‘What’s done is done.’ Jack tried his best to sound philosophical. ‘Talking of Cameron, does she know anything about this yet?’
‘No. And she won’t, until I go to Toronto and tell her everything. I won’t do this over the telephone.’
‘No,’ Jack agreed. ‘Hang on a minute, wind back.’ Using his index finger, he drew a small circular motion in the air. ‘You said something about falling for the woman whose son …’
Kent nodded. ‘I’ve been in love with Nicole for years, but I knew nothing could or would ever happen.’
‘My God.’ Jack poured a double shot of whiskey, unlikely to be driving anywhere now tonight. ‘I never saw it.’
Kent finally sat down on the opposite end of the couch. ‘Neither did I, not for a long time, but I felt it when Evie showed up and I saw her threatened. I know now that wasn’t the case, but to me it was very real that Nicole could be taken away. It was that night I realised how strong my feelings were and I felt like a traitor. To my wife, to my children.’
‘But Dad, you’ve never been short of a woman or two.’
‘I know, but it was this particular woman that was the problem. All the women over the years have been fun, pleasant, but never anything more.’
‘Like father like son, eh?’ Jack lifted his glass, took another glug. ‘I never let a woman get close. After I saw what losing Mom did to you, I didn’t ever want to be that hurt again. I figured if I could keep all women at arm’s length, just have a little fun, I could never have my life snatched away from me like that.’
‘It’s a sad way to be, son.’
Jack nodded. It was sad, and it was lonely too. ‘You know, despite the circumstances, I’m pleased about your feelings for Nicole.’
‘Really?’
He nodded. ‘Don’t get me wrong. If you’d told me right after I’d found out about Noah, I would’ve called you crazy, but I’ve calmed down since then. Nicole is a wonderful person, and like you say, she’s just as much of a victim as we were with what happened. God, all this time and she never told us she’d lost a son to suicide. Noah paid the ultimate price with his life, Nicole has paid the price of losing a son and living with the guilt. Perhaps now, enough is enough.’ It was as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders rather than being added to with the new knowledge.
‘I can’t imagine the pain she’s gone through. Losing a child …’ Kent shook his head. ‘The thought is unbearable. It’s what drove me on to provide you and your sister with a family business, a future. But really all I ended up doing was taking a world away from you.’
‘Dad, you didn’t do that. You did everything for me. It could’ve been worse, you didn’t do so badly.’
‘Do you know what I’d really like, Jack?’ He looked at his son. ‘I’d like to keep the business but scale back on my ambition for it, let it run, grow, tail off, whatever. There are more important things in life.’
‘There are.’
‘But this is your inheritance we’re talking about. If the business fails—’
‘Then it fails. Worse things have happened to us, Dad.’
‘Yes, I suppose they have.’ They sat in contemplative silence. ‘What will you do?’
‘I’m not sure.’ Jack smiled now. ‘I may stay in the jewellery business, get a smaller store, be more hands on and less global. There’s an empty store in Hazelbrook, right in the little town. I could set up a small outlet there. Who knows, but I’m excited at the possibility of doing something on a smaller scale, focused on the love of design.’
Kent sat forward, forearms on his thighs. ‘So tell me. What’s going on with young Evie?’
‘The homeless woman?’
‘No,’ Kent shook his head, ‘Evie.’
Jack smiled. It hadn’t been said, but he guessed it was his father’s way of admitting that sometimes he was too quick to judge, sometimes he assumed people from certain walks of life were all the same.
‘She’s an amazing woman,’ said Jack. ‘Very wise as it turns out.’
They talked some more. They talked about Evie, about how over the years she and Nicole had nurtured a trusting relationship that rivalled any mother and daughter bond either of them had even seen. They made coffees, opened a bag of roasted peanuts and ate nearly all of them. But most of all they laughed and bonded as father and son, relaxed in one another’s company. They understood each other better than they had before. Jack told his father all about taking Evie out to Hollyhock Farm, how he’d helped at the homeless shelter and how he had helped Todd, a boy who needed to be given a second chance,
‘I’d like to see the house sometime,’ said Kent.
‘I’d like that too.’
Kent washed the last handful of peanuts down with a glass of iced water. ‘So, do you think anything will happen with Evie?’
