Page 96 of Unraveling the Truth About Love
“Boys?” their father said. “May I have a word with Josh?”
“Of course,” Treat said.
Dane’s phone vibrated, reminding Josh to get rid of his. Josh took his phone from his pocket and handed it to Treat.
“Can you hold on to this? I don’t want it vibrating, and I’m too nervous to mess with the buttons right now.”
“Yeah.” Treat looked at it. “There’s a missed call from Reggie. You might have youranswers.”
“I’ve already made up my mind, and I’m doing this no matter what the answers are,” Josh said. He watched Treat and the others head toward the restaurant.
Hal wore a pair of dark slacks, a cream-colored dress shirt, and a dark tie. Set against his ever-present tan, massive height, and dark, emotional eyes, he looked like an aging movie star.
“Son, I wish your mother were still aliveto see this night. She’s proud of you.”
Josh didn’t miss the present tense his father used when speaking of his mother. “Thanks, Dad. I wish she were here, too, and I can only hope she’d have been proud.” Josh felt the lump return to his throat.
“She’s here with you.” He touched his jaw, as if he were thinking, and then he put his hands on Josh’s shoulders in the same manner Treat had in thecar on the way to the airport. “Son, I assume you know what you’re doing with Riley Banks. She’s a nice girl and she comes from a respectable family. And I assume you know what you’re doing with regard to all that nonsense that’s going on back in that big city you live in. You’re an intelligent man, and you make good decisions, always have.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Josh said. His father’s eyes searchedhis, and his grip on Josh’s shoulders hadn’t eased. “Was there something else you wanted to say?”
“Yes, there is. Come with me.”
Josh followed his father to the edge of the woods at the far end of the parking lot.
“Dad, we don’t have much time. I want to get in there before Riley notices the family.”
“Rex is holding them in the lobby. Relax. Make time for your dear old dad. Listen, son. Lookin there and tell me what you see.” He pointed to the woods.
Josh could barely think straight. Anxiety prickled his nerves, and his pulse hadn’t calmed since they’d stepped off the plane.
“I don’t know. Trees, dirt, rocks.”
“Okay, that’s pretty good. What else?” his father urged.
He stared into the woods, trying to think like his father. Like a rancher. He came up empty. He shifted his focus,much like he did when he was designing. If inspiration didn’t come from one presentation, he took it apart and started again, looking from many different angles. He began at the treetops, following the bare branches down to where they met the ground. Dead leaves layered the earth, interrupted by large rocks and fallen branches. Nothing came to mind, so he shifted his focus and began anew. He sethis eyes on the ground. The earth. The foundation. Like a streak of lightning, inspiration set in.
“I see a solid foundation upon which life has grown,” Josh said.
“Better. I’m not going to torture you over semantics. Son, that foundation is all those trees have. It’s what gives them nourishment. It accepts their roots, thorns and all, and it accepts the leaves as they fall, covering its beauty.The rocks that are embedded into that foundation probably caused hurt at first, burrowing into the depth of it, or sinking in fast and hard—either way, that foundation had to move and shift to accept them. It had to give. And as you can see by that enormous boulder to your right, sometimes it had to give a lot.”
He looked directly into Josh’s eyes and laid his hand over his own heart. “The heartof the foundation has to be open enough, and secure enough, to allow that change to happen and to accept it even when it hurts or when it makes the appearance of the foundation not quite as attractive.”
Josh’s throat tightened.
“Son, I’m proud of you. It takes the strongest of men to endure what you have and to deal with what’s ahead of you. It would have been a heck of a lot easier to backaway. There are a million women in the world. You’ve always been empathetic, loving, and strong. Seeing you put your love for Riley ahead of everything else proves you’re with the woman you were fated to be with.” He took Josh in his arms and whispered in his ear, “Your darn mother made me say the whole woods thing. I would have just given it to you straight, but she thinks that a designer is allabout presentation and layering.”
“Dad,” Josh managed. Man, how he loved him.
“And Treat told me about you feeling like you could rip someone apart. That’s a good thing, son. Family knows no boundaries.”
