Page 98 of On the Rocks

I fumbled to get the door open. The last thing I wanted to do was draw her attention, embarrass myself, and spoil her good mood, so I threw myself through the door like I was diving for a forward pass.

Dad looked up as I rushed in. “Someone chasing you? Or were you just trying to avoid Cora?”

“Huh?” I started. “Wait, you knew she was here?”

“Of course I did. She came over and said hi a little while ago. Said she wanted to check up on how the renovations were going.”

Cora had come to say hi to my dad? My thoughts spiraled in a million different directions as I tried to figure out what that meant.

“She’s always been a sweet girl. The kind of gem a man with any sense wouldn’t allow to get away,” he added with a pointed look in my direction.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, Dad. You’ve made your opinion clear.” And he had. Once he’d gotten over his apathy and hangover following the launch party, he’d had a lot to say about me ending my relationship with Cora, but I’d held firm. “I explained this. Love isn’t a good idea for me. It makes me too irrational.”

“Love’ssupposedto make you irrational,” Dad shot back. “Who on earth wants to loverationally? There’s nothing wrong with having strong feelings for someone.”

“There’s something very wrong with it when it almost makes you start a fistfight at a public event.”

“Well, that’s not the fault of your feelings. It’s the fault of your self-control,” Dad said. He walked around the bar, looking me in the eye. “You’re not a kid anymore, Aiden. It’s well past time for you to get a grip on your impulses.”

I shook my head. “That’s just the way I am. I can’t change it any more than you could change the wayyouwere to make things work with Mom.”

Dad’s eyebrow arched in confusion. “The way I was? What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re a workaholic.” I gestured around the half-renovated bar. “And Mom couldn’t deal with that. Even though you loved each other. It’s why your marriage didn’t last.”

Dad let out a heavy sigh as he leaned up against the bartop. “You’re not completely wrong, but you’re not completely right either. The problem in our marriage was that I was so determined to be a good provider that I lost sight of everything else. You know I grew up poor. We’ve talked about that.”

I nodded.

“My family lived paycheck to paycheck, and there was never enough to go around. I was the first one in the family to go to college, and I had to work multiple jobs and live on ramen to cover the costs even with a hefty need-based scholarship. When I married your mother, I vowed to myself that my family would never struggle like that, so I threw myself into work, making as much money as I possibly could in order to give you and your mom a good life.”

I swallowed hard. I’d heard these things before, but I’d never considered them in the context of what might have led to the divorce.

“But, I’ll admit,” Dad continued, “I was so focused on providing that I didn’t realize how much I was neglecting my relationships with you two. When you went off to college, your mom and I realized we were basically strangers. We were young when we married, and we’d grown up into different people who no longer had much of anything in common. The problem wasn’t that I was too much of a workaholic or that I couldn’t change. It was that I didn’t see theneedto change until it was too late. I was focused on the wrong things, and I lost sight of what really mattered. But I learned my lesson.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Your mom and I may have parted ways, but I’ve built a good relationship with you in the years since then. Haven’t I?”

“You have,” I agreed.

“And I like what I’m building with Maggie—if she can forgive me for sticking my nose in her business. I guess what I’m trying to tell you is that it’s possible to change if you’re willing to try. And if you feel it’s worth it for the reward in the end.”

My phone rang. I pulled it out and saw Nana Dee’s name on the screen.

“But if you don’t want to listen to me,” Dad said. “Maybe you should listen to Nana Dee. She was happily married for decades. Surely, she knows what it takes to make a relationship work.”

“Have the two of you been talking behind my back?”

“Just answer the phone.”

I did. “Hey, Dee.”

“Sorry I missed your call earlier.” She sounded tired.

“No worries,” I reassured her. “I was just calling to say hi.”

“No, you were calling to talk to me about my diagnosis. Just like Vincent and Dominic and Paul.”

“And Trent?” I added.

She tsked. “He doesn’t call. He just barges into the house and yaps my ear off.”

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