I answer quickly, letting Jett stay in my lap, lazily plucking at loose threads from my old, worn t-shirt. I love how casually he plays with me, how comfortable he is in my arms and in my home.
Maybe looking down at him is what has me feeling so confident about this call.
“Hey, Toby,” I greet Tobias, realizing I did promise him lunch and a meeting, and I haven’t come through yet. This time, though, it wasn’t because I was avoiding him. I’ve been preoccupied, so I tell him the truth.
“I don’t know if you knew this or not, and it’s okay if you did, but… Graham, he told me on his death bed that he wasn’t my birth father.”
Toby sucks in a breath so deep and sharp that I know with all certainty he wasn’t privy to that knowledge. “Beau, son, I had no idea.”
“I can see that,” I say because Toby’s reaction is real, and he’s always been an honest man. He’s got no need to start lying now. “Anyway, I battled with that for a year. Wondered why he even told me. Started to feel like I didn’t know who I was at all anymore.”
“You’re a top-tier mechanic, a talented and charismatic businessperson, and a great son and friend. That’s who you are.”
My words falter at his praise. I’ve ghosted this kind man for over a year, and he’s here, supporting me, having not known exactly where I’d gone or why.
“Thank you for saying those things. My dad respected you so much. I respect you.” I look down at Jett who smiles back at me, looking sleepier now that his milk is finished. I set the empty bottle on the table so it doesn’t drip onto the couch. “I’m sorry I abandoned his role in the boardroom for the last year. I didn’t know how to belong there when I was confused about what I meant to Graham.”
“Youwereandarehis son. Hewasandisyour father.”
I swallow around all the emotion rising in my throat. “I know. I know that now. I just, I didn’t understand why he said that. What did he want me to get out of knowing?”
Tobias makes a thoughtful noise. “Did you get to the bottom of it?”
I look down at Jett. This soul, who was a stranger to me months ago. This soul who I know nowI can’t live without.
“I’m still working on it. But in the meantime, I’m trying to live. Move on. All that.”
Jett squawks as he shimmies off my lap to the floor.
“Is that your girlfriend’s son?” Tobias asks.
“It is. How’d you know?”
Though before he answers, I know. Atti. As much as the man acts like he doesn’t give a shit about any of the company’s operations that fall outside his limited jurisdiction, he cares. And more specifically,he cares about me.
“Atticus. I gave him a call here and there over the last year. Only to make sure you were okay, son. Believe me. I’d rather have heard it from you.”
“I know.”
“So,” he muses, “when can we get you into the main offices and figure out what your role should be going forward?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, confused. I know I hold majority shares, I know I am the CEO, but I also know I don’t want things to change. I’m good at showing up to cast an occasional vote, but with grease and oil up to my elbows, at work is where I belong day in and day out.
“Well, if you want to stay working at the Oakcreek location, you can. But you should probably appoint someone to your seat. A proxy voter, someone to collect information and keep you in the loop.”
“I can get all that when I vote a few times a year.”
Toby laughs. “You could do that. And lord knows we’d all love to see you, Beau. But… When you have young children, and you’re lucky enough to have the means, sometimes it’s better for everyone if you spend your time with your family and just… pay to have someone keep you informed. Vote for you. That stuff. Then if you ever get the itch to take over, you can.”
That… makes sense. “Thanks, Toby. For… just being cool, I guess. I appreciate it.”
“No thanks needed. Now, tell me when we’re going to talk again. I’m going to pencil it in.”
After selecting a date to share a zoom call, I hang up with Toby and carry a now sleeping Jett back to his crib. Beck wasn’t kidding when she said he gets sleepy after his morning bottle; he fell asleep on top of my feet.
Fucking adorable.
“Morning,” Beck’s soft voice ambles toward me as I turn around. She’s out of bed, hair messy, eyes sleepy—looking goddamn gorgeous. She pulled on one of my old Wrench Kings t-shirts last night, and now with nothing but that and her long, silky legs staring back at me, I’m hard as hell.