Chapter 2 – Scott
The coffee was good, I had to admit that, but it wasn’t the greatest thing under the sun. That went to Jesse. She had let me watch her cook, and I’d gotten the impression that she was letting me be there because she was interested in me. I knew that I shouldn’t have done it, but the urge to go back there had been too strong. I should have let it go. But I was trying to charm her, and I knew that I had to be in front of her to do that. Although I’d fought the other urges, like the one to touch her, I was still not convinced that I wanted anything to do with my father’s plans for her.
Jesse was not someone that I would usually have looked at. She was a business owner, but of a very small business. I wasn’t sure that it was worth the time for my father, and I planned to tell him that. I was going to try to convince him that she wasn’t a good mark. I wasn’t going to tell him that it was because when she had smiled at me, I’d swallowed my heart in my throat. She wasn’t my type, in any way, but I couldn’t help but want to protect her – and I knew that the biggest predator around was my dad.
Stepping up to the door, I tried to clear my thoughts of Jesse and the morning. I still had the coffee cup from the bistro in my hand, and I was sure that my father was going to be too busy to see me. He usually wanted to talk on the phone so he didn’t have to spend any more of his retirement than necessary on business. That was of course why he had given the business to me, but I was sick of being the lackey who did anything that he wanted.
Maria answered the door and I could tell that she was a little surprised to see me. “Good morning, Scott. How are you today? It’s been a while.”
“It has. I’m good, Maria. How are you and the kids?”
She said that she was well as well. Opening the door wider, I walked in past her and asked if my dad was around.
“He’s upstairs. I’ll go tell him that you’re here.”
I waved her off and told Maria that I would go up there myself.
“He’s not alone.”
Shaking my head, I just kind of smiled at her. “I know. He never is. I don’t think my father has ever been alone for more than a couple of nights in my whole life. I got used to it a long time ago.”
She gave me a sad look that I tried to ignore as I made my way up the tall staircase. There was no telling what I was going to find up there, but I liked the idea of catching him off guard. It just seemed like it was the thing to do after he had done it to me so many times in the past.
Knocking a scant moment before I pushed the door in, I was rewarded by furtive movement as soon as I got in there. “Hey, dad.”
He yelled my name as the girl who’d been on top of him grabbed the sheet and scampered off to the bathroom. She was about my age, brunette and rather beautiful. I wondered if he had paid her to stay the night, though I knew that my father had a charm about him that was hard to resist. He liked to think it was his wit and good looks, but I had a feeling it had a lot more to do with the money in his pocket than anything else.
“What the hell are you doing here, Scott?”
I sat down on the chair near the bed and smiled at him. I could tell that he wanted to wring my neck, but he couldn’t. I don’t think that he wanted me to see him that way, and I honestly didn’t care to think of him in that way either.
“I thought I would come by and let you know what I found out about that little bistro you sent me to yesterday.”
“You could have called.”
“Yeah, I could have.” But I hadn’t wanted to, and now that I was there, I was starting to think that this was what I needed to do when I had to see him. It wasn’t as fun when I called. I was finally feeling like I had the upper hand, and that wasn’t something that happened often. It wasn’t something that I wanted to give away. I could feel myself smiling at the idea of it all.
“So what is it that’s so damn important that you felt the need to come over here and disturb me?” My father was red-faced, and I knew then that I looked the same as him when I was upset. I didn’t like us being that much alike, but it was easier to see the resemblance when he was mad. It made me grit my teeth, and soon I was mad as well. I didn’t need a reminder of where I came from. I’d spent a lot of years trying to find out, but I was only now realizing that Jackson had not been worth getting to know.
“I wanted to let you know that it’s a bad idea to mess with the bistro. It’s small, disorganized and the owner is not at all what you think she is. I don’t think that she’s grieving, and if she is, there is not a lot to tell you that she is. I think you’ve the wrong business opportunity. That place is just going to take your money and waste it.”
I hoped that he would believe me. I didn’t want to say more, but I would if that meant that he would back off of her.
“I heard that the business is in trouble. Did you not find anything out about that?”
Sighing to myself, I admitted that I hadn’t talked to the owner about it. I’d been more worried about watching her cook and the way that her hips had swayed as she moved. I could tell him everything about that, but I’d completely forgotten about the rest of it. I didn’t want to admit that to him, but there was nothing that I could do about it now.
“Well, I don’t think that your information is right. While I couldn’t find an angle to ask the question directly, there was no hint that the place was in financial hardship. Matter of fact, it was so busy in there, I would think that they are doing better than ever.”
My father sat up and lit a cigarette. It was one of those nasty habits that I hated, and I tried not to crinkle my nose as the smell got to me. “Scott, you really just don’t get it. You can’t go off of appearances. I heard under very good authority that they are about to lose everything. I don’t think that the business they are getting now will help. You need to go back down there and make sure that you find out everything that you can. This is a good opportunity, I just know it.”
I left his house without the grin on my face that I’d had coming in. Here I’d been enjoying making him uncomfortable, but now it was me who was feeling uneasy. The last thing that I wanted to do was help him hurt Jesse. I did like the idea of seeing her again, though, so that’s what I focused on more than anything else.