“I told you bye!” I retorted. “What do you mean I ditched you?”
He shrugged, taking a long swig from his own bottle. “I dunno, son. We were finishing up a nice jog, and then suddenly you were all ‘gotta go’ and ran off toward that old gazebo. I felt kind of abandoned, honestly.”
Ho-ly shit. Frank Desmond was sassy.
Why didn’t I know that?
I fidgeted with the weight rack as I tried to shake off the guilt that insisted on creeping up at every turn. “I had business.”
Liem had been so into his notebook that he hadn’t even seen me and Dad running circuits around him, but I knew he was there.
And even better, I now knew what he looked like when he was deep in concentration. That had been my business.
What beautiful business it had been too.
Dad didn’t reply except to usher us out of the room, and I followed him all the way into the backyard, enjoying a deep inhale of fresh air the moment we stepped outside. We situated ourselves on the patio furniture and relaxed for a few moments before Dad spoke up again.
“You’re doing more business courses this summer?”
“A few.”
This was the one subject we’d semi-easily talked about over the past couple of years. He’d always taken a keen interest in my education, maybe because he never finished law school as he had planned. Because of me.
And I’d rewarded that by signing up for things like Art History and other courses I had no interest in whatsoever.
I was such a dick.
His brows furrowed as he angled toward me. “You worked a lot of jobs at Fortuna, developing a wealth of experience in a lot of areas.”
I wrinkled my nose at the pseudo compliment. “I don’t know if I’d put it that way. At all.”
“Why not?” he asked bluntly, crossing one of his legs over the other and raising a brow at me.
“Because.” I gesticulated vaguely as I spoke. “I was just, I dunno, passing the time or whatever.” Nerves gathered at the blunt confession that I was about to lodge his way, but I pushed through. “I didn’t take anything seriously.”
He immediately dismissed that with a wave of his hand. “You excelled in your business classes. No matter how you viewed your work ethic or mindset, you did it.”
I shifted in my seat, finding no comfort in how his words echoed Liem’s.
“You know people,” Dad said confidently, plugging forward.
“I hate people,” I countered.
His smile was wry. “But you know them.”
I huffed and threw my hands up. “What are you getting at?”
Casting his gaze over the yard, he took a long swig of his water before answering, “I’m not sure yet, son. It might just be a dream. Or maybe just a notion. But either way, it’s nice to have one for a change.”
The way he said it, like it would be easily dismissed, caused a physical pain in my chest. He was obviously giving me an out to not continue the conversation, but I didn’t want to be a dick anymore. I didn’t want to blow it off.
“Don’t do that,” I said, meeting his eyes. “Tell me more.”
His eyebrows rose in surprise, but he did as I asked. “I just think I want a change.”
“Like what?” I’d never pictured my dad anywhere but here or at the casino.
“There’s a business suite for sale in Bay Springs,” he continued. “I’ve made some good investments over the years, and, well—” He stopped abruptly and frowned before he went on. “I’m not sure what, exactly, but the start of an idea is there and won’t leave me alone.”
