“Harrison,” I answer.
“Were you able to get everything handled?”
I put my briefcase on the ground to open my car door, then toss it into the back once it’s open.
“I’m working on it,” I say as I get into the front seat. “Why? Did you get caught sleeping with your sister again?”
“Stepsister,” he snaps. “And no. Angela’s traveling for a show.”
Angela is always traveling for a show. She’s a model and does shoots all over the world. Harrison is in law school full time. How they managed to have time off together is a mystery tome. I can’t even get them together for holidays. Though, I think that’s more by choice than anything.
Legally, she isn’t my stepdaughter anymore, but her mother and I were married for twelve years, so I’d say she’s still family. Though I talk to her even less than I talk to Harrison. I wonder if her mother knows about this little tryst, and if so, what she thinks about it.
“Oh, wonderful. So, I’ll have some reprieve from this mess, then.”
“You act like I wanted to get caught,” he argues.
“Well, knowing you, I can’t be so sure you didn’t.”
He mutters something under his breath that I don’t catch. Probably for the best.
“Look, can you stop by here later so we can figure this out? Despite what you believe, I don’t want this to ruin your life.”
“Yes, because it would ruin yours as well.”
“Can you come here or not?” he barks.
“Sure. I’ll get back to you with a time once I get to the office.”
“Thanks.” He ends the call, and I start the car, driving to the office in complete silence as I do every morning. I hit hardly any traffic, thanks to the early hour. It’s foggy today, likely to rain for most of it. Unlike most people, I don’t hate the rain. I don’t find it an inconvenience considering I don’t spend much time outside.
I go through my normal routine of making coffee and getting caught up on emails as I wait for Michelle to arrive. She checks in with me when she does, and I let her know to clear anythingshe can from my schedule so I can make it over to Harrison’s. It isn’t far from here, so it won’t take up my entire day.
I’m in the middle of looking over a new acquisition when Michelle lets me know my afternoon is free. Glancing at the time, I see I have a little over two hours before I’ll head to Harrison’s. I should stop on the way and get us lunch. It would be a nice thing to do.
I’m not sure when or how our relationship became what it is now. I’ve always been a family man, though maybe not so in the way that I’m affectionate. But I loved his mother dearly, and it was awful when she died. I cared for and loved Angela’s mother as well. It was her decision to end the marriage, not mine. Though I felt the loss, it was nothing compared to when Laura died. I provided for Miranda and Angela, made sure we had weekly meals together with Harrison, and she knew getting into the marriage that my job would come first. How else would she enjoy the life she wanted?
Harrison was a great kid. Smart and always well-behaved. I never had issues with him, and perhaps that’s because he was young when his mother died, and he didn’t know any different than what I set out as expectations. When Miranda came into the picture, he was thrilled to have a mother-figure and a sibling and was well aware that she wasn’t replacing his mother, but would be here as part of our family, regardless.
It’s hard to say if it was the divorce that pushed him away or just him getting into his teen years. Miranda and I got together when Harrison was eight and divorced when he was twenty.He’s my only child and I’m not friends with anyone who has children, so I don’t have anything to compare our relationship to. All I know is we hardly have a relationship at all, anymore. But he always knows who to call when something is wrong, or he needs something fixed. Guess in some ways, he’ll always need me, and I don’t hate that. His reliance on me is what keeps us together.
I don’t hate my son; we’re just on different paths. Such is life, I suppose. I’m building an empire; he’s going to school to be a lawyer. We haven’t had the discussion of whether or not he will come to work for me after he passes the BAR exams. When he was younger, he was thrilled at the idea of working with me, but things change as you get older, so who knows how it’ll go when the time comes. I don’t have room for him here in the company, but if he chose to work for me, I would make room. I will make exceptions for my son, and I will make room for him in my life however he wants or needs. But I will not go out of my way to coddle or spoil him.
The morning goes by quickly, and I stop at the sub shop around the corner from my building before hopping into my car to drive to his condo. It’s usually a ten-minute drive, but with the traffic, it’ll take double that. The meatball subs should stay warm enough on my passenger seat.
Putting in the code for his parking garage, I drive into the underground lot, then let myself up to his floor. This, like many, is a building I own. I offered Harrison the penthouse suite whenhe was looking for a place, but he denied it. Didn’t really give me a reason, but I left it alone.
I knock on his door when I reach it, and he pulls it open, not responding to me in any way other than to move to the side for me to enter.
“I brought lunch,” I say, holding up the bag.
“I ate already.”
“Did you? Or are you just saying that to be difficult?”
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t be an asshole yet. You’ve been in my house for ten seconds.”
I put the bag on the counter then raise my hands. “My apologies.”
