Sweet Reunion (31 page)

“Why do you think Parker lost his cool when he saw
your father hit you at JT's that time? He was scared the cycle was going to
perpetuate. And, I'll tell you, it's a miracle it didn't, with the way your
Daddy grew up.”

He shook his head as he stood, “I'm not defending him,
Justin. The way you were raised was not how any kid should have to grow up. I'm
not trying to tell you your father did right by you, far from it. I'm just
saying that maybe – just maybe – you could consider the possibility that he did
the best he knew how, and that now with Noah, he's doing the best he knows how
again. It's not perfect. It's never gonna be. But think about how far he came
with you from the way he was treated growing up, and how far he's come now with
Noah than he was able to do with you.

“I do know one thing. People who were raised like your
father was, that kind of progress doesn't come easy. It's hard won. To make the
kind of improvements he's made, he's had to fight for every victory tooth and
nail.”

Henry sighed, “I don't know, son. Maybe you'll never
be able to forgive him, maybe your wounds are too deep. Only you can say that
for sure. But I just thought this was information that you should have.”

And with that, he turned and walked out the front door
of the bunkhouse and up toward the main house. As Justin watched him walk away
down the path, he did something that surprised him even as he felt himself
doing it. He picked up the phone extension and dialed the number which he had
memorized more than twenty years ago, on first grade safety day, hoping it was
still the number of his childhood home.

When he heard his father's voice answer the phone, he
said, “Pop? It's Justin. We need to talk.” and realized, as he heard the
gratitude that tinged his father's voice when he agreed to meet, that this was
the first exchange he had had with his father since coming back to town that
wasn't colored by anger. He didn't feel angry anymore. He still felt sadness,
he still felt disappointment, and he knew there was a long way to go before he
and his father could have any interactions that Justin would classify as
“positive.”  But the anger? That was gone.

It wasn't everything, but it was a step in the right
direction.

Chapter 27

Amanda looked around her living room and saw a sight
that warmed her heart: everyone she loved, gathered in one room. Henry was
here, Justin was here – and of course, the rest of the Fabulous Four – Karina,
Lauren, and Sam.

They were all together, in a stunning change of pace
compared to recent events, to celebrate a joyous occasion this time:  Amanda's
birthday.

She could hardly believe how much her life had changed
in the past two weeks. Yes, she marveled, it had only been two weeks, almost to
the day, since the reading of her father's will. That fateful day when Justin
had walked back into her life.

In the week that had passed since Justin had moved his
things into Amanda's house, officially making it “their” house, their life had
already started to settle into a blissful routine which felt like it had been
in place for years.

Justin was an early riser like she was, and so he had
begun to join her in her previously solitary morning routine, the one in which
she thought she would never be able to find the joy again. Now they spent the
dawn sipping coffee together on the porch swing, snuggled up in each other's
arms and wrapped inside her mother's afghan, while watching the world come
alive together each day. In that way, as well as so many others, Justin was
bringing joy back to parts of her life that she thought were forever dead.

And, she thought with a slight blush heating her face,
that wasn't the only new “morning routine” that they had instigated. Justin was
an early riser in more ways than one.

Their days had been filled with work at Mountain Ridge
Outdoor Adventures, frantically paced work, as they and the staff all worked in
concert to ready the park for the winter season opening day, a mere four weeks
away. The task seemed daunting, but with Justin by her side, she felt confident
that they would be ready. Somehow, with Justin by her side, she felt that she
could handle anything!

The doorbell rang, startling her out of her reverie.
“Who is that? Who else is coming?” she asked Justin.

“I invited my father and Noah,” he grinned. She smiled
right back. She loved seeing him light up the way he did when he spoke about
Noah, and now she was going to get an opportunity, her first opportunity, to
see them around each other. She couldn't wait.

Justin opened the front door and ushered in his father
and a very excited Noah. Justin knelt in front of the boy, grinning widely.

“Hey, buddy,” he said, giving Noah a big hug and then
standing up and taking him by the hand and leading him over to where Amanda
stood, “I want you meet a really good friend of mine. This is Amanda.”

“I know her!” Noah exclaimed excitedly, looking up at
Justin, “She came to my school! She talked about hiking safety tips!”

Amanda smiled, “That's right, I did. Wow! That was
over a year ago. You must be really smart to remember that! I'm impressed!”

Noah looked proud, and Rick and Justin both smiled
down at him, although Amanda noticed that they didn't look at each other.
Amanda smiled down at Noah. “Hey, Noah, do you want to come in the kitchen with
me and pick out a soda? I think we have, like, five or six kinds!”

“Yeah!” Noah exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air in
the way he liked to do. He grabbed Amanda's hand as they walked off together to
the kitchen.

Rick turned to Justin, although he did still struggle
to meet his eye. “Thanks for inviting me,” he said haltingly, “You could have
just asked me to drop off Noah. I really appreciate it.”

“I want you here, Pop.” Justin said sincerely, “I want
us to get to know each other.”

Rick looked Justin full in the face, relieved and
hopeful, “I would like that, Justin. I would really like that.”

Justin nodded, “I can't promise a total clean slate.
I'm still dealing with a lot. But that's what I want to try for. That's my
goal. Fair enough?”

Rick Barnes nodded but didn't answer. Justin was
surprised to see that it was because he was too choked up to speak. The father
that Justin had known as a child was not the type of guy to get emotional.
Maybe he really was changing.

Justin put his arm around his father's shoulders.
“Let's go join the party,” he said, and led his father toward the kitchen to
join Amanda and Noah.

Just then, however, the doorbell rang again. Justin
turned toward the door and Amanda and Noah came back in from the kitchen.

“Who is that now?” Amanda asked Justin, but Justin
merely shrugged, indicating his ignorance.

Lauren, however, stepped toward the door. “That would
be my guest,” she said with a self-satisfied smile.

With that, she opened the door and ushered Geoffrey
inside.

Amanda gasped. “Geoffrey!” she exclaimed, “Where have
you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you for over a week, you haven't
been returning my calls.”

Lauren smirked, “Well, Amanda, you haven't been using
the right bait.”

Geoffrey looked puzzled, “Right bait? My word, what
are you talking about?”

Lauren positioned herself between Geoffrey and the
front door in case he got it into his head to turn around and leave after she
started speaking. She wanted him to have to stand there and face the music, right
in front of Amanda.

“I used Amanda's phone,” she said sweetly, “To text
you, Geoffrey, and tell you to come to the party because I had decided to sell
Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures. The truth is, Amanda has no such intentions.
She didn't even know I swiped her phone.”

Geoffrey paled. Whether it was from anger or
desperation was unclear.

“Here's the thing,” Lauren explained, looking at
Amanda and completely ignoring Geoffrey, “I knew from the first minute I met
this slimy guy that he was up to no good.”

“Excuse me?” Geoffrey said haughtily, doing his best
to sound supremely offended.

“He was just so obsessed with you selling Mountain
Ridge Outdoor Adventures. It didn't add up. Like Henry said, he didn't have a
horse in that race. It should never have mattered that much to him.

“So, Henry and I combed through Mountain Ridge Outdoor
Adventures' books, but we couldn't find anything amiss.”

“Of course you couldn't!” Geoffrey huffed indignantly.

“And, yes, at first after coming up empty-handed, I
was disappointed. A little depressed, even. But I knew I couldn't let it go.

“It was my own situation, funnily enough, that gave me
the idea of how to proceed. I was able to settle the score with my sexual
harassment poster boy ex because of the fact that I was close enough to him to
know a few secrets. I knew his weak spots. I knew where he had left himself
vulnerable.

“So I started thinking – who knows Geoffrey well
enough to be able to know what kinds of shady dealings he's into? Who can
expose his seamy underbelly?”

“Seamy underbelly, for heaven sake!” Geoffrey mumbled.

“So, I asked my lawyer to run a check on him –
background check, financials, the whole thing.”

Geoffrey became even paler, if that were possible.

“So, the upshot is, I did manage to find just one person
close enough to know his dirty little secrets, and who I thought might be
interested in what was going on out here.”

“Who?” Amanda asked weakly.

“Her name is Helen,” Lauren continued, “And, oh boy,
was I right! She did know so many of his secrets! Of course, the one thing that
she didn't know was anything about his relationship with you. She was pretty
angry when I explained that part.”

“You talked to my wife?!” Geoffrey roared furiously.

“Your what?!” Amanda demanded, eyes wide.

“Oh, yes!” Lauren continued, delighted, “He's been
married for almost fifteen years. He has two boys in private school in Boston.
What he also has, I found out, is a neat little Ponzi scheme operation that's
about to fall apart.”

“Oh...my...God.” Amanda breathed.

“Yep. He viewed Parker's death as just about the most
fortuitous event that could have happened to him. He knew Parker didn't carry
any debt on the resort. A sale would have netted millions of dollars in pure
profit. His plan was to convince you to sell and then somehow steal the money
from you, thereby propping up his Ponzi scheme and helping him to evade
detection for at least a while longer.”

Geoffrey bent over and put his hands on his knees,
breathing deeply, looking like he was about to either faint or vomit. Everyone
in the room stood in shocked silence, staring at him.

After about 30 seconds, Karina broke the silence,
“Side note,” she said conversationally, “I don't know if you've thought about
this yet, Amanda and Justin, but since you own an operation and property worth
millions of dollars free and clear, that technically makes you millionaires.
Food for thought.”  Sam hit her on the back of the head with a couch pillow.

Geoffrey straightened and strode purposefully toward
the front door, pushing Lauren aside. “I don't have to take this from you,” he
said forcefully, flinging the door open.

“Oh, but you do have to take this from me,” said the
waiting SEC commission officer waiting on the other side of the front door, as
he spun Geoffrey around, snapped handcuffs onto his wrists, and read him his
rights.

“See you later, Go Free!” Karina called cheerfully,
“Except that you can't...you know...actually GO FREE.”  This earned her another
whack on the back of the head with the decorative pillow that Sam was holding.

As the agents took Geoffrey away in handcuffs, Amanda
sat down on the couch, pale and unsteady. Justin sat down next to her. “Are you
OK?” he asked quietly, “That was some pretty big stuff that just happened
here.”

“That was awesome!” came Noah's small voice from the
window where he was watching Geoffrey being driven away, and Amanda laughed.

“I'm with you, kid!” said Karina, “That was pretty
much the awesomest thing I've ever seen.” Amanda looked at Justin, “That was
bizarre!” she said, “I just can't wrap my mind around it. He was married. He
had kids, for God's sake. I was a mistress. Look at me. Do I look like the kind
of person that would be a mistress?”

Justin shook his head, “You weren't. You didn't
knowingly put yourself in that situation. And think of it this way. We should
be grateful to Geoffrey. If he hadn't kept you wrapped up in a do nothing, go
nowhere sham of a relationship for two whole years before I came back into your
life, you may have actually been involved with someone for real when I got here!” 
He flashed her his lopsided grin, “How awkward would that have been?”

She laughed shakily, “OK, true enough...”

Noah ran over and flopped onto the couch beside
Justin. “This is the best party I have EVER been to!” he enthused, “Is there
going to be cake?”

--- ~ ---

The air was crisp and quiet
about an hour later as Justin led Noah on a leisurely stroll through the woods.
In fact, to Justin, it seemed even quieter than normal. No birds chirping, no
wind rustling. Just the screaming of his own thoughts in his head.

He had told Noah that he
wanted to go on a walk with him, so they could talk about what Noah had
witnessed at his house the other night, but now that they were out here, Justin
couldn't seem to find the words.

He knew he had to get the
conversation started. He was the adult, for God’s sake. Well, Amanda might
argue with that assessment at times. But he was at least trying to be the
adult.

Justin could not believe how
strong the urge inside him was to run away. He knew he could justify it to himself.
There was no one in his life that he could not convince himself would be better
off without him. He was so used to telling himself that running away from
facing the emotional consequences of his actions was really what was best for
the other person, and not for himself. That it was a noble thing. You know. And
not the chickenshit thing.