Page 85 of Judging Duke

“I thought as much. Not that I disapprove.”

Mum’s sniffles drew my attention again.

“Have you spoken to a doctor about Dad? I think that’s the first thing to do if you haven’t done so already.”

“We’ve spoken to no one, but you’re right. It’s time.”

Dad was no longer cowering but back to gazing out of the window.

“Is it time for a cup of tea?” he asked, seemingly back to normal. “I’ll go put the kettle on. Simon, my boy. Lovely to see you. Was that Duke I saw earlier? Hasn’t he shot up?”

With that, he stood and left the room.

“See, he’s fine,” Mum said, smiling. “Nothing to do.”

Another fucking thing to add to the list, and the pressure I’d felt lifting settled like a dead weight on my shoulders again.

“We’ll deal with this together, Simon. It’s not all on you this time. I’ll make sure of that.”

I squeezed Robbie’s shoulder and went in search of Duke.

He was sitting in the kitchen, drinking a glass of juice with Dad.

“Did you know Duke was recently in France? Didn’t you go there?”

“Yes, Dad, I was. Is the tea ready?”

“Oh, are we having tea? Let me just put the kettle on.”

Not able to watch this play out any longer, I took Duke’s hand and led him into the lounge.

“It’s not too late to back out. You can see what I have to contend with, and now with Dad…”

“One day at a time. One second, one minute, one hour. Let’s take it slowly. I’m here for you.”

“Even after everything I said and did?” I needed to be sure before I put my heart on the line.

“It’s in the past,” Duke said, “My decisions were my own as were my mistakes.”

I stroked his face with the back of my hand, feeling sentimental and emotional. “If you can own up to yours, I can do the same. I want you, Duke Anders.”

“And I want you, Simon Fletcher. I guess I can’t call you Simon Stroker anymore.”

“Only in the bedroom with the scorecards.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

DUKE

Seeing how I was half an hour from my parents’ place, I decided to visit. It’d been far too long since I’d seen them.

I pulled up at their home, a spacious four-bedroom property set in a pretty village on the outskirts of Chester. The restaurant they owned was situated in the city centre, close to the river.

Monday they opened late, so I knew they’d be home.

I knocked, not feeling completely comfortable just wandering in. This was no longer my home.

Surprised to see me, Mum threw her arms around me.

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