AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shrugged. "No reason."
I pulled the car out of the garage and allowed Dean to drive us to the restaurant. I'd arranged to get his driver’s permit, so he could drive with an adult. I still hadn't gotten him private lessons yet, but I was teaching him myself until then.
Dean followed the rules and did his best to be an attentive driver, but being his passenger still scared me to death. Thankfully, the restaurant we were going to was on the outskirts of town, and traffic wasn’t too thick.
It took him two tries to park between the lines, but finally, he parked and turned off the ignition.
I patted him on the back. "You're getting it."
He didn't look at me, but I could see the smile on his face, and that was worth every gray hair I'd sprouted during the drive over.
We walked into the restaurant and in the back corner, Levi held up his hand, waving to let us know that he was already there.
"Is he going to have cool stories about you in college?" Dean asked as we wove our way through the restaurant.
"I bet he does, but if he tells them to you, I'm going to have to kill him."
Dean shook his head. “Yeah, right.”
“What does that mean?”
“I bet you were a total square.”
I wanted to deny it. I could deny it. But I decided it was better for him to think I was a square than to know the truth. At least for now.
When we arrived at the table, Levi stood and held out his hand to Dean. "Levi Wexford. Your dad's oldest friend."
Dean took his hand and shook. "Dean Marshall, your friend's oldest son."
Levi looked at me and laughed. "Chip off the old block."
We sat down, ordering drinks—nonalcoholic for Dean, of course—and reviewed the menu.
Once we ordered our meals, Levi asked Dean, "So, how are you enjoying life back in Las Vegas?"
Dean shrugged nonchalantly, but at least he didn't hold the bitterness that he’d had not so long ago. "It's all right."
Levi arched a brow at me.
"I think the whole situation probably sucked for him, but we’ve settled in and I think things are going pretty well. Dean, why don't you tell Levi about the charity event you're working on?"
Dean's cheeks flushed as if he was embarrassed by my trying to brag about him. It was something he was going to have to get used to. I was proud of my son. Not just for his charity event ideas, but for surviving me and Taylor. And for giving me a second chance.
Dean explained the idea and how far we’d gotten so far in planning it.
Levi smiled at him. "You really are a chip off the old block." He looked at me. "Why didn’t you think of that? You always come up with these crazy ideas that should never, ever work, and yet somehow, they do."
I shrugged. "It is what it is."
Levi turned his attention back to Dean. "You think you're going to take over your old man's empire someday?"
Dean looked at me and blinked. Clearly, it hadn't been something he'd ever thought about. “I don't know."
All of a sudden, I was concerned that he would feel pressure to make a lifelong decision when he was still so young. "Dean still has high school to get through, and then college, and then figuring out where his passions lie. And if it’s with me and the company, great, but if there's something else, I'm more than fine with that too."
Our dinners arrived, and we continued chatting and eating, and I was so pleased that Dean was engaging with Levi.
Just as I was finishing up the last of my steak, my phone vibrated in my pocket. It wasn't the first time. It had been buzzing every few minutes for the last ten minutes or so. I had news alerts for many areas of my business, but most were benign. The frequency with which these were coming in began to concern me. I had a vision of Mikael doing something crazy.
