So he could get on me about being in my own little world, but he reaped the benefits. They all had. Xander with his travels that didn’t revolve around where the oil company sent him. Dawson got to stay at the ranch, which had helped him reconnect with Bristol. Even Dad, who’d had the luxury of dealing with his grief in his own way on his own time. I was the one who’d paid.

Only, Kate had suffered the price with me.

CHAPTER 4

Aiden

The lines of the mahogany conference table widened and narrowed in uneven waves along the surface. The table matched the mantel around the electric fireplace in the conference room. Did the mantel have the same grain lines as the table?

“Mr. King?”

Or had they picked a slab of mahogany that was more refined for mantels? Did they sell them as matching sets? Here’s a meeting table, and if you happen to have a fireplace in your posh conference room, then do we have a table for you—

“Mr. King?”

“Aiden.” Dad’s voice cut through my pondering and I raised my gaze off the dark lines in the already dark wood.

Shit. I was in the middle of a meeting on next year’s projected expenditures. A key meeting requiring my participation, and I’d spaced out. The monitor positioned above the fireplace was filled with faces of execs from our satellite offices in Wyoming, North Dakota, and the rest of Montana. In the conference room, Dad, Kendall, Phillip, and six more of our department heads waited on me.

“Right,” I said as I scrambled to figure out what the hell to say.

Kendall swooped in for the save. “Why don’t I compile the information and disseminate it? Watch for it in your inboxes tomorrow.”

Dad jumped in with more instructions about the information he expected to reach his desk—information that needed to come from me, but I was too lost to even look at my files and figure out what to say.

It was my second day back after taking a full week off. I couldn’t leave Dad and Kendall to clean up after me any longer. I’d lost my wife. I couldn’t lose this job or I’d have nothing. I also couldn’t cost anyone else their job. In order to do that, I had to be in my office, files in front of me, working like I always did.

“All right, everyone. Have a good weekend.” Dad tapped twice on the table between us. He wanted me to stay behind.

Kendall gathered her tablet and phone and chatted with Phillip as they wandered out.

As the room cleared, Dad murmured, “Can I talk to you in your office?”

I dipped my head and avoided looking at anyone. Dad followed me up to our floor and into my office.

He closed the door behind us. “How’s it going?”