Today is not one of those times.
Dad’s favorite breakfast spot is a Filipino American diner, and like usual, he buys it out for a couple hours so we can eat in peace and privacy.
Usually, it’s such overkill I laugh. He loves to pretend he’s more famous than he really is. Even if he isn’t far off the tech titans you always hear about, he doesn’t have anything close to their media footprint.
Today, though, I don’t mind.
His face is already cherry red as he glowers at me from his wheelchair.
“I can’t believe you’d do this. After you insisted you were done screwing around,” he snarls. His big hands hold his coffee mug like he’s on the verge of hurling it at me.
“Now, Alec.” Mom puts a hand on his arm. “We haven’t even eaten yet. Let’s take it down a notch.”
“That’s the damn point. We haven’t even had our coffee, and he’s ruined breakfast with his alley-cat bullshit exploding across the internet. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Thanks.” I look up and smile at the poor server who finishes filling my mug.
“Brady!” Dad barks, crashing his fist against the table. “Are you listening?”
“Yeah. Everyone in a three-mile radius can hear you too.” I add a splash of cream to my coffee and stir.
I knew he’d react like this, yes, but it’s so fucking infantile I have trouble keeping my temper in check.
“Explain yourself. And you better have an excellent excuse for humiliating the Loomers and the entire Pruitt brand with this nonsense. The money we’ve had to shell out on those damn reputation managers over the years to bury your antics ...” He shakes his head.
Never one to mince words, my old man.
“First of all,” I say, “I was neverwithNancy. You guys kept pushing her on me, yeah. I went out of my way to give her a chance. It just didn’t work, Dad. You can’t hold a gun to my head and make me like her, especially when I have better options. Like Lena Joly, for one.”
“Lena.” Dad snarls her name, slamming his mug down again until coffee sloshes over the cup.
“Alec, calm down,” Mom says. “Drink your coffee, and listen to Brady, honey.”
“Frankly, it was electric, Mother. I felt it right from the start.” I pin on a smile. “The first time I met her months ago, we were inseparable.”
Lie number one. A particularly insane one because Lena hated my guts the first time we met, and that wasn’t even a month ago.
Call it necessary. No one’s going to believe I’d sacrifice everything to be with a girl I barely know.
“Electric,” Dad rumbles.
“Why didn’t you bring her up sooner, darling?” Mom asks.
“Because I know how you guys are. We had to keep it private, taking it slow—and no, I didn’t tell Nancy. I consider her a friend, and once I was sure about Lena, I let her down easy.”
“Easy,” Dad mutters, his face inventing new shades of red.
“Alec, please,” Mom warns when she sees his eyes twitching. “Remember what the doctor said about your heart.”
Yeah, I wonder why.
As horrible as his heart attack was, it wasn’t a huge surprise for a man intent on working himself into an early grave.
I take a satisfied gulp of my coffee—the perfect mix of bitter and sweet to take the edge off this nightmare.
The sooner I can escape this travesty of a breakfast, the better.
“Obviously, I didn’t announce it to the world. Or you guys,” I say. “No point feeding the media circus if it was never going to work out. I had to be sure. Plus, Lena isn’t used to this kind of frenzy. I had to give her fair warning, ease her into it.”
