Back then, the more he earned and learned, the more Dunbar expected of him. Harrison needed to prove his father wrong. He wanted change, and he wanted it fast. This worked perfectly for his mentor, who often used Harrison’s personal vendetta to drive his ambition toward success and the success of the company.
Harrison had a knack for investing money in the right markets. He became obsessed with rates and investment opportunities to the point that he sometimes dreamed about numbers. Within a couple of years, he was given a corner office and a private parking space for his own collectible car.
He knew then, if he’d stayed in Jasper Falls, it would have eventually killed him.
Yet here he was, back again.
His car idled in front of his childhood home, and he cringed. While none of the houses screamed new construction, there was something vacant and hollow about theirs. No shutters like the others, no welcome mat or wreath on the door. Just a cold, lifeless shell.
Why had his sister stayed? She’d left for a while when she took a job for the mayor, but when that fell through, she couldn’t afford rent and had to let her apartment go. He should have helped her. He could have sent her money or…
God, he was a shitty brother.
He beeped the horn, alerting her that he was there.
They had a meeting with the mortician at eleven so Erin could go over all the details of the funeral. Why they needed a ceremony to celebrate the life of a man who made their childhood a living hell was beyond him. This was her decision, not his.
If it had been up to Harrison, a can of lighter fluid and a match would have done the trick. But Erin begged for a funeral, and he couldn’t tell her no.
She said she needed closure and claimed the funeral would be better for the town. The town never gave a shit about them, so he had a hard time caring what any of the locals might need or think. Still, there was little he could deny his sister, and for reasons he couldn’t understand, she was pretty torn up over the whole thing.
The front door opened and she came skipping out of the house looking much better than she had the day before. The moment she got into the car, he could smell traces of his past on her clothing. Traces of their father’s cigarette smoke and the tinge of emotional poverty swirling in the air.
“Hey.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d show.”
He frowned. “I told you I’d be here.”
She shrugged and buckled her seatbelt. “I know, but I thought you might have changed your mind.”
She expected him to bolt. The thought had crossed his mind, but here he was. “Where is this place?”
“Head to Main Street. I want to grab a coffee first.”
Once Erin had her coffee, she directed him to the funeral home. Despite the thirty-degree day, he rolled down the window to let in some fresh air. The unwanted stench of his childhood home was destroying the leather scent of his car.
“Are you hot? It’s freezing outside.”
“I just want some air.”
She turned up the dial that controlled the heat. “We have to come up with something to write in the obituary. I wasn’t sure if you remembered any of Dad’s—”
“I told you, I’m not doing any of that. I’m just here to cut the check.”
Her brows lowered as she frowned at him. Her judgement needled, but he didn’t care. “Harrison, you might regret—”
“The only thing I regret is not leaving sooner, Erin. I’m doing this for you. I don’t need any of it.”
His sister let out an audible breath and sat back in the seat. “Then why’d you even come?”
“Because you asked me to.”
“I also asked you not to leave, but that didn’t stop you.”
“You could have left, too. I’ll never understand why you stayed here or why you moved back home.” She’d been on her own. She could have toughed it out. “It’s like you just gave up—”
“Don’t. I haven’t got the strength to argue with you about events that can’t change.”
He wanted to know why she stayed. Didn’t she realize there were countless opportunities out there. She could have started over a dozen times, but she stayed stuck in this damn town.
“Was it because of Finn McCullough? Is he why you stayed?”
“Jesus, Harrison, drop it. And my relationship with Finn ended years ago. He’s married and has half a dozen kids, now.”
“It just doesn’t make sense.”
“I could say the same about you vanishing out of our lives. You had a family here.”
His shoulders tensed with the weight of unshakable guilt. His mother had left a few years before him. And as far as family went… He had a sister. That was it.
“I should’ve called more. Checked in to see if you needed anything.”