“Anytime, kiddo,” I whispered back. I pulled the door closed behind me and went to put the tray in the kitchen.
Once I cleaned up the tray, I sunk into a chair at the kitchen table and put my head in my hands. It had been the longest day of my life and it wasn’t even over. Not only was my meeting with Tara a complete waste of time, but I had to leave without any explanation. It took me half an hour to get to Paisley. The entire drive from Yates’ Motorcycles, I willed my bike to go faster. I wanted to get to my daughter as soon as possible, but when I got there, I still felt like I’d taken too long.
Ever since Claire’s death, I’d done the best I could to be a dad to Paisley. Still, I knew it wasn’t enough. Paisley barely spoke to me. She rarely ate a full meal. She was distant and stand-offish. It was my job to bring her out of her shell and to help her through the loss of her mother, but I wasn’t able to do that. I wasn’t able to do anything for her. Until today.
Hearing her whisper “thank you” meant more to me than anything else. For the first time, I finally felt like I was doing something right. Even if she was still calling me Sean, she was grateful to have me around. Right then, that was more than enough.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Tara
Two days went by without a word from Sean. After he ran out of the conference room on Wednesday, I tried calling him but he never answered. I tried again all day Thursday and still, nothing. By lunch time on Friday, my patience was gone. I was livid as I marched down the hall toward Ray’s office. His door was open so I stepped inside without knocking.
“We need to talk about Sean,” I said. Ray looked up with a frown.
“Yes?” he asked.
“He isn’t returning my phone calls, and he hasn’t been in since Wednesday,” I explained. “At this point, the only worthwhile excuse would be—”
“Maybe he just got busy,” Ray suggested with a shrug.
“And that’s okay with you?” I asked in disbelief.
“Of course not.” Ray sighed. “But what are we going to do about it? Have him arrested? Bust down his door?”
From his tone, I knew Ray wasn’t serious, but there was something incredibly appealing about his suggestions. If Sean wasn’t going to answer my phone calls, then there was only one thing left for me to do.
“Can you give me his address?” I asked suddenly. Ray’s expression changed from mild amusement to genuine concern in an instant.
“I don’t know,” he said with a shake of his head. “He won’t like it if you just show up at his house, Tara.”
“At this point, I don’t care,” I said. “Ray, he can’t act this way. He’s under contract with this company, and I’m not about to stand by while he runs our name into the ground.”
“Okay,” Ray said. “If you’re sure you want to risk it.”
“I am,” I said firmly. “Text me the address. I’m leaving now.”
“Good luck,” Ray said. I could tell from his voice that he didn’t think my plan was a good one, but he’d left me in charge of Sean throughout this new ad campaign and I wasn’t going to shirk my duties. If Sean refused to show up and do his job, I would just have to make him.
The ride to Sean’s house was longer than I expected. I knew he lived out of town, but I didn’t realize it was half an hour away. I drove down the highway with my windows rolled down, enjoying a rare Arizona breeze. I couldn’t remember the last time I spent any time just driving around in my car. I used to love random road trips. Blasting music, eating junk food, driving with no destination in mind. It was my therapy when I was young.
Back then, I would take my car or my bike and just disappear. I hadn’t ridden a motorcycle in years. Ever since I started working at Yates’, I stopped having the time. Eventually, I sold my bike and gave it up as a bad hobby. It was ironic, really, that after years of being obsessed with bikes it took working for a major motorcycle manufacturer for me to finally give it up completely.
As I drove toward Sean’s house, my mind drifted back to those times. Just me and my bike on an open highway. I felt closest to my dad while I rode. It was more than a hobby to him, it was his entire life. He loved motorcycles more than almost anything. The only thing that could make him smile more than a new bike was my mom. In that moment, on that open highway, I missed him more than ever.
I shook myself back to the present as I pulled into Sean’s driveway. I knew I couldn’t be thinking about my dad when I knocked on Sean’s door. This was business, and the last thing I needed was for Sean to see me upset.
Climbing out of my car, I looked at Sean’s house. It was small, modest, and slightly rundown. It was clearly an old home, but it was still nice. There was a tree in the front yard that hadn’t been trimmed in a while, but the flowers in the garden were in full bloom. Sean obviously tried hard to keep the house nice, but I was surprised to find that this was where he lived.
After all, Sean’s father was a multibillionaire. Ray Yates had more money than most people would ever earn in several lifetimes. I couldn’t imagine why his son would live such a modest life. I remembered that Sean and Ray didn’t have the easiest of relationships. Maybe this was Sean’s way of keeping his father out of his life. By not taking money from him, or even help, Sean had managed to keep his freedom all these years.
For the first time, I wondered what made Sean change his mind about coming to work at Yates’ Motorcycles. If he was so determined to distance himself from the Yates family, why would he agree to become the face of the company? What could possibly have changed his mind?
I walked up to the porch and climbed the steps with determination. When I reached the door, I banged on it. Hard. Sean answered quickly, opening the door and stepping outside. I stumbled backward, taken aback by his sudden appearance on the porch.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded, keeping his voice low.
“Are you kidding?” I snapped. “You haven’t been to the office in two days. You’re not answering my calls or returning my texts. You can’t just flake out on your responsibilities. I know you aren’t thrilled about this arrangement, and frankly, neither am I. It was my idea, but the second you showed up I’ve begun to wonder if I made a huge mistake. You don’t get to take advantage of us. The money isn’t going to come free, okay? You have to put in the work. If you can’t do that, then—”
“Will you keep your voice down?” he asked. I didn’t realize how loud my voice had gotten until Sean cut me off. “My daughter is sick. She’s inside, and she needs her rest.”
I opened my mouth to speak, ready for an argument, when I registered his words. My mouth closed quickly and I took a step back. I had never felt worse about myself than I did in that moment. For days, I’d been judging Sean. I let myself think horrible things about him and now, I found out how wrong I’d been.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I had no idea. I didn’t even know you had a daughter.”