The chance to discuss the future of my father’s vintage car collection was an irresistible lure, but I did have work to deal with. “Right now? In the middle of the day?”
“He’s got an appraiser coming later today. We probably should’ve hashed this out a long time ago,” he admitted.
“Well, we know how Dad’s been dealing with the move. I get it.” I sighed. “Fine, yeah, I can come now.”
After letting Josie know that I would be stepping out—not that she or Noah seemed to care—I drove to my father’s in a tense silence. I wasn’t surprised to see both of my brothers’ cars parked in the driveway when I arrived. We all had our favorites in my father’s stable of a dozen classic cars, and the chance to own one was too tempting to resist. I’d been drooling over the hunter green 1964 Jaguar E-Type since high school.
My dad met me at the door with a hug and slap on the back. “Glad you’re here, son.”
He looked strangely grim. The stress of the move was probably getting to him.
“Is everyone out in the…” I trailed off when I saw Harrison and Drew sitting at the table in the dining room, equally stony faced. I glanced at the two of them then back at my dad. “What’s going on?”
“Sit,” he answered me.
“This is an intervention,” Harrison explained.
“Forwhat?” I demanded, taking a few steps backward. I didn’t have the bandwidth for whatever they were suggesting.
“Your entire goddamn life,” Drew answered. “You’re a mess.”
I started to sputter protests, but it was pointless. They were right. I was lying to myself every day, trying to pretend I hadn’t been in freefall since I’d forced Nina out. Hell, our entire household was navigating through the loss. What I didn’t expect was that the rest of the world could pick up on it.
“Sit,” Dad repeated.
I was trapped. I had no choice but to listen, so I dropped into a chair.
“You need to get your head out of your ass,” Drew began.
“Drew,” our father cautioned. “C’mon.”
“What he’s trying to say is that you’ve wasted enough time feeling sorry for yourself. It’s time for action. You need to try to make it right with Nina,” Harrison said in a somewhat gentler tone.
I was shaking my head before he finished. “Not happening. Yeah, things are tough right now but?—”
“But this isn’t just about you,” Dad interrupted. “Nina was magic with Noah. She helped him find his way back to his smile, and for a time we were all convinced that we’d gotten our old Noah back. But since she left…” his eyes softened. “You have to see it too, Logan. He doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t want to goof around like he used to.”
“Well, that’s what therapy is for,” I replied. “He was there today. It’s a process.”
Harrison leaned across the table to lock eyes with me. “Therapy has its place, but it isn’t a cure-all. Yes, it’s important, but you know that you had someone under your roof twenty-four seven who was making a world of difference with your son. And now that she’s gone, Noah is in even worse shape than he was before.”
I winced but didn’t say anything while they glared at me.
“He’s not as angry at me now,” I finally offered. “That’s a positive change.”
“Do you know that he used his special Nina phone to call me?” Drew asked.
I sat up straighter. I probably had Josie to thank for that. “No, when?”
He waved a hand at me. “Doesn’t matter, my point is that he called me to say that he’s worried aboutyou, man.”
My heart fell to my knees. “What?”
“He’s got all of those mixed-up feelings about Nina being gone, but he’s still thinking about his dad. He said you’re sad, and he doesn’t understand why you said that being married didn’t work out. The kid has eyes, Logan. He knows the three of you had good times, so he can’t figure out what went wrong. He asked me if it was his fault.”
My heart pinched at the thought of Noah taking the blame for what had happened between us. “I already told him it wasn’t about him.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t believe you. It’s clearly still eating him up.”
