Page 68 of Just A Little Magic

“I’m glad to hear it, but I’m very busy this mor?—”

“You were so zoned out when I got here. You didn’t even know I came in. How busy can you be?”

Damn. The man could land a burn.

“Exactly the reason I need to get back to work. If that’s all you came to say, you’ve said it, and I can get back to the job your son pays me to do.”

“I can see I’ve offended you.”

“Well, yeah, I’m feeling kinda salty about it.”

“Do you know what he told me after he met you?” Thesincerity in his voice stopped me from yet another demand for him to leave.

“He spent a solid twenty minutes cataloging everything about you. He knew down to your shoelaces what you were wearing and no detail he learned about your life went unshared.”

“All right? That’s a little creepy, but I’m not sure what that has to do with now.”

With an aggrieved sigh and tone like he was speaking to a child, Mr. Strega added, “He isn’t speaking to me.”

“It’s probably because you threatened to take his company and tried to guilt him into getting married. I’m not going to lie. It was a little weird.” I was torn between tossing him out and letting him continue this strange conversation. Curiosity won. “Actually, it was a lotta bit weird.”

“I just want what’s best for him.”

“He’s an adult who can make his own decisions.”

“But he’s not making good ones. When I was his age, I was married, settled down, and had my kids.”

“You’re also divorced now because you were schlepping someone else. Barrett is entitled to have what he wants. If he doesn’t want what you want, that’s okay too.”

“If you weren’t around him constantly, he could maybe find some happiness with someone…settle down and have a few kids.”

“You don’t think your son is happy with his life and successful company, and that’s my fault? I gotta say he seems pretty damn okay.”

This was getting ridiculous. I knew Barrett would support me for kicking his dad out of my office, but this was a car wreck I couldn’t, maybe wouldn’t, look away from. However, I wasn’t touching the heteronormative bullshit. “A person doesn’t need marriage or kids to be settled.”

“My point still stands.” His earnest tone had him leaning forward in his chair like he was attempting to get me to grasp the full weight of his words. “If you weren’t here to distract him with what he can’t have, then he could settle down with someone who wants him.”

My response was a shocked silence, and it took me a minute to recover the ability to speak.

“What did you say?” I stuttered.

Barrett’s dad looked chagrined but determined. I guessed he’d come this far, so he might as well finish driving off the cliff. “He’s been in love with you since you two met. No man or woman will ever measure up. If you don’t love him like that, you need to give him space to get on with his life. So long as you’re in it, he won’t.”

Barrett’s dad sat back in the chair, and we stared at each other—me in stunned silence and him in, I don’t know, embarrassed resoluteness? Something close to that anyway.

“That’s quite a take.”

“I’m not trying to be cruel. I know how close you two are, but are you happy? It seems like you treat him halfway to committed too. Don’t think I haven’t noticed the cold shoulder whenever he starts dating someone new.”

“I don’t think I know what you’re talking about.”

Mr. Strega hefted himself out of the chair and headed to the door. He turned around after he opened it. “Fall in love with my kid or let him go. You both need to get on with your lives if it’s not going to be with each other.”

“Thanks for meeting me for lunch.”

I’d chosen The Diner because all shitty conversations should be had over greasy burgers. And with lawyers who hadhandled more divorces than anyone I knew. “Here’s your money.”

“Okay, you, that’s mostly a joke, right? And I’m not a therapist. I help people get rid of people they no longer want in their lives. I don’t help keep them together,” Levi said as he pushed my five back to me. “Price has gone up. Lunch is on you, and I want a shake.”

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