Page 48 of All for Love

“Good idea,” I agreed jokingly. “It’s not good for my ego that your mother thinks I picked on someone who wasn’t my own size. She should know that he was and that I was still awesome.”

“You were awesome, and your ego will survive. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should mingle before Kaden thinks we’re over here flirting.”

“We are over here flirting,” I shot back at her, but she rolled her eyes, flashed me a sassy smile, and then went to join her mother.

Everyone was in high spirits as we sat down for dinner and it occurred to me then that this was the first Thanksgiving we’d had in a long time that actually felt right. For the past few years, it’d only been Dad, Kaden, and me, and we’d sat down for dinner but it’d felt like a business meeting with booze and good food.

Now, however, the family felt whole. Soft music was flowing from the speakers inside, Mercedes, Kaden, Brooke, and Margaux were chatting nonstop, laughing and teasing each other like a real family might. Dad sat with his arm resting on the back of Margaux’s chair, grinning like the cat that got the cream as he looked around the table with a satisfied expression on his face.

All was well in the world—until he suddenly dropped his arm and turned to me, his features turning hard. “What’s going on in sales, Kody? I’ve been out for a few weeks, but I haven’t been gone that long and our numbers are a bit lower than usual. Lower than they should be.”

“We’re fine,” I said, trying to change the subject. “How’s the honeymoon going? You guys have any trips planned between now and Christmas?”

Margaux opened her mouth to respond, but Dad was still too focused on me to see it and too pushy to drop the topic he’d broached. “We can talk about our plans later. For now, I asked you what’s been going on in sales and I’d like an answer. If I need to come back early, then I have to know about it.”

“You don’t have to come back,” I said reassuringly. The chatter around the table ceased and everyone tuned in to the tension on our side of it. “Seriously, Dad. I’ll call you on Monday and we can talk about it. We don’t have to do it now.”

Dad’s eyebrows pinched together. “Just answer the damn question, Kody.”

“It’s nothing, alright. A natural dip that follows the same pattern the company has had for years. It will pick back up soon and when it does, we’ll make the most of it.”

I practically felt the chip growing on my shoulder even as Margaux patted Dad’s arm and steered the conversation in a different direction. My high spirits crashed and burned, and even though Kaden shot me an apologetic look and shook his head to let me know I shouldn’t bring it up right now, I couldn’t get back into the spirit of things.

The rest of dinner dragged, and everyone pretended like nothing untoward had happened, but I couldn’t. Dad had been out for months—not weeks—and it wasn’t the first time. He was still our CEO and he was still working, but he’d been slowing down for the last few years.

Kaden and I had picked up more and more of the responsibilities, which was fine. It was what we were there for, and Dad had doubted both of us at times before, but this just didn’t sit right with me. He damn well knew that our sales always took a bit of a dip at this time of year, and if he didn’t, then he’d suddenly lost his memory.

It was either that, or he was posturing to show off for his new wife. Show that he was still the big man in charge and that he was keeping a pulse on the company even from a distance. That he wasn’t over the hill just yet.

Whatever it was, he knew I knew how to do my fucking job. Questioning me like this, right here, right now, and in front of everybody had been uncalled for. The only consolation was that he hadn’t done it to Kaden, probably to avoid embarrassing him in front of his girl.

It was nice to know those were the standards now. If you had a woman at this table, you were a rung above the rest. Considering I was the only one who didn’t have a woman here—that Dad knew about anyway—that made me the low man on the totem pole.

The more I stewed, the more I considered doing something stupid. Like grabbing Mercedes and pulling her back to that bathroom to make her scream so loud, there would be no hiding or mistaking what we were up to in there.

My gaze traveled to hers and I found her looking back at me. Something settled in the depths of my soul. I couldn’t take her back to that bathroom out of spite. Couldn’t do that to her. Or wouldn’t rather.

Now all I had to do was to figure out why the hell not. It wasn’t necessarily something that would’ve bothered me in the past, but things were different with her and I had no idea why.