“Look, I don’t get involved in my former stepdad’s antics, but he’s a very persistent man. He felt you might be more willing to accept things if I spoke to you. Will you let me explain before you kick off?”
Derek couldn’t help but chuckle. Kieran glared at him, but there was no heat in it.
“Grant felt that a year’s salary was more than fair for what you’d been through.”
“What do you know?” asked Kieran, his voice trembling.
“No details, I promise. He just said he hadn’t done right by you. I gave him a mouthful and called him a cunt.”
“Langdon, why would you do that? He could hurt you.”
Langdon snorted. “Grant won’t do anything to me. He likes that I’m honest with him.”
Derek chuckled again. He would love to be a fly on the wall, seeing Langdon put Grant in his place.
“It’s a lot of money,” said Kieran. “I don’t want to feel indebted to him. The guy scares the shit out of me.”
“There are no expectations from this, Kieran. He’s very fond of you, and not in the way you’re thinking. You remind him of a friend of mine. They used to be together. I think that’s what drew him to you.”
Derek assumed Langdon was talking about someone in his close friend group. It had to be Jason. There were some similarities between him and Kieran. Grant and Jason? That was something Derek wouldn’t have imagined. What a small world it was.
“Grant asked me to let him know when you came in here, and he would transfer the money, then I could talk to you. He has a habit of just dropping money into people’s bank accounts. It’s his version of sending flowers.”
Kieran laughed. That had to be a good sign. Derek understood his reluctance to want to have anything to do with Grant, but money like that could give him the chance to get his own place. He’d not had any luck getting a job, although Derek had suspected his heart wasn’t really in it.
“What do you think?” Kieran asked Derek.
“You should take it.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Look, I saw him when he was dealing with...” He glanced at Langdon, who shrugged. “The problem. He was sorry for what had happened. I can tell when people are bullshitting me.”
“I guess it would give me some time, so I don’t have to stress about getting another job.”
“Or you could use it to set up your own shop.”
“I don’t think that’s right for me.”
“Why not?”
“What do I know about running a business?”
“You have two people here who have experience and can give you advice.”
“This place has only been open six months, and I’m still learning every day,” said Langdon.
“Maybe,” said Kieran. “I just can’t... right now. I would just fuck it up if I did something now.”
“You don’t have to decide today,” said Derek.
“Apart from whether to accept this money.”
“Well, Grant doesn’t accept refunds, so you’re stuck with it,” said Langdon, standing up. “He said something about beingdisappointedif you refused.”
“How is that helping?” said Kieran with a scowl.
Derek couldn’t help but laugh with Langdon. Grant would never hurt Kieran, he knew that. The man had genuinely felt awful about what had happened. He shuddered at the thought of what he’d probably subjected Carl to. Derek knew the man must have died screaming in agony.
