After the Climb (River Rain 0.50)

But it was huge.

“She had it redone for us,” Gage told him, dumping his bag on one of two queen beds that had padded head and sideboards in a gray tweed, matching benches at the bottom.

There was also a wall paneled in wood. Two nightstands for each bed that were boxy and clean-lined. The sleek lamps on them looking like they were made of brushed platinum.

And no white or pink in sight.

“I mean, like, we’re grown, and we’re gonna be like, on our own in a few years, at least me, next year for you, and she spent a fortune so we’d be comfortable in her place for a few days at Christmas or whenever we’re visiting,” Gage finished.

The tone of his brother’s voice had Sully looking at him.

They both knew what they were thinking, and it was the same thing.

It wasn’t about Genny being rich and redecorating a bedroom for them.

It was that they finally had the family they should have always had and they both knew it.

And appreciated it.

But they both wished they’d had it all along.

“Now I see why you come up here nearly every freakin’ weekend,” Sul noted.

“Nah, I come up here because Chloe buys me booze,” Gage joked.

Sully grinned at him and then they joined the others in the living room.

There was general chitchat for a while.

And then the front door opened.

Sasha went flying, screaming, “Bowie!”

Sully got off a couch he hoped the blue of his jeans didn’t stain to watch Sasha hit his dad like a bag of bricks, but when Genny came abreast of him on her way to greet Dad, he asked, “Where’s Matt?”

“He’s up at the house, he’s…uh, decided to stay there and wait for us to join him,” Genny answered.

“Sorry, Gen,” Sully whispered.

He’d met Matt at Thanksgiving. Good guy. Nothing like his sisters. Mature, openly protective of the women in his life.

Sully approved.

Genny hadn’t talked to Sul about it or anything, but he knew she wanted her son to patch shit up with his dad.

This had yet to happen.

And apparently, it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

And this was something to think about.

Because he was, in a way, doing the same with his mom as Matt was doing with his dad.

Genny grabbed his biceps, squeezed, then moved away.

When she made it to Dad, she got a huge kiss where Dad actually bent her back over his arm a little bit, and honest to fuck, it was like some Hollywood photo.

Her in her swanky outfit and heels, hair shiny and pretty, holding her fancy drink aloft, bent over a man’s arm, getting a snog from a tall, dark, handsome dude.

Dad finally had that.

And more, when they broke away, and Genny smiled at him like Sasha smiled all the time, and Dad’s face got all tender and tranquil…

Dad had that too.

As far as he knew, Genny had driven down before Dad so she could be sure to get Sul in case Dad was further delayed, even though Gage could have done it. Or Sasha. Or Chloe.

That was not their way.

From the beginning when Gage and Sully walked into the house while they were cooking dinner, even if their kids were all grown, they were the parental units.

And even twenty-one and grown up, Sully could not say that sucked.

Still, they’d probably been apart three hours.

And they were kissing and looking at each other like that.

Then again, the last time they were parted, it had lasted twenty-eight years.

So he got it.

“Dad, I’m in protest at no pets. I can’t be in a space without pets,” Gage called.

“Get over it. Two of our animals don’t meet HOA code,” Dad returned, moving to Sully, his eyes glued to his oldest son even if he was talking to his youngest.

“Who cares about HOA. We can sneak ’em in,” Gage said.

“I’m all for that!” Sasha cried.

Dad rounded the back of Sully’s neck with his hand and squeezed, warm and tight.

“Sul.”

“Hey, Dad.”

“You good?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

He knew what Dad was asking.

“Chloe says she’s a fool.”

“Chloe is always right.”

“Now, that should go on a coffee mug,” Chloe decreed.

Everyone laughed.

But for Sully, the rest of his tension slipped away.

Because Dad’s hand was on his neck, Dad was there, Dad got that this sucked for him.

And when he was with Dad, everything was always all right.

His father let him go, looked at what was in Sully’s hand, and around the room, and then asked, “Christ, what are you all drinking?”

“Snowmen Jack, would you like one?” Chloe offered.

Duncan Holloway didn’t even bother.

He turned to his youngest and ordered, “Gage, get your old man a beer.”

Everyone laughed at that too.

Gage took off to the open-plan kitchen, which was, yeah, all white.

Even the counters.

And the counter appliances.

“So what do you think of a white tree with pink ornaments?” Dad asked him. “That is, the ornaments that aren’t white.”

“No offense, Genny,” he said to her where she was standing in the curve of his father’s arm, then to his dad, “I think it sucks.”