“Nope.” Walker shakes his head. “He’s not going to be able to afford anything like that for the foreseeable future.”
“Really?” I take my eyes off the road for a moment to study my father’s profile. He’s got his seat leaned back and his eyes closed.
“I’ve cut him off. And don’t you go lecturing me about how I should have done it a long time ago. I’ve always felt sorry for that boy. Both of his parents essentially abandoned him. That’ll screw someone up.”
I think of Georgia, and how she’d been let down by her biological parents and the foster system before fate led her to her adoptive mom, Joan. Only to lose her. This thought makes my heart ache. But Georgia had taken all that adversity and turned it into a triumph. The shop, the shelter, her own clothing line. She has so much to be proud of.
“Why Kenya?” I ask.
“There’s an elephant sanctuary there where the workers care for orphaned baby elephants.” Walker sighs. “I saw a documentary about it on the flight to Bora Bora. I had to pull some strings, but I secured Bryce a place on one of their rehab teams. He’s going to be working one-on-one with the animals for the next year.”
“Bryce agreed to this?”
“He did when I froze his accounts and told him it was this or he gets cut off forever.” Walker tips his seat back farther and shades his eyes with his sun hat. “Aside from the lessons he’s bound to learn shoveling elephant shit, I think he may benefit from working with orphaned animals. Teach him some gratitude.”
“Blaze Smith book?” I guess. Those self-help books are always big on practicing gratitude.
“Great stuff.” Walker nods. “When it doesn’t put me to sleep.”
* * *
When we pull into the loft parking garage, I notice that Ashley’s rental car is parked in the visitor spot. Shit. I was hoping she’d be done for the day and I wouldn’t have to run into her.
Walker follows me into the loft and wolf-whistles. He hasn’t been back to Ephron in a while. It’s the first time he’s seeing the transformation. “Jeez Louise. I can’t believe this is the same old warehouse. Well done, son!”
“I can’t take all the credit, Dad. Our teams have been working pretty hard for over a year now.”
“But it was all your idea, your vision,” Walker says.
This much is true. I’ve been pushing for this project for over five years.
The elevator bell dings, and the door slides open to reveal Ashley. The breeze from the garage blows her hair back, like she’s in a shampoo commercial, and she shakes her head to prolong the effect, enjoying the dramatic entrance. As she steps out, her perfume—a synthetic-smelling, floral scent mixed with cotton-candy overtones—punches me in the nose. I note that she is wearing a skin-tight, bone-colored sheath dress, stiletto heels, and a full face of makeup. Perfect for a construction site.
“Who is this lovely vision before me?” Walker’s face lights up. I can almost hear his rusty gears grinding as the notorious Walker Holm charisma revs itself up and cranks back online.
“You must be Walker! I’m Ashley.” Ashley flashes her pearly veneers and sticks out her pink, acrylic-clawed hand. I hadn’t really taken stock before of how much of her physical appearance is fake—fake hair, fake nails, fake teeth, fake boobs.
Rather than shake Ashley’s hand, Walker reaches out and lifts it to his lips. It’s just the sort of thing I can imagine Georgia decking someone for. But Ashley giggles like an antihero in an Austen movie, thrilled to be the center of attraction at last.
“Such a gentleman, Walker. I’ve heard so much about you from Hudson.”
“Well, I haven’t heard nearly enough about you.”
I’d love to log on to the student portal as Oliver and tell Cookie about this whole exchange. I’d say something like, “It was quite deplorable, Cookie. Such rampant buffoonery and a complete lack of decorum!”
And then I expect Cookie would check me with something along the lines of, “Lighten up, Furball. Whatever floats their boats!” Or would she? What would she say?
She’d asked what I’d hoped to get out of my relationship with Ashley.
Nothing, apparently. Aside from a cat.
“Ahem … Earth to Hudson!” Ashley clears her throat and continues to smile her utterly insincere smile at me. “What do you think about my proposal?”
“Sorry, lot on my mind.” I apologize. “And a long drive. I’m a little brain-dead.”
“Looks like you need to get some good rest, son.” Walker claps me on the shoulder. “Ashley just suggested that I stay in one of the other model lofts she’s staging. It’s actually a two-bedroom place, and she was saying that she’d considered staying there herself, but she’s not entirely comfortable staying alone with all the construction still underway on the building. I suggested we bunk up together.” His voice has definitely dropped an octave, getting even deeper and more gravelly than usual. “In separate rooms, of course.”
“That would really be so wonderful,” Ashley gushes. “It’s a commute to the Best Western, and I really would prefer to stay on-site.” She smiles a little smugly at me, clearly pleased with herself. But if she thinks I care, she is sorely mistaken. This actually works out better for me. It gets both of them out of my hair.
