage of convenience. Nothing had ever indicated otherwise.
So why would he sit there? How long would he keep her hooked up to machines when he could have simply unplugged them and gone on to live his life?
I had no fucking answers and felt like we sat in limbo. I needed a distraction, and the coffee wouldn’t cut it.
Settling into a corner of the massive, cafeteria bright from dozens of windows, I pulled my cell from my pocket and scrolled through my short list of contacts.
Ash and I tended to keep to ourselves, and although we had a few friends outside work, I wasn’t in the mood to talk to any of them.
Colton Payne.
I smirked over his name, wondering when I’d spoken to him last. It had to have been close to a year. Colton was a friend from back east. He’d gone to high school with us and had played football with me until that fantasy got stripped away.
Catching up and bullshitting would waste some minutes.
I hit the send button, and thankfully he picked up.
“Rhett! The fuck, man!” he answered. “I thought maybe California finally earthquaked its ass from the rest of us and you drowned or some shit.”
I actually chuckled. “Sorry we haven’t kept in touch lately.”
“No problem. I’m guilty too.”
“Are you working right now?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I can take a quick break. What’s up? How’s your better half? Wait…is this call to tell me you’ve found the woman the two of you have been looking for forever? Did Ash knock her up yet?”
“He’s doing well,” I semi-lied, “and no we haven’t, so no he hasn’t.”
“Shit. That app you guys built has worked for a lot of people. Doesn’t seem right it hasn’t helped out its creators yet.”
“It will,” I said even though I wasn’t so sure I would be too thrilled with whoever she ended up being. No higher education, someone who would probably bring a mess of feelings I would have to deal with…she’d doubtless get on my last nerve.
Thank fuck I had ones of steel.
I wondered over the redheaded ray of sunshine he planned to poke and chat with but pushed aside thoughts of him falling hard and fast, same as he’d done with me once we’d crossed the friendship line in eleventh grade.
If she proved to clash with my personality, maybe I’d get lucky and the sex would be so fucking spectacular I’d be willing to deal with the annoyances.
A man could hope.
“So what’s going on in Boston these days?” I asked, needing to focus on something other than the own shit of my life. “Still working for Harper’s Construction?”
“Yeah, Blake’s a kickass boss. Easygoing and laid-back.”