Page 125 of Your Fault

I looked for Noah. She was talking to a small group of people and seemed to be having fun. She wasn’t aware of the danger she was in, but before I could do something—take her hand, hug her, stuff her in a car and take off—another girl appeared in my peripheral vision.

“You should hear how everyone on the team is talking about you, Nick. Word’s gotten around about your accomplishments. People are already speculating about when you’re going to take the baton from your father.” Sophie smiled, but I could barely nod in reply. “Are you all right?”

All right? I was in hell.

I looked all over for Briar again. I couldn’t see her anywhere, and every part of me grew suddenly anxious. There were too many potential problems in one place.

Before I could respond to Sophia, people started sitting down for dinner. Trying to keep cool, I put my hand on Sophia’s waist, guiding her to our place at the table.

I was grateful for the dim lighting in the dining room. Iwas so out of sorts that the last thing I needed were spotlights shining down on me. My family’s table was in the center of the room, close to the stage where the orchestra would play, where the speeches would be given, and where they would hold a charity auction for an organization the company had been supporting as long as I could remember. When I got there, I saw Noah seated next to her mother. Briar had disappeared. There was pain in Noah’s eyes as she looked away to keep from seeing me with Sophia.

Dammit.

Sophia greeted her politely, along with the rest of the people at the table, and before I could sit, I heard the voice of the one person I knew I’d be glad to see that night, and I turned around swiftly.

“Where’s my grandson? There he is—an old man’s pride and joy!”

I grinned as I saw my grandfather Andrew slowly approaching the table. People were so distracted talking and looking for their seats that no one noticed the arrival of the one man there I didn’t have a single objection to.

Andrew Leister was eighty-three years old. He was the one who had built this empire. His sparse white hair had once been black like mine and my father’s. He had a lot in common with my father, but he lacked his coldness. My grandfather was the closest thing to a father I’d ever had.

All the unpleasant memories my mother had brought to the surface vanished, replaced by those moments when all I’d cared about was riding horseback on my grandfather’s farm, fishing in his lake, and finding the nastiest frog I could to hide in Dad’s closet to surprise him.

Grandad.

I shook his hand, and he pulled me in to squeeze me in his arms.

“When were you thinking you’d come see me, you little devil?”

I laughed, then stood back to admire him. “Montana’s far away, old man.”

He grunted as he looked me up and down. “I remember times when we couldn’t keep you away from the place. Now all you care about is surfing and your stupid beaches.” He breathed hard, making his way into a chair. “Imagine: you have grandchildren, and they turn into typical bloody Americans on you.”

I laughed aloud, happy that no one but Noah, who couldn’t take her eyes off us, had heard that remark. My grandfather had emigrated from England when he was twenty years old to start his company in this country. However much time he’d spent here, he’d never stopped reminding me that his roots weren’t here and I should never dare take him for anything but an Englishman.

Dad appeared then and looked at his father with a blend of affection and impatience.

“Dad,” my father said, shaking his hand. My grandfather didn’t hug him the way he had me, but he did narrow his eyes with interest.

“Where’s that new wife of yours you have yet to introduce me to?”

My father rolled his eyes just as Raffaella appeared next to him. The past year had been so intense that we hadn’t had time to travel to see my grandfather, and now that he was here, I realized how much I missed him.

Noah stood and looked at me. I could see how uncomfortable she was when my father called her over to introduce her. The whole thing should have been different: I should have been the one introducing her then, and I should have been able to tell him she was the love of my life.

My grandfather smiled, a bit distracted, then noticed Sophia.

“You’re not going to introduce me to your girlfriend, Nicholas?”

Sophia’s smile, polite when she had been looking on, vanished, and she looked over to Noah. I rushed to correct his impression.

“Sophia’s not my girlfriend, Grandad. She’s my fellow intern. She’s Senator Aiken’s daughter.”

He nodded. “I see. That’s just as well. I don’t want my grandson involved in politics, especially not in your father’s kind of politics.”

Sophia seemed paralyzed until I burst out laughing. Noah must have warmed up to my grandfather in that moment. But by then, it was time for us all to sit down.

My father’s friend Robert Layton, a member of the board, was the one who gave the introductory speech. Everyone lifted their glass of champagne to celebrate sixty years of hard work. Just afterward, dinner was served. I looked all over the room, trying to locate my mother among the tables, but it was impossible.

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