‘I don’t know, kiddo. Forgot to put my x-ray specs on this morning.’ He shot him a grin. ‘I guess I’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way and actually answer the door.’
‘Maybe it’s Poppy,’ Charlie said hopefully. ‘Can I go out and play?’
‘I’m pretty sure Poppy’s getting ready for bed by now.’ He’d heard Juliet calling her from across the yard earlier. Ryan was more relaxed about bedtimes – as long as Charlie got enough sleep, everything was good.
‘Dammit.’ Charlie pursed his lips. ‘That’s no fun.’
Ryan was still chuckling at Charlie’s response when he opened the door. The smile slid off his lips as soon as he saw who was standing there.
‘What do you want?’ he asked. He glanced back to check that Charlie wasn’t in earshot.
The man in front of him seemed smaller than he remembered. Frailer, too. And yet looking at him made Ryan feel like he was ten years old again, watching his father’s face turn puce as he yelled at Ryan’s mother.
‘Someone told me they’d seen you in town. I wanted to check for myself,’ his father said.
‘Got back yesterday.’ Ryan kept his face impassive.
‘But why?’ the old man asked. ‘Why are you here after all these years?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Your mother’s been crying all day.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ If he’d been younger, more impulsive, Ryan might have pointed out that it was his father who usually made her cry. But he wasn’t that child any more. He was a man. And he had his own child to protect.
‘It’s none of your business why I’m here,’ Ryan said.
Charlie popped his head around Ryan, his hand full of brightly coloured bricks. ‘Dad, can you help me with this?’
For a moment his father said nothing. Just stared down at Charlie. He looked back at the car, but Ryan’s father still hadn’t moved. ‘Is that your son?’
He sounded surprised. Ryan liked the fact he hadn’t found out everything. He’d assumed they’d discovered Charlie’s existence – it was just like his father to keep tabs on him wherever he was in the world. But at least he’d managed to keep this element of surprise.
‘Yes he is.’ Ryan hooked his arm around Charlie, pulling him close. It was impossible to ignore the need to protect him.
Charlie blinked at Ryan’s tone, staring up at him with guarded interest. But he said nothing, just watched and observed.
‘How long are you in town for?’ his father asked.
‘I don’t think that’s any of your business either.’
For the first time his father reacted. He narrowed his eyes, his thin lips disappearing into nothing. ‘It is my business. It’s family business. I want to know whether you’re planning on interfering with the company.’
Ryan stifled the urge to laugh. It wasn’t humour that made him want to let it out, more the realisation that some things hadn’t changed in all the years he’d been gone. The company came first, as always.
He might have held a third of the shares in the company – thanks to the inheritance he’d got from his grandfather – but Ryan had never wanted to be involved in the business. He gave all the dividends he earned away to charity – helping out the small town in Namibia where Charlie had been born. But he knew it killed his father to know that Ryan had any control.
Charlie shifted next to him, taking in every word. The need to get this man off his doorstep outweighed Ryan’s need to goad him. ‘I wasn’t planning on it. Unless you need my help.’
‘I don’t need anything from you. I just want to make sure you don’t interfere where you’re not wanted.’
‘Is that it?’ Ryan asked, pushing Charlie gently behind him as he stepped back into the hallway. ‘Because I have things to do. Perhaps next time you want to talk to me, you can make an appointment.’
‘You shouldn’t have come back. You know that.’ His father took one final look at him, then turned his back on Ryan and Charlie, heading back to the black sedan parked next to the sidewalk. Ryan closed the door, leaning back on it for a moment, trying to catch his breath.
It had been a heck of a day. From the moment he’d woken up he hadn’t had a chance to take a breath. The removal trucks, Charlie getting beaten up at school, meeting the pretty woman with the dark clouds in her eyes. Seeing his father for the first time in years was the icing on the cake.
Coming back to Shaw Haven had seemed like such a good idea a few weeks ago. What the hell had he been thinking?
‘Mommy, do you think Daddy’s lonely?’ Poppy was lying in her bed, face up to the ceiling, while Juliet was curled up next to her. She was still holding the copy of The Cat in the Hat which they’d been reading together, Poppy spelling out the words as Juliet pointed to them.
This was Juliet’s favourite time of the evening – lying next to a sleepy Poppy, the two of them discussing how their day had gone.