Page 2 of Heart of Stone
It was a good thing I’d decided to sit down, because my knees would have buckled. “What? I thought… You said I needed to get back here as soon as possible. You sounded awful. And judgingby the look on your face the moment I walked in, I suspected you were in a state of shock. Or depression. You’re telling me that Mom is alive?”
Any of the sympathy I’d been feeling for him had vanished. He had to have known that getting his phone call at all was enough to set me thinking the worst. Combining the call with his words and the way in which he said them, I didn’t understand how he could assume I’d believe anything but the worst had happened.
He huffed. “I got a matter of a minute of softness from you before things went right back to normal.”
I balled my hands into fists. “You made me think my mother was dead.”
Waving his hand in the air dismissively, as though he’d done no such thing, he revealed, “Your mom is fine. Well, as fine as she can be.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that she’s alive. I’m sorry if I made you believe otherwise.” His gaze shifted to the trees outside the window, his lips pressing together in a thin line. It was almost as much of a struggle for him to talk to me as it was for me to talk to him. “That’s a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
There was no doubt he probably viewed me as such, anyway. I was so furious with him; I couldn’t think straight. Speaking wasn’t close to being an option.
Eventually, my father returned his attention to me. “How are things at work?”
“Pardon?”
I’d gotten that question from him dozens of times before now, but it seemed like a wildly inappropriate one to be asking after I’d just driven two and a half hours to get here under the presumption my mother had died.
“Are you tired of the city life yet?”
If this was what he’d called me out here for, I was going to lose my mind. “No, Dad, I haven’t. But you already knew that.”
Something that looked a lot like disappointment washed over him. “Wishful thinking, I guess.”
I’d grown accustomed to that look. It was one of the reasons I made my visits here few and far between. If it weren’t for my mom, I wasn’t sure I would have come back at all. It wasn’t as though my dad cared enough about me to want me around, even if he tried to claim it was all he wanted.
I knew better.
I knew what really mattered to him.
“Why did you call me? Where’s Mom?”
He let out a deep breath, his shoulders sagging. Judging by the look on his face, it was clear he was torn. Like he had been forced into some undesirable situation. “I need to ask a huge favor of you, Reid.”
Well, there it was.
If given the choice, my dad wouldneverask me for a favor.
So, something had happened. Something had forced him to this place.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep the bite out of my tone. “What is it?”
For several silent beats, his eyes roamed over my face. “I need you to take over the operation at the retreat.”
“We’ve been over this no less than a dozen times already,” I retorted, feeling my anger bubbling to the surface. “I’m not interested in the retreat unless it’s to demolish what’s there and put something worthwhile on that acreage.”
“Your mother had a heart attack.”
Like I’d been doused with cold water, the rage fizzled out. “What?”
“A week ago. She had a heart attack a week ago, and at the same time, she fell, breaking her hip.”
It took everything in me not to growl with frustration and disgust. “You’re just now telling me this? Where is she?”
He did not hesitate. “She’s currently in the hospital. We were told she’d be able to come home either today or tomorrow.”
