After the Climb (River Rain 0.50)

Genny giggled.

Dad’s eyes all crinkled, he caught him by the neck again.

“Now, that’s my boy.”

Yeah.

Everything was all right.

Tom

* * *

The doorbell rang, and he went to open it.

The man stood outside.

“Duncan,” Tom greeted.

“Tom,” Duncan returned.

He stepped aside. “Come in.”

Duncan entered.

Tom closed the door behind him, led him to the living room, and asked, “You want a drink?”

“You got beer?”

He looked to the guy. “I was going to have a whiskey.”

Duncan tipped up his chin. “That’s better.”

Tom went to the drinks cart, asking, “Ice? Water?”

“Straight.”

Tom nodded and started to pour two fingers into two old fashioned glasses.

“Nice place,” Duncan remarked.

He didn’t look at the living room with the sunken seating area, the wall of windows that had a view to his lit pool, the stark but comfortable modern furniture.

It was the house he’d bought, and paid to have decorated, not giving much of a shit because he didn’t think he’d be there very long.

“Thanks. Hear yours is pretty spectacular.”

“Work hard, reap the rewards.”

He couldn’t argue that.

Though, he’d learned some rewards were more important than others, and if you didn’t continue nurturing them, they slipped through your fingers.

He handed Duncan a glass and inquired, “Sit outside?”

“Sure.”

Tom led him through the opened panel doors to the firepit right outside that had two chairs angled to it.

Phoenix was Phoenix, but in the winter the nights got cold.

He lit the firepit.

When he was done, he saw Duncan was still standing.

“Sit,” he invited, going to his own seat.

They sat.

Tom started it.

“Decent of you to come here.”

“Should be you and me first. Get over the awkward,” Duncan replied. “Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and it starts.”

“Right, yeah, but you didn’t have to come all the way out here.”

“You live in North Scottsdale, man, it wasn’t that far.”

Tom nodded, took a sip, stared at the fire. No more had to be said about that. Both men knew it was more than decent that Duncan agreed to meet for the first time on Tom’s turf.

Neither of them said anything for a long time.

Too long.

Even if Tom had played in his head how he wanted this to go so they could move on and have…whatever it was they had to have for Genny and his kids.

Duncan broke the silence.

“Listen, we need to get past this so they can be good.”

Tom looked to him. “I feel I need to explain.”

Duncan shook his head. “That’s not mine, that’s Genny’s.”

“Not that,” Tom returned. And he ignored the taste in his mouth when he had to say, “But she was yours when I was an ass to her, and that I have to explain.”

Duncan looked surprised.

Tom kept talking.

“I thought we still had a chance. She wasn’t dating, and to win her back, I wasn’t about to look at another woman.”

He watched the man hiss in a breath.

Quietly, Tom said, “I think you’ve proved she’s not a woman you can get over.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“But I love her, and I’ll always love her, and doing so, want what’s best for her. And you make her happy. My daughters adore you. My son…”

He couldn’t finish that by stating the truth.

His son liked Duncan Holloway, respected him and gave him his time.

None of which he gave his father.

“He’ll come around,” Duncan muttered.

Tom looked to the fire. “I taught him too well not to let anyone harm his mother.”

“That’s why he’ll come around. ’Cause while you were teachin’ him that, Genny was teaching him the importance of family.”

Tom hoped he was right.

He took another sip.

“Your girls are amazing, your son is a good man,” Duncan began. “Any other instance, I’d wanna know you, Tom. What’s between us is big, but I figure I’m not wrong that we’re both the type of men who can get beyond it.”

“Because Genny wants that,” Tom stated.

“Because Genny needs that,” Duncan corrected.

Yes.

She did.

And Tom needed it too. For Genny. And for his kids.

“I went to one of your stores the other day,” Tom told the fire, then looked to Duncan. “They’re impressive. Interactive. The climbing wall. The mini-ski slope where you can test the skis. The dirt track you build around the perimeter where your customers can try out a mountain bike. It’s like a store and a nature amusement park rolled into one.”

“Gotta have something to draw the crowds,” he said into his glass.

“Your Kids and Trails program is essential.”

Duncan turned and looked him in the eye. “I agree. And it’d be a boost to fundraising if me and Tom Pierce took a pack of kids out and did a video.”

A surprise.

Also a good idea.

And an olive branch that would work for them, their families and the public.

He did not underestimate this man, considering his accomplishments.

But he was impressed.

“I’m in,” Tom replied.

“We can do this.”

He didn’t mean the Kids and Trails fundraising promo.

“We can.”

“He chose to stay with you for Thanksgiving, but as you know, Hale’s coming to the house for Christmas. I need to talk to him about his father. And I think it’d go easier on him if you were there.”