Page 69 of Contentious

“Except for your smooshed Range Rover.”

“Yeah, that’s a bummer, but all that matters is that no one was hurt.”

“Did the guy that hit you apologize?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, he should. It’s the right thing to do.”

“Indeed, it is.”

Fortunately, Ty changed the subject to their upcoming surfing lessons.

With time running short, Carson went wet suit shopping online and found what they needed.

“What color do you want? They have black, red and navy.”

“Red!”

“You got it.” He double-checked the size and paid for next-day delivery to Cresley’s house, so they’d have it for the weekend. “It’ll be there tomorrow.”

“So cool.”

“You know what else is cool?”

“What?”

“I still have the board I learned on, and I’ll teach you on that one.”

“That is cool. Thank you for teaching me. I can’t wait to try it.”

“Don’t forget what I told you. It’s very hard at first until you figure out the balance and how to ride the waves. You’ll fall a lot. You might end up underwater, and that might be scary, but I’ll show you how to get back up. The most important thing is not to panic.”

“Right. No panicking.”

“Is it all right if I panic while watching?” Cresley asked.

“It’ll be fine, Mom. Carson will be right there.”

Cresley shared a smile with Carson, who seemed pleased by Ty’s faith in him.

“Thank you for teaching me,” Ty said.

“I’m looking forward to it. We’ll have a blast.”

* * *

As he ate ice cream with Cresley and Ty and talked about surfing, he felt his phone vibrating nonstop in his pocket, probably with texts from each of his siblings, his father and maybe even his mother, wondering what the hell had him taking a sudden personal leave of absence. As far as they knew, he had no personal life to speak of, so they’d want to know the truth of what was happening with Cresley that brought on an emergency leave.

And what exactly would he tell them when he got around to responding?

Recalling how he’d felt hearing that Julian was driving Isla to her estranged husband’s wake, he should probably expect significant pushback from the others. Blowing off work to provide personal security to Cresley Dane and her son would certainly put attention he didn’t want on him, her and the entire situation.

Coming right on the heels of him encouraging her to dump Julian and the firm because of his ethical concerns would only add fuel to their fire.

Where there was smoke…

Shit.