Page 109 of A Ticking Time Boss

“Back then, yeah, he sure did.” She flips a few pages forward. “There’s one where he’s fallen asleep in front of Animal Planet… let me find it. Oh, no. Look at this one. His tenth birthday.”

I look down at a picture of a group of people, all watching Carter on the ground. He’s sitting behind a mountain of gifts in bright colors. I spot a younger Susan standing behind him. Other adults mill around, and a group of children run in the background, their forms blurry.

But it’s the man in the corner my eyes land on.

He’s wearing a well-pressed suit. Thick, dark hair is swept back over heavy brows. The charming smile is familiar. Too familiar. He looks down at Carter with a proud expression. Even in the picture, he frightens me.

There’s something too clean about him.

It’s a younger image of Will C. Jenner. The man I’ve been looking for over a decade for.

Susan has noticed my zeroed-in attention. “Ah,” she says softly. “That’s Carter’s dad. Has he told you about him?”

I can’t find my voice, so I nod instead. It’s a tiny movement.

The man who ruined my father’s life is my boyfriend’s dad. It would be funny, if this was a sitcom, a farce, a romantic comedy. Now it just makes me want to cry and scream at the same time.

Susan sighs. “It’s not a pretty story. But it is our story, and I’m not afraid to tell it anymore. He was a complicated man. Brilliant, in some ways, and he gave me my son. But I can’t say that he was good.”

“No,” I say quietly. “Carter told me about him.”

“He’s always been harsher on his father than I have been. Not that I wasn’t angry too,” she says. “But it’s faded. I don’t think Carter’s has. He’s reached out now, and I’ve told him it might be a good idea to meet him… just to clear the air, you know? To have the chance to say his piece.” The smile she gives me is soft. A bit shy, perhaps, and encouraging. “My son told me you’d said the same thing.”

I feel sick. “Yeah, I did.”

“We’ll see if he listens,” Susan says, turning the page, taking the image of Will Jenner away with it. “But Carter isn’t quick to forgive when someone wrongs him.”

The revelation shakes the ground beneath me. The truth, at last. And it’s not at all what I wanted and miles from what I expected.

Carter returns to the apartment like a conquering hero, water pressure sorted. The super told me he’ll fix it within the hour. No problem is too small or too large for him to solve, it seems. Had he charmed the super too? Used that wide, crooked smile, his powers of persuasion, or promises of money or bribes? I’d seen him do it before. I’d watched his father use it in a different way.

I can’t stop seeing the two of them. The similarities.

When we leave Susan’s, the unease has settled into a pit of despair in my stomach. I can’t keep this a secret. I have to talk about it, but I have no idea what to say or where to start.

Carter takes my hand in his. He lifts it to his lips and presses a kiss to the back. “Thank you for coming with me.”

“My pleasure,” I say.

“Remember our first non-date? The pizza place across the street?”

“Yes. After my date stood me up.”

“Worst mistake of his life, but I’m eternally grateful,” Carter says. “Let’s get pizza again. Eat it on your fire escape. Who knows how long you’ll have the place?”

My chest feels tight, and breathing is difficult. Thinking is difficult. I shake my head slowly. “I can’t. Carter…”

“Yes?”

“Oh my God. I don’t know where to start. I…”

Troubled, golden eyes meet mine. There’s concern in them. “No pizza,” he says firmly. “Come, let’s go to yours. Do you feel faint?”

“Yes,” I say, but not in the way he means. Will C. Jenner, I think. I love the son of the man who took everything from my family.

Carter keeps a hand on my back, and he’s the one who unlocks the door to Old Man Pierce’s house. The familiar smell of mildew and mold hits us. We walk the creaky steps in silence. The words feel heavy on my tongue. I don’t know how he’ll react. Will it make him hate his father even more? Feel… shame, anger, hurt? It’s not his favorite topic.

It’s never been mine either.

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