“You know him.” He could hear the smile in her voice. “He’s got to be out there helping the contractor put the new deck in. Can’t just sit and watch.”
The first thing the Mavericks had done when the money started rolling in was to get Bob the back surgery he’d badly needed. He’d still stubbornly continued to work long after Daniel or any one of the Mavericks could have supported both him and Susan. It had taken years to convince him that a less physically demanding desk job might not be as bad as he thought. Then finally, last year, he’d agreed to retire and start enjoying life. But he wasn’t yet sixty and no one was putting him out to pasture, as he loved to say. He worked on the house and the yard, and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.
“So are you going to tell me about her, honey?” Susan wasn’t going to let Will avoid the reason for her call.
“I met Harper through her brother. He was hit by a car when he was seven. He worked through the physical issues, but he acts younger than he is.”
“I’m so sorry.” She hated it when kids got hurt. So did Will.
“He’s a great kid. Enthusiastic. Positive. He loves cars so I bought another kit car, and he’s going to help me build it.”
“You sound happy. Helping him is going to be good for you, I can tell.”
Happy was as good a word as any to describe what he’d felt as he helped Jeremy mark the sheet metal. For the last few months, even longer than that, he’d been running on empty. But Harper and Jeremy seemed to be filling him up again.
“And his sister, Harper? Is she someone special?”
He didn’t even have to think about it. “Very.” He’d known from that first day in the hangar that Harper was special. And good. Too good for him.
“You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that, Will. I want my boys happy. And you deserve a good woman.”
Susan didn’t see him shake his head. She really did love all of her boys, so much that Will knew she let herself forget where—and who—he came from. Forget who he was.
If Harper knew what he’d been like as a kid, all the crimes he’d committed for his dad, the hellraiser he’d been even after the asshole went to prison and he’d moved in with the Spencers—would she ever trust him with her brother? Would she ever trust him with herself? She already doubted his motives with Jeremy. If she knew the guy Will was on the inside, all the lies he’d told, all the houses he’d broken into for his dad, all the cars he’d stolen, and then what had finally gone down with the Road Warriors…
He ran a harsh hand through his hair, knowing Harper would run a mile to get away from him if she ever found out. And she’d take Jeremy, too.
Because the hard truth was that with his father’s blood flowing through his veins, no matter how far he’d come, Will would never completely be able to outrun the things he’d done.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
On Wednesday morning, the Mavericks gathered around the boardroom table in the main conference room of their headquarters in Palo Alto, near the Google campus. They’d be moving in the late fall, when Sebastian Montgomery’s new high-rise production studio in San Francisco was completed.
On the face of it, Sebastian was a self-help guru with a charismatic personality; a tall, muscular frame; and celebrity good looks that he’d channeled into a media empire. He spoke to vast audiences on anything from creating money in your life to finding your true destiny.
Sebastian had achieved every goal he’d set the day they’d made their pact to get out of Chicago. But Will wasn’t so sure happiness had been one of those objectives, except in terms of Sebastian being in control of his own destiny after being so out of control as a kid.
For today’s meeting, they presented a united front, all dressed accordingly in suit and tie—even Daniel, who was video conferencing from New York, where he was negotiating the site for another grand opening in his home improvement chain.
They came together as the Maverick Group on various investment opportunities, had even financed movies, their latest being with Smith Sullivan. And of course, there was the Link Labs endeavor. Matt Tremont, the Mavericks’ electronics genius, had brought them the prospect, since his interest lay in robotics. The group was also involved in real estate—selling, buying, renovating, developing—which was why they were all meeting today.