Page 5 of A Temporary Forever

Finn not only spearheaded the hostile takeover of our father’s company, and grew it significantly in the last year and a half, but also became a father and a husband.

The exhaustion shows on his face, but at the same time, I’ve never seen him as dedicated as he’s been since he met his wife.

Seeing him might have planted the seed of discontent I’ve been dealing with lately. Not that I want a wife. No fucking way. But a sense of purpose has been missing.

I pat his shoulder. “I might not know what to do with my life at the moment, but I’m not that much of a loser.”

“Asshole, that’s not what I meant. I just… It’s always been the two of us—”

“Jesus, having a baby made you sentimental.”

Finn glares at me, shaking his head. “Dickhead.”

“Look, I realized that fixing things was exciting, but running the day-to-day… I don't want to run his legacy,” I confess.

By him, I mean our father. Not that I utter that name much.

“Fuck, Cal. It’s our legacy. He’s out. We got the company and its name back. Better, bolder…ours.”

“Yeah, and you’re the right person to run it. But after everything, and the shit that…” I still can’t even name it, but Finn knows. “Anyway, I need to carve out my own thing. Something that isn’t tainted with the memory of him.”

“Yeah, but you could have stayed while you figured things out.”

“Don’t worry, bro, I won’t be too far. You can always call me when you can’t decide what tie to wear for a meeting.” I smirk.

“Yeah, it’s your invaluable fashion advice that I’ll miss the most.”

“You’ll perish without it.”

He punches my shoulder playfully. “Fuck. I don’t know, I just always thought we were in it together.”

“Well, I can’t hold your hand forever.”

“Fuck you.”

I laugh and raise my coffee. “To new adventures.”

Finn rolls his eyes, but can’t hide theworried tilt of his eyebrows. “Or your inevitable return,” he retorts, the corner of his mouth twitching up.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I don’t understand the rush. What’s the plan now? You’ll plunder your trust fund and fuck all the women who cross your path?”

“As if. I haven’t partied properly ever since…” I put down my coffee mug, wishing this conversation could be washed down with something stronger. “Since Mia.”

“Ironically, you’re not dedicating much time or effort to her.” Finn doesn’t even attempt to hide his judgment.

“It’s complicated.” I look away, as if that made my poor excuse sound better.

“Bullshit. She just reminds you of another one of Charles’s failures. You can’t keep running away from your daddy issues, dude. You need to attack them head-on.” Finn often refers to our father by his given name, disassociating himself in all ways possible.

“Yeah, how is that working for you?”

He shrugs. “A hefty bill from my therapist and still no closure, but at least I’m trying.”

“Well, I’m the middle child. I sailed through without his notice, unlike you.” That’s a partial truth.

Finn, as the oldest, had been groomed to take over, growing up competing against an unattainable idealour father harbored. While I was affected to a certain extent, my upbringing isn’t something I lose much sleep over.

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