“What happened that made you leave when you were eighteen?”
I paused. Not because I didn’t want to tell him, but because I wasn’t sure he could handle one more painful story today. One glance at his expression, though, and I could tell he needed this.
“You’ve said that it was a rough few years, but you haven’t really said why. What happened?”
I focused on the eyes of the cat as I thought about how to explain. “Do you remember when Tosh took us to the fair, but she had that guy with her? And you and her got in a fight on the way home because it was supposed to be about us having a day with her and she spent the entire time talking to the guy instead?”
Beckett nodded.
“That’s what it felt like with Grandpa, every day.” Beckett gave me a sad smile. “He was so… consumed with his business. Like, he tried to get to know me, but he wasn’t really getting to know me at all. It was more like he was trying to get to know the person he was grooming me to be, someone to take over his company, if that makes sense.”
“It does.”
“He wasn’t harsh with me, but he was strict. I wasn’t allowed to leave his house the first year I was there, and there wasn’t anyone my age around. Like, at all. I didn’t go to a regular school either. So it was really lonely, you know? Especially since I was missing you and the Henrys so much.”
Beckett gave me another sad smile, brushing a finger along my arm.
“I only had one person I could talk to the first couple of years. Our chef, Stefon. I ended up spending a lot of time in the kitchen with him and he taught me so much. He was a cool guy. I think you would have liked him.”
Beckett grinned. “Do I hear a little bit of a crush in your voice?”
I blushed. “Hush. You would have thought he was beautiful, too.”
“What about Amelia? When did you meet her?”
“A couple years after I left you. My second Fourth of July with Grandpa, actually. We met at the park watching fireworks.”
I risked a glance at Beckett to see if he would be hurt I’d spent our favorite holiday with someone else, but he seemed relieved, like knowing I’d found a small piece of joy during that time gave him comfort.
I closed the marker and reached for his hand, mindlessly tracing the tattoo on his wrist. “It was kind of all of that put together, though. Why I went back, I mean. The loneliness became too much after a while, so I took the first real chance I had to go look for you.”
“There’s something else I’ve wanted to ask you.”
My eyes locked with his, waiting patiently for him to continue.
“How did your grandpa not know you existed before then?” Beckett asked.
“My mom and Grandpa never really got along, and she eventually went to live with her uncle when she was fourteen, I think. Never went back, either. She even told Grandpa a few years after she left that she considered her uncle more of a father than he ever was.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. It tore Grandpa up. Made him feel like a failure. He said he just kind of… gave up reconnecting with her after that.”
“So, he didn’t know she was ever pregnant with you?”
“No.”
“How old was she when you were born?”
“Twenty. She found out she was pregnant just a few weeks after her uncle was killed in a motorcycle accident, so she ended up naming me after him. Riley Miller.”
“Uncle Riley,” Beckett mused, “I loved hearing Harper call you that.”
“Me too,” I replied leaning down for another kiss. “That girl is amazing, Beck.”
“Yeah, she is. I can’t wait for you to get to know her more. That reminds me, I know you chose the name Preston because of your brother, but did your grandpa ever know that? Did he know you had a brother?”
Regret coiled through me like venom. “Yeah, um, taking his name was… kind of my act of defiance against Grandpa since he didn’t know about his other grandson. I felt awful once he found out the truth a few years later though. It… really hurt him.”
