He’d texted both his boys before he drove home, telling them he wanted a call back as soon as they had a chance.
Sullivan was in Indiana, studying environmental engineering at Purdue.
Gage was in Tucson, studying beer pong at U of A.
He hadn’t missed a vibration.
Neither had texted him back.
Duncan turned his gaze out the window to the lake, but he didn’t see it.
He thought about lunch.
Like they were practiced tacticians who’d planned and synced their mission down to the finest detail, the moment Duncan and Genny had turned their attention to the table, Harvey and Heddy had taken over.
They commenced what was a poorly disguised “Friends of a New Couple Getting to Know You Better” session that culminated (unsurprisingly from the person she seemed to be) in Heddy demanding Harvey arrange a dinner so she could meet “my soon-to-be-new-bestest-bestie, I can feel it” Beth without delay.
In truth, this was them giving Genny and Duncan the opportunity to be in each other’s company without having to deal with communicating with each other, either in meaningful, life-altering ways, or something less burdensome.
It worked.
Genny relaxed, not entirely, but enough that she joined the conversation, even if she rarely looked at Duncan when she did, or when he did the same.
However, he knew the woman who sat at his side during lunch.
And she’d been the way she’d been at that table before.
It was not distant.
It was shy.
And very aware of the man sitting next to her.
He knew this because that woman was the girl who, right along with Duncan, started to become aware that “The Three Amigos” they had always been was shifting to three friends, two of which were terminally into one another.
Well, it would seem, both of the male amigos were into her, one even more terminally, but even Duncan had been blind to that.
Then again, he’d confessed to Corey way before he’d ever said a word to Genny what his feelings were about their girl.
And Corey had—the lying, pissant, piece of scum maggot—been entirely enthusiastic.
His eyes fell to the letter that still lay on his desk that he hadn’t touched since he’d dropped it, therefore he hadn’t finished reading it.
He, like Genny, did not give one shit what else that asshole had to say.
But before he could nab the letter and do something like burn it in the fireplace, his phone went.
It was Gage.
He took the Facetime call.
And said not a word before Gage shouted, “Jesus Christ, Dad! You had lunch with Imogen Swan?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Gage—”
“My phone is blowing up. Some of my friends follow her. She’s been tagged, like, a billion times. And so have you.”
He really should get on social media.
He had an account, but he never looked at it. It was run by a professional social media manager that was contracted through River Rain.
Duncan did not personally engage as an attempt at self-preservation.
Sully would be smart. If he did it, he wouldn’t announce it to the world, but the kid was so hyper-responsible, he probably wouldn’t do it.
Gage, however.
If Duncan saw the shit he was certain Gage got up to, he’d consider chaining his son in the basement.
“Son—”
“Do you know her from knowin’ that guy who makes Steve Jobs look like a pussy? And not in the physical sense, because…no shade, your old friend was a runt…in the ‘I got enough money to buy an island, and that island is Australia’ sense.”
“I think we’ve had several conversations about your usage of the word ‘pussy,’” Duncan growled.
Gage shut up.
“And yes. I know her because I grew up with her.”
“What?” Gage asked. “That’s insane.”
His phone shook, a notification came up, and Sully wanted to Facetime.
Goddamn it.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Gage demanded.
“It’s a long story and—”
“Yeah, it looks like a long story. You’re practically kissing her.”
Goddamn it.
“Listen—”
“And she looks like she wants to swallow you whole,” Gage declared.
That had Duncan shutting up.
It also had him wanting to see this picture.
“Are you guys like…seeing each other?” Gage asked.
Sully had disconnected, only to try again.
“Okay, Gage, listen and don’t interrupt, are you hearing me?”
Gage nodded.
“Like I said, it’s a long story, and it’s time you heard it. I wish I could tell you face to face when our faces aren’t projected on screens, but that doesn’t seem like it can happen. And now your brother is trying to connect, and I need for both of you to know. So even if this is not how I’d like to do it, the truth of the matter is, Genny was my high school girlfriend. I broke up with her after I graduated, but we got back together again a few years later. It was intense. It was forever. And then I made that not so for a variety of reasons I may share one day, but today is not that day. We both went our separate ways, but now she’s back in my life and it remains to be seen how back in my life she’s going to be. What I can tell you is, I loved her very much. She was my world. It killed, letting her go. But now is now and we’ll just see.”