“Sure.”
“Do you ever regret that you left your opportunities behind? You were at the top in Toronto, you know? And I know they made this VP position for you, but...you gave up a lot to move here. Your dreams and plans.” All Drew could think about was the look on his dad’s face whenever he’d turned down a new opportunity. Drew loved his mom, but he had never understood her refusal to let her husband follow his dreams.
“I didn’t give up anything,” Dan replied. “Not compared to what I’d gained. What makes you ask?”
“I heard Dad and Mom arguing once. He’d been offered a job that would have been a great opportunity, but Mom didn’t want to leave the neighbourhood or put us in a different school. Dad was stuck in that same job his whole life, you know? Locked in because he was tied down...with us.”
Dan’s face softened. “Drew. You don’t blame yourself for that, do you? Because couples...they talk about these things. And they make compromises.”
“Yeah, but what if there wasn’t a compromise? Because people make ultimatums, too, Dan. I love Mom. She’s an amazing woman. But it’s always bugged me that she might have held him back from something really great.”
“And you don’t want that to happen to you.”
He let out a relieved breath. “Yes. You get it.”
But Dan shook his head. “Sorry, but I don’t. It means you’re holding your heart back either out of fear or selfishness, and that’s not right. Hey, if you’re happy being alone, fine. But if you’re not, then stop sabotaging good relationships.”
Was that what he was doing? Maybe. He certainly wasn’t happy. He had been, until...
Until Harper came along and changed everything. Not because he was rich. And his charm didn’t work on her, either. She saw past all that and she...
She loved him anyway. She’d loved him even when she had always known he would walk out.
Damn.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” he murmured, cradling his cup. He looked up at Dan. “I don’t know if I have what it takes. I’m not brave like her. Hell, like you.” A sideways smile touched his mouth.
Dan laughed. “I’m not brave. Know what it is? It’s realizing that life with someone is far less scary than facing life without them. You guys changed each other, and that’s pretty amazing. Don’t throw it away because of an argument you heard twenty years ago.”
When Dan put it like that...
“Better yet,” Dan continued, “call Dad and ask him about it. Dad gives good advice.”
Drew pulled in a long breath, pursed his lips and let it out slowly, fighting against the wash of emotion. “Yeah,” he whispered, suddenly homesick. “He does.”
Drew left a little while longer, and once in his hotel room, called his dad. It was late in Ontario, but as always, his parents were ready to chat whenever one of their kids needed them.
“Hey, Dad. I won’t keep you long. I just want to ask you a question.”
“Sure. Let me go downstairs so I don’t keep up your mother.”
It took a few moments, then he heard his dad sigh as he sat down in his chair. “What’s up?”
“Do you remember, when I was seven or eight, that you had a job opportunity up north?”
“Goodness. Yeah, but that was a long time ago. What about it?”
“Why didn’t you take it?”
“Your mother and I didn’t want to have to sell the house and move you kids so far. This is a nice neighbourhood. Your friends were here. You were doing well.”
Drew stared at the ceiling of his hotel room. “You and Mom decided? Or just Mom?”
He could almost see the wrinkles in his dad’s forehead as he answered. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I heard you arguing about it. I know it was a big opportunity for you and she was the one who didn’t want to go. And I remember hearing you making comments now and again about being stuck. I guess... I’m wondering if you still resent that. If you wish it had gone differently.”
There was a deep sigh. “Drew, sometimes a man weighs what he wants against the needs of his family, and when you love your family, it’s no contest. Family comes first.”