“Dad would kill you if he caught you doing that,” I call out to him.
Park lifts his head, his gaze meeting mine from across the pool. When he sees it’s me, he shrugs. “Like I give a shit. There are lots of reasons Dad wants to kill me right about now.”
I can name three off the top of my head, but I decide to keep quiet. “How are you?” I ask after I circle around the pool and eventually stop to stand right next to him.
Park takes a drag off his cigarette, blowing out hazy smoke. “I’ve had better days.”
When he says nothing else, I ask, “Things been going kind of rough or what?”
“Yeah.” Another drag off the cigarette. “I’m sure Jensen told you about our interview and what a disaster that was. Right?”
Guess we’re going straight to the problem. “She did.”
“Such a good little girlfriend, telling you about your asshole big brother.”
“I don’t even understand why you asked her to work for you,” I say, hoping he’ll give me a real answer. “It’s like you tried to trick her into the interview.”
“I did trick her into the interview, and it was so damn easy, you know?” I send him a dirty look, but he ignores me. “There’s something I see in Jensen that makes me feel like we’re—kindred spirits, or whatever. I’m probably talking out my ass.”
“You definitely are.” It feels like he wants everything he shouldn’t. Dad’s wife. Dad’s business. My girlfriend…
Park drops the cigarette butt in the pool and shoves his hands into his jeans pockets, staring out at the water. “I’m surprised you didn’t call me and chew my ass out after she told you.”
“Didn’t think it was worth my time.”
“Ouch.” Park actually grins when he glances over at me. “Are you saying she’s not worth your time?”
Irritation fills me and I tamp it down. “No, I’m saying arguing with you is not worth my time. I’m over it.” I stare out at the water too. “She didn’t want to work with you, she turned you down. End of story. The problem is solved.”
“There’s still a problem, though,” Park admits, his gaze growing distant. “There are all sorts of problems.”
“Like what?”
“Like Diane,” Park practically spits out, his tone venom
ous. “The woman won’t get off my case.”
“About what?”
“About me trying to start my own business so I can leave Dad. Can you believe she’s actually pissed at me about it?” Park shakes his head. “She keeps trying to discourage me, telling me I’m making a huge mistake, that I’ll ruin everything.”
Why the hell is my brother so damn clueless? “I get why she’s telling you that. You’re trying to pull away from Dad and somehow sabotage his business, and that’s her husband, Park. She loves him.” Sounds crazy, but yes, she loves Dad in her own special way.
“She loves me too. I don’t know why she can’t take my side for once.” He sounds like a petulant baby.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Why? Because I want something of my own for once?” He turns to face me, his eyes full of anger. “I’ve been under his control for years. I’m sick of it.”
“Do you really think you can do it on your own then? I’m sure you have plenty of contacts, but is there enough confidence in you from the clients you’ve handled over the years? Are they willing to jump ship for you and leave him?”
I’m sure he’s already thought all this stuff out. Right?
“Sort of.” More shrugging. “I don’t know. So many of them are Dad’s old cronies. They’ll want to stick with him. They’re all loyal to a fault. So I figured I could find new clientele. Do some advertising, ramp up the social media, pull in new business.”
I want to slap some sense into him. “Before you make such a radical change, you need to make sure you can do this on your own. One wrong move and Dad’s cutting you out of his life forever.”
“Like I’m going to take advice from you, little brother. You’re still in college—what the hell do you know?”