Initiative (Suncoast Society #31)(38)

Yes, Darryl realized in retrospect how cold his ex-wife could be, and a gold-digger in some respects, but he never thought those ways extended to her child.

“What are you asking me to do?” Kyle was almost thirteen, for crying out loud. He flashed back and forth from hating one of them or the other almost on a daily basis sometimes.

Unfortunately, this spell was lasting way longer than others and didn’t seem to show signs of lifting anytime soon.

“I know you don’t have a lot of money right now, but would Grant be okay with it if I moved in, too?”

“Yes, he would. He’s already told you that. But you know your mother would fight you on it.”

“My friend Kelly, at school, her parents got divorced and she decided she wanted to go live with her dad. She’s twelve. So am I. Her dad fought it and won because she told the judge exactly why she wanted to live with her dad.”

He also suspected that Chelsey would fight tooth and nail simply so she could keep getting the alimony and child support. If Kyle lived with him full-time, not only would she lose that, she’d have to start paying Darryl.

That would piss her off.

“We’ll talk about it,” he said. “Not tonight. Let’s enjoy having company tonight, all right?”

“Okay. Does she have a job?”

“Who, Susie?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, and that’s not really polite to ask.”

“Is she your girlfriend?”

“That’s not polite, either. The three of us used to be really close friends until we lost touch. We didn’t know she lived in the area. Her husband died two years ago, and please don’t ask her about that tonight, either, okay? It still upsets her.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“But yes, she has a job. A good job. She owns a car dealership.”

“She’s rich?”

He shifted the car into gear. “Again, not a topic of discussion, Kyle.”

Holy crap. Dinner should be interesting.





Susie’s car was already parked in the driveway behind Grant’s when Darryl pulled in. When Kyle reached for the door handle, Darryl stopped him.

“Please, be polite. You have manners. I know, because I taught them to you. She’s a very nice woman, and she’s a friend of ours. We’ve really missed her and we feel badly that we didn’t know she was widowed.”

“Is she the same one you and Grant went to prom with? In that old picture you have?”

“Yes, that’s her.”

“Oh.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “You guys looked really happy in that picture. Like you were having fun.”

“We were, and we did.”

He pondered something else before speaking. “You didn’t start looking happy again like that until you and Mom got divorced and you were living at Grant’s. It’s like you got fun again. You know Mom never liked Grant, right?”

“Yes, I know.” It’d been a major source of contention throughout their marriage.

Only in retrospect did Grant finally figure it out first, pegging Chelsey as a very dominant person. She likely reacted badly to him because she could never manipulate Grant, and Grant frequently stood up to her on Darryl’s behalf.

“I like Grant,” Kyle said. “I like being here. It’s not tense like it used to be at home when you guys were still married.”

It took Darryl a second to untangle that statement, at first mistakenly thinking that Kyle meant him and Grant being…married.

“I won’t discuss what went on between your mom and me,” Darryl said. “You’re my son, and you’re a kid, and—”

“Yeah, yeah, Dad. I know.” He held up air quotes. “‘Respect.’ Which is stupid because she doesn’t give a darn about you.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter. I know you love your mom.”

“I just don’t like her,” he muttered.

Darryl sat back. “This is more than overhearing a phone call. What is going on? Really?”

Kyle hesitated again. “She screwed up her phone again last week and asked me to fix it for her. I saw where she’s been texting like four other guys besides Greg. Greg thinks he’s so smart, but she’s been cheating on him, too. Does she love me? Yeah, I guess so, but she had a funny way of showing it. And she’s not ‘working’ two nights a week doing west-coast sales calls. She’s going out with guys. Greg’s an idiot.”

Darryl knew he had two options. Rat out his son and tell Chelsey to use someone else for tech support, or keep his mouth shut and let her screw herself?

He knew what he “should” do, but then again…

Fuck her.

“If you really want to move in with me full-time, I’m going to have to talk to my attorney about it first and find out what we can do. Your mom will probably fight me on it.”

“Not if I tell her I’ll tell Greg about her guys on the side.” He snorted. “I took screenshots and texted them to myself for proof.”

How can the kid be so damn smart, and yet not be clued in about me and Grant?

Or, maybe he was and he was keeping his mouth shut because he didn’t care and because he really didn’t want to live with Chelsey any longer.