The Arrangement by Thayer King Read Free Book Online Page B

not the same house that Asher had grown up in with his parents. David Hollister had sold the house in Greenville during Asher’s senior year in college. Asher hadn’t been thrilled, but after all the shit he’d put his father through, he couldn’t object. His father was finally trying to move on with his life, having lived in a state of mourning since the passing of Ash’s mother, Joanna. Not that Ash had recognized his father’s mourning for what it was. He’d been a selfish and very angry teen. While he chose to display his grief by spiraling into increasingly bad behavior, his father had withdrawn into himself. That had only made Asher angrier. It had seemed to him that his father hadn’t cared. But no matter how much he acted out or lashed out at his father in anger, his father had responded with nothing but patience.
    It wasn’t until the night of the car accident he’d finally pushed his father over the edge. He could still remember his father yelling at him while he lay in a hospital bed with a broken arm. Tears had filled his eyes as his father finally read him the riot act. David hadn’t said a word about the brand new BMW that was beyond salvaging. “We both lost your mother. We can’t lose each other, too. I couldn’t survive that, Ash. It’s time for you to stop acting like a damn child and grow up. Your mother wouldn’t want this for you.”
    Ash had been twenty-one. That was when he finally realized how much his father had been hurting. But he’d held himself together because his focus had been on helping Ash to cope. After Ash was released from the hospital, he tried to quit smoking for the first time. He’d started smoking at sixteen in an act of defiance. He was angry at his mother for dying of cancer, at his father for not falling apart, and at God for taking his mother. Their family money came from tobacco. His mother had hated smoking. Her own father had been a smoker and died from lung cancer. Joanna had made sure that they no longer had any ties to the cash crop. She had never smoked a day in her life, but she had died of breast cancer.
    He had tried to quit smoking again and again only to fail. It was only until Ariadne’s offhand comment about his car that he’d finally been able to kick the habit.
    Terri greeted him at the door with a warm smile and a welcoming hug. Terri wasn’t anything like his mother. His mother had been fair with light green eyes the same shade as his own. Tall and slender, she had done some modeling in her teens. Terri was short and rounded in a way that made her appear younger than her fifty plus years of age. She kept her dark brown curls clipped close to her ears whereas his mother’s hair had never been shorter than waist length. Sometimes Asher wondered if his father had chosen Terri because she was so very different.
    Whatever his reasoning, Asher didn’t think his father could have found a more perfect wife. Terri had lost her husband to cancer as well. The two had met in a grief support group and had become good friends. Terri was a genuinely kind woman and she made his dad happy.
    “You’re just in time for dinner,” Terri said as she drew back. “I didn’t know you were home.” She took a moment to look him over as she closed the door. “Your tan is fantastic. How are your friends? Everyone is well?”
    “They’re great. Ted and Erika are talking about starting a family.”
    “That’s wonderful. Your father is going to be so jealous. You know how he wants grandkids.”
    He followed her through the house. “He has Lizzy and Abby.”
    Terri smiled. “It’s nice of you to say so, but you know it’s not the same.”
    Lizzy and Abby were her daughter Tara’s children by her ex-husband. Though they weren’t his father’s biological grandchildren he treated them as though they were. “Where is Dad?”
    “He’ s in the family room with Tara and the kids.”
    That gave him momentary pause, but he supposed it was for the best. He could