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“It seemed whenever Dax made a decision in his own best interest, he was made to feel guilty for it. After Syracuse, his father expected him to return home to work for the family business. Moody Cement was the largest cement company in all of the Catskills. But instead, Dax decided to go to Boston University for his MBA. Anything he could do to put off the inevitability of being cemented—for lack of a better word—into the family business. Dax’s father had always assumed his three sons would run the company together. While in grad school, when Dax broke the news that he didn’t want to run Moody Cement with his brothers, his father disowned him.” Dax shook his head slowly, seeming lost in his memories.
Then his eyes darkened. “Surprisingly, Alexander was also able to turn his other sons against Dax. That was the part Dax never saw coming. On some level, he knew he’d lose his father, and his mother by default, if he chose to follow his dreams. But he never thought he’d lose his brothers, too.” He paused. “As Dax struggled to excel in school so he could someday make a name for himself in the financial sector, he fell into a deep depression, and probably for the first time could relate to the betrayal Kayla felt after he ended their relationship.” He held his head in his hands. “The pressure was too much for Dax, and he started experimenting with recreational drugs.” He looked down at me. “But by the grace of God, he caught himself before it spiraled. Actually, his roommate, an amazing guy named Tyler Brinkman, had a lot to do with helping him see that things were getting out of control. Dax took a leave of absence from grad school and entered a rehab facility, managing to clean up his act before it ruined him.”
I let go of the breath I’d been holding.
“Dax returned to grad school in full force, got a great job after graduation, and by his late twenties, he’d become one of the top venture capitalists in the city, working at one point under the apprenticeship of Maren Wade at Stryker Investments.” Dax smiled. “His boss was a remarkable woman. Not only did she run a company, she was a single mom to a boy she’d adopted when he was eight. It wasn’t until Dax left that job to take a position at another firm that Maren and he became close on a personal level. She seemed enamored with him, and he felt lucky to be on the receiving end of that admiration.” He stared out into the fire. “Maren gave him the kind of love he didn’t have from his family anymore. She respected his ambitions, made him feel wanted and protected. Deep down, Dax knew he wasn’t in love with Maren the way you need to be to commit to spending your life with someone. But he wanted so badly to reciprocate her feelings. He didn’t want to lose her. So when she suggested they go to Las Vegas one weekend and tie the knot, Dax agreed. After all, he couldn’t imagine a life without her in it. At the time, though, he hadn’t yet realized that a marriage meant more than just mutual respect and admiration or a feeling of security. In order to really work, there had to be passion.” He exhaled. “He will never forgive himself for not realizing that sooner, for not giving her the type of love she deserved, and for wasting her precious time. He will spend the rest of his life making up for that tragic mistake, ensuring that Rafe, the son she loved so much, never wants for anything.”
Dax closed his eyes, and I felt like maybe this was getting to be too much for him. “You can stop,” I assured him.
“No. It’s okay,” he muttered before taking a deep breath and continuing. “After his wife died suddenly, Dax felt lost, totally consumed by guilt and feeling an emptiness he’d never experienced before. Nothing compared to it, not even the abandonment of his own family. One day, he decided to look into Rafe’s past, so he could potentially find someone who might love the boy in a way Dax felt he was too broken to be capable of. That search led him to discover that Rafe had an older, biological sister.” He smiled. “Dax crafted a plan to get to know her by pretending to be one of her clients, fooling her into believing he simply wanted a massage. Wren wasn’t the only one fooled, though. The biggest trick Dax played was on himself. Because from almost the moment she looked into his eyes, he felt different. He felt something he’d never felt before: a magnetic pull to another human being. Whether he was listening to her hypnotizing cello or having an honest conversation, Wren made him feel human again. But the great irony? Wren was the one woman Dax couldn’t pursue. He’d made a promise never to hurt Maren’s son. And he intended to keep that promise. And anyway, there were many other reasons he wasn’t right for her. But understanding that didn’t stop him from dreaming of her at night. Thus, his life remained a conundrum.” He turned to me. “The rest is unwritten,” he whispered, repeating the line I’d used when I ended my story.
