Page 102 of The Situation
Tate
“How are you feeling?” I ask, finding Carys in the kitchen. She looks tired and paler than usual, but she’s upright. That's a good sign. “Sick of soup yet?”
She snarls. “I never want to see a soup again.”
I laugh, hopping on a barstool.
“Why are you here midmorning?” she asks, pouring hot water into a tea mug. “Want some tea?”
“No, thanks. I’m here to check on you and Ivy. And I wanted to discuss something with you and Gannon. Is he around?”
“Yeah. He just got out of the shower. He’ll be out here in a few.”
I glance around Gannon’s house and can hardly believe it’s the same bachelor pad it used to be. It used to feel cavernous. And blank. It was always cold, too. But now that Carys and baby Ivy are here, it’s completely different. There are bright colors and furniture that you can sit on. Pictures and mementos hang on the walls and are propped up on side tables, and baby toys areeverywhere.
It’s a home.
I can’t help but wonder how Aurora will change my house, and how many times she’ll redecorate it.What will our kids play with? Will we have a playroom or just let them take over the whole house?
“Hey, Tate,” Gannon says, his hair still wet from the shower. “Didn’t know you were here.”
“Didn’t know you were here either,” I say. “Do you ever work anymore?”
Gannon and Carys exchange a look. I feel it in the pit of my stomach.
“What?” I ask, looking between them.
“I guess we might as well start with you,” Gannon says.
“The last time someone said that to me, I was in the principal’s office.”
He takes a mug from Carys and pauses to kiss her. “I’ve been thinking a lot about businesses, work, and life itself.”
“Are you getting philosophical?”
“And I’ve decided I don’t want to do this shit anymore.”
What?“What shit?”
“All of it.” He shrugs. “I don’t want to be the head of Brewer Group anymore.” He sips his tea, moving around the kitchen. “I don’t care about it anymore. Not sure I ever did.”
I take a deep breath and let this admission sink into my brain.
I can’t say I’m shocked to hear this. Gannon was never the one poised to take over after our father. It was always Bianca. But he stepped into the role after she stepped aside and kept things going while we struggled to keep our heads above water.
Now that we’re above deck on everything but the Raptors, I can’t blame Gannon for wanting to walk away. I would’ve done it way before now.
“My blood pressure is going up,” Gannon says. “I’m on a pill to lower it now. For what? To keep something alive that is a testament to our father’s legacy? Fuck that, and fuck him.”
“Amen.”
“I want to be here with Carys and Ivy. I don’t need to go to work. None of us do. Our kids won’t have to work if they don’t want to. So why are any of us doing this if it isn’t what we want to do?”
Carys watches the back-and-forth from the other side of the island.
“I know why I do it,” I say.
“Why?” he asks.
