Page 7 of Housekeeping

“Watch your language, you’re still too young for that!”

I was the one who loved to swear—maybe a little too much—but never around her. I didn’t want her to have a dirty mouth like mine.

“You’re too funny. You act as if I’m a child,” she said. “I can drink and drive if I want to.”

I caught her cheeks in a pinch, ignoring her when she made noises about it.

“You better stick to drinking wine and champagne, and only one glass, maybe two. And no drinking and driving together, missy!”

She smacked my arm until I let her go, then put more space between us on the couch, her hands on her cheeks as she pouted at me in annoyance.

“I’m not a baby anymore,” she said, petulant.

But you’ll always be my baby sister,” I countered. “Now, move over here and tell me exactly what is going on with Dad.”

She didn’t get any closer, but she adopted a serious expression as she leaned against the couch, crossing her arms and legs. Her head rested on the back of the couch, and she rolled it to the side so she was facing me.

“There isn’t really much I can say.”

“Spill! You were the one calling me up telling me how Dad was in such a bad way that I needed to hurry up and get back here. Hell, even Trent came back! That right there is practically a miracle. I thought we’d all be piled up around Dad’s bedside, but here we are, talking about why Dad refuses to see us. You have to tell me something. Especially if Trent came back for this.”

If she hadn't already mentioned that Dad hadn't seen Trent either, I would have been even more pissed off than I already was.

Exactly what game was Dad playing? It might be true that he was sick because Emily had no reason to lie to me, but… could Dad be pulling something on us, and we just didn’t know? Why else would he call all of us back like that and not agree to see anyone? It didn’t fucking make sense.

“I know, it’s a shock that he even came back, isn’t it?” Emily finally said. “I called Trent personally and he almost didn’t take my call. I was surprised when I told him about Dad and he rushed down here. He got here late, but you could tell he’d basically left the office and come straight home. I almost expected you to get here first with how competitive you are. I’m pretty sure he put off work to make the trip.”

“I was busy too, you know,” I said defensively. “And unlike some people, we aren’t all our own bosses, so it’s not like I could have put anything off to rush here, I had to get my own business wrapped up.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “I know the work you do is for the family business, and that some of it is shady, but come on, Mason. You really couldn’t put it off, whatever it was that held you back? You only really hurried your way back here because I told you about Trent, right?”

I pursed my lips because I couldn’t deny it. Things were a little strained between Dad and me. I resented him for a lot of things, but he was still my dad. My relationship with Trent was just as strained, but I did sometimes make an effort to reach out to my older half-brother. It wasn’t that I hated him. His attitude could get annoying, sure, but I was lucky I didn’t have to spend much time around him, so it didn’t always bother me. He could be as bossy as Dad was, and I avoided that like the plague.

What I really hated was Dad comparing me to Trent. Other than our looks, Trent and I weren’t really alike at all. We didn’t have the same interests, hobbies, or goals in life, from what I could see. Dad wanted me to be more responsible like Trent, so he made me quit rugby and take a job with the family. I didn’t know just how much work Trent did for Dad besides working on his own company, but he made Dad proud in a way my own efforts never seemed to achieve.

The wild partying had begun as a sort of rebellion on my part. Recently, it had grown into something of a routine for me. One that left me drained at times, but one I wasn’t willing to just do away with either.

“Is there any reason Dad is refusing to see me?” I asked, looking over to Emily.

She shrugged, not meeting my eyes. “He hasn’t really given a definite reason. I haven’t seen him myself, not since he came back in an ambulance. Don’t worry, though. The moment he agrees to see me, I’ll talk him into seeing you guys, too. Kevin is a bit late, but he should be arriving either today or tomorrow. He’ll probably get the same treatment…”

She continued to talk, but I wasn’t paying attention anymore. Instead, I thought about how odd Dad’s actions were. There was no reason for him not to see us unless he was hiding something.

No fucking way, I thought to myself. Is the old man actually pulling a fast one on us?

Was he really ill? Or was it just a ploy to bring us all home? It was enough to get the prodigal eldest son home, after all.

Not that there was anything I could do about it even if he was. The old man might be a bit of hardass, and this might be a ploy, but he must have done it for reason and I suspected he’d got just what he was after. Now, rather than face the music, he was hiding so we wouldn’t know he hadn’t been ill at all. I laughed to myself, seeing the plan now. Dad was a wily old man, I’d give him that.

The moment I confirmed Dad was just playing with us, I’d be on the earliest flight out. I cared about my dad, but I’d always hated how he’d tried to control my life as if he had the right to. Anger, amusement, and resentment roiled in my head until it started to pound.

“Let me know how it goes with Dad,” I told Emily, rising from the couch. “I’m going to head up to my room now.”

I had some hours to spare before my room back at the hotel was fully cleaned. There was a room upstairs that would let me sleep off the night of partying and thoughts about that maid.