“I don’t know what happened.” Gloria’s gaze bounced between the two of them. “You used to be friends. Are you jealous of your brother, Trip? Is it the attention he gets from all those women?”
“Jesus,” Aiden muttered.
Trip groaned loudly. “No! God! Look, it’s—”
Whatever Trip was about to say ended with the sound of a shuffle-thump moving down the hall. “Gloria, where’s my—”
Rudy entered the kitchen, and for a moment he stared blankly at the three people around the table. Then his face split into an enormous grin. “Boys! I didn’t know you were coming!”
He moved forward, and Aiden and Trip both stood to hug him. If he’d thought his mother looked thinner, that was nothing compared to his dad, who seemed diminished somehow in his plaid shirt and khakis. But his jaw was clean-shaven, his hair was neatly brushed, and his face glowed with excitement at sitting down to breakfast with his family.
“Did I know they were coming?” he asked Gloria.
The corners of her mouth dropped, but she nodded firmly. “I mentioned it. But it’s okay. They’re here now.”
“They’re here now,” he repeated.
Gloria stood to fill a plate and set it in front of him with a quick kiss on the head. He picked up his fork and asked, “How’s the work on the Johnsons’ going?” Then he set the fork down, and the lines in his forehead deepened. “No. Not the Johnsons. The… the pharmacy. The Santiagos.”
Relief settled palpably over the table, and it felt like he, Trip, and their mom all exhaled in unison.
“It’s good,” Trip said. “We’re close to wrapping up.” He nodded toward Aiden. “They’re even letting this guy come around now.”
Trip met his eyes, and Aiden inclined his head slightly.Herewas Trip’s true apology.
Rudy just harrumphed. “Shouldn’t have kept him from coming around in the first place. Ridiculous.”
His throat tightened. “Thanks, Dad.” He had to clear it before he could speak again. “But the work’s looking great. Trip oversaw a whole redesign of their lighting for the work area.”
That spun the conversation off in a new direction about light bulb frequency spectrum, which could captivate his dad and brother for days. While those two debated LEDs versus fluorescents, his mom pulled him aside.
“The treatment’s going well so far,” she said quietly. “The clinical trial is just getting underway. The doctors working with him have been wonderful. They have him following a medication regime along with exercise and mental acuity games. He has more good days than bad up here.”
“That’s great, Mom.” He gripped her hand as one layer of worry peeled off his soul.
She squeezed his hand back, her smile fading again. “The thing is, it’s made us both reevaluate things. And it’s time for us to officially step away from the company. You and Trip, the business is yours now. Permanently.”
The words filtered through his brain, a truth he’d known was coming even as he dreaded hearing it. “Okay.” He exhaled hard. “Okay.”
“That means you two need to fix this.” She looked meaningfully at where Trip was patiently listening to Rudy explain about blue light spectrum versus yellow light spectrum, a topic Trip was already well-versed in.
“I wish I knew how.” He shrugged helplessly. “But we don’t exactly talk about our feelings.”
“Is it because you went to college and he didn’t?” Gloria laced her fingers together, and the gesture reminded him of Thea. “He never enjoyed school, so I never pushed it on him, but maybe I should have. Or is it—”
“Mom.” He cut her off. “I love you, but don’t do this. We’ll figure it out. We both want the business to succeed.”
When they’d all finished their meal, Aiden and Trip cleaned up the dishes while their mother grabbed a huge pillbox and fished out a handful of meds for their father to swallow. Afterward, she pulled Trip out the door to walk with her to the Garden of the Phoenix, which had apparently become her favorite park in the city. Aiden recognized it for what it was: a ploy to let him talk shop with his dad as he prepared to officially take over the business Rudy had built from the ground up.
“Mom says you’re both liking it here,” Aiden said as the two of them settled into the small living room.
Unlike his parents’ Beaucoeur home, this space was stark and uncluttered, with only one framed photo resting on a side table as decoration. It was the last church directory picture they’d taken together, when he and Trip were both teenagers who’d been crammed into suits and forced to smile awkwardly at the camera early on a long-ago Sunday morning. For some reason his mother loved it.
“Chicago’s different,” his dad grumbled. “But it’s not all bad.”
He looked closely at Rudy’s face and saw focus and clarity in his eyes. Thank God for that at least. “Mom says you’re officially retiring?”
Rudy worked his mouth back and forth before he spoke. “Yeah. It’s time. You boys’ll do fine.” He glanced at the framed picture, and a fond smile ghosted across his features. “More than fine.”
