Page 42 of Seeing You

On Monday, he threw himself into work like a man possessed. He made more money for his clients than he had in a long time.

By Thursday, he was on the brink of exhaustion—he wasn’t sleeping and had spent nearly twenty hours a day putting everything into the job.

When he walked into his office on Friday, everyone was giving him a wide berth.

Odd.

It wasn’t until he finished his morning call that a wave of exhaustion hit him. “Stella,” he called out. “Can you pick up lunch early?”

Stepping into his office, Stella, his assistant of five years, looked at him with concern. “Marcus, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but…you look like hell.”

She was probably the only person who could say that to him right now.

“I don’t mind ordering lunch early, but you really should consider going home. Your schedule is clear for the rest of the day and…”

The sound of his cell phone ringing interrupted her, and when he looked down and saw Max’s name, he groaned.

“This can’t be good,” he murmured. “Just get me my usual, please. I need to take this.”

With a curt nod, she walked out and closed the door behind her.

“Hey, Max. What’s up?” he wearily asked.

“Wow, you don’t sound so good. Everything okay?”

“Just…it’s been a rough week.”

“Oh. I’m afraid I’m going to add to it, then.”

Another groan. “What’s going on?”

“Dad fell while trying to clean the gutters.”

“Why the hell was he cleaning the gutters himself? Two weeks ago, he was practically too weak to leave the house and now he’s up on ladders? Why? We talked about hiring…”

“He didn’t want anyone else doing it,” Max explained. “He said it’s his house and he can still take care of it.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Marcus silently counted to ten. “I knew we should have had it all done while I was there. How badly is he hurt?”

“He’s in the ER right now—Mr. Jameson called 911. He was out mowing his lawn and saw it all happen. Anyway, they’re waiting for a room for him, and he’ll be there for at least a day or two. Right now, it looks like his hip is fractured and he’s gotsome cuts and bruises. And I’m sure he just undid months of physical therapy from the accident.”

Shaking his head, he said, “Well, I appreciate you letting me know. Are you on your way there?”

Max’s initial response was a nervous laugh. “Actually…that’s what I need to talk to you about.”

“Okay…”

“I know you’re going to take this the wrong way, but…it’s your turn, Marcus. I’ve been carrying the load and taking care of Dad on my own for years. I’m still planning on moving back to Sweetbriar Ridge, but not for a few months. I have things I’m committed to before then and it’s not fair that I’m the only one stepping up.”

This so wasn’t what he needed today.

Or ever.

“Max, I totally understand about commitments, and I would never ask you to give anything up for this.”

“Oh. Oh, okay! Great! So you’ll stay with Dad.”

“What?No!” he quickly countered. “I just meant we can hire someone to stay with him. There are plenty of agencies that handle this sort of thing. I’ll make arrangements.”

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