After the Climb Read online

  For her what it was, was a job she could do on her own schedule that paid well and she’d be finished by one at the latest and then could look after her grandchildren when they were done with school. Because her daughter had to work a job that didn’t pay enough for childcare and she also had a baby daddy who was a fuckwit.

  “It’s all good, you can go get the kids from school,” he told her.

  “You all right?” she asked.

  He was tentatively fucking great.

  “I’m fine,” he answered.

  She gave him a long look before she nodded.

  He followed Chloe into his house.

  Now Chloe…

  She was temporarily living there.

  Her decree, not his invitation.

  The woman was a steamroller.

  Not like her mother at all.

  But Duncan found it cute, mostly because of why she was that way.

  The afternoon before, Chloe had shared with him that she intended to stay close, but could not stay in town, lest her mother see her (and she’d used the word “lest”) and cotton on to what was happening.

  So with him it was.

  But even if she’d given him a choice (which she hadn’t, but he could have pressed it, something he did not do), he wouldn’t have denied her.

  The opportunity to get to know Genny’s daughter?

  No way in hell he was going to pass that up.

  So there she was and had been since yesterday, late afternoon.

  She had her father’s more dominant features, dark hair, dark eyes.

  She had her mother’s extreme femininity. Heart-shaped face. Tall, slim frame. Graceful hands. Long, elegant neck.

  Mostly, though, she was her own being, and the force of her personality proved it.

  Unless her father was aggressive about getting what he wanted.

  Duncan took over the situation when they both were inside, and he led her to his office.

  This had to be more formal, because she was not going to like what he had to say, and he had to push it and not cave.

  Not even a day with this young woman, and he was glad he hadn’t had daughters at the same time he was feeling Harvey’s pain.

  In other words, he was a total pushover.

  He had utterly no qualms about that.

  But he could see it causing problems.

  When they arrived at his office, he gestured to a chair in front of desk as he moved behind it.

  “Well, doesn’t this feel like I’m going to get a talking to,” she remarked as she sat across from him.

  Duncan had a feeling she was no stranger to “talking tos.”

  He sat as well, eyes on her.

  The clothes she wore were Genny too.

  Even back in the day, when neither of them had any money, his girl did what she could to be a fashion plate.

  And there, in the mountains, when no one in Prescott dressed like Chloe, but definitely not in a home a ways out of town that was large, and luxurious, if rustic, but in the end it was just a big log cabin, she was wearing slim jeans, a fancy blouse and pumps with death-defying heels that probably cost a quarter of a semester of Gage’s college.

  “Right, we had lunch. My friend Harvey went with me. And your operative Heddy was on the ball. She got us to the table and your mom didn’t object,” he opened it.

  Chloe smiled smugly.

  “I told Harvey what’s happening, he’s on board. And between Heddy and him, Genny and I had no choice but to chat.”

  Her smile got even more smug to the point it was triumphant.

  Christ, some man or woman out there was in for one helluva wild ride.

  “And now it’s done,” he stated.

  Her expression faltered. “Done?”

  “I’m going to the hotel tonight and coming clean about this plan we’ve been instigating.”

  Her big brown eyes grew enormous and she leaned forward, crying, “You can’t do that!”

  “Honey, listen to me,” he said calmingly. “I’m a veteran of two spectacularly failed relationships. So trust me on this, because I know. You do not start something, whether it’s important or not, but I think all involved know how important this is, so especially this, on a play. A lie. A deceit.”

  “It’s not a deceit,” she declared heatedly.

  “Do you deny we’re playing your mom?”

  She said nothing.

  Right.

  He smoothed his voice even further before he shared, “I think I got in there, and if I don’t waste any time, I can get in further. But whether I do or not, that has to be her choice and she needs to be in control of the process of making it.”

  “Someone has to right Uncle Corey’s wrong—”

  Fuck, but if it did not borderline enrage him that this sweet, if forceful, girl called that man “Uncle Corey.”

  He could not get hung up on that.

  “And I’m all over attempting to do that.”

  “And I want my mom to be happy.”

  He felt that.

  The thought he could give that to her mother, and she thought he could do that too.

  He felt it warm and sharp, like a cut to lance a boil, releasing poison. It hurt, but still, the relief was sweet.

  “And I’ll be all over attempting that too,” he said quietly. “If she’ll let me. But she has to make that choice, not be manipulated into it.”

  She opened her mouth.

  He raised his hand, palm to her.

  She closed her mouth.

  He dropped his hand and said, “We were both manipulated, Chloe, and I made a fatal decision during that. I understand your motives, and if I still know your mother, she will too. But we have to stop this before it gets any further. And now, you need to leave this to me.”

  “So you’re going to just throw us all under the bus, and I’m not unaware, as the ringleader, the person farthest under that bus will be me?”

  “Are you saying your mother doesn’t know you well enough to know you’d pull something like this?”

  She hesitated a second before she rolled her eyes.

  As he suspected.

  This was not out of character.

  At all.

  “I’ve got this,” he assured her.

  It took a second, she shifted in her seat during that, then she said, “My dad—”

  “Don’t, honey,” he whispered. “You know, if this happens like we want it to, your mom has to give that to me.”

  She straightened her spine. “He’s a good guy,”

  That remained to be seen.

  “And you have to know, they’re still the best of friends,” she continued. “They talk, like…every day.”

  “Again, this is for your mother to give me if it gets to that.”

  “It’s going to get to that.”

  He hoped like fuck she was right.

  He didn’t say that or anything.

  He just nodded.

  “She’s going to dinner with Trisha and Scott tonight,” she informed him.

  “I know, you told me that already. I’ll head to the hotel after.”

  “That means I’m making us dinner.”

  “I just had more tapas than a man should ever eat.”

  “Well, I’m not serving it now.”

  He grinned at her.

  Then he stated, “You don’t have to do that.”

  She stood, retorting, “I totally do. I cook French and I rock it. Your taste buds will not know what hit them. But to do that, I need preparation, I need time. The French do not hurry anything.”

  “Have at it then, darlin’.”

  “I’ll assess your larder, but I’ll probably have to go to the grocery store.”

  “You need money?”

  Another eyeroll and a drawn out, “Pu-lease.”

  “Right,” he muttered, trying not to laugh.

  “Though, I do want to drive your Tesla.”

  He could no longer hold back his laughter.

  And
through it, he said, “The fob is in it.”

  Yup.

  Total pushover.

  “Merveilleux,” she replied before drifting an arm his way and swanning out.

  He waited until she was gone to pull out his phone and engage the screen.

  He’d texted both his boys before he drove home, telling them he wanted a call back as soon as they had a chance.

  Sullivan was in Indiana, studying environmental engineering at Purdue.

  Gage was in Tucson, studying beer pong at U of A.

  He hadn’t missed a vibration.

  Neither had texted him back.

  Duncan turned his gaze out the window to the lake, but he didn’t see it.

  He thought about lunch.

  Like they were practiced tacticians who’d planned and synced their mission down to the finest detail, the moment Duncan and Genny had turned their attention to the table, Harvey and Heddy had taken over.

  They commenced what was a poorly disguised “Friends of a New Couple Getting to Know You Better” session that culminated (unsurprisingly from the person she seemed to be) in Heddy demanding Harvey arrange a dinner so she could meet “my soon-to-be-new-bestest-bestie, I can feel it” Beth without delay.

  In truth, this was them giving Genny and Duncan the opportunity to be in each other’s company without having to deal with communicating with each other, either in meaningful, life-altering ways, or something less burdensome.

  It worked.

  Genny relaxed, not entirely, but enough that she joined the conversation, even if she rarely looked at Duncan when she did, or when he did the same.

  However, he knew the woman who sat at his side during lunch.

  And she’d been the way she’d been at that table before.

  It was not distant.

  It was shy.

  And very aware of the man sitting next to her.

  He knew this because that woman was the girl who, right along with Duncan, started to become aware that “The Three Amigos” they had always been was shifting to three friends, two of which were terminally into one another.

  Well, it would seem, both of the male amigos were into her, one even more terminally, but even Duncan had been blind to that.

  Then again, he’d confessed to Corey way before he’d ever said a word to Genny what his feelings were about their girl.

  And Corey had—the lying, pissant, piece of scum maggot—been entirely enthusiastic.

  His eyes fell to the letter that still lay on his desk that he hadn’t touched since he’d dropped it, therefore he hadn’t finished reading it.

  He, like Genny, did not give one shit what else that asshole had to say.

  But before he could nab the letter and do something like burn it in the fireplace, his phone went.

  It was Gage.

  He took the Facetime call.

  And said not a word before Gage shouted, “Jesus Christ, Dad! You had lunch with Imogen Swan?”

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  “Gage—”

  “My phone is blowing up. Some of my friends follow her. She’s been tagged, like, a billion times. And so have you.”

  He really should get on social media.

  He had an account, but he never looked at it. It was run by a professional social media manager that was contracted through River Rain.

  Duncan did not personally engage as an attempt at self-preservation.

  Sully would be smart. If he did it, he wouldn’t announce it to the world, but the kid was so hyper-responsible, he probably wouldn’t do it.

  Gage, however.

  If Duncan saw the shit he was certain Gage got up to, he’d consider chaining his son in the basement.

  “Son—”

  “Do you know her from knowin’ that guy who makes Steve Jobs look like a pussy? And not in the physical sense, because…no shade, your old friend was a runt…in the ‘I got enough money to buy an island, and that island is Australia’ sense.”

  “I think we’ve had several conversations about your usage of the word ‘pussy,’” Duncan growled.

  Gage shut up.

  “And yes. I know her because I grew up with her.”

  “What?” Gage asked. “That’s insane.”

  His phone shook, a notification came up, and Sully wanted to Facetime.

  Goddamn it.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Gage demanded.

  “It’s a long story and—”

  “Yeah, it looks like a long story. You’re practically kissing her.”

  Goddamn it.

  “Listen—”

  “And she looks like she wants to swallow you whole,” Gage declared.

  That had Duncan shutting up.

  It also had him wanting to see this picture.

  “Are you guys like…seeing each other?” Gage asked.

  Sully had disconnected, only to try again.

  “Okay, Gage, listen and don’t interrupt, are you hearing me?”

  Gage nodded.

  “Like I said, it’s a long story, and it’s time you heard it. I wish I could tell you face to face when our faces aren’t projected on screens, but that doesn’t seem like it can happen. And now your brother is trying to connect, and I need for both of you to know. So even if this is not how I’d like to do it, the truth of the matter is, Genny was my high school girlfriend. I broke up with her after I graduated, but we got back together again a few years later. It was intense. It was forever. And then I made that not so for a variety of reasons I may share one day, but today is not that day. We both went our separate ways, but now she’s back in my life and it remains to be seen how back in my life she’s going to be. What I can tell you is, I loved her very much. She was my world. It killed, letting her go. But now is now and we’ll just see.”

  Gage was silent a beat before he asked incredulously, “Genny?”

  It’d be good when all the people in his life got over this.

  “She was my girlfriend, bud.”

  “Does Mom know about this?”

  He nodded. “I told her a long time ago. Though, I don’t know if she knows that Genny’s back. That said, we’ve both moved on, as you know. So I don’t see it as an issue for your mother.”

  Something occurred to him, and as usual with Gage, he didn’t hesitate to share it, no matter how inappropriate it might be.

  “Oh my God, you’ve had sex with Imogen Swan. My dad has had sex with Imogen Swan.”

  Duncan closed his eyes and tipped his head back.

  “I don’t know whether to think this is awesome or hurl,” Gage shared.

  He looked back to his son. “How about not thinking about it at all?”

  “That’s a good call,” Gage muttered, his face twisted in disgust, then something else occurred to him and he got right on letting that out. “Holy shit, if you guys become an item again, everyone is going to know my dad is doing Imogen Swan.”

  “Gage, let’s get off this topic, yeah?”

  “Totally,” Gage agreed.

  “Are you okay with this?” Duncan asked, feeling his neck muscles contract as the question came out, because the answer could change everything.

  But Gage just looked confused.

  “Okay with what? You hooking up with a movie star?”

  “Yes, and should that become more,” Duncan confirmed.

  “Dad, serious.” Gage now looked serious. “I mean, do I have to count this down?”

  “Considering the fact you’re my son, I love you, your thoughts and feelings matter to me, and this woman was important to me, that never really stopped being the case, even if we moved on with our lives, and I’m hoping that she’ll be big part of my life again, which means yours, yes. You have to count this down.”

  “Right, but you can’t get pissed about how I do it.”

  Fabulous.

  “Just share, Gage,” Duncan sighed.

  “One, and you can’t argue this, she’s a MILF.”

  Jesus.

  His son.<
br />
  “I mean, seriously, she’s gorgeous. Like, Gwyneth Paltrow gorgeous. I’d totally do Gwyneth Paltrow.”

  “Stop speaking,” Duncan clipped.

  Gage grinned, shameless.

  “Second, my dad might be hooking up with a hottie. I agree, it’s too bad we aren’t doin’ this face to face so I can’t high five you.”

  Jesus.

  His son.

  “Third, if I’m reading this right, this might lead to Imogen Swan being my stepmom and that would totally not suck. I mean, everyone knows she’s like, the coolest chick in Hollywood.”

  “She lives in Phoenix, Gage.”

  “Better, she probably has an awesome pad and lives next to Larry Fitzgerald or something and we can ask him over for a pool party and he and me could be buds.”

  The tension eased out of his neck as Duncan started chuckling.

  It shot right back when he heard the tone of his son’s voice and saw the change come over his features when he said, “I’m not sure I want the whole story, seein’ as it obviously gutted you so much you didn’t even tell us she was a part of your life. And you’re all over getting her back when it had to be that guy dyin’ that started this, and he offed himself, like, I don’t know, maybe a week ago. So you aren’t wasting time. But if she treats you right, Dad, without any crazy, I’ll love her forever.”

  Jesus.

  His son.

  “Your mother isn’t crazy,” he said carefully.

  “I know, but she was messed up for a long time, Dad, and it wasn’t lost on Sully or me that you shouldered even more of it than she shoveled at you so we wouldn’t feel it. I know she’s got her shit together and I’m proud of her and I love her. But I love you too and it would far from suck, seein’ you have it easy and good for a change.”

  Okay.

  Maybe he hadn’t shielded his sons from the damage.

  “That’s good to hear, bud. But not to get your hopes up, things are uncertain with Genny and me. But I’m hoping to change that, and I need you on board before I do.”

  “I’m on board.”

  “Thanks, son,” he murmured.

  “Dad?”

  “Yup.”

  “Don’t let the bright lights, glitz and glamor change you. I like you simple and no frills, just the way you are,” he joked.

  But it hid his true message.

  He believed in his dad and he knew he had this.

  That felt fucking great.

  And Duncan hoped he was right.