Page 51 of Whatever Will Be

“Nah. Gretchen marches to her own drummer and she hardly needs my help with making choices.”

“I’m not playing games here. Just so you know.”

“Good to hear. Because Gretch is authentic so you damn well better make sure you deserve her.”

“Doing my best.”

He slugs me in the arm. “Do your best and then do better. I’d hate to beat the shit out of you now that we’re all friendly again.”

“You won’t have to,” I promise.

With that awkward part out of the way, we both relax and switch the talk to baseball.

Danny Aaronson was my very first friend. When I think back over all the connections in my life, I believe he’ll always be my best friend no matter what’s happened before and what might happen in the future. My time at Tavington erased my trust in people, even him. I retreated without even realizing I was retreating.

That was a mistake.

“Call me when you get back to the big leagues.” I wave at him as he climbs out and flings his duffel bag over one shoulder.

“Count on it,” he answers and his cocky grin takes me back to vanished summers and reckless days, when we both expected that life would always work out in our favor.

I’m not a believer in wishes but right now I’m wishing with all my might that Danny gets another shot at making his dream happen.

I wait until he disappears through the glass doors, then I pull away and head back to Lake Stuart. A call comes in along the way and it’s from Darren Graves but I’m not in the mood to deal with unpleasant business today. I’ve been busy thinking about Gretchen and when I think about Gretchen I don’t have room in my head for much else.

Gretchen Aaronson is proving to be everything I never knew I wanted wrapped into one hot, feisty package.

She’s crazy beautiful. She’s extremely intelligent. She’s got a heart of gold. She stands up to any challenge and doesn’t tolerate bullshit.

I’ve also learned that she’s fantastically filthy and nothing is off limits.

It’s kind of funny how the girl I overlooked when we were kids is now my fantasy come true.

I’m very aware that her life isn’t simple. There are two four-year-olds who now depend on her for everything. I never saw myself as a guy who would ever become attached to a situation that included kids. Then I remember when Mara offered to let me hold her favorite doll or when Caitlin gave me a cute picture she drew of something with large ears that might be a dog.

I’m not fooling myself that I’m ready to dive into instant fatherhood but I also won’t be looking for an exit. For a very long time I’ve been without a family and I never counted on that changing.

I’m beginning to see that it could.

The ping on my phone means Darren left a voicemail. He’s already given me a heads up that Liam’s cash flow situation is getting desperate. Liam is all out of credit and his vendors are balking about extending more when the bills aren’t getting paid in a timely manner. Unbeknownst to Liam, a shell company I set up has already purchased some of the shares he farmed out to investors, all of them eager to unload their interests in a dying company. I now own thirty five percent of Cassini Brewery. I’m currently negotiating to purchase another twenty percent, which will leave Liam with a minority share. Then there’s nothing he can do to stop me from kicking his ass out and seizing the reins. Liam has done nothing but trash my father’s legacy and I’m going to bring it back. I’ll enjoy leaving him with nothing.

I should have explained all of this to Gretchen already. She’s too smart to have no curiosity about my plans. It’s just that when I’m with her I don’t want to focus on ugly themes like revenge.

Or my asshole brother.

Or Tavington.

Especially that last subject, which includes details I’ve kept locked up for a long time.

When I was released from Tavington I felt like a caged animal who’d finally been set free. After freezing my ass off for two years I didn’t want to freeze my ass off anymore so I went to Florida. I would have been on the streets if not for the comfortable cushion of my mother’s life insurance policy. I knew that was the only chance I was going to have so I needed to figure shit out pretty fucking quick. I watched dozens of online real estate seminars. I struck at the right place at the right time and cashed out when the market was hot. In the beginning, much of my success was luck, however luck can be a lucrative building block. I turned one million into two. It multiplied from there.

As for the guys who suffered through that nightmare alongside me…

Well, it’s not like making friends at summer camp where you all want to keep in touch.

I want nothing to do with anyone linked to that place.

One evening roughly a year ago I was in the middle of a business dinner when I heard my name, looked up and saw a man waving from the bar. He was already at Tavington when I arrived and after faking friendly overtures, he and three other guys ambushed me in the middle of the night. I’ve always been a scrappy fighter but four against one will never be good odds and the beating was ugly. They were looking for shit to steal but I wasn’t allowed to pack any shit so the joke was on them. I didn’t let much time go by before I cornered them one by one to extract my revenge and came away with the lesson that friendship doesn’t exist there.

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