I hit send on an email, cementing a partnership with a new restaurant in the Portland area called Seduction, intrigued by the five owners, and make a mental note to take a trip down there soon to check it out.
I begin reading through an application for an event for this fall, and stumble when I see that it’s Alecia who is planning the affair.
I wish she’d talk to me. I’ve tried to call her several times over the past few weeks, but she’s not answered, and I refuse to beg her to answer the goddamn phone via text.
That’s just ridiculous.
I eye my phone and wonder just how ridiculous it really is, just as there’s a knock on my door, and am surprised to find Steven standing outside my office.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, as I stand and gesture for him to come inside. I close the door behind him.
“Oh, yes, I called earlier and Celeste said you were in today, so I thought I’d drop in and see how your trip went.”
“It was…necessary,” I reply and sit in my chair as he takes a seat before me. “But the issue seems to be resolved now.”
I secured a loan for Gianna, without telling her that I’m the one backing it, so she can get back on her feet. And I managed to have a heart-to-heart with Marco, right after I knocked him on his ass.
Both were immensely satisfying.
“I’m glad you’re home,” my father replies with a smile. He steeples his hands. “Did Alecia enjoy Italy?”
I lean back in my chair and shake my head. “She didn’t go.”
“Why not?”
I watch my father and consider lying, but instead I simply say, “I think I fucked up, and Alecia and I are done.”
He cocks a brow. “What did you do?”
I stand and turn my back to him, push my hands in my pockets and stare out the window that looks out over my land. The remnants from Will’s wedding are long gone, and it’s as though Alecia was never here.
Except that I see her everywhere I look.
“I thought I caught her having an affair with her best friend,” I admit softly. “I was angry. Hurt, actually.”
“Of course.”
“But now, I’m not so sure that what I saw was what it looked like, and I can’t get her to take my calls. I have a feeling she’s done with me.”
I sigh and turn back to him.
“So now, I need to know how I’m supposed to get her out of my system and move on.”
“Well, you know what they say about getting a woman out of your head, son. Put another one in your bed.”
My eyes narrow as anger shoots through me.
“I’m not interested in fucking someone else. I can’t hop from the bed of the woman I’m in love with to someone else’s. Maybe you can tell me how to do that, Dad.”
Steven doesn’t even flinch. “I deserve that.” He nods slowly for a moment.
“Yes, you do.”
“I think it’s very telling that you’re not interested in other women, Dom. Maybe it’s not as over as you think it is. Seems a shame to give up on something you worked so hard to have in your life.”
“She won’t speak to me,” I remind him. “And now that we’re on the subject, how could you do it? How could you bounce from Gail to my mom?”
“I didn’t bounce anywhere,” he replies coldly. “I thought my marriage was over, and I was an idiot. I regretted it for a long time. I don’t anymore.”
“Why?” I ask with surprise.
“Because of you.” He shrugs and then sighs. “You were the best part of your mother’s life, Dominic. I never saw her again, but I can guarantee you that much. And now we have you in our family, and I couldn’t be more thankful.”
“I disrupted your life, and I’m quite sure I put undue stress on your marriage last year.”
“You did neither.” He waves me off and laughs ruefully. “My wife knew all about your mother not long after it happened more than thirty years ago. It wasn’t a secret between us. Was it a surprise? The biggest of my life. And it was an adjustment for my other children, but I think it’s obvious that you’re accepted and loved, Dominic.”
Loved?
I think back on the past year, at how the Montgomerys have folded me into their family, accepted me unconditionally. I am their brother, without hesitation.
Even Gail has been nothing but gracious.
Yes, they are my family and I love them back. I’d do anything for any of them.
“I’m grateful for all of you,” I murmur.
“There’s no need to be grateful, son.” He grins at me with the smile of a man who has everything he could ever want. “Family just is. Now, about your Alecia.”