His father had never been a cruel man. Or at least, not aharshman. He’d always been quick to indulge his children when the mood took him, rarely yelled, never raised a hand.
He’d also never been to a single important life event, but Seth figured he could have done worse. Some people had fathers who were both absentandviolent, so he felt he’d gotten off lightly.
“Right, that.” He nodded. “Thing is, I’d go myself, but I need to be here. Big things in the works, y’know?”
Seth didn’t know. He was in the dark about most of the company operations.
He suspected his dad was expecting Emma to take over when he retired, which was fine. Maybe Emma would find a use for him.
Seth hadn’t expected to miss her, but now that he was alone and didn’t have anyone to complain about his father to, he knew how important she’d been in his life.
“Right,” Seth agreed. He’d been to enough weddings this year to last him for the rest of his life, and he wasn’t really interested in reconnecting with a childhood bully, but he wasn’t stupid enough to think he had a choice, here.
“So you’ll go?” his father asked.
“I wasn’t aware this was a request,” Seth said as neutrally as he could.
“Hey, if you’ve got some big objection, let’s hear it.”
That was the thing, wasn’t it? Even if Seth did have a reason not to go, nothing would be big enough. Nothing in his life was important enough to get in the way of his father’s plans.
It was easier just to go along with them instead of trying to fight while knowing he was going to lose.
“No objections,” Seth said, forcing himself not to let his shoulders slump. He’d been defeated from the moment he walked into the office, but there was no point in showing it.
“Good.” His father smiled again. “Besides, you liked Texas.”
“Texas?” Seth raised an eyebrow.
That… well. He wasn’t sure he liked it as a whole, but there was one particular thing about it he liked. Or one particular person.
“You don’t remember Stephanie well, do you? I guess you were only a kid.” His father shrugged. “They’ve got a huge ranch out there. Bigger than some sovereign nations.”
Seth hadn’t known that, but he wasn’t all that surprised, considering.
“Wow,” he responded, since he was fairly sure he was supposed to be impressed.
“See? You’re gonna have a great time.”
Seth licked his lips. Maybe he would, if he could convince Oz to come with him.
He opened his mouth to ask if he could bring someone with him, but decided at the last second that it was better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. “Sure,” he said instead. “When is this?”
“This weekend. Your flights and hotel are all booked. Even a rental car. I’ve thought of everything.”
Seth suspected he was supposed to be grateful, but since he was doing his father a favor—a favor he’d had no chance to refuse—he wasn’t inclined to.
“Thank you,” he responded anyway, not wanting to start an argument. “Can I go now? I really am busy.”
“Of course,” his father said, standing to show him out of the office. Seth got up and made a beeline for the door, anticipating freedom. “Good talk.”
“Great talk.”
Seth hoped his sarcasm wasn’t too obvious. This had been a relatively painless conversation, and he didn’t want to turn it into an issue just because he couldn’t contain himself for another ten seconds.
His father was very easy to get along with when people agreed to his every whim. Right now, Seth didn’t have the stomach to do anything else.
He got out of the office without being called on his tone, breathing a sigh of relief as he heard the door click shut behind him.
