THE WRIGHT LOVE (Wright #5)

2. David

2

David

A year.

A whole year since I’d interviewed to be the CFO of Wright Construction and gotten the hell out of San Francisco. It had been a snap decision, but it was a f*****g miracle that I was out of Silicon Valley.

No one had understood why I was so dire to leave. I’d made a name for myself there. With the trajectory I had been on, I could have taken over the town in a few more years. Then, I’d left it all behind. Everyone had thought that I was insane for taking the Wright job.

Maybe they were right.

Not that I cared.

I’d needed a fresh start.

Middle-of-nowhere West Texas seemed as good of a place as any.

I glanced around the desolate terrain from the driver’s seat of my Ferrari. The Wright brothers’ trucks and SUVs dwarfed my shiny red sports car. I couldn’t have felt or looked any more out of place.

A hand slapped down on the roof of my car, startling me out of my thoughts.

“Coming inside or just moping out here all day?” Morgan asked as I rolled down the window.

Morgan Wright was the CEO of Wright Construction and my boss. She was also probably the closest thing to a real friend I’d had in years.

“Probably the latter.”

“Fitting,” she scoffed.

“Where did you come from anyway? I don’t even see your car.” I clicked the door open and stretched my long legs out of the seat. The tiny Ferrari was not conducive for my height, but I couldn’t give it up.

“I’ve been here most of the day. But Patrick just showed up.” She beamed.

“Ah. He’s not tired of you yet?”

Morgan rolled her dark eyes. “Whatever, Calloway. You’re just jealous.”

I shrugged. It wasn’t a lie. Morgan and Patrick had started dating six months ago. For everyone who knew them, it had been a dozen years in the making. That kind of relationship was always to be envied.

Morgan opened her mouth, likely to rag on me again, but my phone started ringing in my pocket. I slipped it out of my gray dress slacks and glanced down at the number. My lips pursed.

“Come into Jensen’s when you’re done, okay?” Morgan said, gesturing to her eldest brother’s mansion.

I nodded, and then she hurried out of the summer heat. With a sigh, I silenced the ringer on my phone and waited for Katherine’s call to go to voice mail. Why the hell is my sister calling?

I hadn’t heard from her in over a year. We weren’t what you would consider close. She was the perfect daughter, and I was…far from the perfect son. It wasn’t a good day when our paths had to cross. Not because I didn’t care for her, but she was always the bearer of bad news. And I didn’t know what she could want from me after such a long stretch of silence.

Nothing good. Nothing I’d want to deal with.

I’d left for a reason, and I’d be just as happy to stay out of it. She already knew that though. No use in beating a dead horse.

A few seconds after the call ended, a notification blinked for a voice mail. I breathed out heavily through my nose and pressed the phone to my ear.

“I know you’re avoiding my call, David. I’m not going to talk about this in a voice mail. Just call me back.” There was a slight pause. “I miss you.”

With a shake of my head, I stuffed the phone back in my pocket. Clickbait voice mail. Well, I was definitely not going to call now. Not when I was about to walk into a Wright party. Especially not on the Fourth of July. Not when today was the day that Sutton was suffering.

And I knew she was.

She had to be.

No one could go through what she had gone through and not be upset on the anniversary of her husband’s death.

By some strange twist of fate, I’d been there on the day it happened. I could only come in for my interview on the weekend of the Fourth of July. Jensen and Morgan had brought me along to the parade. Maverick had collapsed while running a marathon and died that morning.

And, now, I was coveting his wife.

Fuck.

Just…fuck.

I turned back to the house, determined to ignore the conflicted feelings I had for Sutton. That wasn’t what she needed right now.

Three quick horn blasts jolted me before I made it to the door. I swung back around and found Sutton’s blue Audi TT pulling into the driveway. She parked next to my Ferrari, and I admired the sight. The woman had good taste in cars.

She stepped out of the driver’s side and waved. “Hey, David.”

“Sutton,” I said with a head nod in greeting.

Sutton fussed over Jason while his nanny, Jenny, jumped out of the passenger seat with a dessert tray in her hand. Once Jason was on his feet, he ducked out from under Sutton’s arms and raced straight toward me.

“Yes!” he cried dramatically.

I laughed and scooped him up into my arms. Jason was my buddy. Before Sutton had gotten a full-time nanny, I’d babysat for her a couple of times. I knew it was important for her to get out.

Jenny huffed and passed the dessert to Sutton. “I’ll get him.”

“No, Jen!” Jason said, vehemently shaking his head as she approached.

“Come on, Jason. Let’s go get some lunch. You’re hungry, right?”

The kid was always hungry. That was a given.

I gently passed him over to Jenny, and they disappeared inside, leaving me alone with Sutton. That was when I got my first look at her. She was standing in a beam of sunlight. Her brown-to-blonde hair was expertly curled around her shoulders. A thin layer of makeup only enhanced her natural beauty. Her pink lipstick drew my eyes. The black sundress she was wearing was nothing special, yet…she took my breath away.

She was starlight on a cloudless night.

And I directed my sails by her beacon.

“I can carry that for you.” I stepped forward and took the dessert tray out of her hands.

She smiled softly. “Thanks.”

I saw then all the pain she was holding in. Once upon a time, I’d seen a genuine smile from Sutton. A year ago, she’d looked up at me from a blanket on a marathon track, and her radiance had shown through. Her head haloed by light, she had been so full of joy and on top of the world.

Now, her cheeks were hollowed out. She’d lost weight. She was a shell of the butterfly I’d seen that day. Yet still beautiful and surviving and alive. She was getting through one day at a time, and I couldn’t ask for more than that.

Though I wanted to.

A part of me yearned to be the person to put all the pieces back together. To never see her in this much pain again. To get her to smile like that one more time.

But not today.

“You ready?” I asked instead of voicing my swirling thoughts.

She took a deep breath and then let it out. “No.”

“We don’t have to go in.”

Her blue eyes looked up into mine. A tumultuous sea in the midst of a hurricane. “We do. My family wants to be there for me.”

“Your grief belongs to you. You choose who you share it with.”

“It can’t be shared, only survived.”

“Sutton…” I began.

“Ah! There you are!” a voice cried from the doorway.

We both turned to find Sutton’s best friend, Annie Donoghue, emerging from the house. She was a tall redhead with a vibrant personality. She had also been running the marathon with Maverick a year ago. She and Sutton had only gotten closer throughout the year. Tragedy brought people together like that.

“Hey, Annie,” Sutton said with another sad smile.

“Are y’all going to come in or what?” Annie asked with her Southern lilt.

“Definitely,” Sutton said. “We were just catching up.”

“Awesome. Hey, David.”

“Annie,” I said.

My eyes met Sutton’s one more time. Something passed between us. A shared moment acknowledging that she was doing this more for her family than for herself. I understood it. They wanted to help her. She didn’t want to be alone at home, crying all day. Even though it would have been acceptable.

Instead, she put on a brave face and entered the house.

I followed behind her, carrying her dessert tray in my hands and wishing I could explain how much I understood. And how much I wanted to help.