Dangerously yours

CHAPTER TWENTY

REID’s POV 

I walk around in my building that’s under construction. Looking at the walls built that partition a once very big room into smaller rooms. The plan to tear down old worn out walls and build new ones is already on the way to completion. Once the construction is done we can move on to equipments and décor.  

Fred and his team have been working tirelessly on this project. This has cost me a lot of money. I am actually doing well for myself. I am what you call a trust fund kid, my father comes from a rich family, so basically my grandparents are from old money and when I was born they opened a trust fund in my name which I could I cash out once i turned twenty one. I never touched the money because I never had a reason to or a great need of Some sort. To top that off my father worked his way up to being the Executive Manger in his business firm and also opened up a trust fund in my name. 

At the time I felt it was guilt money, his way of making up for the time he wasn’t There for me or how he practically shut me out of his life and wasn’t even interested in the ongoing of his own kid’s life. 

Coupled with the fact that after high school i worked at an Auto-shop before I enlisted for the army, every penny I saved went to my savings. 

Which means now I have enough money to complete this centre, properly equip it and open it up to the public.

I walk around taking notes of things I want to adjust and change. There are workers doing their work and fixing things that need to be fixed. 

I take notes and mentally make arrangements to have an interior designer come in to check out the place. 

They work with all the color combinations, art and things that will make the whole atmosphere soothing and give the illusion of a peaceful surrounding. I want any one that comes into this place to feel safe and sheltered and first their surrounding should be able to calm their nerves. 

I work over to where the contractors are busy and bade them well, I go out and get the pack of bottled water and snacks I bought from the mall on my way over here for them out of the trunk of the car.  I drop it over for them so they can have that during their break. A couple of workers see this and thank me with slaps on the back and grunts of appreciation.  I would have bought beer but I know it’s not safe to drink and work especially when you’re working with dangerous machines like them they can’t afford to be careless or slip during work, moreover light beer tastes like s**t. So water would do. 

I have a quick errand to run and then I’m off to my shrink. 

This is a recent development, I had to decide for my mental health to get a therapist, so early this morning I made an appointment and today I’m off to fill out some forms and make appointments. It time I really did this and if I want to find a woman to call mine I would not want to saddle her with problems she didn’t bargain for. 

I stop at the store to pick up some materials to fix my front porch. As I pack in my car and step out my phone goes off. 

It’s my Dad calling. 

Dad and I have a somewhat awkward relationship with my dad. We never got close after Mum left us. By the time he wanted a relationship with me it was too late I was busy with my finals In school, I was playing for the football team, I was also making plans for my future and I already had a family. 

We tried to make it work by having dinners and he came to my games whenever he could but that didn’t mend the awkward relationship we had.  

He tried to compensate for his absence by attending my football games religiously, buying expensive cars and toys for me. Now I wasn’t interested in the flashy lifestyle most of my peers wanted to live. That didn’t interest me at all.

"Hey son." He says warily. 

I don't blame him for being wary. I am not in any way a trouble child, going around drinking irresponsibly, fighting, breaking stuffs and getting arrested because I am hurt or broken in any way. I just kept away from him and made sure our ways were aligned in any way. Whenever he enters the room I walk out and grunt in response to his muffled greetings too. I was hurt that he basically abandoned me and didn't even notice my existence. He did the grocery shopping, paid the bills and sorted everything that had to my schools and finances but I never understood why he avoided me like a plague. I felt like I lost two parents and not one .

Yeah. Sure I and my dad had some fun memories before everything went sour. 

I remember when I was young he would take leave of absence from work for a few days we would go out to his cabin by the lakeside of our town on fishing trips with a work buddy Jones and his son Hector. This was a way of getting out of my mother's hair. It was always fun for me most especially, we would have father and son bonding time. He taught me how to use a boat, tie a knot, clean the fish, roll in the line after a catch, attach the bait and all that stuff. I mean I was never a fishing fan or an outdoorsy child but we got to spend time together. He laughed at my jokes, told his own silly jokes that we giggled too. After the day spent out on the river he would grill the fish and we would have the fish with baked beans and biscuits. I was always also happy because he wouldn't make me eat vegetables if i didn't want to. We made a ritual but that abruptly ended after the divorce, we moved to another town, I don't know till date if he sold the cabin when we moved away and I have never asked about the place. 

Now looking at him I feel a pang of regret strike me, I have not had the best relationship with my dad and it's mainly his fault but I also shut him down a lot of times when he tried to reach out to me, he really hurt the child I was but i am not that little boy anymore.  

What made us closer was when few days after I got back from my previous tour I was just back for less than week and I got a scare phone call. My number was listed as his emergency contact information, apparently he had a mild heart attack, nothing so scary but that was enough to zap me back to the reality that I would have lost him just like that. If he would have died with the bad relationship we had I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself. 

I was with him for a few weeks, helping him recuperate and get back on his feet. It wasn’t easy between us but we gradually the awkward phase and I got the angry phase, we sat down and had conversations as adults that helped our budding relationship now. 

I bring my mind back to the phone call and make a mental decision.

"Hey dad." I say lightheartedly.

"Hey son, how are you doing?." He asks.

Normally I would just grunt a few words and the conversation would be over in seconds, but I don’t want to do that, I want to put a little effort in and see how it goes. 

"I’m doing good Dad. How are you doing? How’s work?."

I ask him as I put my phone on speaker and climb in the car to drive to the diner I’m supposed to meet my Interior decorator at. 

"Same ole, your old man is retiring soon, I mean I am not that old. Left to me I would continue work." He grumbles annoyedly. 

It is amusing sometimes seeing my old man act like a kid. 

"Dad you need to retire so you can take care of yourself and probably meet a nice woman who would won’t mind been stuck with your grumpy ass." I chuckle lightly. 

"Huh. I know you won’t mind dumping me in a retirement home." He states mockingly. 

"Old man, you can finally spend of some of your money. Go out on a ship cruise. Have fun, travel the world, meet a nice woman. All that shit." I say back to him. 

"Well.... now that you say it I haven’t been on a vacation for a long time now. That won’t be so bad. This vacation would be good for me." He starts thinking out loud. 

I honestly it would be good for him to let lose and have fun. As back as I can remember he has always been invested in his work. His life revolves around his work. He looks fit and good so I think it’s a good suggestion for him to put himself out there and see what happens. 

"Yes dad. Think about it and let me know about your plans, ok?." I inform him as I near my destination. 

"Alright son. Are we still on for tomorrow night?." He asks. 

We made plans to take a sailing trip during the weekend on his baby. He calls her his ‘Belleza’ which means Beauty in Spanish. That’s one of his guilty pleasures. He likes the sea and bought this ship from a merchant who didn’t want her anymore. It was in pretty good shape but he still renovated it to suit his style. He spent a lot of money on it but at the end of all the work it came out as a work of beauty , very befitting of the name. 

I have already cleared schedule in anticipation of tomorrow. 

"Yes Dad. We’re still on, see you Tomorrow." I tell him as I put my car In park and make to come out of it. 

"I’ve got to go dad. We’ll talk later. Bye" I tell him. 

"Bye son." He hangs up and I hastily make my way to the entrance of Joey’s Dinner . I am

a couple of minutes late.