“Good, I’m glad,” Patricia said as she walked the mugs to the table. “He’ll keep you from doing anything dangerous.”
“If he ever gets here. I told him to arrive an hour ago.” Gerard shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. “So typical. But I’m off to get started without him. Lovely seeing you, Chelsea.”
“You too. Stay warm,” I said.
Patricia let out a long sigh that interrupted my brainstorming ways to make a graceful exit before Andrew arrived.
“Those two...” She frowned.
As much as I needed to leave, the gossip in me was desperate to get some intel on the bad blood between father and son. “What’s going on?”
“I can only imagine the bickering to come. They’re just too similar but they refuse to acknowledge it.”
I took a sip of coffee to hide my dubious expression. How could the mountain and the reed be similar?
“Strongheaded,” she continued.
Okay, that part was true.
“Each convinced that their way is the right way.”
Yup.
“And too smart for their own good.”
Record scratch.
“Hm,” I managed.
“They recently stopped speaking for two weeks because they had an argument about the relationship between nihilism and existential dread.”
I nearly choked on my coffee. I could barely remember thedefinitionof nihilism yet Andrew was having scholarly arguments about it?
It didn’t compute. The sole reason why I’d been able to look past my annoying physical attraction to Andrew was because anytime I tried to envision having a serious conversation with him I came up blank. We had nothing in common. I didn’t want to talk about fantasy football, or protein smoothies, or theories of strength training, and they seemed to be the only things he cared about. But based on what his mother was telling me I was way off target.
“That’s the heart of the issue between them,” Patricia continued, fiddling with the handle on her mug. “Andrew is an optimist, like me, and his father has a glass-half-empty outlook on life. Gerard and I balance one another out, but the similarities between them with that one glaring difference make things... bumpy.”
Andrew was an optimist, all right. I’d never met anyone else who could spin a rained-out charity football game into a giant coed mudslide.
“Is it always tense between them?” I asked, not sure if the question could be considered prying.
A smile flickered across her face. “No, thankfully. Deep downthose two adore one another. They just tend to forget it in the heat of the moment and then they make stupid decisions. Like Gerard not showing up to Andrew’s grand opening.”
I felt a stab of sympathy for Andrew. I’m sure it hurt not seeing his dad in the crowd, especially because it sounded like it was a decision he’d made, not because he was under the weather that night.
“Well, you were there,” I said carefully, not sure how deep I wanted to wade into the family drama. “I’m sure that made him happy.”
“And he was so busy that night, I’m sure he barely noticed.” Patricia seemed grateful for the redirect. “He told me what happened with your key. You two are lucky to have one another so close.”
I gave a noncommittal nod and drained my mug. “Speaking of, I should get going. I have classes today.”
Patricia hopped up to grab my jacket. “Thank you so much for your help this morning. It’s going to be too cold to work outside soon, but hopefully we can get a few more lessons in.”
“We’ll make it happen, I’m sure of it.”
She held my jacket open like a tailor and I slipped my arms in. Patricia patted my shoulders. “You’re one too.”
I swiveled to face her. “One what?”
