Millionaire Hero (Freeman Brothers 4)

“I forgot that you have your own coffee shop sitting in your office,” Dad said. “So, I brought you some.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I appreciate it.” I took the plastic top off the cup and leaned down to breathe in the smell. “What flavor is it?”

“It’s a new grind from that place you like. I forgot exactly what they said it was. Maybe something with cherry?” he said.

I took a sip and nodded. “Yeah, it tastes like dark chocolate and cherries. That’s really good.”

We sat down on the couch at the side of my office, and Dad sipped at his coffee for a few seconds before he looked over at me.

“I wanted to apologize to you,” he said. “Your mother gave me all the details about what happened with Bryn. I shouldn’t have corrected you like that when you were defending her. What your mother did was wrong, and she deserved to hear it. I never like to hear anybody talking to her that way, you know that. Especially one of her sons. But in this situation, you were in the right.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I felt guilty for saying those things to her, but I couldn’t just let her keep doing that to Bryn. She’s in a really delicate place in life.”

“I heard about that, too. Congratulations, son,” Dad said.

“Thanks,” I said. “But it isn’t just the baby. It’s everything. She’s really had people take advantage of her and try to pressure her into what they want. I think she just needs some time to breathe and figure out what she wants in life.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Dad said. “And I want you to know that your mother is really sorry, too. She never meant to hurt either one of you. She just got wrapped up in the whole idea and thought she was being cute and encouraging. You know she wouldn’t have purposely done something to make Bryn uncomfortable or to hurt you.”

“I know,” I said, nodding. “It’s done. I said everything I needed to say to her, and hopefully she got the message and isn’t going to do it anymore.”

“I can assure you she won’t. And she wanted to make sure Bryn knew how sorry she was, too. So, she headed over to her house this morning to apologize in person.”

I was suddenly itching to text Bryn to make sure she was okay. I believed my mother was sorry for what she did, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say I trusted she wouldn’t fall off the wagon as soon as she saw Bryn in person.

Actually coming face-to-face with her and being able to talk to her might just push my mother past her self-restraint limitations. I wouldn’t be surprised if she completely overwhelmed Bryn with her exuberance over the new baby, and more encouragement for the two of us to get married.

I wished I was there to provide some sort of barrier between the two women. The thing was, knowing both of them, I knew if they were able to meet and spend time together in more normal circumstances, they would form a close relationship. They had some similar personality traits and got along wonderfully at the picnic. Maybe there was still a chance of that happening someday.

Dad didn’t stay long. He had a long list of errands he needed to run to get supplies for the custom bikes he and Kelly were building. Since she’d come along, the side business was even more popular and successful than ever. If it wasn’t for how exceptional a mechanic she was, and how important she had become to the racing team, I could see her transitioning over to designing and building these custom bikes full-time.

Once Dad was gone, I grabbed my phone and shot off a fast text to Bryn. I told her I knew my mother had gone by to talk to her and asked if she was okay. Bryn responded quickly, but it was brief. She let me know she was okay but didn’t elaborate. I waited to get another message from her, but my phone stayed silent. I put it away and tried to get back to work.

But no matter how hard I tried to concentrate and keep my mind on the work in front of me, it kept drifting over to her instead. It wasn’t just about wanting to know what my mother had said to her and how she was dealing with it. I still had so many questions I wanted to ask her.

We had talked, but it felt like the conversation wasn’t complete. There was a lot I still wanted to know and needed to figure out. The most important thing on my mind was how she was feeling about me now. We had both made it clear we were trying to give the other one as much space as possible, but that’s where we dropped it. Maybe she had gotten over those feelings or didn’t think they were a good idea now.