Page 41 of Coastal Runaway

I’d just gotten home from my last class on Friday when I heard a knock at the door.

“Anyone expecting a delivery?” I yelled to the house. I knew Aiden and Maeve were home.

“No,” Aiden yelled from upstairs.

“Not mine!” I heard Maeve yell from the pool lounger that she was currently sprawled out on.

When I opened the door, I paused, stunned by the man standing in front of me. Sean Cavan was my spitting image, except fifty-three years old. He was wearing a navy suit, meticulously ironed, with a perfectly aligned baby pink tie and light brown loafers. The man looked like he just stepped off the set of a GQ catalog.

“What are you doing here, dad?” I asked, not masking my irritation.

“What a kind greeting, son. And after I flew all this way just to see you.”

I arched a brow and opened the front door wider, gesturing for him to come into the house.

He looked past me with disgust, “I actually have reservations at the golf course. Thought we might get some lunch.” Of course he did.

I sighed, knowing there was no way out of this, and headed into the kitchen to grab my phone and wallet. Once they were securely in my pockets, I followed my dad out to his gaudy sports car rental.

Lunch was awkward as fuck. We sat in silence, eating and sipping whiskey, while my dad scrolled through the news on his phone.

He cleared his throat, “Okay, Luke, lay it on me.”

“I’m sorry?” I asked.

“I just want to know what this mental breakdown is going to cost me in therapists,” he chuckled and pulled out his checkbook to add onto the joke.

“I'm not having a mental breakdown,” I gritted out.

At least not anymore.

“Then please enlighten me about your choice to give up a spot at an ivy league institution to become a beach bum,” he scoffed, tossing back the last of his whiskey and holding up a finger for the waitress to replace it.

My dad equated leaving an ivy league school to setting your money on fire with a blowtorch. He saw my decisions as reckless, as if this was all some huge act of rebellion and not my future.

“I literally go to one of the best schools in the country and you’re calling me a bum? How predictable.”

My dad always tried to control every decision I had ever made in life while simultaneously being as far away from me as physically possible. I was his legacy; a sociable tool to climb the ladder.

He used to use money to control my choices. He would threaten to stop paying for school or to cut me off completely, but I gained access to my trust on my twenty-first birthday, so my money was now completely out of his hands. It drove him insane and I was sure he was trying to think of a new way to use me like a puppet.

“I just want the next leader of this company to have a respectable degree⁠—”

I held my hand up, interrupting his statement, “I’m going to stop you right there. First of all, Owen Kelly has the same degree I am on track to receive in May, and second, I am not taking over the company.”

He looked appalled, “Owen Kelly? Please. He has as much knowledge about money as his father, who would have run that company into the ground without me. I have given you all of the freedom you could ever ask for. All of the money you could ever need. It’s time to stop messing around and get serious.” His voice had a stern tone.

“I’m serious, dad. I’m taking the LSATs in a few weeks and I’m applying to law schools,” I said sitting back in my chair with my arms crossed.

He scoffed like going to law school was a cop out instead of something that was admirable. It wasn't his idea so naturally it wasn't a viable option.

“This is about that Kelly girl isn’t it?”

“Don’t act like you haven’t known Keegan Kelly since the day she was born, and she has nothing to do with this.” I was defensive. I didn’t like Keegan’s name coming out of his mouth.

“Please, you’ve been like a love-sick puppy for her since you were in high school. The best thing that girl ever did for you was run as far away as possible. Trust me son, I made the mistake of marrying the wrong woman once. One that didn’t live up to the Cavan name.”

He was talking about my mother. Yes, he’s had a few marriages after, but the one that stung the most was her. My mother left him because of his terrible personality and she refused to accept anything from him—no property, no money, not even me. His other wives accepted the divorces and the money that would set them up for life.