Page 16 of Two Wrongs

I roll my eyes. “I’m a work in progress.”

“Aren’t we all.”

7

Griffin

I throw the bag from the drug store down on my desk. Getting a rise out of Wren was entertaining, and more satisfying than I care to admit. Charlie has been on my ass to find a woman to hook up with, as if I haven’t been doing just that over the years. If it hasn’t worked by now, I’m not sure what he expects is suddenly going to change.

Not that he knows how long I’ve been hiding my feelings for my daughter-in-law. Neither of us have said the words out loud now, but judging by the way he’s being such a pain in the ass right now, he certainly suspects something is going on. At least on my end.

“All stocked up for the night?” Charlie asks, and jerks his chin at the bag.

“You certainly are invested in me banging some random chick tonight. Maybe you’re the one that needs to get laid,” I snap.

He doesn’t take my bait and yell back at me. “Nah, I’m just trying to keep you from playing house with your pretty little daughter-in-law.”

I start to argue with him, but he gives me hisdon’t bullshit melook. “I’ve seen the way you look at her when Liam isn’t around, and I’ve noticed he’s not been around a lot lately. Thank fuck you didn’t notice, or you might have gone and fucked up your relationship with your son by now.”

My eyes narrow. “Listen here, asshole, I’m capable of not fucking a woman.”

He nods. “Yeah, your self control is infamous. It’s not like you regularly skipped class in high school to bend Melinda over under the bleachers. And I’m certain you haven’t made sure that Wren hates your guts because you’ve got such stellar skills at keeping your dick dry.”

My fists clench. “I’ve never done anything to betray my son. I fucking hate cheaters and liars, and I will not become one. I don’t care how beautiful the woman is.”

He points his finger at me. “Ha! I knew you thought she was beautiful.”

“You dumb fuck, I have eyes. Are you telling me you don’t think she’s beautiful?”

And I see the answer before he speaks. He doesn’t see her like I do. “She’s a kid, Griff. I’ve helped you raise Liam, for what good it did, and we’ve both watched that girl grow up. Hell, I played softball with her dad. Her mom used to bring her to the games. I can’t see her and not see the gangly nine year old in overalls. So if you’re asking me if I see her the same way you do, the answer is no.”

I’m relieved by what he says, and disturbed by the fact I’m relieved.

“You’re in danger here. Find a woman, work this out of your system,” he says for the hundredth time.

Slamming my hand down on my desk, I shout, “I’ve fucking tried. She needs to go. For her sake, mine, and my son’s, she needs to leave town.”

“They could reconcile,” he says.

I flop back in my chair. That’s not a scenario I can wrap my brain around. I know Wren loves my son. I’ve seen the way she looks at him, or rather looked at him before that night. But, I think I might be the only person who sees the strength inside of her. There’s no way she will forgive Liam. Or if she does, she won’t take him back.

“Can we talk about something else?” I would control myself if I ran into her again. No more whispering in her ear, or making suggestive comments to see her skin flush. I’d certainly make a better effort to stop imagining making her blush in other more satisfying ways for both of us than pissing her off.

“Believe it or not, I didn’t come into your office to bust your balls about your kinky daddy fantasies.” He steps in and closes the door.

“We’ve had three vehicles we worked on in the past month come back in today because the parts we installed failed. There’s been a spike in this happening for months, but Julio was the one who looked at most of the others, and the kid is good with motors, but—“

I nod. “Yeah, he’s not much of an independent thinker.”

“So what is going on?” I ask, although I’ve had my own misgivings lately. I’ve ignored them, because what I’m afraid is going on will change something fundamental inside of me.

“I think, for now, you should take back being the one to order our parts. We don’t have to read into this. Maybe Liam thought he could increase profits by ordering cheaper parts,” Charlie excuses.

Several months ago, Liam came to me and asked for more responsibility. He said it was time he started taking his life more seriously, and I agreed with him. Truthfully, I was relieved. Him doing the ordering and helping with the billing freed up more of my time to do what I actually liked to do, work on cars. Gradually, he started taking on more and more responsibility, and now he handles ordering, billing and our accounting.

Liam and I don’t share a love of mechanics. He’s got a high aptitude for it, he did grow up running around an auto shop after all, but he doesn’t love it like I do. Liam doesn’t really like getting dirty. Still, I fostered hopes that someday he’d want to expand, or take over this shop.

“I’m going to look over the books,” I say, mostly to myself.

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