AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, you know.” I shrug, sorting my feelings and trying to figure out which ones I should let show on my face. “She took it pretty well, actually. I’d say she’s pleased.”
A total understatement, but at the same time, I don’t know how to be more enthusiastic given the circumstances.
“She likes you, you know.”
“Convenient,” he throws back smoothly.
But why doesn’t his smile reach his eyes?
I reach across the desk and give him a kiss. Although his fingers trail across the shell of my ear, there’s something oddly absent about him today.
Like not all of him is fully here at the moment.With me.
So, maybe this isn’t the best time for the conversation I’ve been wrangling in the back of my mind.
When I pull away, he’s looking at the photos on the wall. The ones of his parents, of Harry Truman, of Dex with his brothers. His family. His legacy.
“How was work?” I ask. “You’re home early.”
A tiny frown pulls at his eyebrows and the corner of his mouth. He toys with a sleek pen in front of him before pushing it aside.
“Did you know President Truman was almost destitute when he retired?” he asks, standing and following the line of photos. His shoulders are squared, hands behind his back. Army discipline through and through.
“I didn’t,” I say.
“He’s the reason the presidential pension was passed. The Rory family paid for a significant chunk of his legacy, plus seed money for his library later on.”
“Okay. That’s cool.” I don’t know where this is going, but I don’t dare interrupt his train of thought. “That’s a great thing for your family legacy, right?”
“We’ve done a lot of great things.” He pauses, looking over the photos with a strange heaviness.
I’m not used to seeing him like this. Usually, he’s big and bold, strikingly confident in his world and his unshakeable place in it.
But his life is a big pond. He was born on the shoulders of people who palled around with presidents.
Maybe even bigger than he can fill.
“It’s not an easy thing, building a business from the ground up,” he says, the change of subject so abrupt I blink. “There’s a fuckton of work, brutal expectations, plus everything hanging on whether or not we succeed.”
“Like Colton?” I venture.
“Colt’s the reason Archer is so desperate to make this work, but it’s more than that, honestly. This is our chance to put the family name back on the map for a success in this century. For reasons that have nothing to do with how big our checks are to charities and museums.”
I still don’t get why he’s so hung up on this tonight.
I frown, walking up to him until I’m close enough to slide my arms around his waist. At first, he’s stiff, every muscle tensed before he relaxes into my touch, leaning into me.
His decisions are meticulous.
Everything he does is deliberate and expertly thought out.
Well, everything except for me. I’m only here because he made a huge mistake. I still don’t know what that means.
In the photo, his grandfather stands next to Harry Truman and his entourage, tall men in suits wearing proud smiles.
Such a long time ago. Such a long shadow. Such big boots to fill.
“It would have been easy as hell to just live off the family fortune,” Dexter says. “There’s more than enough to go around. We could all live in Mother’s house easily without having to see each other.” He gives a bitter laugh. “But if we did that, what do we leave behind?”
