Her Ex's Dad

However, none of that would ever happen. I’d been born to take over a multi-billion dollar company, educated and groomed for it. I was also supposed to pass it on to my son someday. Fat chance of that! That bridge had been burned to the ground already as I’d learned the hard way about family, women and love. The women I’d dated, only wanted me for the money and never love. All I had to do was look at my one failed marriage.

I grinned at my reflection. It wasn’t that I couldn’t get a date. I’m not hard to look at. I shrugged my wide shoulders as my smile faded, but most women just thought my well muscled body and good looks to be just tasty icing on an already lucrative money cake. The models and actresses I’d met at social gatherings did nothing for me. Why would I want to embrace a living skeleton? No warmth, no curves. Then almost always, their personality matched too. A shallow illusion of a woman, all glittery while wearing makeup that must’ve been put on with a paintbrush and layered on like spackle. Not a real woman even on the inside, nothing real to hold onto.

It didn’t matter anyways, even if they had more shape to them, they were all false. I’m simply a walking, muscled meal ticket and every power hungry debutant wanted to cash me in. What about what I wanted? A life where yeah, rent was a struggle to make, but at least you were in control of your own destiny, no matter how small it might be. Then, I wanted to be able to find a woman made just for me, someone who was real, not picture perfect, not a paint by numbers woman…and untainted by greed. Yeah, like she even exists! My ex wife hadn’t been it either and I’d learned that the hard way. I had considered for a long while when the marriage hadn’t been going all that well, that I’d married too young. We had a kid right off too. I hadn’t been ready for that either.

I let out a sigh. I needed to forget about all that. It’d been a long time in the past now.

“Are you ready sir?” A voice called from the hallway.

I sighed as my dream of being Mr. Smith, invisible guy evaporated. I grabbed my Armani jacket and called back to my driver, “Yeah Parker, I’m ready!”

~* * * *~

“Are you sure this is the right way?” I sat forward in the Limo seat.

“Yes, sir.”

Sighing and peering up at the sign, I shook my head. “I don’t like this.” The car stopped and I gazed down at my overly expensive watch. The Board of Directors gave me the garish timepiece for my last birthday. A regular watch would suit me better, but it didn’t matter, time was just…Time. I sighed and tried to be patient. My instructions were precise and I couldn’t leave the car yet. “Parker, have you seen any agents at all?”

“No, sir. But I imagine it’s their job to remain invisible.”

“Yeah, well if this goes wrong? They’d better appear and fast,” I grumbled as the word invisible felt like a catchword to me. To just disappear and start over. It would be so great to be free.

A few minutes went by in silence as I wondered if this might be more dangerous than Agent Moss let on. They needed to ferret out the person who was fronting the whole thing. Well, at least it was something far away from the boardroom or the all too empty gated, locked down penthouse. In fact, I’d never been on this side of town before. I gazed at the truck stop to see it looked rather old and well used. “I bet they have great pancakes.” Yeah a silly thought, a three stack with melting butter and maple syrup. A heady taste and enjoyed while country music hummed in the background. Simple pleasures of a simple world.

“It’s time sir,” Parker announced.

I released a breath as again, my normal fantasy disappeared on me. “Okay. Ready as I’ll ever be.” I checked my pocket yet again for the component. It weighed nothing and was only a quarter inch wide, almost small enough to lose in an instant. “Who would think something this small would be such a big God dammed deal?”

“I don’t know sir. Sometimes, small things can be worth a lot.”

The offhand but meaningful remark struck me as odd. In the years my driver had been with me, he’d never said anything so profound.

“Good luck, Sir.”

“Yeah…You know what Parker?”

“Sir?”

“I think from now on…You can call me by my first name, okay?”

My driver gazed at me through the rearview mirror and then broke out into a warm grin. “Yes, sir. I mean—Tucker.”

I chuckled and opened the door. “Now remember, you’re supposed to take off and wait for me around back, okay?”