“I appreciate you fitting me in, Mr. Wexler.” He shook the older man’s hand.
“Roger. And it’s no problem. What can I do for you?” He gestured to the chair in front of his desk and waited for Mike to sit before lowering himself back into his own seat.
“Carly mentioned she was going on vacation. The beach sounds like a good place to recuperate.” Mike was acting on a hunch, but he had no other leads.
Roger nodded and leaned forward on his elbows. “Sure is. We’ve spent a month at that beach house every summer for the past twelve years or so.” The man’s eyes narrowed, his curiosity evident. “Why?”
Mike wondered how much to reveal. Gazing into the older man’s eyes, he opted for the truth. Too much in the way of lies had passed between this man and Mike’s family. “One reason is a photo layout I’m doing for a local paper. I need a place to stay while I research the area and take some pictures.”
“And the other reason?”
Mike cleared his throat. “Your daughter.” Uncomfortable with the topic of conversation, he pushed himself up from his chair. He paced the plush office, admiring the view and the furnishings.
Despite the fact that this man was a lawyer, his office held a warmth that surprised him. The place reminded Mike of Carly. She obviously had more in common with her father than he’d realized. More than she wanted to admit
“I see,” Roger said.
Did he? Did the older man understand how Mike felt about his daughter, or did he put him in the same category as his brother? Mike shoved a hand beneath his blazer, into the back pocket of his jeans.
“Mr. Wexler...” Mike paused. How did one overcome the sins of one’s brother? And did he have that right considering his intentions were good but not long-term?
Roger rose and met him in the center of the large room. “I’m not going to judge you based on Peter. And in case he didn’t tell you, I’m not going to judge his work based on his action toward Carly.”
“I haven’t spoken to Pete.” Mike had left the apartment early each morning and returned late at night. Until he’d come to terms with what his brother had become, he wasn’t ready to deal with him. At least not yet.
“Well, I was all set to toss him the hell out. Until Carly begged me not to mix business with her personal life.”
Mike should have been surprised, but he wasn’t. Carly was too sweet for her own good. He met Roger’s assessing stare. Brown eyes, the same warm eyes he’d looked into last night stared back at him.
“He’ll have to work hard to keep his partnership. And right or wrong, I’ll be watching him. One slip and I’ll do everything in my power to have his partnership revoked.”
The older man let out a sigh, one that seemed old and overdue in years. “Whatever else I may have done, I do love my daughter.”
“I believe that, sir.”
Roger nodded. “Back to you. You went after her last night. Is she okay?”
He obviously hadn’t heard anything personal from Carly. The thought saddened Mike. And something in Roger’s tone caught Mike’s attention. Called to him, in fact. He’d bet the question hadn’t been an easy one for the older man to ask.
“As well as can be expected,” Mike said. “She’s hurt. Feels betrayed.” He shook his head.
“She’s known too much of that.”
“I wouldn’t know, sir.” Mike thought the older man deserved to know that Carly had kept family secrets buried.
Her father walked over to a group of framed photos on his desk. Picking up one in a small silver frame, he frowned. “Too damn much,” he muttered.
Mike didn’t know what else to say. Asking for an explanation felt like prying. Although he now realized the person who hadn’t put Carly’s needs first was her father.
“May I?” Mike reached out a hand.
Roger nodded. Enclosed in the small frame was a family photo of a younger Carly and her parents. Mike placed her age somewhere in her early teens.
Since he hadn’t come from a typical family unit, family dynamics was unfamiliar terrain. But his years as a photographer had taught him to judge a picture by the body language of the subjects. Against the backdrop of a beach house and the ocean behind it, Roger stood, his hands at his sides. His wife leaned away from him, one hand around his waist, the other on her daughter’s shoulder. Carly smiled for the camera, but her expressive eyes betrayed an inner unhappiness. This photo displayed the family Mike had seen at dinner the other night. Had things once been different?
“Nice,” he said, handing the picture back to the older man.
Roger shook his head. “Some things in life you can’t undo,” he murmured, obviously caught in another time. He cleared his throat. “Well. You said you need a place to stay in the Hamptons.”