Chapter 4 - The Offer Nobody Knew About.Cole hid the acquisition documents inside his desk.
It was the kind of decision he had made for years.
Put the problem away.
Handle the urgent thing first.
Return to the emotional thing later.
The problem was that later had become the place where most of his family life lived.
Ben wanted pancakes.
Maggie needed to discuss preschool.
The pediatrician had called.
Natalie's mother wanted to visit.
Cole's company needed signatures.
Everything was constantly waiting.
At noon, Cole stood in his home office staring at the Northstar offer.
Thirty-eight million dollars.
He had started Mercer Response Group with one truck and twelve thousand dollars borrowed against his house.
Now someone wanted to pay him enough money that Ben's grandchildren would never worry about finances.
Cole should have been celebrating.
Instead he kept seeing a four-year-old with a backpack.
A knock came at the door.
Maggie entered.
“Your mother-in-law is here.”
Cole sighed.
“Ruth?”
“She brought muffins.”
“That means she's angry.”
Maggie nodded.
“I figured.”
Ruth Hammond had never trusted Cole's definition of fatherhood.
She had tolerated him when Natalie was alive.
After Natalie's death, tolerance became scrutiny.
Cole walked into the living room.
Ruth sat beside Ben.
She was sixty-three, silver-haired, elegant, and terrifying when disappointed.
Ben was eating a blueberry muffin.
Ruth looked at Cole.
“You missed Chicago.”
News traveled quickly.
Cole glanced at Maggie.
She shook her head.
“I didn't tell her.”
Ruth stood.
“Evan called Thomas.”
Cole's jaw tightened.
“Why is my business partner calling your husband?”
“Because apparently everybody knows when you lose fourteen million dollars.”
“It wasn't fourteen million dollars.”
“It was a fourteen-million-dollar contract.”
“Different thing.”
Ruth stared at him.
“Why didn't you go?”
Ben looked up.
Cole changed his tone.
“Because I wanted breakfast with Ben.”
Ruth's eyes softened for half a second.
Then hardened again.
“You stayed?”
“Yes.”
“Voluntarily?”
Cole nearly laughed.
“Yes, Ruth.”
She looked at Ben.
The boy smiled.
Ruth's expression changed.
Perhaps she had expected a different answer.
She walked toward the kitchen.
Cole followed.
Ruth waited until they were alone.
“Maggie told me about the nightmares.”
Cole looked toward the doorway.
Maggie appeared.
“You called her?”
Maggie did not apologize.
“I needed help.”
Cole's voice tightened.
“With what?”
“With making you take this seriously.”
“I am taking it seriously.”
Ruth stepped between them.
“Then prove it.”
Cole looked at her.
“How?”
“Be here.”
“I was here.”
“For one morning.”
Ruth pointed toward the ceiling.
“That child wakes up wondering which person will be missing next.”
Cole's anger rose.
“Don't use Natalie against me.”
“I am not using my daughter against you.”
Ruth's voice cracked for the first time.
“I am trying to make sure her son doesn't spend his childhood waiting at windows.”
Cole went silent.
Ruth wiped her eyes quickly.
Natalie's death had broken all of them differently.
Cole had worked more.
Ruth had become controlling.
Thomas stopped talking about Natalie entirely.
And Ben packed bags.
Ruth continued.
“He asked if he could sleep at our house.”
Cole looked sharply at her.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Why?”
“He said your house feels empty when you aren't there.”
Cole's throat tightened.
“I live here.”
Ruth looked at him.
“Technically.”
Maggie whispered.
“Ruth.”
But Cole raised a hand.
“No.”
He looked directly at his mother-in-law.
“Say what you're trying to say.”
Ruth inhaled slowly.
“If this continues, Ben should stay with us for a while.”
Cole stared.
“A while?”
“Until things settle.”
“What things?”
“Your travel.”
“My company.”
“Your priorities.”
Cole's face hardened.
“You don't get to decide where my son lives.”
“No.”
Ruth's voice remained calm.
“But I can ask.”
“You already did.”
Ruth said nothing.
That silence told Cole enough.
“You asked Ben?”
“I asked whether he would like to stay with us more.”
Cole took a step forward.
“You do not discuss that with a four-year-old.”
“Then you discuss something with him.”
Cole's phone rang.
The sound cut through the kitchen.
Everybody looked at it.
Cole checked the screen.
NORTHSTAR DEVELOPMENT.
Ruth noticed.
“Who is that?”
“Nobody.”
He rejected the call.
Maggie saw the logo on the screen.
Her eyes narrowed.
Cole slipped the phone into his pocket.
But he had been too slow.
Maggie waited until Ruth returned to the living room.
Then she whispered.
“Northstar?”
Cole did not answer.
“What are they calling you about?”
“Business.”
“Cole.”
He stared at her.
“It isn't your concern.”
Maggie's expression changed.
“Does it involve Chicago?”
Cole remained silent.
Maggie's face drained of color.
“What did you agree to?”
“Nothing.”
“Yet.”
Cole clenched his jaw.
She looked toward Ben.
“You promised him.”
“I promised I would come back.”
“No.”
Maggie shook her head.
“You still don't understand what that word means to him.”
Cole walked toward his office.
Before he reached the door, Ben's voice came from the living room.
“Daddy?”
Cole stopped.
Ben held the little backpack.
The same one Maggie had found.
“Can Grandma take this to her house?”
May you like
Cole stared at the bag.
The acquisition offer suddenly felt like the least complicated problem in the house.
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