She was clearly trying to make amends, and he would be a fool not to accept her olive branch.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “As tough as it was to agree, it was a no-brainer. You deserve this project, Heather, and I’m damn proud of you.”
A slow smile played on her lips, and the fierceness that had been in her eyes since their argument seemed to fade. “Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.”
“Really?”
“Of course. You’re one of the most accomplished CEOs in the world. Any kind of praise from you is going to mean something,” she said. “I mean, we’re in a relationship and everything, but I really do admire you in a professional capacity. I always have.”
He returned her smile and then leaned closer to plant a quick kiss on her lips. “I appreciate that, Heather.”
The sound of his father loudly clearing his throat dragged his attention away from her.
“Now that we’re alone again, how about we pick up the conversation where we left off?” his father said.
“I don’t think that’s such a great idea, Dad,” Simon answered. “We shouldn’t have been arguing like that in front of you.”
His father’s eyes narrowed. “What you mean is that you’ll argue about me when I’m not around. Talk about me behind my back.”
“No, that’s not what I mean,” Simon said firmly. “As much as I disagreed with Heather’s approach, I think she might have had a point. We can’t move forward if we don’t accept certain truths about the past.”
“Why would you want to rehash all that again?” he said, his voice rising.
“I don’t want to rehash the past,” Simon said. “It’s just...” His stomach knotted up so much he actually felt a twinge of pain. The truth was so painful to deal with that he hadn’t wanted to face it. Hadn’t wanted to admit that Heather had a point. “Some of the things you said to me as a kid were...” There wasn’t an easy way to dredge this up, but right now it felt damn near impossible.
“Horrible? Unkind?” Heather finished for him.
He shot her a warning glance. “That’s not helping.”
“Fine. Forget I said anything.” She walked away from him, heading over to the table to grab her bag. “Our drinks are probably cold, so we might as well start the tour.”
“Might as well,” his father concurred, his tone glum.
Simon wanted to find the words to fix their issues, but he struggled to find the right ones. When his father had first showed up, he had been angry. That anger had quickly been replaced by a powerful need to bury the hatchet. Start again.
His father acknowledging that he hadn’t been a great father had made him look at his old man with fresh eyes. No, not fresh eye at all. He was actually starting to see his father the way he had when he was a very young boy. Simon had looked up to his father back then. His father had been his hero and he had been desperate for his approval.
Somewhere along the way that had all changed, and they had been driven apart. For years. As much as he had tried to pretend that he hadn’t cared about being estranged from his father, deep down Simon had cared. Always had.
Now his old respect for his father was coming back, and Simon didn’t want to jeopardize anything while they were still trying to bond after all these years. It was clear that his father had learned some hard lessons along the way, and Simon had, too. Bringing up the past was obviously difficult for his dad, and he didn’t want to bring up more unnecessary pain.
It was true that they were going to have to be honest about the past, but maybe now wasn’t the best time to bring it up. He was under no illusions about his past relationship with his father. But what they needed was a fresh start. Simon couldn’t accomplish that if all he did was pick at old wounds. Once they strengthened their relationship, they could finally face the past head-on. If only he could get Heather to understand that.
His first instinct was usually to attack issues until he solved them, but they probably all needed time to cool off. Touring Dover would be a good distraction for all of them. Without saying anything, Simon went to open his office door and started showing his father around.
An hour and a half later, they hadn’t only finished the tour but had also finished eating lunch before saying goodbye to his father. Simon had promised to call his father with more details about the upcoming dinner, and with lunch over he headed back to his office with Heather.
“I guess before our meeting with the documentary producer, we can go over our plan for the dinner,” she said as she sat down opposite him. Her tone was businesslike, the usual warmth she reserved for him gone.
“Plan?”
“Yes,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of time, but if there are going to be cameras at the dinner we have to coordinate everything. What are we going to wear, for example? Obviously we have to make a statement, and with your father coming we’re going to have to coordinate with him as well. We’ll also have to go over protocol with him if we want to make sure this goes off without a hitch.”
Simon shifted in his seat, already hating the fact that he had to find a way to work around the intrusion of a documentary crew. “I don’t think Dad understood what he was getting in to when he asked to come to this thing.”
“You mean when he invited himself?” The expression on her face soured.
“My father isn’t used to this kind of setting,” he said. “He’s a simple guy who says what’s on his mind. He isn’t going to wait to be invited to something he wants to go to.”