Crossing his arms and leaning against thekitchen counter, Asher nodded. “It was fun. Not too crazy. I don’tusually stay up so late. Guess I’m getting old.”
Snorting, Paul nodded. “Wait until you’re myage. If you’re usually up so early, maybe you want to take anopening shift at Sutherland’s?”
Nodding, Asher silently agreed with theproposal. Every fucking opportunity and Paul brought it up. Noteven much of a segue this time.
Shit, he didn’t want to work at Sutherland’s,but what else was he going to do? He didn’t want to live with hisparents forever. It had been long enough already. He’d built adecent savings, but he wanted to save up for a house one day, notblow it on daily expenses just to escape his father while he wasunemployed and clueless about his future.
“Great. Are you still thinking early tomid-July? That old truck that seems to occupy your every wakinghour will be fixed or in the junk yard by then.” Paul looked at himskeptically.
Why was the coffee taking so damn long?“Sure.”
Paul sighed like a tired old dog, leaningagainst the kitchen cabinets, his arms folded and legs extended.Looking up from the tile floor, he looked at his son. “Asher, ifyou’re not up to it yet, just say so.”
That wasn’t it. “I’m sick of sitting aroundthe house. I just… I don’t know. I don’t know what I want longterm.” He was a grownup. Why couldn’t he explain to his own fatherwhat the problem was?
Shaking his head in disgust, Paul started hischaracteristic pacing around the room, his already ruddy complexionflushing to beet red. Might as well start kicking dirt like thebull ready to charge that he was.
“You’ve been putting it off for years,jumping around from a useless political science degree to afutureless career in the navy, now you’re hanging out in my garageevery day working on a truck that’s never going to run again.”
Paul threw his arms in the air beforestarting the next lap of the kitchen. “Sutherland’s won’t be rightwithout a Sutherland running it. I’m not going to be there forever.It’s time to get your head on straight and come to work.”
“My head is on straight.” He felt the bullsnorting inside himself. Pushing away from the counter, he firedback, louder and fiercer than he normally would have. “I have afucking college degree. Graduated early, Magna Cum-fucking-Laude.Worked my ass off for the damn navy, one of the most elite units inthe world, protecting my country from some truly nightmarishthreats. If you want to see my hard-earned medals, that seemed tomatter to some of the highest-ranking people in the nation, justlet me know.”
Arms folding across his chest, he stood hisground. “You’re not wrong; neither of those were permanent, butthey were respectable pursuits according to the rest of society.Not my own dad, though. Not the future you had planned for me, wasit? Give me a fucking break.”
The coffee pot sputtered as the last trickleof coffee streamed into the full carafe. Fuming, Asher topped offhis cup, barely managing to avoid spilling over the top in hisangry dudgeon. He grabbed another mug from the cupboard to fill forSophie, knowing she must be waiting around the corner. She was toopolite to interrupt, but he knew she would be working on ablistering caffeine headache like he was.
Brushing past his father with both mugs,Asher didn’t wait for a response. Paul stood and watched, lookingtorn between tearing him a new one and leaving him alone.Thankfully, he didn’t follow.
Asher could picture his father’s indecision,a little devil on one shoulder and a tiny white angel on the other,both demanding he go after his son in some way or another. Asusual, Paul stood in between–when the little devil wasn’t takingover–neither finishing the fight nor making peace.
No Sophie around the corner, so he looked upthe stairs and saw her waiting at the top, leaning on the rail. Ashe approached, the angry pit of fire in his gut rapidly morphedinto an unusual combination of relief and arousal at seeing herwaiting for him.
Dressed as the professional accountant, hairneatly pulled back into a stylish knot, he could picture herwearing cute little reading glasses. Whether she needed them ornot, maybe she would be willing to try it out? Pull that mass ofmixed, dirty blond hair out of its binding with a sexy hair flip.Yeah, this friend thing wasn’t going to happen.
“You heard?” He handed her a mug and stoodnext to her at the rail.
Gratefully, she accepted the cup and took asavoring sip of the steaming coffee. Leaning against each other,shoulder to shoulder, they gazed out the large windows. The glowingmorning sun lit up the room, the amber light almost blinding.
“I heard. He is proud of you; he just doesn’tknow how to say it.” Her fingers sent a tingling reassurance up hisarm and lodged in his throat as she caressed the back of his handwith the back of hers.
“Maybe.” He glared at the fresh, steaming cupof joe, taking a cautious, testing sip before deciding it was safeto consume without risk of a singed tongue.
“He is. He just doesn’t know what to do withyou. He always knew what he wanted out of life, so he doesn’tunderstand that you don’t. You’re brainier than he knows what to dowith, yet at the same time you’re indecisive and impulsive. You’llfigure out what you want. Give it time.”
Exhaling deeply, he tried to believe her. Howhad she figured him out so quickly? He still didn’t have himselffigured out, nor did his family appear to. “You seem awfullyconfident about that.”
“I had a damn compass tattooed on me; I wasso determined to find my own path. Had to map it out so I didn’tget lost. You don’t need a map or compass. Whatever the terrain,you find a way. Not everyone can do that. Certainly not sosmoothly.” She smiled up at him, her expression kind, knowing.
Paul ambled awkwardly out of the kitchen,glanced up at the pair, and stalked out of the house.
Despite her confidence, Asher hadn’t foundhis flaws as beneficial as she seemed to think them. “Most findthat my impulsivity gets me, and others, into trouble more oftenthan not.”
“Are you sure it’smostthat feel thatway? It seems to me it kept you alive in the navy. You may have acase of survivor’s guilt, but you’re alive and well. Instinct,luck, whatever… you escaped some nasty scrapes. Got you throughcollege too, pretty well, actually. I’m not so sure about thatMagna Cum Laude, graduating early nonsense, but to each his own,”she teased with a generous grin. “You go with your gut, roll withthe punches. Not everyone has the keen instincts or the mental andphysical dexterity that you do.”
Considering, Asher liked the way she said itbetter. He was so used to being told to stop and think beforeacting. If he’d done that, he’d be as dead as his team, or his legsas nonfunctional as Jack’s. And wouldn’t be here with Sophie.
“Don’t you have that meeting soon? I can fixbreakfast.”
