“How was your day?” Dad asked through a forced smile.

Poor guy, I knew I was trying his last nerve.

“Wonderful.” I smiled back. My smile was forced too.

Summer hadn’t come in today, so I was guessing that meant she wouldn’t be taking the job. And, since I thought going to her hell hole of an apartment bordered on being a little too much on the obsessive side I decided to leave it alone.

Leave her alone for a while.

Maybe I just needed to get her out of my system.

It was Thursday. On Thursdays we all met up at the family home for dinner. It was mom’s idea.

She insisted on us meeting up and eating together like we used to when we all lived together.

We may have all had busy lives but we still managed to do it every week, except for when one of us was away on vacation.

“Wonderful, oh great. That’s good to hear.” My father placed the gravy in the center of the table.

Preston cut me a glance out of the corner of his eye, taking a break from whatever he was doing on his phone.

My father was pissed at me because he’d heard that Summer ran out of the office yesterday within two minutes of being alone with me. He also knew she didn’t come back, which he assumed was my fault.

He didn’t get the chance to shout at me because we’d taken an oath that on these special nights we wouldn’t argue. My mother made us promise.

“Did you have a good day Preston? You do know phones aren’t allowed at the table right?” I said to my brother who looked at me fully now, bright blue eyes staring into me.

“Yes, Alex. Phone gone.” He placed the phone on the table face down. “And you know what my day is about to get better.”

“God, why is that?” I’d bet he had a date. His hair was all shaped and cut in that sharp style he liked.

“Date with Andrea.”

I laughed when my father grimaced and turned away to get the tray with the roast chicken.

“Which Andrea is that now?” I knew exactly which Andrea Preston was talking about but I just wanted to hear him say.

He gave me a knowing look, the kind he gave when he knew I was shit stirring.

“Andrea Searman.” His eyes bore into me.

Dad scowled at the mention of the name, just like I knew he would. I feigned

surprise.

“Jesus, Preston aren’t you scared your dick might fall off?” I chuckled.

“Alex.” Dad hissed chiding me. His face was classic disapproval of my word choice.

“It’s true, dad, these things can happen you know. Especially with women like that.” Now I feigned concern for Preston, of which I was not.

My father was always on my ass about women. Preston was the one he should be worried about though. My brother had no morals, and picked anyone available in the moment. Didn’t matter if they were taken or not. He’d work his charm, lure them into his bed and drop them most often than not leaving a string of broken hearts in his wake.

Some people thought we were just as bad as each other but I’d be the first to point out our differences and they were vast. The one big one being I had limits and Preston did not. Hence why he was going out with Andrea Searman, a woman who was just a fraction worse than Celeste.

Word on the street had it that she was an escort who’d made it big with a rich old guy who suddenly died a week after their wedding leaving his young widow of twenty years old his billion dollar fortune. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy dear old widowed Andrea as she would hook her fingers into any man with wealth.

The woman was always at a party, always involved in some scandal. Just always.

“Andrea is just fine little brother, but I appreciate the concern.” Preston gave me that fake smile.

When dad walked over to the far side of the kitchen I leaned closer to Preston and whispered, “I hope your dick falls off. What the hell are you doing with Andrea you idiot?”

“Mind your own business,” Preston hissed, his eyes darted to dad who was just going into the pantry to get the wine.

“You know I can’t do that.” I goaded.

“Try.”

“You just got divorced.” I reminded him.

“Exactly, so I should get back out there.” Preston smiled that smug smile of arrogance.

His marriage to Victoria Secrets model, Piper Ainsworth, was destined for failure. The only good thing to come from it was Katherine, my four year old niece. She was the most beautiful little girl who adored Preston.

That bitch, Piper, had full custody and moved to Florida early last year out of spite. She was the kind of woman that loved to mess with people and wreck their lives just because she could.

Preston took every chance he got to see Katherine, but I saw the strain it placed on him.

After his disastrous marriage, I thought Preston would try to pick better women. Clearly, I was wrong.

“You want to get back out there with Andrea?” I gave him a deadpanned expression.

“Yes, I heard you scared away the fresh pussy at the office.” He smirked.

I didn’t quite realize what he meant until seconds later when it hit me. the newest member of staff we’d had was Summer.

My whole body tightened at his reference and I had to wonder if this was how my father felt when I joked around with my vulgar language. It was all fun and games until people were talking about someone you knew. In my case, I knew I didn’t exactly know her but we’d had a massive connection and I wouldn’t stand for anyone, not even my brother, talking about her in that way.

“Don’t,” I said with warning in my tone. “She was nothing of the sort, and nothing to do with you.”

Preston smiled, “Did I hit a nerve little bro?”

My father came closer so I withheld on telling him to go fuck himself. Instead I narrowed my eyes and seethed at him.

With the table set my father took a seat but I noticed that he brought over two bottles of wine, instead of the one we would share, placed one in the center of the table and kept one to himself.

Most unusual since my father didn’t really drink that much. Preston noticed it too, and cut me a worried glance.

“How was your day dad?” Preston asked.

“Perfect.” Dad said a little too quickly. He started cutting off slices of the chicken and setting them on his plate.

“Doesn’t seem like it was perfect.” I pointed out.

Dad stopped and looked at me. I landed myself in that one. What I should have done was kept quiet.

“Okay Alex, it actually wasn’t, and the little time I was hoping to spend with my boys is spent talking about loose women and dicks falling off. So you pretend to be me and tell me how you would feel.”

Dad looked stressed out. He’d been stressed before, but usually it didn’t warrant a bottle of wine which he was now opening. I watched him fill his glass and put the bottle back near him, which confirmed it wasn’t for sharing.

We didn’t say anything else while we ate which was completely unlike us because this was the time that we got together and spoke.

Preston polished off the last bit of food on his plate, pushed his chair back and stood.

“I got to run,” he said.

“Okay.” Dad answered without looking up from his plate. He’d barely touched the food.

“Hey kid.” Preston said referring to me. I didn’t know why he still felt the need to call me that. He was only two years older than me. It wasn’t as if there was such a massive age difference. “Don’t stress the old man out.”

I watched Preston place his plate in the dishwasher then leave.

With him gone I returned my gaze back to my father. I watched him cut his food up in several pieces in a mindless fashion.

“Penny for your thoughts.” I stated breaking the silence. Mom always said that.

He looked at me with a flicker of appreciation in his eyes. “I’m not really in the talking mood, Alex.”

“I can see that. But we gather every Thursday to spend time with each other. Mom would have told you off by now for your sour mood.” I smiled. “She’s not going to like that you wasted a perfectly good evening in a bad mood, and I will tell her how you ignored me.”

“I miss her,” Dad said.

It wasn’t often that he showed his feelings. What he presented to the world was this bad ass lawyer. Few people saw this side of him.

My father didn’t, and wouldn’t connect with Preston this way, although he thought the guy was perfect.

“Me too.” I agreed.

He poured himself another glass of wine taking the bottle down to half.

“I miss her presence, and having her here.”

“But she’ll be back in approximately seven weeks.”

“Seven weeks, three days and ten hours. Her plane lands at ten am on the fifth of June.”

“Okay, you win, you miss her more than me.” I chuckled.

I expected a laugh or something but all he did was tap the bottle and looked at it with sadness. He did really miss her.

Thirty five years of marriage and I’d never known my parents to act any other way than in love with each other.

My mother was an art professor who also had her own art work she indulged in. She did the most amazing oil paintings but what was more breathtaking were her sculptures. We had a garden here that was alive with them. I used to play in it when I was a kid and pretend that her fairytale like creatures were part of some adventurous world.

She taught the Bachelor of Arts program here at the University of Illinois, but travelled to France every year for the last three months of the program with her students. Since Mom was originally from France she always looked forward to this time of year.

My father on the other hand always got soppy from the minute she said goodbye at the airport.

I didn’t think I’d ever seen him like this though.

Tonight there was a lost look in his eyes that I didn’t like.

“Dad geez, she’ll be back soon. Cheer up garcon amoureux.” I laughed.

“You’re calling me lover boy?” That made him smile.

“You should see your face. You look like you lost your foot.”

“Wait till you fall in love son.”

I had to laugh at the absurdity. I couldn’t imagine falling in love. I could imagine having a family maybe but I didn’t think the part about being in love was possible.

My family hardly knew how to deal with me, I couldn’t imagine a woman who would have the kind of patience required to do the same.

That aside, I just couldn’t imagine me acting the way my father did with my mother.

Being in fun, on the other hand was different. That was me. Mr. Fun, the no strings guy who lived by my rules of attraction. It was less complicated.

But on a serious note, I just thought my parents were from a time when things were different. And they’d known each other since they were in their early teens.

“You’re funny dad.”

“I’m not son. I’m actually being realistic here.” He took a sip of his drink and set the glass back on the table.

“So in your realistic world you thought the woman I was going to fall in love with was Celeste Langdon?” I gave him a pointed look.

“Alex it was honestly just a thought. I was trying to pick someone I felt you’d get on with. I’ve seen you talking to each other.”

“We were arguing.” I quickly filled in. The woman would show up at the worst times and annoy the hell out of me because she thought I was part of her sea of admirers.

“She’s my best friend’s daughter, of course I would pick the closest person I thought would be suitable for you.”

“She’s not.” I gave him a mystified stare.

“Fine. I wish you luck in finding the woman you want.”

Luck was exactly what I would need to get the woman I wanted out of my head.

Or maybe I needed something more than luck because Summer Daniels had definitely done a number on me.

If I truly never saw her again, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to forget that night we spent together. Everything about it burned me up. Heated me up with want that lingered on the edge of obsession and I didn’t obsess over anything.

I usually just took what I wanted no matter what that was. Usually it was a thing because women gravitated to me and I’d never had to try.

“I’m going with your mother next year, Alex.” Dad took another sip of his drink and looked over at me.

“Yeah? That’ll be good for you. You won’t have to miss her so much then and when you get back you would have maybe retired by then.”

He chuckled and placed the cork back on the bottle which I was glad to see.

“No, I’m retiring before we go, and so is she. We don’t plan to come back.” He held my gaze.

I straightened up and stared at him long and hard. “What? You’re going to live in France?”

“Yes.”

“When did you decide this?” I couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Some time ago, I was just working out the kinks and hoped that a certain person would have been ready to join the senior partnership by now.”

Me.

“Dad, that’s your fault.” I had to point out. “You’re too hard on me and you don’t give me credit for what I do.”

“I need you to be more serious. People know you’re good but they don’t like your attitude.”

“Who cares about my attitude when I know my stuff?”

“Alex the way you work it’s like destroying a building and killing everyone in it just to get rid of an ant’s nest.”

“That’s harsh.”

“It’s for your own good. You handled the Cartwright case well. It was all fine until Judge Pederson complained.”

“He was allowing Bailey to bully a woman who’d been through serious cancer treatment. She didn’t even have to come to court, but Bailey thought he could squeeze one last drop of something to hang on to from her by insisting she was stealing. Don’t you think that’s bad?”

“I think it’s evil, but what you should have done is allow Bailey to look bad by himself, not practically threaten Judge Pederson with whatever knowledge you have of his private life. It wasn’t the place Alex, and that’s the part that irritates me about you. You have all this skill that I know surpasses all of us, you’re the most skilled lawyer at the firm, but you sacrifice being professional.”

I was listening, and not really liking what he was saying but decided I would try to see things from his perspective.

I guess that maybe there was some element of truth there, but I still felt he glossed over all the good that I’d done.

“Is this case with Devon going to be one of those things where I work my ass off and you tell me I didn’t make it for one reason or another?” I had to know because that’s what the Cartwright case felt like.

“Nope, I told you it’s your last chance to show me you can do this, so I don’t think you’ll let me or yourself down.”

I couldn’t stand Devon, and his family. It was hard to not allow my personal feelings to get in the way but what choice did I have.

“Okay, well I guess we’ll see then.”

“We will, and while we’re on the subject of work you need a new PA. You’ve been without one for weeks and it was just luck that we were able to manage your diaries with Kayla’s magical abilities to multitask. With your new case we won’t be able to do that.”

“Summer will be back.” I was still hoping.

“Kayla said she practically fled.”

“She’ll be back.”

“You have until Monday. I want the case underway pronto. If she doesn’t come in Monday we’ll get someone else.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

I’d give her tomorrow, and then I’d try one more time.

One more time to go to her and I was hoping like hell I’d be able to convince her to at least take the job.

I wasn’t finished with her yet.