As Long As I Have You

~ Chapter Forty Nine ~

"Are you going to keep ignoring me, boy? Or have you finally remembered enough manners to ask your old man in for a drink?"

Evan didn't look up from his work.

Patrick ignored the silent disparagement and strode into the room to pour himself a stiff drink. He wet his glass with his customary bourbon and then set the bottle down to grab his son's favourite Scotch, then grinned to himself and poured his eldest an equal shot of his own drink instead. He walked both glasses back to Evan's desk and sat down in one of the room's more comfortable chairs.

"If I spontaneously burst into flames," he said in between casual sips of his drink, "do you think you could pull yourself away from that damned computer long enough to put out the fire?"

Evan stopped what he was doing and levelled his father with an annoyed look. "Speed this up, Dad. I have work to do."

"We're not even going to pretend with the niceties?"

"Not if it means we have to keep having this conversation longer than necessary."

Patrick nodded. "All right, then. Do you remember the conversation we had a year ago?"

"We've had lots of conversations, old man."

"And how many of them were about finding yourself a wife to settle down with?"

Evan sighed and picked up his glass. He sniffed at its contents and winced, then set it back down.

"Get to the point."

"Fine. When I told you to get yourself a wife you did it. Damned if I knew how you managed it, but you found a girl, and a helluva good one at that."

"If you're looking for a thank you card, I'll drop one in the mail."

He shook his head with a grimace. "Don't thank me yet. You found a wife, but like a fool you also managed to lose her."

"I didn't lose her. She left, remember?"

"And what did you do to get her back?" he challenged. "Women are meant to be chased, boy. Hell, the chase is what keeps a man alive inside. Without that he can't be happy or complete."

Although totally absurd, his father's theory also made a cruel sort of sense. He had never chased a woman before Kirsten, and those moments had been some of the most exhilarating and fulfilling he had ever known. And when she left and he gave up the chase the hollowness he felt was deeper and darker than anything he ever thought possible.

"I want to talk about your divorce papers," Patrick said, interrupting his thoughts.

"John told you."

"Last night," Patrick confirmed.

"Hmph. Who knew he would hold his tongue as long as he did."

"He finally told me because he knew you wouldn't."

"He was right."

"You've got one week left to contest her petition, and you're just going to sit here and do nothing?"

"If you're worried about the family fortune, don't be. I can assure you we're fine."

Patrick choked on his drink at the rebuttal and set the glass aside with a healthy cough. "Damn it to hell, Evan! You think this is about money? It's about your happiness, yours and Kirsten's."

"Then this conversation is over," he said with finality, and picked up his forgotten pen to jot some notation down.

"The hell it is. I asked you for an explanation a year ago and you said you needed time and space to sort things out, so I gave it to you. But the only thing you did with that leeway was dig into Beaumont Industries like a damned tick.  That and push everyone further away. It's like watching a re-run with you."