Bye.
That bye was haunting him. He hadn’t been able to delete it. Ten times he’d tried to work up some sort of response, if only to ask if she was okay or that she’d reached home safely, and he couldn’t.
He’d never felt like less of a man.
He couldn’t shove the compartment on her closed. His desire for her hadn’t eased. On the contrary, he only craved her more than he had before.
Which was why he shouldn’t go anywhere near her.
John looked across the yard to the woods, where Livvy’s old house sat on the other side.
“Do you know what I promised Sam before he died?”
“That you would take care of his family,” Nicholas said quietly. It was a vow he knew his grandfather didn’t take lightly, one that had its origins in the history between their two families.
When Sam and John had been little more than children, the Okas had been sentenced to an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. They’d hastily shut down their successful grocery store. Unable to take more than they could carry to the camp, they’d entrusted as many possessions as they could to the Chandlers.
The two families had a lot in common—John’s parents had been immigrants too, from England. The Chandlers had simply had the privilege not to be viewed as enemies on sight. They’d carefully guarded the Okas’ assets.
When the Okas had been released, Sam and John had headed east, eager for a fresh start. They’d found it. Their tight bond had lasted up until the day Sam died.
“You know, I wasn’t a tenth of the businessman Sam was. Everything we have—everything you have, you owe to him.”
Nicholas dipped his head, having heard this before. He didn’t disbelieve it. His grandfather was shrewd, but he lacked a killer instinct. By all accounts, Sam had been the one to steer the ship during their first tumultuous years.
“I didn’t do a good job keeping my promise,” John said. “I did the worst fucking job.”
“It’s not your fault.” It was Brendan’s fault.
Nicholas tried to beat back that thought. He couldn’t survive if he let the seething resentment he felt toward his father surface. And above all, he needed to survive.
“It was my fault.” John’s trembling, age-spotted hands folded together. “The least I could have done was make sure my own son didn’t steal Sam’s half of the company.”
Nicholas eyed his grandfather with concern. John had been in the hospital when Maria Chandler had died, recovering from cardiac arrest. The news and grief over his daughter-in-law’s death had set him back, and so no one had wanted to risk giving him more stress. He hadn’t learned of what Brendan had done until it was too late.
Sometimes Nicholas wondered if things would have turned out differently if John had been in commission. He would have tried to block his son on acquiring Tani’s shares, without a doubt. Maybe he would have succeeded. Nicholas supposed it didn’t matter now.
John’s lips pinched together. “I tried to talk to Tani afterward. Even tried to sign my half of the company over to her. She refused to see me.”
Nicholas frowned. “I didn’t know that.”
“I didn’t tell you. I didn’t know then if you’d take your father’s side.”
Nicholas’s hand tightened into a fist. “Grandpa, you can take my word on it. I’m not my father.” Or at least, he didn’t want to be like Brendan.
“Ah, I know, son. I know.” His grandpa looked away. “You are nothing like your father.”
Nicholas shifted, uncomfortable. “Did you ever consider giving Paul your interest?”
John shook his head. “Not when he was so young. He wouldn’t have been able to go up against your father, and despite what Brendan would like to think, he doesn’t have the qualities that make C&O special. It would have just been another grocery chain then.” John gave a helpless shrug. “It had to be me, even though I hated the unfairness of it.”
His grandfather often did that, referring to Chandler’s as C&O. Nicholas suspected it was deliberate. “The company certainly wouldn’t be the same without you.” Nicholas knew he needed to prepare for a day when his grandfather wasn’t around, and that thought filled him with sorrow and loss. He and his father were the brains, but John was the heart of the corporation.
“I think Sam would be happy I kept our vision alive. Less happy over how his family was treated.” John’s gaze grew watery. “Livvy’s here now, and I... I have to see her. I need to make sure she’s okay. Please.”
It was thepleasethat got him. His grandfather rarely asked him for anything that wasn’t business related, and he certainly didn’t beg.
Nicholas looked off toward the woods. He had grown up a few miles down the road in an ostentatious mansion, but he’d had the run of these houses. His grandfather’s house, and the Oka-Kanes’ house.
