After the Climb Page 23

  Duncan chuckled.

  Her worry faded as she watched him do it.

  He took his hand from her jaw.

  “Right,” she kept going, “since you’re taking a semester off, come visit your mother. I love and adore you. But I’m hungover, need a shower and one of Sasha’s smoothies, because we’re going hiking around Goldwater Lake.” Pause then, “Yes, hiking. I used to hike all the time.” Another pause, and, “Yes, I believe Chloe’s coming with.”

  And then there was her laughter.

  He bent and kissed her forehead and rose to leave her to it.

  This time, she let him.

  He left the room, and Sully was on his way from the hall to the great room when Duncan was heading down the stairs.

  “Somethin’ came for Genny, Dad. I put it on your desk,” Sul said.

  “Thanks, bud.”

  He knew what it was that was delivered on a Sunday.

  The script.

  He’d take it up to her.

  “Is it okay if we pop into town and hit the store real quick?” Sully asked. “Sash is covered, but Coco says she’s going to need some hiking gear.”

  Since it was Sunday, and Judge didn’t work on Sundays, he figured this was safe.

  “Ask her to get something for Genny. She’s coming with,” Duncan replied.

  Sully smiled. “Awesome.”

  His son resumed his trek to the kitchen.

  Duncan headed to his office, and as he did, his phone in his back pocket rang.

  He pulled it out, didn’t know the number, but considering all the shit that had been rising around them, and hoping this wasn’t indication there was more, he took the call. Because, if it was, he wanted to deal with it and then they could go to the lake.

  “Duncan Holloway,” he said.

  “Dun, don’t hang up.”

  Two days ago, he would not remember that voice.

  Now, he did.

  Samantha Wheeler.

  “How’d you get this number?” he growled, moving far more quickly toward his office and then closing himself in.

  If this was going to be a drama, he was going to sustain it on his own.

  His family had had enough.

  “We still have mutual friends,” she replied.

  “Not friends any longer, they gave you my number.”

  “I told them I wanted to call to apologize.”

  “Not sure I care to have that.”

  “Please hear me out.”

  Damn it.

  “You got two minutes, Sam, then I’m hanging up,” he stated, glaring at the box of I’m sorrys from Corey that Bettina had tidied that he really wanted to burn, but he couldn’t. That much paper wasted? It cut across the grain.

  He was saving it to use as scrap.

  He sat behind his desk.

  “The world should know what he was like,” she stated.

  “I disagree. But I also don’t care about that. I care about you dragging Genny and her ex into it.”

  “I guessed and I guess I guessed wrong.”

  That caught his attention.

  “You guessed?”

  “Yes.”

  “You guessed what?”

  “About Tom. I mean, they were who they were. Nothing could break them up except Tom doing that. And he’s Tom Pierce. Very attractive and successful and men like that do things like that.”

  Duncan was breathing deeply.

  In and out.

  “Dun?” she called. “Are you still there?”

  “You guessed? You laid that man out like that on a guess?”

  “Yes, that was Hale’s response,” she muttered. “Except louder and with a number of foul words.”

  “You know, Sam, I’m not certain what you were hoping to get from this conversation, but I’ll tell you I’m not liking what I’m getting.”

  “I don’t want you and Gen mad at me.”’

  Was she insane?

  He pointed out the obvious.

  “You’ve failed in that endeavor.”

  “Duncan, we were once friends, and I’m sure that Gen told you she stepped up for my son. I haven’t seen clearly since recently how much she did that, and I’m—”

  “It’s my understanding Tom Pierce is the only father he’s really had.”

  She shut up.

  “And this was exactly what we thought it was,” Duncan said. “You made a play for him, he wasn’t into that, and you struck out at him like you struck out at Corey.”

  “Dun, first, there are not many men like you. Or how you used to be. Men run the world, and if you haven’t noticed with all your environmental work, they’re running it into the ground. And not only when it comes to that. And they do it because they’re men. Men like Corey. Who feel the need to prove how big their dick is when, at least with Corey, it wasn’t that much to write home about.”

  He felt his lips twist before he said, “I do not need to know this shit and I don’t really care about your philosophy on that other shit.”

  “I thought she’d slept with my husband,” she spat.

  There it was.

  “So you made a play for Tom to get yours back,” Duncan deduced.

  Nothing to that.

  She’d done it and that was why.

  “And then you hung him out to dry when he wouldn’t get with your program,” he concluded.

  “Men like him should not be able to get away with all their bullshit.”

  “If you’re talking about Tom Pierce, I never met the guy, not yet. But what I know from seeing it with my own eyes is he has the abiding loyalty of two smart, together girls and his ex-wife. And hearing it with my own ears, the same from your own goddamned son. So I’m not sure how a man like that bought your bitter bullshit. Though I will point out something that clearly didn’t cross your mind. Doing what you did to him meant doing what you did to them.”

  “As I said, I guessed and I guessed wrong and I’m calling to apologize. I’m calling Tom too.”

  “Can’t speak for the man but you might wanna take a minute to think on that because, only a guess, he might be a helluva lot less inclined than I am to listen to you.”

  “Well, I need to apologize to Gen, because for years, I was not kind to her. I believed Corey’s shit, I’ll note, the same as you, and she was never anything but Gen to me. Not whenever we had to be around each other for Hale. And definitely not to Hale.”

  “I’ll let her know your desires, Sam, but just to warn you, you are far from her favorite person right now so I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

  “This was a mistake,” she hissed.

  “Recent days, Sam, you been making a lot of them.”

  “The first one being falling in love, genuinely head over heels in love with Corey Szabo.”

  That was her parting shot.

  She disconnected.

  And the fuck of it was, her parting shot was a good one.

  No defense to what she’d pulled, but Duncan knew a thing or two about giving his love and trust to Corey Szabo.

  On that thought, his eyes fell on the letter his closest, dearest friend from childhood had written at some point before he decided to eat a bullet.

  Angrily, he snatched it up.

  And read.

  Dun and Genny,

  I can’t say it enough. I’m sorry. It was me. And it was me because I loved you, Genny. God, you never figured it out. I thought I was so obvious. But you never figured it out. And you picked him.

  So I told him. I told you, Dun. I told you Genny and I slept together. And I told you because I knew you’d believe me. And I loved Genny so much, I was willing to sacrifice you to have her.

  So I lied and told you we’d had sex.

  And I was married.

  God, what a fuckup.

  I did it to myself, giving up on Genny and marrying Samantha.

  Of course, both of you would come to my wedding. Of course, both of you would remember how into each other you were. And of course, you would
hook up and be inseparable again. I couldn’t even get either of you on the phone because, if you weren’t working or sleeping, you were fucking. And every day it kept going on, turning to weeks, months, an entire year.

  It was torture. It made me crazy.

  I had to make it stop.

  I told Sam the same thing so she’d leave me, and she did. I had no idea she was pregnant.

  But that was the end. She didn’t forgive me, and Dun, you didn’t forgive Genny, and I got part of my way, you two were over. But then Gen, you moved to LA, and Duncan, you went to Utah, and all I managed to do was make certain no one had what they wanted.

  I knew, way back then, I should say something. I knew way back then, I should come clean. I should tell you, Dun. Or you, Genny. Make it right, at least between the two of you.

  But I didn’t have the guts. I told myself I was working up to it, but then I always allowed something to get in the way.

  Always, I allowed something to get in the way.

  I had a million excuses as to why I was too busy to explain to the two people I loved the most in the world why I did the most unforgiveable thing in the world to them.

  By now, if you’re reading this, and I don’t do something weak, make the wrong decision yet again, and change my mind about what I’ve decided to do, you’ll know how much this has haunted me.

  Gen, when you and Tom split, I knew. And yes, that’s just what a puny fuck I am, that it’s taken me this long to get there, knowing both of you are free, and I should finally do something about it.

  Please, do not mistake that. I own this. I’ve finally come to terms with the life I bought being the man I became and doing the things I did.

  And it’s a life I can live no longer.

  It is not about either of you. Or Sam, and all I put her through. Or Hale, and how, as what could only be some form of perfect punishment, I watched him grow up to be you, Duncan, and I could barely stand the sight of him because he was a constant reminder of what I did to my best friend.

  It’s about me.

  I did this to me by doing the things I did to the people I should have protected and loved.

  You know, I honestly considered filling a warehouse with paper covered in the words contained in this box, but I didn’t, because I know how much that would piss you off, Dun.

  Suffice it to say, there isn’t enough paper in the world to contain the depth of my regret for what I took from the two of you and the selfish reason I did it.

  But I hope, considering you both are who you are, that you give me something I don’t deserve.

  One of only two last wishes, and Gen, the other one is for Hale.

  That being that you’re standing in a room together, remembering who you are to each other.

  And you’ll find again what I took away and be what I also took away.

  Happy.

  I know I didn’t show it, but I really did love you guys.

  Corey

  Having finished the letter, Duncan stared at it, Corey’s precise, miniscule handwriting covering it from top to bottom.

  His throat was closed.

  His chest was burning.

  His heart hurt.

  Corey never once called him Bowie.

  Not once.

  Because his dad gave him that name.

  And honest to Christ, sometimes Duncan didn’t know who hated his father more.

  Him.

  Or Corey.

  A knock sounded at the door and his head came up with a jerk when he saw Sasha had hers around the door.

  “Hey!” she called. “I’m—” She stopped, stared, and asked in a much less vivacious tone, “Are you all right?”

  He tossed the letter to the desk. “What do you need, honey?”

  She slipped in and closed the door behind her. “I’m taking Mom up a smoothie and Sul said something came for her and I was going to take that to her too. But that was then. Now, what I need to know is if you’re all right.”

  Astute.

  Thoughtful.

  Loving.

  Genny’s girl.

  “We didn’t finish it when we got it, but I just finished reading your Uncle Corey’s letter.”

  She came in farther and leaned against one of the chairs across from his desk, saying, “Oh, man, did he lay some heavy on you?”

  “Your mom hasn’t seen it so I’d rather her see it before I share it with you.”

  She nodded. “I dig.”

  “I’ll take the package up to her.”

  “Okay, wanna swing by the kitchen and get her smoothie?”

  “Yup,” he replied, pushing out of his chair then nabbing the letter and the thick envelope on his desk.

  “Duncan?” Sasha called.

  He looked to her as he rounded the desk.

  “Don’t take on Uncle Corey’s shit. The dude was messed up.”

  At her simple, but profound advice, Duncan could not beat back his chuckle.

  “I’ll try to do that, honey.”

  She came to him and linked her arm in his, also shouldering some of her weight into his biceps to get even closer.

  Yeah.

  Genny’s girl.

  “Anyway, you know, I mean, life’s weird,” she said as they walked to and through the door, “I’m all over throwing shade on Uncle Corey, ’cause he’s a dick. But if he hadn’t done what he did so long ago, Chloe and me and Sul and Gage wouldn’t be here. And if he didn’t do what he did recently, we wouldn’t have you guys. So, you know, fuck him, but at least he went out as not entirely a loser.”

  He grinned down at her. “Yeah, Sash, at least he did that.”

  She smiled brightly up at him and that, he was noticing, was all she had.

  There were different nuances to the wattage, but they all blasted with the strength of the sun.

  They went to the kitchen and then Duncan went upstairs.

  He walked into his room to see Genny wearing her robe with her hair at the top of her head in a messy knot, standing in front of his window, staring down at her many suitcases.

  When she caught sight of him, she declared, “I should have drunk fewer gimlets and unpacked.”

  “So you’re movin’ in now?”

  Her body jolted. “Oh God, Duncan, I—”

  He smiled at her. “Don’t finish that, babe, and if this is shit you wanna leave up here,” he gestured to the suitcases with the envelope in his hand, “leave it. But I think we both get, not only is that empty closet yours, but in some part of my head, I actually built it for you.”

  She giggled and said, “Did we just get through the difficult talk of what’s up for our future with me in Phoenix, you here?”

  “Pretty much.”

  She giggled more and shared, “Sorry, darling, but when Tom moved out, I gutted the condo and redid it entirely. I took the extra closet in the master to extend my own and add a steam shower. And Chloe was all in to fill my expanded closet and she got on that with all due haste.”

  He was not surprised at that.

  Though he was intrigued about this steam shower.

  “This does not come as a surprise, but I don’t even own a suit, so you give me half a foot of hanging space and a drawer, I’ll be good.”

  She was smiling, as bright as her daughter, when she said, “You mean the world to me and this is why I’m giving you a full week before I tell Chloe you don’t own a suit.”

  As funny, and scary, as that was, all he could manage was forcing a tight smile back.

  Because, fuck, he didn’t want to lay more shit on her.

  He knew she was still fighting the hangover when she didn’t notice the state of his smile.

  “Please tell me that’s a smoothie á la Sasha,” she begged.

  “It is.” He handed it to her.

  She took it and then sucked back at least half of it.

  “Holy shit, Gen,” he muttered when she removed the glass from her mouth.

  “Orange, ginger, banana, yogurt, vanilla an
d water,” she declared.

  “Hydration and electrolytes,” he surmised.

  She smiled. “Sasha was going to study to be a dietician before she took off to savor the world.”

  “We have ginger in this house?”

  She held up the glass and looked at it. “It tasted a little gritty, so she probably used powder.”

  “Your script came.”

  “Cool.” She smiled, looking at his hand.

  “And Samantha got my number. She phoned to explain and apologize. You can also call off the dogs that you unleashed to get to the bottom of how she found out about Tom when Hale told you he didn’t share. She guessed about the reason for your divorce.”

  The smile died. “Guessed?”

  “Yup.”

  “Oh my God,” she breathed.

  Anger was suffusing her features.

  Deserved, but they had more shit to get through before they could put it the fuck behind them and have the goodness of their day.

  And then the rest of their lives.

  “She also wants the shot to apologize to you. Your call. But I’ll warn you of something that probably will come as no surprise. She’s twisted. She loved Corey truly and he broke her heart and she’s the kind of woman who never allowed herself to heal from that. So my advice, let her go spit.”

  “It is highly likely I shall take that advice, Bowie, unless Hale requests I go the other way.”

  He nodded.

  And then he got into the worst of it.

  “And I finished reading Corey’s letter.”

  She paled.

  Goddamn it.

  “You should read it,” he said quietly.

  She stared at him a second before she downed the next quarter of smoothie.

  She then raised her hand, and he gave her the envelope, on top of which was the letter.

  She took both and sat, perched at the edge of one of the two big leather chairs in front of his window, and reached to set the glass on a table.

  She tossed the script to the ottoman.