Page 55 of Flirting with Trouble

“What kind of sons would you be if you didn’t?” I tease, earning a smile.

“Exactly.” He takes my hand and heads to the top of a curly slide. As he sits down, he says, “Our pranks have escalated over the years, and no one is safe from them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m there.”

He pats his legs. “Climb on, sweets.”

I’m loving this jaunt into youthful times as I climb onto his lap. “I can’t imagine your father as a prankster. He seems buttoned-up. Your parents can’t be all that bad if your dad was involved in pranks.”

“Like I said, I love my parents. They just did some confusing shit when I was young, which I guess all parents do on some level.”

“Maybe it’s a rite of passage to give your kids something hard to deal with.”

He pushes off the edge of the slide, and we whip down it, both of us laughing, and we stumble to our feet at the bottom. He pulls me into his arms and kisses me. “Back to the swings?”

“Sure. Do you have good childhood memories other than the pranks?”

“Absolutely. Some of my best memories are from when all of our families would get together. We’d turn on music and barbecue and play games in the yard, or my father would take everyone out fishing on his yacht. Even though my parents weren’t living together, things seemed more normal when we were all together like that.”

“You could disappear into the fantasy and pretend.”

“For a little while. But then we had our family dinners a few times each week at the Silver House, which is where abnormal came in. We’d have to get dressed up and act the part of the perfect family, because it was the Silver House and we had a reputation to uphold for the guests, none of whom knew my parents had separated.”

“That had to be awkward.”

“Sometimes it felt painfully fake, but other times, what started as pretending ended up feeling real. I guess you were right about the fantasy. There were lots of times when I hoped my father would come home with us for good, but of course he never did, and that made me angry and sad all over again.”

“And here I thought that as Silver Island royalty, you had no idea what hardships even were.”

He scoffed. “You’re probably not alone in thinking that.”

“But your parents act like they’re madly in love. How can that be fake?”

“Their love isn’t fake. That’s one thing I learned as time went on. Other than that period of fighting, which was probably only a couple of months, they’ve always been happy, like best friends who are in love.”

“When did they move back in together?”

“They never did. They still don’t live together.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. I know it’s weird, but it works for them.” He holds the swing out for me as he did before, and as I sit down, he says, “A couple of years ago they got us all together and apologized. I think something happened between them and Grant that brought it on.” He lowers himself to the swing. “They told us they were so young when they had us, the pressures of family life and some personal things they didn’t divulge got the better of them, and they didn’t want to confuse us by having us spend nights at my dad’s house. They thought they were doing the right thing.”

“I can see that. It makes sense.”

“Yeah. They did the best they could. We found out all sorts of things we didn’t know that night. We found out my dad was a painter, which explains where Grant got his talent from, but none of us knew that until then. We didn’t know my father didn’t want to take over the family business, or that he and my mom had plans to go to Paris after college so my dad could make a name for himself as an artist. My father wasn’t given access to his trust fund until he was older. He was literally going to make his way as a starving artist, and my mom was all in.”

“That’s so romantic.”

“I know. I can’t imagine my parents like that. But then they found out my mom was pregnant with Grant, and they did the responsible thing and went home to make their life on the island. I think that’s why they made sure we got access to our trust funds when we turned twenty-one, so as adults we wouldn’t be stuck choosing between the life we wanted and the one we needed.”

“Wow. My parents forced us to live out their dreams, and yours gave up their dreams for your family. It’s amazing how life is so different for everyone.”

“It really is. We also learned that they spent every night together but that they like living apart because it’s exciting, and they don’t get on each other’s nerves that way. The exciting part was a little TMI for me.”

“I bet.” I laugh. “I can’t imagine not wanting to be in the same space as the person I love, but most families probably can’t imagine living the way my family did, either. Did growing up like that make it harder to have relationships?”

“Yes, but I never realized how it messed me up until high school.”