New Tricks Read online

  “You aren’t old—”

  “I’m older than you, and I don’t intend to make the same mistakes that I have in the past.” Thomas swallowed hard. “So I’m asking you out to dinner and a movie or something on Saturday night. Neither of us will be working that day, and we can be just two people out together. Is that okay?” Thomas gave him an uncertain, hopeful look.

  Brandon grinned. “That would be very nice.”

  A date, like a real date. Brandon wondered what a date with Thomas was going to be like and just how he was going to last until Saturday without getting so excited that he flew all to pieces.

  Chapter 7

  THE WEEK had gone well, and Thomas had done his best to take it easy and try not to stress over everything going on in the office. He spent a lot of time on the phone with Blaze. They worked through some procedures where Thomas would be involved with each project at certain steps to ensure they stayed on track or brought in if there were issues he could help with, but otherwise Blaze would take the lead as his senior project director and Thomas could step away a little from the day-to-day operations.

  “I still want input on hiring and terminations.” Thomas was adamant about that. He had put together a great team of people and wanted to keep it that way.

  “Of course,” Blaze said. “We’ll also set up a Monday project overview and update meeting, as well as a Thursday project issues and resolution meeting to help you stay up to date.”

  “Great. But I don’t want any dog and pony shows. If I get the feeling that these meetings are being stage-managed and prepared to the nth degree, I’ll be on a plane to New York the following day to kick some ass.” Thomas paused. “And you know where I’m going to start.” Blaze might be his best friend, but as a senior executive with his company, Thomas held him to the highest business standards. And he knew how these things went.

  “I agree,” Blaze said, then grew quiet.

  “What is it?” Thomas knew what the hesitation meant.

  “The Swanson deal…,” Blaze said. “I don’t know what’s going on, and it may be nothing, but it’s been moving along perfectly and now there are questions. Nothing big, but… it’s hard to put my finger on it. This could be me overreacting, and I’ll tell you if anything comes of it right away. It’s just my gut being a little titchy right now.”

  “Part of what I’m paying you for is your gut. Keep me informed.”

  THOMAS SPENT most of Saturday morning with his mom and dad, helping them with things around the house. His mom was slowing down, that was plain to see. She still cooked too much and worried about him too much, and when he’d taken her shopping, she’d forgotten her shopping list and had trouble remembering what was on it. Granted, that didn’t indicate that anything was really wrong with her other than the fact that she was getting older, but he worried. In the end he’d called his dad, who had taken a picture of the list and sent it to him.

  “Maybe I can see if Brandon would be willing to help you out? He’s very organized, and he gets things done well.”

  His mother looked at him as though he were crazy. “I know you’re busy and important and need assistants and things.” She put her hands on her hips, stopping right in the middle of the canned goods aisle in the grocery store. “Brandon is a nice boy, but I don’t want anyone in my business and doing my shopping for me.” She shook her head. “I’m slowing down, not getting ready for the grave.”

  Thomas put his hands up. The last thing he wanted to do was fight. “I was just offering to see if he could help you. He goes to Costco for me, and he could see if you needed things when he goes.”

  She glared at him. “I’ll think about it.” She lowered her arms and turned, walking off down the aisle.

  God, he could navigate extremely complicated real estate deals, and yet taking his mother to the grocery store had more pitfalls.

  “Are you dating anyone?” she asked a few minutes later as another of those potholes opened up in front of him.

  “No.” That was technically true. He and Brandon were going out that evening, so they hadn’t dated yet, so he wasn’t dating anyone… at this exact moment. Yeah, he was being a shit, but he didn’t want his mother butting into his private life.

  “How is Collin? I talked to him for a few minutes earlier in the week, but we each got calls and had to cut it short.” He smiled and his mother frowned. She knew he was getting at her for the whole Karla incident.

  “Don’t give me that sugar-sweet look.” She turned around and continued on. “I’m your mother and I know you.”

  Thomas followed behind her. “You know, I came to see you to spend some time with you. Not go to the grocery store.” It had probably been nearly a decade since he’d been in a store like this.

  “We’re spending time, aren’t we, and you’re helping me, so…?” She seemed particularly grouchy, and he saw her walking more slowly, favoring her right side. “Anyway, I want my sons to be happy—”

  “Well, Collin is, now that he’s free of Karla.” Thomas knew he was turning the knife a little, but his mother needed to stay out of his love life. “Did you know that she kept him on an allowance? She controlled all the money and—”

  “Yes, I know. She’s trying to say that all the money in the accounts is hers. I helped your brother get a good attorney. She’s amazing. I met her at a ladies’ guild meeting at church.” His mother stopped and turned to him, adding in a whisper, “She’s a complete and total witch, always trying to foist her ideas on the rest of us, who rarely get a word in edgewise. So she’s perfect to sic on Karla and will rip her to pieces.” Mother continued her shopping, and Thomas did his best to help, but she just seemed to want company. “Do you think Brandon is lonely?” She put a couple cans of beans and corn in her cart. “He’s really sweet, and there are some young men that I met at….” She tapped the arm of the cart. “Oh yeah, at the Toasted Bean, who were very nice and about his age.”

  “Mom. No matchmaking. Not for me, and not for any of the people who work for me.” He was getting tired of this entire situation. “Just let it go. Everyone is perfectly capable of managing their own love life.” He’d unintentionally raised his voice, and a couple of the other people in the aisle turned to him.

  His mother scoffed and rolled her eyes before continuing. “Let’s get this over with. I’m not getting any younger.” She picked up speed, finished her shopping, and got in line at the checkouts. Thomas handed the cashier his credit card, and once the groceries were paid for, he carried them out to the car.

  When they got home, she put the things away and Thomas went in search of his father. He found him in his small workshop in the shed in the backyard.

  “Is this where you hide?” Thomas asked his dad as soon as the door closed. He sighed. “Mom needs more care than I’d realized. I suppose this is where you go when you need a few minutes.”

  “Yeah.” Dad leaned against the counter with a small sigh, getting sawdust on his pants and shirt, before reaching down to open a hidden refrigerator. “Ready for a beer?”

  “It’s too early. I haven’t even had lunch.” Thomas was pleased when his dad pulled out a couple of Diet Cokes and once again leaned against the counter, handing him one before popping the top on the other. “What do you want to do while I’m here, Dad?”

  “Who says we have to do anything?” His dad smiled and lifted a box to reveal a small television. “I have everything I could possibly want out here. I love your mother, but sometimes I just need a moment to myself.” He pulled out a couple of chairs. “What’s on your mind?” He sat down and looked at Thomas with interest.

  “I came here to spend more time with you and Mom.” He took the other chair. “I’ve been so wrapped up in myself and my work for so long that I think I lost track of what was really important.” It was hard for Thomas to see his parents getting older, his mom’s health fading, knowing he’d missed a lot of years with them and that he was only going to have so much time left before it was too late.


  “What did you expect? The two of us spending our days in rocking chairs on the front porch? We keep busy, have friends, even do dinner parties sometimes. Your mom loves to cook. I swear sometimes it’s what she lives for.” Dad patted his belly. He had clearly been the beneficiary of that cooking for years.

  “I don’t know.” Thomas sighed and drank some of his soda.

  “I guess the changes are with you. Are you making friends and meeting people?”

  “I have a date tonight,” he confessed, and his father nodded, lightly scratching his gray head. “But I don’t want Mom to know.”

  “Smart man. She’ll get in the middle of it faster than you can say Dolly Levi.” His father chuckled and then sighed. “It’s about time you got over all that nonsense with Angus. He was a real shit.”

  “Dad!” His father never swore. Growing up, it had been his mother who could make a sailor blush, and where Thomas had learned every swear word known under creation. Lord, that woman could curse a blue streak.

  “It’s not a lie. He was a conniving little weasel, and I was glad when you kicked him to the curb. And the rest of it… well, things worked out in the end, but you gave us the scare of our lives.” His dad set the can on the work counter, leaning forward. “Who is your date with?”

  Thomas hesitated.

  His father shook his head. “Getting involved with people you work with is a bad idea.”

  “I know. But it’s Brandon, Thelma’s grandson,” Thomas confessed. “He’s special, Dad. Brandon gets me and seems to understand what I need.”

  “Well, take things slow, for goodness’ sake.”

  “That’s what Brandon said.” There was a good point in his corner. “So we’re going on a date tonight. Like, out to dinner and then a movie. Old-fashioned stuff.” Thomas caught his dad’s gaze. “Believe it or not, I’m less concerned with Brandon doing anything at work, the way Angus did, than the fact that he’s going to get an opportunity somewhere and leave. He’s bright and talented. Brandon can really go places… and I’m nearly forty.”

  His dad rolled his eyes. “Try approaching seventy and then we’ll talk. Look, son, you can do whatever you want, but please be careful. That whole business with Angus nearly did you in, and it aged your mother and me ten years in a few weeks. None of us want to go through anything like that again.” He swatted Thomas’s leg. “With that said, neither of us wants you to be unhappy. So follow your heart, just be careful.” He huffed and chuckled. “Damn, I sound like one of those Hallmark movies your mother is always watching.”

  Thomas had to laugh. “I know what I want, Dad. I just haven’t had any luck finding it.”

  “No. You may know what you want—you always seemed to have that gift—but you never looked for it, so the person you needed never found you. Love doesn’t just plop in your lap like some saloon hooker in an old Western. You have to look for it, then recognize it when it comes along, put in an effort, and nurture it so it can grow. Not just hope it’s going to be perfect from the start.”

  “Great analogy, Dad,” Thomas deadpanned, then smiled. “You should write greeting cards or something.”

  “Stop it.” Thankfully his dad had a good sense of humor. “But I’m right. You worked and did little else for years, and when Angus pursued you, he was convenient and you let yourself get involved with someone you shouldn’t have.”

  “I know, Dad. I stayed away from everyone after that and worked harder.” And that had turned out so damn well. Thomas very nearly had ulcers and was on medication for hypertension because he’d worked so hard for years and oversaw so much of the work at his company.

  “Yes. Now you’re here and you’re stepping away from the business a little and trying to build a life. So do it. If you want my advice, be careful, but go out there and get yourself a life. Your mother and I are doing fine right now. We don’t have money worries, and we’re happy. Our health is only going to last so long….” His father hesitated.

  “What is it?”

  Dad sighed. “I want to take your mom to Australia. She’s always wanted to go and it’s a long trip, but I’d really like to take her before we get much older and can’t.”

  Thomas grinned. “Then take her. Book the flights, the tour you want to take—heck, fly to Hawaii, stay a week, and then fly on from there. Do you and Mom want to take a cruise around the continent?” He met his dad’s gaze as tears ran down his dad’s cheeks. “Go ahead and decide what the two of you want and let me know.” His mom and dad had never asked for anything from him before. He was happy to do this for them. “Plan it and we’ll go over everything and get it booked.”

  “That’s the thing. If we go, then you’ll take care of the dogs?”

  This was about the dogs? His dad was worried about the danged dogs?

  Thomas shook his head. “I can’t. Brandon works out of my house and he is highly allergic to them. He had major breathing issues just being in your house for ten minutes. And since my home is also his work environment… I can’t do that. But we’ll figure something out.” Heck, he’d ship the little nippers to New York and Marjorie could take care of them. She loved dogs. “Don’t let that stop you.”

  His dad smiled, his expression unreadable, and Thomas wondered what his father was so dang pleased about, other than the obvious. “Son….” He breathed. “You can’t take the dogs in six or eight months because your assistant, the one you’re going out with tonight, is allergic.”

  “Well, yeah.” Granted, he wasn’t sure if Brandon would still be working for him then, but he wouldn’t commit to taking the dogs if Brandon might be there.

  “When was the last time you let anyone tell you what to do?” His father cocked his eyebrows upward. “You didn’t let Collin dictate what happened in your apartment. Remember that week your mother and I spent with you? Collin pitched such a fit when he found out we weren’t staying in a hotel, but you held your ground for us and told him to jump in the lake if he didn’t like it. I know it’s not the same thing, but you’re already making allowances in your life for Brandon.” His dad nodded slowly. “This guy must be pretty special.”

  “He is, Dad. I think he is.” Thomas blinked and stood to wander slowly through the small space. “And I’m trying to make the most of it while it’s here to be made the most of.” God, that was a convoluted thought. “You understand what I’m saying?”

  “I do.” His dad finished his soda and tossed the can in the trash.

  Thomas sat back down and finished his drink, then said goodbye to his dad and went into the house to kiss his mom on the cheek before he headed home.

  He watched a baseball game that afternoon, and the Rockies won. Then he showered and changed into something nice, but not too dressy, to take Brandon to dinner. He kept expecting his phone to ring, but it stayed quiet, and without looking a gift horse in the mouth, he drove to Brandon’s grandmother’s and walked up to the door.

  A deep male voice drifted out. “I don’t know how you can live this way and why you insist on enabling him! This needs to stop, and he needs to get some help.”

  Thomas knocked.

  “This is my house and you can leave if you can’t be civil.” Definitely Thelma.

  Thomas knocked again and the voices went quiet. The door was opened a few seconds later by a woman probably ten years older than him.

  “May I help you?” she asked nervously.

  “Thomas, please come in,” Thelma said, and he nodded and went inside. Thelma was pale, and Brandon was green around the edges and looked about ready to be sick.

  “You know how I feel about all this, Mother,” a man with Brandon’s jawline and the same intensity in his eyes said.

  “You know,” Thelma said as she stood from the sofa, “I don’t care how you feel about anything.” She shook her head. “How did I raise the world’s biggest bigoted asshole?” Apparently this fight was important enough to have in front of strangers. Thelma looked about ready to spit nails, so Thomas stayed near the door
, out of the line of fire. “Thomas, my son and his wife were just leaving.”

  “This discussion isn’t over,” Brandon’s father said.

  “Yes, it is, Dad,” Brandon countered. “I’m an adult with my own life, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t care what people say at your lodge meetings or at whatever church group you lead.” An almost maniacal look spread across his face. “You have no power here. Begone… before someone drops a house on you.”

  Thomas grinned. “Great reference,” he said, catching Brandon’s gaze and earning a faint upward turn of his mouth.

  “And you are?” Brandon’s father asked. “One of Brandon’s friends? Aren’t you a little old for—”

  “Phillip,” Brandon’s stepmother cautioned.

  “How do I know what Brandon is doing now? Maybe this is how he paid his way through college.” Phillip’s eyes grew dark and hateful, a chill bracing the air.

  Brandon paled and turned even more green.

  “Thomas Stepford,” he said, standing tall but not offering his hand. This wasn’t someone he wanted to get to know better. “And you’ve been asked to leave.” He opened the door and held it. “I suggest you do.”

  “I’m not done here.”

  Thomas glared at Brandon’s father. This was going to get ugly. “Look, you can either leave like you were asked, or I can take out the trash, and that will involve shoving your dumb ass into one of the garbage cans and rolling it to the curb.” He wasn’t going to take this kind of shit from some idiot with a Napoleon complex. Brandon had said his father didn’t support him, but to be this hostile to his own son and to his mother was way out of line. “Get going,” Thomas added forcefully.

  He waited, and then Brandon’s father passed, his face red. Thomas jumped forward a little. Brandon’s father started and yipped like a purse-dog. It was beautiful. He closed the door after Brandon’s stepmother, and Thelma turned to Thomas.