Page 173 of Sing with Me

I want to marry Skye and raise a family with her.

“What do you really want, Dad?” Diehl said instead.

“Play golf and take my grandkids on vacation.” Dad answered so quickly that Diehl suspected he had thought about it for a while.

“Do we need fifty-billion dollars to achieve that?”

“No.”

“Then why are we hanging on to Brooks Manufacturing and Brooks Transportation? They are so outside what Brooks originally was about. At least Brooks Renovations is an offshoot of Brooks Properties.”

Dad’s eyes teared. “Because they were Parker’s babies.”

“I know. That’s what makes it hard to let them go.” Diehl came around the table and sat the edge of it, facing Dad’s armchair. “But you’re retired and I’ve burned out trying to spin all these plates.”

“He worked so hard on them. I don’t want to sell anything.”

That perked Diehl’s interest. “Has anyone offered?”

“Urquhart Enterprises.”

Jared. Yet again. “Sneaky. He waited until I’m away from the office to make you an offer.”

“Do you want to know how much?”

“Does it matter? Let’s see if we can keep Parker’s legacy in the family,” Diehl said. “If it doesn’t work out, then we’ll take the highest bid.”

“How? You know that as soon as summer is over, we’re back to where we were—you running all three subsidiaries.” Dad had nailed the reality of the problem. “It’s too much for one person to manage. Sucks the life out of you.”

“What if we ask Riley if she wants in?”

“Riley?”

Diehl nodded. “Harvard MBA. Used to be VP of Sales at the manufacturing corporation Parker bought. So it’s like going back to her old job, if she wants to. You don’t look sure, Dad.”

“Riley hasn’t worked since Petra was born.”

Worked?

For some reason, Diehl didn’t like what he heard. “On the contrary, Riley worked more as a mother than she did in the corporate world. Don’t you remember Parker singing her praises all the time?”

“I meant in a corporate office.”

“It’s overrated, Dad.”

“She spent the last four years making pottery to display in her gallery that she owns. Sandpiper Gallery or something.”

“That’s because the kids need her the rest of the time,” Diehl said. “If my wife had decided to stay at home and raise our children, I would have honored her sacrifice.”

“Your wife partied away your money, Diehl,” Dad reminded him.

“Not all wives are like that.” Certainly Diehl hoped that Skye would…

Skye?

Was he getting ahead of himself?

“Riley is a recluse,” Dad added.

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