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In time, he had come to enjoy the work and taken pride in the company’s exponential growth in online traffic and analytics. In truth, he cared nothing about the CEO position and had only competed for it because he felt his father didn’t believe he could do it. Unlike his brothers, his desire to create and cook was too strong to ignore. Thus, his food truck purchase and operation on the weekends—another bane to his father, who found the very idea of the food truck industry beneath chefs of Cress caliber.
An outdated and judgmental notion.
And he’s the last man to hold everyone else to such damn high standards.
Cole set his cup down on the saucer as he spared his father a glance just as the man looked down the length of the table to give his wife a warm smile. The anger he felt with his father—the same ire that had spurned his rebellious nature since his teenage years—burned like fire in his gut.
Liar.
Phillip Senior was a formidable man who was very aware that he was raising men. He loved his boys, but the only softness and warmth he showed in abundance was to their mother. There had been little tolerance for whining, misbehaving, mistruths or weakness from his sons.
Cole looked to one of the two empty chairs at the table. The normal seat of his older brother, Gabe, was empty. He was proud of him for standing up to the disparaging way his father had spoken of Monica upon discovering his son had dared to date the help.
Cole felt his stomach burn at the memory...
“Is she the reason for your insanity lately?” Phillip roared, the veins of his neck seemingly strained.
“She’s the reason I’m happy,” Gabe returned calmly.
“Happy or horny?”
“Both.”
Cole chuckled, which incensed his father even more, yet his other brothers sat as if afraid to speak up. Their silence angered Cole. Gone was their alliance as brothers.
“There are women you wed and those you bed. Know the difference. And that goes for all of you,” Phillip said.
Gabe angrily strode over to his father, standing toe-to-toe to confront him. “Don’t disrespect her in that way.” His voice was cold. “I tolerate a lot from you, but I will not put up with that.”
Knowing Gabe was “The Good One,” offering no trouble and never a cross word to his parents, it had been exhilarating to watch him challenge their father. In the same manner, Cole wished he had been brave enough to do the same in the past.
As his family members’ conversation continued around the table, Cole, lost in his thoughts, took another deep sip of the brew. He barely noticed his grip on the rim of his cup had tightened. Once he did, he released it. The cup dropped down onto the saucer. He had to catch it before it tipped and spilled its hot contents.
Every eye was on him.
“Quelque chose ne va pas, Oncle Cole?”
At his niece’s question, Cole looked down at her, looking up at him through her bright spectacles from her usual seat beside him at the table. He smiled at her with warmth. “Nothing’s wrong, Collie,” he assured her.
“You seemed moodier than usual,” Nicolette observed, giving him an encouraging smile. “I know you love Jillian’s potatoes. Not feeling well?”
“Don’t spoil him, Nicolette.”
Cole tensed at his father’s terse reprimand. “Spoiled is believing you can have anything you want, when and where you want it,” he snapped, sitting back against his chair.
Phillip Senior glared at him before shaking his head and returning his attention to the print newspapers he still favored.
Cole didn’t miss his brothers Lucas and Sean share a look. Phillip Junior frowned and his wife pretended not to notice. Collette was lost to the tension.
The father-son contentious relationship was nothing new. In truth, the root of Cole’s problem with his father was more than a rebellion. It was a bitter disappointment.
As a teenager, Cole had visited the family’s restaurant and walked in on his father cheating on his mother with one of the waitresses. Visions of their half-clothed bodies rutting away flashed in his mind’s eye and he winced at the memory and forced it out.
He’d never shared the secret of his father’s affair. At times, he hated himself for that.
Cole looked at his mother. A devoted beauty whose feelings for her husband were clear. Her love. And her loyalty.
He hadn’t wanted to hurt her, but his anger at his father for betraying her had been stewing for years.
