Page 117 of Kylo
“Yeah?”
“Yep. Your father was the only reason I got through it. I could go get him to go with you,” I suggested.
“Can you?” he asked.
“Go with you? Absolutely. The worst part is this,” I said. “Once we’re strapped in, and the boat starts, it happens so fast that you don’t have a chance to be freaking out.”
Just then, John pulled up with Teddy’s boat, all the parasailing equipment waiting for us.
“You ready?” I asked.
“No. But let’s do it anyway.”
That was what we did.
And he hated every moment of it.
But he walked a little taller afterward, having overcome his fear.
I felt a little guilty that one of our kids had developed the same kind of anxiety I did. But I was so happy to have the tools to help him overcome it so it didn’t take over his whole life.
“Mom!” our daughter said when we walked into Teddy’s mansion.
“What’s up?”
“Do you see this?” she asked, waving toward a plant in the corner. “That thing is worth twenty grand.”
“I know. I was the one to sell it to Teddy.”
I was a little stunned when the check cleared and went into my account.
“Can I take a clipping?” she asked. “Just here at the first node? He won’t even see it.”
I shared a look with Kylo.
Our little carefree rebel.
I had a feeling that, someday, she might be living in the clubhouse, riding a bike, and giving me something to be anxious about every night.
“Go ahead,” Kylo said.
She whipped a pair of scissors out of her bag, snipped the plant at a perfect angle, then stuck it in a cleaned-out soda bottle with some water.
She might have been more her dad, but there was a hint of me in her. And not just her hair.
Much to my parents’ delight, though, our son had ambitions they approved of. He’d been in all the clubs in school. He got great grades. He was attending an Ivy League. He had dreams of a corner office and a plush investment portfolio. Teddy was his idol, and he was doing everything it took to become just like him.
Eventually, the kids decided they wanted to hang out with friends in Miami, leaving the two of us alone in a giant, sprawling mansion.
“Come with me,” Kylo said, reaching for my hand and pulling me outside.
He lowered onto an outdoor lounge and pulled me with him.
“It’s interesting to be back here,” he said as his arms went around me. “Feels really full circle.”
“The only thing that would make it—” I started, only to trail off when the sprinklers came on, blasting us with cold water, and making us run for the cabanas.
“You planned that,” I said, small-eyeing him.
