He pulled out his cell and called Ben. “Is that Yancey?” Ben said the second he answered.
“One and the same,” Riley said. “I just shook hands with the guy.”
“What the hell is he doing hanging out with her?”
“I don’t know, but all those years she’s spent with my grandfather at his ranch? You think she was spying on him?”
“But he didn’t work at the office anymore,” Ben said. “What could she possibly hope to gain?”
Riley scratched his head, messing up his hair. “I don’t know, but she’s up to something. We’ll have to keep an eye on her. And I want protection put on that ranch. Darcie and Bethany will be moving in. If he left anything there, I don’t want them to be in danger.”
“What danger, Riley? You think Diane would do something that crazy?”
“I don’t know what to think right now. I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”
“Course. I won’t miss the funeral. Just get through tonight, then tomorrow, then we can get drunk.”
That sounded perfect to Riley. Get drunk, find a wife, get married, and hopefully, stop this Chandler woman from stealing everything he had left of his family’s legacy.
***
Riley awoke the following morning to thunderclouds rolling in over the city. For once, it looked like the prediction of rain was accurate. He dressed in his best suit, fixed his hair, and put in his silver stud. Mr. Benton might not approve, but he’d gotten that piercing the same day his grandfather did. On his eighteenth birthday. Bit of an impulse on both their parts.
It made him smile, and he felt his chest tighten when Ben knocked on his upper-floor penthouse door. The town car was there, ready to take him to say goodbye to the man who had become his second father. He wasn’t sure how he would make it through the day, but somehow, he’d manage. Ben shook his head and patted Riley on the back as he accompanied him to the elevator, down to the ground floor, and into the car. Riley had questions for him about Diane and the candidates to be his future wife, but he stopped himself from asking any of them. Now was not the time for that. There was a bottle of whiskey in the backseat, and Ben held up a black flask.
“Here, all ready to go,” he said as he tucked it in Riley’s hand.
“Thanks, man, really…for everything.”
“He was like family to me, too. Hell, he’s the one that let you hire me in the first place.” Ben laughed. “I was close to being a screw-up, and he let me have my second chance.”
Second chances. Maybe that was why his grandfather did what he did. Making Riley get married. Forcing him to step away from the lifestyle he’d fallen into. Giving him a second chance at finding that special someone.
The drive out of the city and to the cemetery wasn’t long, and Riley wasn’t prepared when they arrived to step out and see not only his grandfather’s freshly placed tombstone, but those of his parents…and the woman he loved. Ben got out first and let him have a moment. Riley opened the flask and drank deep, trying to steel his nerves. He didn’t visit as much as he should have. He seemed to be always making up some excuse or another, but today, he didn’t have an excuse. Didn’t have a choice. He had to face them all and pray that, wherever they were, they weren’t disappointed in him. Especially his Meredith. He couldn’t stand to think that she could see the past few years of his life and what he’d done with it.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered to the stale air in the car.
The anniversary was only a month away. The night that changed his life forever. The accident he couldn’t stop from happening…the sirens, the flashing lights…the sound of her flat-lining—
“Riley, are you ready?” Ben asked as he opened the car door again.
“Hmm? Yeah…yeah, I’m ready.”
He scooted out of the car and stood just as the first few drops of rain started to fall. Figures it would rain. His grandfather had loved the rain, loved when storms would roll in. Riley smiled up into the dark clouds and wondered if anyone else watched him, too. He headed towards the hearse to help the others carry the casket to the gravesite. His grandfather’s two closest friends and several of the other board members of the company were there to help. The second the weight was in his hands, Riley felt tears sting his eyes as they followed the priest to the site and set the casket in place.
“Good morning,” the priest began as everyone gathered close. “We are here today to say our final goodbye to Riley Marston the first. He was loved by many, family and friends alike…”