by Leslie North
Stephen shot a wary eye at Angie. She looked at his ex-wife with a casual eye, and for a moment, his mouth went dry. His ex-wife and his current lust in the same room together? This couldn’t be good.
And Duncan knew that it couldn’t be good. As Nathan hugged Suzanne, Stephen cleared his throat. “Angie, this is Suzanne Maxfield, my ex-wife. Suzanne, this is Angie Lopez. She’s the Senior VP at Douglas Enterprises.”
He watched as Angie’s eyes widened and he quietly cursed his father. Suzanne simply smiled and shook her hand. “It’s nice to hear that there’s a woman in charge over there. This family can be a bit of a mess.”
At that moment, Gabe walked in the front door. Suzanne went to greet him, and Stephen slid past the group to the bottom of the staircase. “Ben?”
“What?”
Stephen frowned. He didn’t raise his son to be so rude. “Dinner time. Wash your hands and come down.”
“Right after this game,” his son argued.
Stephen shot an incredulous look at Suzanne, and she smiled apologetically. “Ben, your uncles are here. Come down and meet them.”
“Okay!”
Really? His kid would come down for Nathan and Gabe but not for him? Just what was going on here? Water splashed in the sink upstairs and a few seconds later, Ben bounded down the stairs. He completely bypassed Stephen and went straight to Nathan and Gabe.
Pretending that it didn’t bother him, he ruffled his son’s hair as they all took their seats at the dining table. Grumbling under her breath, Lydia served them dinner.
“How’s school, Ben?” Gabe asked.
Ben wrinkled his nose. “My teacher’s mean, but I’m in class with Joey. He’s my best friend. And Jeremy, the mean kid, left last year, so that’s cool. I get to learn Spanish and some sign language this year!”
“Why didn’t you tell me all of this when I asked?” Stephen asked with narrow eyes.
His kid shrugged. “I was busy.”
He shot a questioning look at Suzanne, and she mouthed that she’d talk to him later about it. It hurt Stephen to know that his son didn’t want to talk to him, but he’d find a way to fix whatever the problem was.
Angie tried to focus on anything other than Suzanne. The woman was absolute perfection. From her gorgeous looks to her charity work to the way she charmed her family, it was easy to see that Stephen’s ex-wife was flawless. There seemed to be few issues between Stephen and Suzanne, so what in the world got between them? And if they hadn’t been able to make it work, what made her think that she stood a chance of making it work with him.
In a panic, she chastised herself. She didn’t need to be thinking about her and Stephen. She already had way too much on her plate as it is. And hadn’t she already written him off?
Duncan’s eyes practically bore holes into her all night. It was clear that he had orchestrated this whole situation, and that could only mean one thing.
He knew that something had happened between her and Stephen.
Torn between embarrassment and outrage, she avoided his look. On one hand, it was her life: she could see and kiss whomever she damn well pleased, and Duncan Maxfield didn’t have any say in it. On the other hand, it was embarrassing that he knew that she’d fallen so quickly under his son’s spell. She was supposed to be a professional, and she was practically sending goo-goo eyes Stephen’s way. It was as if she was in middle school again.
“You were out of the office quite a bit today,” Stephen broke through her thoughts. She struggled to relax as he and Duncan both watched her. “Working from home?”
“I had some meetings,” she said casually. There was no reason to divulge what those meetings were about.
Stephen, however, didn’t let it go. “Meetings for what?”
“We’ve had an offer from a company in Colorado to buy their property. Today I went to discuss preliminaries, and I arranged for some surveyors to go out and inspect the property. Do you need to know where I ate and when I stopped for coffee as well?” she asked sweetly. Technically, she hadn’t lied, and her misdirection worked. Stephen settled back in his chair while Suzanne glared at him.
“Stephen, do you have to talk about business now?” she said in a tight voice.
“Sorry,” he murmured. An awkward silence descended over the table until Nathan asked Ben a question. The boy lit up, and he answered his uncle’s questions with glee. When dinner was over, Ben led Nathan and Gabe upstairs to show them his video games.
“Another glass of wine?” Suzanne asked. She grabbed a fresh bottle and her own glass and headed into the living room.
“Another bottle is more like,” Angie said with a laugh. “But I should probably start with the one glass.”
“I admire you,” Suzanne said as they settled in the plush chairs. “It can’t be easy to work with that family of men all the time.”
Suzanne admired her? That was laughable. “Normally it’s only Duncan and Gabe. Stephen has been gone for more than a decade, and Nathan’s been gone for a few years now too. They’ve only been under the same roof for a few days now,” she said with a shrug.
“They’re a strange family. I wish I had known their mother. I think she was the glue that held the family together, and once she died, everyone kind of drifted apart. I know they all care about the company, but they’re less likely to admit that they care about each other. The boys were close when Stephen and I got married, but by the time we divorced, they weren’t even speaking to each other.”
“Why did you divorce?” Angie asked bluntly. She immediately blushed. “I’m sorry. That’s such a personal question, and I had no right to ask that.”
Suzanne smiled softly at her. “It’s fine. We used to be crazy in love. To a certain degree, we’re still quite fond of each other. There wasn’t a huge fight or anything. It was a lot of little things that kept adding up. Stephen’s company wasn’t doing well. He blamed his father for that, and the strain was wearing on him. We were never financially hurting, but Stephen wanted to prove that he could do it on his own. Long working days turned into long working weeks. I’d go several days at a time without seeing him. I learned to live without him, and then I realized that I didn’t want to live like that. I didn’t want to be able to live without my husband. I asked for a divorce, but he wanted to try to make it work. We gave it another shot, but we realized we were only doing it for Ben. The divorce went through without any problems. My only regret is that he can’t see Ben more often.”
Angie sipped her wine thoughtfully. It was clear that Stephen and Duncan were more alike than Stephen wanted to admit. When Duncan had been active in the company, there had been days where he’d sleep at the office. He thought it was lazy that no one else would do the same.
“I see the way he looks at you,” Suzanne said suddenly. Angie blushed and opened her mouth to refute it, but Suzanne waved her hand. “Please. Duncan doesn’t do anything except with an ulterior motive. I know his insistence that Ben and I spend the weekend here had more to do with his needs than ours. It’s obvious that Duncan disapproves of your relationship. I guess he thought that if you knew that Stephen had baggage, you’d be less interested.”
“You’re not wrong about Duncan. And I’m sorry that he pulled you in the middle of it. The truth is that Stephen and I aren’t anything more than business associates. And if we become anything further, it’s a decision that I’ll make without reference to Duncan,” Angie declared. She added, “A little baggage doesn’t scare me.” And it was clear to her that Duncan thought that Suzanne would intimidate her.
“It sounds to me like you’ve already made up your mind,” Suzanne said with a smile.
Had she already decided that she and Stephen would give it a shot? “I would be lying if I didn’t say that there was an attraction between us. But I’ve worked hard to get where I am at this company, and I’m not about to give that up over a silly crush.”
“Well, be careful. I love Stephen, but he’s an intense man. He’ll take over your
life.”
Angie contemplated that as she drank her wine. Suzanne continued to reminisce funny stories about the boys and Stephen, but Angie was only half-listening. Suzanne’s warning stuck with her. She’d built a life that was devoid of men. If she let Stephen in, it was possible that he would ruin everything.
But every time she closed her eyes at night, those beautiful blue eyes haunted her.
The next day, Stephen pushed everything aside to spend more time with his son, but Ben didn’t seem to feel the same way. When he tried to invite his son to play some basketball, Ben shrugged it off and said no. When he offered to take Ben to the park, his son said that he wasn’t interested. It wasn’t until Gabe and Nathan showed up that Ben seemed finally to come to life.
“Can we go swimming?” he asked excitedly. “I’ve been practicing doing back-flips off the diving board!”
“Sure,” Gabe said with a laugh. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been in the pool.”
Ben immediately threw the controller for the game down and raced to change into his bathing suit. Stephen looked on dejectedly. “He hates me. My own son hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you,” Nathan said with a shake of his head. “We’ve always been cooler than you.”
Nathan could joke all he wanted, but Ben was simply different when he was with his uncles. He talked about school and his friends. He easily opened up about what he wanted, but whenever Stephen asked a question, the boy seemed to shut down. The feeling of rejection slowly turned to anger, and Stephen shoved it down. There was no point in bringing it up while Ben was having fun.
They cooked out on the grill for dinner. Suzanne met with some friends, and Duncan was having dinner with Angie to discuss something about work. Stephen spoke very little about business. He didn’t want to use up what little time he had with his son on things like work. The more he listened and watched Ben, the more he realized that he’d missed so much in his son’s life.
When had things spun out of control? There was a time where Stephen would have made the earth move to see his son, but work was always getting in the way, and soon Ben quit asking to see him. The worse part was that Stephen didn’t even realize it until now.
Was he becoming his father?
After dinner, Gabe and Nathan both kissed Ben goodnight before they left. Ben immediately changed clothes and slumped back in front of the television with the game controller. Alone with his son, Stephen tried his best to get Ben to talk to him. “How are your grades?” he asked quietly.
“Fine.”
Fine? “Could you be more specific than that?”
“I don’t know. Ask Mom.” Ben’s eyes were glued to the screen.
Stephen sighed. Clearly, Ben didn’t want to talk about his grades. “And how’s the soccer thing going?”
“It’s over.”
Over? “What do you mean, over? Aren’t you interested in soccer anymore?”
“The season is over.”
Suddenly Stephen couldn’t take it anymore. He reached over and ripped the controller out of Ben’s hands. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” he shouted suddenly.
“What the hell?” Ben said.
“You do not use words like that! And you certainly don’t speak to your father that way! What has gotten into you? This is supposed to be our time to spend together, and all you want to do is play these video games! Is this why your grades aren’t good? You’re spending too much time racing cars instead of studying?”
“What do you care?” Ben suddenly burst into tears.
“I care because I’m your father!” Stephen roared.
“Stephen!”
He whirled around to see Angie staring at him from the doorway. Ben raced past them as he left the room.
“Shit,” Stephen said as his anger deflated.
“What the hell was that all about? I came to say goodnight, and you’re screaming at your son!”
“It’s none of your business,” he said tightly. “Good night.”
He tried to brush past her to go after Ben, but she grabbed his arm. “It’s none of my business, but you need to cool off. Whatever is going on here is more than video games, and you know it.”
Staring at her, he realized that she was right. He had a problem with the fact that Ben was ignoring him, and until he knew why, he couldn’t do anything to change it. He shrugged helplessly. “What can I do?” he groaned.
“Cool off. Then apologize to him.”
She let go of him and walked down the hall. He sagged against the wall as he watched her leave. How had things gotten so out of hand between him and his son? And why was it that Angie of all people should be the one to witness his meltdown?
But she was right. So instead of going after Ben, he went to his own room and changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt. He was too worried to sleep, but there was nothing else he could do tonight anyway.
“We need to talk,” Suzanne said in a tight voice.
Stephen looked up as she walked into his room. He was about to turn down his bed. “What?” he asked with a sigh.
“What do you mean, ‘what’? You know exactly what’s wrong. You screamed at our son!” she exclaimed.
“He needs to pay attention to me when I’m speaking to him! I’m his father, and he doesn’t respect me. All he wants to do is play those damn video games,” Stephen retorted.
“He’s ten, he’s a kid,” Suzanne sighed. “What is this really about?”
Pinching the bridge of his nose to alleviate his stress headache, he finally shook his head. “It’s like he’s not even my son anymore. He’s barely spoken to me this entire trip. All the information I get is secondhand. Suzanne, I haven’t seen him since Christmas, but it’s like he’s turned into a different child.”
Suzanne stood at the foot of the bed and stared at him. “Stephen, you’ve missed so much this year. From games to award ceremonies to Bring Your Father to School day.”
“Bring Your Father to School day? I don’t even know what that is.”
“Because when he does invite you to events, you’re always too busy. So he’s stopped telling you about things. That’s how he copes. That way he’s not disappointed by you letting him down,” she said softly.
With a soft moan, Stephen sank into the bed next to her. “Shit. I am the worse father in the world.”
“No. You’re not,” Suzanne said as she put her arms around him. “Part of it is my fault. I moved three cities away, and I always take Ben with me when I go on weekend out-of-town trips. It makes it difficult for you to see him. And you do make an effort. I guess I didn’t realize how much of an effect it had on him.”
“Okay. Well what can we do?”
“First you’re going to curb that temper of yours. You know that it was part of our problem, and I’ll be damned if you take your frustrations out on Ben,” Suzanne said in a stern voice. “And then we’re going to figure out a more strict schedule and stick with it.”
Startled, Stephen looked up. “You’d do that for me?”
“Ben needs his father,” she said with a smile. “Come on. Let’s go say goodnight to him.”
Together, they walked to Ben’s room. It broke his heart to see that Ben had been crying, and when he saw them, he immediately turned his back to them. “Ben,” Suzanne said in a small voice. “Can we talk to you?”
“What do you want?” he mumbled.
“First of all, you need to turn back around and look at us,” she said in a harder tone. “I know you’re upset, but there’s no need to be rude.”
With a sigh, Ben sat up and faced them. Stephen sat at the edge of the bed and looked at him. “Ben, I know I’ve missed some important things this year. It’s been hard to juggle schedules, but I promise I’m going to do better, and your mom is going to help me.”
Hope bloomed in Ben’s eyes. “Really?” he asked in a soft voice.
Stephen smiled. Relief flooded through him. His son still wanted to see him after all. “There are games
and events that I’m still going to miss, but I’m going to come to as many as I possibly can. And your mom is going to let you stay with me some weekends. Would you like that?”
His son nodded and reached over to hug him. Stephen felt a great weight lift from his shoulder as he reached over to hug his son. Finally, the boy crawled back under the covers, and Stephen kissed him goodnight.
When Suzanne said her goodnights, they flipped off the light switch and quietly closed the door.
“Thank you,” Stephen said in a hushed voice. “The fact that you’re willing to do this means the world to me.”
“Good. And just so you know, I like her.”
Stephen raised his eyebrows. He knew who she was talking about, but he played dumb. “Who?”
“You know who. Don’t let this feud with your father get in the way of your chance at happiness, Stephen.” She leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek before she entered her bedroom and closed the door.
Stephen thought about what she’d said as he finally lay down to sleep. It wasn’t his father as much as it was Angie herself keeping them apart.
That, and the fact that he wasn’t entirely sure he could trust her.
9
Stephen enjoyed spending time with Ben for the rest of the weekend, and it was over way too soon. Sleep-deprived but otherwise happy, he dragged himself into Gabe’s office. “You needed to see me?” he asked, yawning. Nathan was already seated in one of the chairs. Stephen took a moment to glare at his two brothers. They both looked so alert and at ease. Stephen had spent all weekend stressing out about having Suzanne so close to Angie. It didn’t make it any easier when he realized that the two women were actually getting along really well.
And he’d spent every spare moment he had talking with the manager of his own company, trying to fix things there.
“Why do you think that Duncan invited Suzanne and Ben over this weekend?”
So much for small talk. Stephen slumped into the chair and shrugged. “Probably he thought that Ben would take my mind off the company for a while,” he lied.