“Of course, your mother told me.” Doug cleared his throat. “I don’t know if you knew this, but Chip let us know that your sister has been looped in for a few years, as well.”
“Yeah, he did tell me that.”
“Alright. Okay. Well, they’re both over at that, uh, breakfast situation. As is your wife.”
“Okay, good,” Carver said with relief. “I was about to ask.”
“Are you coming in?”
“No, I came by to grab my keys. I need to go run an errand.”
Doug looked over his shoulder. “Your little friend’s out on the curb,” he said, in a dour tone.
Carver rocked back and forth on his heels, grinning nervously. “He is. I’m gonna help him grab his audio equipment from the club.”
Doug sighed, then opened the door and beckoned him into the foyer. Carver stepped inside and waited as his father went over to the central table, which held a few Taschen books, small sculptures and the key bowl. Normally it also held a vase full of fresh flowers, but today it didn’t.
“We’re having a family meeting here at the house at eleven,” Doug said as he dug around in the key bowl.
“Okay,” Carver said, growing more antsy.
“I filled your brother and sister in on some of what we discussed last night. To make sure we’re all on the same page, as it were.”
“Okay, good. Do you want me to look —”
“I know what your keys look like. You’ll be back here in time, right?”
“Yeah. Definitely.”
Doug finally located his keys. Carver held his hand out, but Doug withheld them and said, “Listen — you shouldn’t make any big decisions for the next few months.”
“Dad. What are you talking about?”
“I’m serious. It’s like when you’re grieving a major loss.”
“But what’s this regarding, sorry?”
“You’ve said a few times now that you’re planning to leave your wife, quit your job, et cetera.”
Carver blew out a breath and reached for his keys again, but Doug didn’t budge. “I wanted to change my life before I knew, okay? I’m realizing I’ve been unhappy for a while now, and there actually are things I can do about that. Okay?”
“Well, but see, that’s completely normal. Happiness is for women, children and retirees. It’s very hard for an ambitious young man to be happy no matter what the situation. It’s just a biological imperative, I think. The idea is to pick a path that eventually pays off, and enjoy it once you’re my age.”
“Dad,” Carver said, rocking back and forth on his heels more frantically, “I love you, but I have a splitting headache and everything you’re saying to me sounds crazy.” Doug opened his mouth, but he steamrolled him: “Can we agree that I’ve earned the right to make some changes to my life? I’ve earned millions of dollars because I thought it would make you happy. Has anyone else in the world earned tens of millions just to make you happy? I own a yacht with three bathrooms. Can I please have my car keys?”
Doug dropped his keys into his hand. Carver closed his fist around them and quickly stuffed them in his pocket.
“I never said you’re not resourceful,” Doug said. “That isn’t the issue here. And I think making millions of dollars made you at least alittlehappy.”
“Okay, it was a consolation.”
Doug inhaled, then pointed behind Carver, in what he presumed was supposed to be Scott’s general direction. “This is just not something we’re programmed to understand.”
“And that’s fine,” Carver said, twirling his keyring around his finger.
“It feels like something you’re doing for the wrong reasons. I’m watching a pendulum swing.”
“Yeah,” Carver said, feeling that same wonderful calm he’d felt the night before. “I understand your perspective here.” His poor dad. His poor, befuddled, damaged dad.
