Karen still hasn’t shown up. I tried calling her, just to find out if she was safe. She never picked up. I don't know if I should give her space, or be worried. I never know with women.
Now I can't help thinking about how I’m going to apologize to both of them. This whole situation is fucked up. I can’t even think about the business because I feel like shit.
I shouldn’t even be bothering the kids with this whole mess. It’s my issue. Part of me feels guilty about dragging them into this mess. They both had plans this summer. They should be out enjoying it with friends. Bringing them here has fucked everything up. One minute, they're barely talking, and the next, Colt is salivating over her tits in the backyard pool and I see them arm in arm.
I still can’t believe they’re attracted to each other; it makes matters so much worse. Colt was always so full of himself, checking out any girl who breathed air in the same room as him. He seemed to think that it was a challenge he had to complete in under a minute, trying to get with a girl. Any girl. Every girl. Now he seems to be focused on Karen alone. Why her?
As for Karen, she was so hung up on Zach. He was the guy that she was going to marry and that was the end of it. She was so hell bent on that perfect image she had in her head that she refused to listen to any of us when we tried to tell her that Zach was a dog. And now, of all things, she’s into her stepfather and stepbrother.
“Daniel,” Colt says coldly as he walks into my office.
“I was just finishing some work,” I say as I look up from my computer. For someone who came home fucking wasted just a few hours ago, he looks pretty good after a shower. I suppose that’s the joy of being young. Heavy drinking becomes a bigger kick in the gut the older you get.
I feel as if I’ve aged twenty years lately because I don’t even remember the last time I got drunk to have fun. Most of the time it feels as if I do it to ease the pain. To get rid of my problems, and it never works because the next day the problems are still there with the addition of a hangover.
“Daniel, I don’t want to fight with you. It’s clear that you’ve got the hots for Karen.
And she’s got the hots for you.” Memories of the pair of them at dinner flash through my mind. I may as well not have been in the room. She couldn’t get her mind off Colt. She only had eyes for him and I need to accept that.
“Why do you think that she walked out when we started to tumble?” Colt asks.
I shake my head, “I haven’t got a clue. But listen, none of that matters. I shouldn’t have told you guys about the issue with the business and dragged you into my financial mess. It has nothing to do with you guys. Your mom left you the house. Her mom left joint assets, and just because the State of California tells us that she’s abandoned us and the money is ours doesn’t mean that we have to do anything with it now, you know?” I ask.
“I know," Colt says slowly. I can tell he's mulling this over. He continues, "So you must be pretty desperate." The words roll out of his mouth with the empathy of someone who understands. Colt and I have never been the best of friends, but we could always have a conversation. Even after his mother died, I would take him to the park and play ball with him. In a way, those were simpler times.
I saw him as the son that I never had, and here I am treating him like he’s an enemy. Where did it all go wrong?
“Tell me Daniel, what happened to the business?”
I lean over my desk, closer to him. I'm wracking my brain, trying to think about where to start to explain the predicament that I’ve found myself in. I feel silly, stupid in fact, trying to explain it to him. But I take a deep breath and decide to start from the beginning.
“When I lost your mom I kind of lost my way. I spent so much time on the business and you. Just keeping myself busy. And then you know Gary suggested that I go to the party.”
He nods, “I know the drill. You met Clara and you fell in love. Funny, I don’t even remember the last time I saw Gary after that … and you guys were close.”
“I kind of lost all my friends the moment Clara came into my life. I spent all of my time trying to make her happy and it was all in vain.”