She grimaced. “I didn’t want you to feel obliged to answer. I know it’s a sensitive topic.”
“It isn’t,” he said, confused. He didn’t have any sensitive topics. How ridiculous.
Stunned, she opened her mouth. “No? Okay, then explain it to me. Why do you hate each other so much? Did you have such a bad breakup that after seven years, you still can’t look each other in the eye?”
“No,” he said simply. “Our breakup was completely uneventful. Hazel said,I can’t do this anymore. I have to concentrate on my studies. I replied,Okay.”
She looked at him, her mouth gaping. “And they think you’re not emotional.”
He shrugged and took a sip of coffee. With sugar, it was almost bearable. “It was okay. So I saidokay. We didn’t argue. We were very polite to each other afterward.” They hadn't remained friends – he wasn’t a masochist – but friendly acquaintances. He’d never held it against Hazel for thinking he’d distracted her too much from her studies. He should have expected it; he was still surprised that he’d been surprised. He’d been devastated, truth be told, and in all fairness, she could have waited a few weeks until after finals to break up with him so he wouldn’t have had to take them without sleep or food, but it had never made him angry. His future had always been secure, hers never had. He’d understood that she had different priorities. She’d had to work a lot harder to get to where she was than he had. And shit, he’d worked himself into the ground.
Penny blinked, perplexed. “Wait.Shebroke up with you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why is she so angry?”
He rubbed his chin. “It has nothing to do with the breakup, but more to do with the following years.”
Penny’s eyes widened. “What happened in the following years?”
“I didn’t say I was going to talkabout that,” he murmured with a smile, and turned and walked into his office — which was already occupied.
“You’re late,” his father greeted him, leaning back further in his chair.
Gareth involuntarily checked his watch. He was now behind by four minutes because of Penny. “Then you’ll have to talk faster,” he suggested, walking around his desk and setting the coffee next to a thick red folder that certainly hadn’t been there ten minutes ago. He ignored Penny, who shot him a dirty look through the door, and nodded at the stack of paper instead.
“What’s this?”
“A few notes from me,” his father answered lightly.
A bitter taste flooded Gareth’s mouth and his stomach hardened. It seemed some things never changed. This wasn’t the first time he had receiveda fewnotes. It must have started in kindergarten, when he had colored outside the lines in a coloring book, and his father hadn’t wanted to see it as artistic expression, while his mother had praised him to the skies.
“Notes on what?”
“You could just read them.”
“No, thanks,” he replied coolly, sinking into his chair. “I haven’t fed my trash can yet today, and it looks really hungry.”
His father sighed heavily. “You’re going to make this difficult, aren’t you?”
“I’ve learned from the best, Dad.”
Snorting, his father placed his folded hands on the table. “Gareth. I’ve looked at the amounts you’re considering foracquiring new players, and I don’t think that’s wise in terms of our finances…”
“How the hell did you get access to our finances?” Gareth asked in disbelief. He had strictly forbidden any employee from passing confidential information to Darron Clark, precisely to avoid situations like this.
“It’s not important.” He waved his hand dismissively. “You’re making several mistakes.”
“I’ve only made one and that was agreeing to this appointment,” Gareth informed him. “You can go now, Dad.”
“Not until you explain to me why you’re throwing money away.”
Gareth looked his father in the eyes, ignoring the stinging, paralyzing feeling in his chest that he had long since given up on solving.
It was always the same. He was so tired of the game.
His mother told him what a great job he was doing, while his father explained to him why he was making one mistake after another. His parents had always divided their responsibilities evenly.
