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Bringing out the big guns, I clipped platinum hoops in my ears and fastened a matching bangle at my wrist. High heels added the finishing touch. I’d spent so many days lately in casual clothes the shoes felt foreign.
If I were going to be support for Finley, I was going to look the part.
* * * *
None of the hotels in Portree were fancy. Also, none of them were far away. Finley took one look at me, raised an appreciative eyebrow, and picked up the keys to the Jeep. “Clearly we’re not walking anywhere with you in those shoes.”
I smiled at him and nodded, a little punchy at the effect of seeing him dressed so nicely in khaki slacks, a white button-up shirt, and a tweed blazer. His gaze was clearer this morning. He carried an air of gravity.
The trip took all of ten minutes. We found a parking spot on the street and headed for the hotel lobby. After speaking with the clerk, Finley picked up the house phone and dialed the room.
It must have been Vanessa who answered, judging from what Finley said on his end. When he hung up, he bobbled the receiver of the old-fashioned landline and nearly dropped it. “I guess we’ll head upstairs.”
I gripped his hand in mine, trying to communicate my concern.
The hotel had a tiny elevator. It was currently in use by a family of four trying to get all of their belongings upstairs in one trip.
“I’ll be fine taking the stairs,” I said.
We climbed three floors up and stopped in the hallway. Finley’s hand was like ice. I leaned into him. “Pretend he’s not your dad and that we’re just visiting an acquaintance.”
His half smile reassured me. “Is that how you get through your bad days, Duchess?”
I squeezed his fingers. “Whatever works.”
Finley knocked at the appropriate door. Even though we weren’t meeting with my family, my stomach was in knots. Vanessa let us in. The two-room suite included a modest sitting area. An old man half-reclined in one chair. I felt Finley stiffen in shock.
His father was sallow, his eye sockets sunken. I don’t know if he had been bald before. He was now. His age-spotted hand trembled when he lifted it in greeting. “Hello, son.”
Finley exhaled. “Hello, Dad.”
There was no place for Vanessa and me to go, not that I wanted to abandon Finley anyway. So the four of us sat in an uncomfortable tableau. Vanessa had said her piece up at Finley’s house. Now she was mute, her brown eyes worried. She kept looking at Mr. Craig as if afraid he might collapse.
I’m not sure who was expected to break the ice. Finally, thank God, Finley’s father jumped in with both feet. “I’ve come to apologize, son.”
“Because you’re dying.” It wasn’t a question.
The old man’s shrug was eerily similar to Finley’s. “That’s one reason. I should have done this ten years ago before you left. But you pissed me off. And it hurt me that you didn’t want to take the reins of the company.”
Finley leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “It had nothing to do with you in the beginning. I wasn’t cut out to be a nine-to-five businessman. I needed more. The kicker was when you sicced Vanessa here on me.” He paused and gave both of them a glare. “And when you paid her to seduce me.”
The other two people in the room went still. It was clear that everyone except me remembered what had happened in painful detail.
Vanessa finally found her voice. “I should have told him no.”
“But there was the fifty grand. Hard to say no to that.” Finley’s sarcasm made me wince.
His father didn’t answer. Vanessa, however, carried the flag. “I admired your father. He was trying to strengthen both companies. The money was an incentive, yes. It didn’t seem like such a bad thing he was asking in the beginning. All I had to do was go out on a few dates with you and coax you into seeing the benefits of sticking around.”
“And if I had never found out about the money?”
His ex-girlfriend blanched. “Honestly, I felt wrong about what I was doing even in the beginning, but I knew joining the companies was really important. It wasn’t like you were in love with me. You were practically still a kid.”
“I was twenty-five.”
“And I was twenty-nine,” Vanessa said. “I should have known better.”
Mr. Craig spoke up. “Enough of that. The point is that I hurt you and dragged Vanessa into my mess, too. I want to tell you, Finley, that I’m damn sorry. I’ve been sorry for a long, long time. I’d like to think you could forgive me, but the important thing is that you know I love you.”
