Page 120 of Fierce-Zander

NO LOGICAL SEQUENCE

“This isn’t the house you lived in, right?”

“No,” Regan said the next day when he pulled his SUV into the driveway of an older colonial brick home. It looked somewhat stately and...boring.

His parents had a big and impressive house that he grew up in, but he would never say it looked boring.

“Does your mother still live in the house you had back then?”

She laughed and it wasn’t a funny sound. “Actually, she does. With her new husband, Kyle. I don’t even remember how long they’ve been married. Maybe twelve years. My father remarried first. A year before my mother. Don’t laugh, but Kyle and Lori, my father’s new wife, have the same group of friends.”

“They knew each other before?” he asked. “Like friends?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I never asked. It wasn’t the same group of friends my parents were in. But when my mother started to date Kyle she’d said that she met him through mutual friends. I later learned those mutual friends were friends with my father and Lori. My mind couldn’t process it. I told you it’s like they married clones of each other. You’ll see at some point, I’m sure.”

“Meaning you’re going to let me meet your mother next?” he asked.

“Kellen is coming and once my mother finds out she’ll want us all together. I’m not saying a word, but I guarantee my mother will be reaching out to me in two days or less and know that I was here.”

“Through those mutual friends of your stepparents?” he asked.

She frowned. “Damn. I never thought of that. I bet you’re right. I bet Lori tells her friends and those friends tell Kyle. Why didn’t I think of that?”

He laughed. “Because you didn’t want to.”

“You’re probably right. I can’t understand them and never will. I gave up on it.” They walked to the front door and rang the bell. “This is Lori’s old house. She lived here with her first husband and her two daughters.”

“Oh,” he said.

“Yep, I know.” The door opened. “Hi, Dad.”

“Regan,” her father said. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Me too,” she said. “I brought wine. Or rather Zander brought wine. Zander, this is my father, Dennis Philes, and his wife, Lori.”

Dennis moved back from the open door and then Zander noticed Lori not far behind. He didn’t see a lot of resemblance between father and daughter.

“Nice to meet you,” he said, putting his hand out.

“You too,” Dennis said. “I have to admit I don’t know a lot about you other than you’ve been dating Regan for a few months and own a private investigation firm next to her office.”

He wasn’t aware that Regan had filled her father in that much. She’d told her mother, which probably meant Dennis got the information that way.

“Not much more to say,” he said. “I used to be a police officer with the Durham PD, but it wasn’t a good fit for me.”

“Why is that?” Lori asked. She had a polite smile on her face. “Please come in. May I offer you a beverage?”

Zander tried to keep the grin off his face over the way that question was phrased. “Zander likes beer, whiskey, and scotch if you’ve got any,” Regan said. “I’ll take a glass of that wine.”

“I could use a glass of whiskey,” Dennis said.

“I didn’t know you drank whiskey,” Regan said. “Is that something new?”

“My ex left a few bottles here and one night your father decided to give it a try. I was going to put it in cookies or some other recipe. I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out, but when I asked if Scott wanted it back, he said no.”

Most people would have dumped it on their ex and not asked if they wanted it back.

“Dad can’t throw things out,” Regan said. “That would be wasteful.”

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