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Chapter Twenty-Four

T ate

“How are you feeling?” I ask, finding Carys in the kitchen. She looks tired and paler than usual, but she’s upright. That's a good sign. “Sick of soup yet?”

She snarls. “I never want to see a soup again.”

I laugh, hopping on a barstool.

“Why are you here midmorning?” she asks, pouring hot water into a tea mug. “Want some tea?”

“No, thanks. I’m here to check on you and Ivy. And I wanted to discuss something with you and Gannon. Is he around?”

“Yeah. He just got out of the shower. He’ll be out here in a few.”

I glance around Gannon’s house and can hardly believe it’s the same bachelor pad it used to be.

It used to feel cavernous. And blank. It was always cold, too.

But now that Carys and baby Ivy are here, it’s completely different.

There are bright colors and furniture that you can sit on.

Pictures and mementos hang on the walls and are propped up on side tables, and baby toys are everywhere .

It’s a home.

I can’t help but wonder how Aurora will change my house, and how many times she’ll redecorate it. What will our kids play with? Will we have a playroom or just let them take over the whole house?

“Hey, Tate,” Gannon says, his hair still wet from the shower. “Didn’t know you were here.”

“Didn’t know you were here either,” I say. “Do you ever work anymore?”

Gannon and Carys exchange a look. I feel it in the pit of my stomach.

“What?” I ask, looking between them.

“I guess we might as well start with you,” Gannon says.

“The last time someone said that to me, I was in the principal’s office.”

He takes a mug from Carys and pauses to kiss her. “I’ve been thinking a lot about businesses, work, and life itself.”

“Are you getting philosophical?”

“And I’ve decided I don’t want to do this shit anymore.”

What? “What shit?”

“All of it.” He shrugs. “I don’t want to be the head of Brewer Group anymore.” He sips his tea, moving around the kitchen. “I don’t care about it anymore. Not sure I ever did.”

I take a deep breath and let this admission sink into my brain.

I can’t say I’m shocked to hear this. Gannon was never the one poised to take over after our father. It was always Bianca. But he stepped into the role after she stepped aside and kept things going while we struggled to keep our heads above water.

Now that we’re above deck on everything but the Raptors, I can’t blame Gannon for wanting to walk away. I would’ve done it way before now.

“My blood pressure is going up,” Gannon says. “I’m on a pill to lower it now. For what? To keep something alive that is a testament to our father’s legacy? Fuck that, and fuck him.”

“Amen.”

“I want to be here with Carys and Ivy. I don’t need to go to work. None of us do. Our kids won’t have to work if they don’t want to. So why are any of us doing this if it isn’t what we want to do?”

Carys watches the back-and-forth from the other side of the island.

“I know why I do it,” I say.

“Why?” he asks.

I grin. “Because you do.”

He balks.

“Gan, I don’t give one flying fuck about Brewer Group, and I couldn’t care less about preserving Dad’s legacy. What I do care about is you , even though you’re a prick, and I couldn’t let you do it alone.”

Carys covers her mouth, but I can still hear her giggle.

“I couldn’t abandon you when you were trying to pull it all together for the rest of us. Hell, I knew you didn’t want to be doing it from the day Bianca left to go to Florida.”

His face softens.

“I respect the hell out of you, brother. And I respect you even more for doing what’s right for your family.” I glance at Carys and wink before turning back to her husband. “You need to be here, taking care of our girls.”

Gannon groans. “You always have to blow it.”

I laugh.

“What do you propose we do?” I ask, releasing a breath.

“First, I want to see if any of you want to take the reins at Brewer Group.”

“Again, not a hard question to answer.” I shift in my seat. “Me? No. If you go, I go. Ripley? I love him, but he’s not smart enough to do your job.”

Gannon’s lips twitch.

“Jason won’t. Bianca will laugh in your face. And Renn will likely pass, but he’s the wild card.”

“That’s about how I see it, too.”

I fold my hands on the counter. “So what do you do? Sell it? Because while no one is going to want to spearhead Brewer Group, Renn will want to keep the Royals. Ripley might want the Arrows, although I’m not sure.

Jason will keep Brewer Air, but that’s not under the umbrella company anyway, so it doesn’t matter. ”

“I’ve talked to our attorney over the past couple of weeks. We can separate anything we want from the Brewer Group and sell what’s left.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“You’re good with this?”

“Fuck, yeah. Want to hop on a group text and settle it now?”

Gannon rolls his eyes. “This isn’t the kind of thing you can handle on a group text.”

“You just say that because you’re old.”

I whip my phone out. I have a text sent before Gannon can stop me.

Me: Hey, fam. Gannon wants to retire. Here are our options—one of you takes over Brewer Group, we sell it all, or sell it all minus whatever you want to keep. Brewer Air is already exempt because Jason wouldn’t let Dad incorporate it into BG. (Nerd.)

“Dammit, Tate,” Gannon says as his phone goes off.

Carys mouths, “ Thank you, ” from across the room.

“You’ll thank me when this is over in ten minutes,” I tell my brother as a host of dings break through the air.

I unlock my screen.

Jason: This NERD had forethought. Whatever you guys decide works for me.

Bianca: It’s about damn time. (I don’t want anything.)

Renn: Let me talk to Blakely, but we might want to keep the Royals.

Tate: I don’t want anything. I never liked working anyway.

Bianca:

Jason:

Ripley: I see a lot of potential in the Arrows. Let me get back to you.

Gannon looks at me and holds my gaze. He doesn’t say thank you, but I know he means it.

Gannon: Let me know, Renn and Rip. I’ll get with the attorneys next week and get this process started.

“You’re welcome,” I say, locking my screen and shoving my phone in my pocket. “Now that I’ve solved all of your problems, you can help solve one of mine.”

The anger I’ve battled all night and this morning rears its ugly head.

I grab the collar of my shirt and pull it away from my face. Carys looks toward me with a curious, yet worried look in her eye. She grabs Gannon’s arm as she stands next to him, across the counter from me.

“As you know, I met my future wife,” I say. “No Kelly jokes. Now isn’t the time.”

Gannon holds his hands in front of him. “Not saying a word.”

“Guess who she is.” I pause but can only manage to wait a couple of seconds. “Time’s up. Her name is Aurora Johnson.”

“Who?” Gannon asks.

Carys’s jaw drops. “You’re kidding me.”

“I’m not. I am, in fact, banging your hot stepmommy.”

Gannon’s lip twitches. “Only you, Tate. Only you.”

“I’m … shocked,” Carys says, looking bewildered. “I haven’t talked to her since she called to apologize for how Dad’s birthday dinner went and to tell me she was divorcing him.”

“Nice segue.” I turn to my brother. “Do you know where the motherfucker is?”

“Why?

“General question.”

“That I’m not going to answer as long as you’re looking at me like that.”

I hop off the stool, unable to sit still any longer. My fingers flex to hit something. My skin is too small for my body. Adrenaline courses through me as I think about Aurora’s ex-husband’s hands on her.

“Did you know that your father abused Aurora?” I ask, licking my lips.

Carys’s eyes widen, and she shakes her head. “No.”

“Did he ever touch you?” Gannon asks, his eyes darkening.

“No,” she says, shaking her head again. “ No . Absolutely not.”

My brother and I exchange a look. Between the two of us, Kent Johnson’s days are numbered.

“Apparently, there was a dinner she was making for you, I think. Pot roast? And?—”

“Oh my God. Yes! She had hurt her back somehow. I think she said she fell.”

“Yeah, well, your dad did that to her.”

Carys covers her mouth. “Is she okay?”

“She’s okay. Your dad is a dead man as soon as I get my hands on him.”

“Tate,” Carys says, “you can’t do that. Not because he’s my dad. Fuck that. But you can’t get in trouble over someone who isn’t worth your time.”

I glance at Gannon for support. He winks.

“Yeah, Tate,” he says, pointedly. “Let’s use our heads here.”

Ivy’s cries ring through the baby monitor propped up on a fruit basket.

“Let me get her,” I say, knowing Gannon needs a few minutes alone with his wife.

I head down the hall and open my niece’s door. She’s sitting in the middle of her bed, sniffling. Her dark hair is wild, sticking everywhere but down.

She’s the cutest little thing ever.

“Rough nap, baby girl?” I ask.

She smiles when she sees me. “Ta! Ta!”

“Yeah,” I say, chuckling. “Tate. Can you say Tate?”

“Ta!” She reaches for me. “Up.”

“You learned a new word, you little smartie.” I lift her out of her crib and kiss her chubby little cheeks. “You have a soggy bottom. Let’s change your diaper.”

“No.” She shakes her head just like her mother. It makes me laugh. “No.”

“Yes,” I say.

“ No .”

“The one word you can say as clear as a bell.”

I lay her on her changing table and make quick work of cleaning her up. She manages to chant her displeasure the entire time while trying to wiggle off the table and pull anything off me she can grab.

“Up!” she says, flexing her little fingers at me.

I pretend to bite one of them, making her giggle.

“Come on, you little monster,” I say, picking her up. “Now remember, Uncle Ripley is bad. Can you say bad ?”

Her eyes light up as we round the corner. “Dada!”

The name is a squeal as much as it is a word. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Gannon smile so wide in his life—not even the time he punched Renn in the stomach and Mom didn’t believe him.

Ah, the good ole days.

I hand Ivy off to her father and join Carys in the kitchen.

“I’m sorry if I upset you,” I say. “I probably should’ve approached that differently. I’m a third party here, and this isn’t about me.”

“No, I get it. If someone hurt Gannon, I’d act the same way.”

We watch him play with Ivy. The asshole who never said a nice thing to anyone is putty in a toddler’s hands. It’s almost hard to believe … but also not.

I can’t imagine what he feels when he looks at his little girl. I know what I feel like when I look at her, and she’s not mine. But for Gannon—to see himself and the woman he loves in one little person who is delighted to see him every day? That must feel better than anything in the world.

“You love her, don’t you?” Carys asks softly. “Aurora, not Ivy.”

I nod.

“Does it scare you that it’s happened so fast?” she asks.

I sigh, pulling my gaze to my best friend. “No, it doesn’t scare me. I’ve always told you that I would know the woman for me when I met her.”

“That you have.”

“I think she’s a little scared shitless. I’m trying to keep some distance so she can breathe, but?—”

“But your style is to smother, I know.” She chuckles. “Make sure you bring her to your birthday party.”

“Hey, about that … I have an idea. It’s not fully formed, and I’m still getting it all together. But I might have a request.”

“You can’t make requests for your birthday party,” Gannon says. “That’s not how it works.”

“And hold off on selling the Raptors,” I say. “Let me talk to my girl.”

Gannon’s brows lift, and he gives me a smug smile.

“I’ll call you,” I tell Carys, walking backward to the door. I wave at their little family. “But, right now, I have to get to work—unlike some people who just stay home all day. I love you guys.”

“Watch it!” Gannon says.

I laugh as I walk out the door.