by A Lexy Beck
As Carter reached in to shake Cain’s hand, I shot Aimee the “He’s such a hunk” face and quickly greeted him as well. Guests began filing into the foyer. “We’ll catch up with you both in a few minutes. I’m on welcoming duty right now.” I smiled and gave them both a wink.
Before long, Cain’s house was filled with over a hundred and fifty people, mostly associates from the firm and their significant others, and a few friends from Reese’s past on the police force.
Dad joined the party and escorted Cynthia, his long-time assistant, to the party; I couldn’t help but smile. Their secret relationship had been hot gossip in the office for a long time and I know it took a lot of courage for them to show up at a firm event together.
“Dad, Cynthia,” I gave them both a hug and kiss. Cain joined us in the pleasantries.
“Amazing house you have here, Cain. You’ve done very well for yourself.” Dad looked around, taking it all in. “If you don’t mind, I know this is your home, but I would very much like to lead a toast and say a few words—after your introduction, of course.”
“No, by all means, sir, please go ahead.”
Dad clinked his glass a few times and the sentiment was echoed through out the party as the crowd fell silent. “Reese, will you join me in the center of the room for a moment?”
“Oh, jeeze. Really Jack? You have to make a spectacle of me?” Reese laughed as he made his way to the center of the room.
“Jennifer, you and Cain too, please…” Dad ushered us closer to the center. “Thank you all for coming. As my partners are all too willing to admit, I’m the loudest and most opinionated in the firm, so both John Durst and Donald Chandler nominated me to give this little speech.” Dad held up his glass and acknowledged both Durst and Chandler, standing with a small group of people.
“You haven’t proven us wrong yet, Jack” laughed Durst.
Dad continued with his speech. “I’d first like to thank Cain Parker, for hosting this cozy little get together in his home. I apologize if you’re feeling a little cramped in here, everyone.” Dad laughed to himself and was joined by the rest of the group, standing comfortably in the enormous living room. “Reese has been a part of our family for over twenty-five years, and in my opinion, he is way too young to retire. It’s going to be impossible to fill his shoes, and honestly, we’ve all agreed, we aren’t even going to try. He keeps telling me he’s looking forward to spending his time fishing, but I don’t believe that for a minute.”
I wondered where Dad was heading with this speech. While his sense of humor was dry, he wasn’t one to put on long, detailed, pointless speeches.
“John, Donald and myself realize that the investigative unit of DDC is special. We’ve noticed that even more in the last six months. It’s the reason why we’ve decided that, upon Reese’s retirement in the next few weeks, we will be closing up the investigative unit.” Dad deliberately avoided making eye contact with me as a hush of whispers rushed through the crowd.
I looked at Cain. I could feel my face getting redder and I wanted to run. I had trusted my father and taken a leap of faith when I decided to stay on with the firm, and I had been met with yet another disappointment from him. I had thought things had changed. Cain gently squeezed my hand and smiled at me.
“The unit we have—had—was special, and I—we—felt that it may allow our firm to be exposed a bit more than we needed to be. It’s one of the many reasons why we will be closing the unit down.”
I couldn’t help myself as I looked at my father, delivering his pompous speech about all the things he felt. “But Dad…”
Our eyes met and he elevated his voice over mine. “And there are many reasons why we will be moving the firm ahead in so many different ways. I’m pleased to announce that, with John and Donald’s blessing, we will be opening a new firm, Dunning and Associates. A firm specializing in investigations, jury selection and profiling. I’m also very proud to announce two very big things. First, I’ve convinced Reese to only retire part-time.”
“Ha... that was the shortest retirement in history!” chimed in Reese. The crowd laughed and clapped at the news.
“Reese will be doing the exact same thing he had been, only in a more consultative role. We’ll call it part-time work. The second part to this story is that my daughter, Jennifer Dunning, will be taking over the reigns of Dunning and Associates.” Dad smiled proudly as he extended his arm to me to give me a hug.
Tears filled my eyes and I tried to maintain my composure as much as possible. I looked up at him, matching tearing blue eyes to tearing blue eyes. “Thank you!”
“So, ladies and gentleman, again congratulations to Reese on his retirement and his rehiring, and to Jennifer, and Dunning and Associates.” Dad raised his glass to the group. “Cheers!”
“Cheers!” echoed throughout the room as glasses clinked together.
“Why didn’t you say something to me about this?” I was partially mad and very overwhelmed.
“I wanted it to be a surprise, and I needed to make sure everything was going to work out. With Reese, the firm, us.” Dad smiled and kissed me on the top of the head. “Now, go and enjoy the party. Monday will be here before you know it and work is already piling up.”
I gave Dad a quick hug and ducked off into the party to find Aimee and Carter. We had a lot of catching up to do.
Get the Latest News
Keep up with new books, release dates and more by connecting with me on my website, Facebook and Twitter.
Also be sure to signup for the newsletter. All subscribers get early bird notice for new books, opportunities to receive advance review copies and details on new book reveals.
Newsletter: http://alexybeck.com/newsletter
Facebook: http://facebook.com/alexybeck
Twitter: http://twitter.com/a_lexy_beck