After the Climb

by Kristen Ashley

  It was about giving him time.

  However, before they were at her place and it was about Christmas and holidays and family, she did it.

  Because she was Genny.

  “I’m so sorry, Sully.”

  “Breakups happen,” he grunted.

  “I know, but they hurt.”

  She would know.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  “Your dad told me you really liked her.”

  “Aubrey was the shit.”

  “Again, honey, I’m so sorry.”

  Okay, she was Genny and she was cool.

  She was also a woman.

  So he went for it.

  “Why do they do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Break up before Christmas? I mean, what the fuck, Genny? Is it because she didn’t want to waste a gift on me? Couldn’t she just wait two weeks and not spoil the holiday for me?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “She acted like it was my fault. Like I shouldn’t be studying…in college. She told me she didn’t want to break up, but unless I could give her more time, she couldn’t see past it.”

  “I’ve never met the girl, so—”

  “It’s selfish.”

  “It sounds it.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t care.”

  “That’s the bitch of it, Sully. Because you can tell yourself that, but the heart knows different.”

  Yeah, she’d know about that.

  She’d loved his dad since she was eight.

  Eight.

  Forty-four years of love and he’d burned her bad, and they’d been apart forever, and there she was, sitting next to Duncan Holloway’s son, listening to his post-breakup blues.

  She knew what her heart wanted.

  And he wanted that.

  “I want that,” he whispered.

  “Sorry?”

  “Nothin’.”

  “What’d you say, Sul?”

  “Nothin’.”

  “Okay, honey.”

  And she let it be.

  Because she was Genny.

  And because she was Genny, he said, “I want what you give to Dad.”

  He knew she was looking at him even before she said, “Then that is not Aubrey. Your father could be on the moon for five years, studying rocks because that was his passion, and he’d come home to me.”

  “I know,” he muttered.

  She reached out. Touched his arm. Then pulled back.

  “You’re young. Wait for her, Sully. She’s out there.”

  And she was not Aubrey.

  She guided them to her place and told him to drive up to the front and valet, “Because the garage scares me. It’s so tight. I only park down there when Bowie’s driving. Before him, I always valeted.”

  Unsaid: or her ex did it.

  Tom Pierce was now going to be in the mix.

  He’d bowed out of Thanksgiving.

  But this made Sash and Coco have to do the split (not Matt, he stayed with his mom and them up at the house).

  And apparently, Pierce did not like that for his girls, or Genny, and not only because them doing the split meant them driving two hours between Thanksgiving meals.

  So he was going to man up.

  Sully didn’t get this, and he figured it was going to be all kinds of awkward.

  But it was also cool.

  His mom and dad didn’t avoid each other, but they didn’t talk to each other at all that Sul knew. They were civil but not friendly.

  His mom, because she was embarrassed, maybe still loved his dad a whole lot, and it made her sad she’d fucked that up so huge.

  His dad, because he was over her before he divorced her and he’d moved on, dating and now Genny.

  So yeah, not super close friends.

  At all.

  He’d barely stopped at the swank roll through in front of her high-rise when the valet was at her door.

  “Good evening, Ms. Swan.”

  “Evening, Lucas,” she replied.

  Sully pulled himself out and moved to the back, where he’d popped the hatch.

  “Good evening, Mr. Holloway.”

  He blinked at a guy who was probably older than him, but only by a few years.

  “Uh, hey.”

  The guy smiled.

  Then they both ran into each other going for his bag.

  “I got it,” Sully said.

  Lucas backed off.

  He started to hand him the fob, but Genny said, “They have one, Sully. That’s mine.”

  So he handed it to her.

  After being told to have a good evening, he followed her into a lobby that was all ritzy furniture, water features, real live plants, massive pots stuffed with poinsettias, and classy holiday decorations, including the fanciest menorah he’d ever seen sitting on the front desk.

  And there were a lot of “Evening Ms. Swan, Mr. Holloway.”

  They didn’t even fob themselves up.

  The dude behind the desk hopped to and pressed the elevator button for them, outside and in, unlocking the security on the buttons with his own fob.

  “Jesus,” he muttered when the doors closed.

  “Your brother got used to it really quickly.”

  At that, he looked to her and felt like a dick.

  Because it was the first time he’d smiled at her since he got off the plane.

  “Gage is feeling this luxury condo living,” she shared.

  And at that, he started laughing.

  Her hall was just as posh, clean as a pin, deadly silent and a little eerie.

  She opened one side of double doors and he got blinded by the light from a massive crystal chandelier.

  And that was all he was able to take in.

  “Sully!” Sash screamed, racing down a wide hall to him, her long hair flying, like he’d been off to war or something.

  He dropped his bag before she hit which was a good thing, or they’d both go down.

  She gave him a tight hug then jumped back and shouted, “God! I’m so glad you’re here! Finally! If Bowie would just get here, we can start Christmas!”

  Christmas wasn’t for four days, but he didn’t share that.

  She was dragging him in.

  All he caught was a lot of white, bits of black, gold and pops of bright pink, when Coco rounded a corner.

  As usual, she looked right out of a fashion magazine, hair and shoes included.

  Her fingers were wrapped around a martini glass that had some blue drink in it with white froth at the top, and she was smirking at him.

  “Sullivan,” she greeted.

  “Cocoroco,” he replied.

  She rolled her eyes.

  Gage had come up with the addition to her nickname.

  She pretended to hate it.

  It was cute.

  He moved in and kissed her cheek.

  She kissed his back, but when he went to move away, she caught him by cupping his jaw.

  Her eyes moved over his face, soft, warm and concerned.

  Then they caught his.

  And honest to fuck, it was all better when she drawled, “She’s a damned fool.”

  Christ, when Judge got his shit together about her, he was going to be the luckiest man on the planet.

  Outside Dad.

  And whoever earned Sasha.

  She let his jaw go and lifted her drink. “You want a Snowman Jack?”

  “I don’t know, what’s in it?”

  “It is blue. It is pepperminty. And other than that, I have no clue, except it is very alcoholic and your brother made a pitcher of them.”

  “I’m in.”

  Her lips curled and she glided away.

  “Dude! Look!”

  Sully then looked.

  Yes.

  Lots of white.

  And black.

  Black floors. Black wood on some of the white-upholstered furniture. Mostly just white-upholstered furniture. So many crystal chandeliers, it was like t
here might not be any left in the world. Some gold accents.

  And Genny’s Christmas decorations were white, pearly-white and freaking pink.

  There were a lot of them.

  He looked to her. “Has Dad seen your decorations?”

  “Of course,” she murmured.

  “And how much shit has he given you for them?” he asked.

  “He detests them,” Genny answered, her lips curling like her eldest girl’s.

  Sully shook his head but looked to Gage when he yelled impatiently, “Sul! Look!”

  His brother was turned to face the back of the unit and his arms were expanded wide.

  Sully looked.

  The wall was all windows, and beyond a balcony, Phoenix was laid out before them like a blanket of urban-themed Christmas lights.

  “Is that not…the shit?” Gage asked.

  It was one-hundred percent the shit.

  “Yeah.”

  “They call me Mr. Holloway. Did they call you Mr. Holloway?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Sometimes I walk through the lobby just so they’ll say, ‘Good morning, Mr. Holloway.’ Or ‘Good afternoon, Mr. Holloway.’”

  “Stop doing that,” Sully ordered.

  “I will when it gets old and it is so not old being rich and knowing someone famous,” Gage returned.

  “This is why I love and adore our brother,” Chloe said, handing him a martini glass filled with white froth and blue liquid. “He understands what’s important in life.”

  “Oh, Coco,” Sasha landed with a bounce on her knees on a sofa that was so white, Sully was, frankly, scared to get near it. “Stop encouraging our baby bro.”

  “Lest he ever forget, I will drill this into him until my dying breath,” Coco returned.

  Grinning at this, Sully took a sip.

  “Jesus, it’s like Christmas in alcohol form,” he said when he’d swallowed it.

  “Gage Holloway, mixologist,” Coco said like she was introducing him to Gage.

  “I’m our self-appointed bartender. Last weekend, Googled holiday cocktails,” Gage said. “Made a list. Coco went to Total Wine. And the valets had to carry up four boxes of booze.”

  “Yes, and you’re all very lucky I’m rich,” Genny stated. She had her own blue and white cocktail now and was aiming her ass into a chair at an angle to the couch. And once she was down, she crossed her long legs in her stylish slacks, still wearing her stiletto heels, and she looked every inch the movie star she was. “Because those four boxes cost me a thousand dollars.”

  “The fuck?” Sully asked then looked to Gage. “Does Dad know this?”

  Gage shrugged.

  “Allow me to translate,” Chloe cut in. “What ma mère is saying, when she discusses something as gauche as money, is, you’ve done it once, which I will allow. Don’t do it again.” She leaned toward Sully. “This I learned upon the purchase of a thirteen-thousand-dollar Chanel evening bag. And I will note, I have only the one.”

  At this news, he nearly did a spit take since he was sipping.

  “But truly, it is that fabulous,” she finished.

  “I’m not sure you’re a real great influence on my brother, Cocoroco.”

  “Our brother, mon magnifique frère. And I know, isn’t it perfect?” she asked.

  Christ, he loved this chick.

  He couldn’t help smiling at her.

  “Hey, where’s Cookie?” Gage suddenly asked.

  “We’ve decided to leave her up at the house when we’re down. Bettina is looking after them. We’ve learned with the back and forth, it can’t be one and not all, and she’s bonded with Rocco,” Genny told him.

  “She’s bonded with Rocco?” Sully queried.

  “It’s so cute, they cuddle together,” Sasha shared.

  Rocco loved everything and everyone, including cats, which Tuck wasn’t a big fan of, and rabbits, which Bounce hid from.

  Good he had Cookie now.

  “Gage, darling, can you grab Sully’s bag and show your brother your room?” Genny asked.

  “On it,” Gage said.

  Gage beat Sully to the hall to get his bag.

  Sully gave up on the ridiculous argument of who was going to shoulder it, let his brother do it, and Gage guided him to “their room.”

  It took a while. This pad was essentially an apartment.

  But it was huge.

  “She had it redone for us,” Gage told him, dumping his bag on one of two queen beds that had padded head and sideboards in a gray tweed, matching benches at the bottom.

  There was also a wall paneled in wood. Two nightstands for each bed that were boxy and clean-lined. The sleek lamps on them looking like they were made of brushed platinum.

  And no white or pink in sight.

  “I mean, like, we’re grown, and we’re gonna be like, on our own in a few years, at least me, next year for you, and she spent a fortune so we’d be comfortable in her place for a few days at Christmas or whenever we’re visiting,” Gage finished.

  The tone of his brother’s voice had Sully looking at him.

  They both knew what they were thinking, and it was the same thing.

  It wasn’t about Genny being rich and redecorating a bedroom for them.

  It was that they finally had the family they should have always had and they both knew it.

  And appreciated it.

  But they both wished they’d had it all along.

  “Now I see why you come up here nearly every freakin’ weekend,” Sul noted.

  “Nah, I come up here because Chloe buys me booze,” Gage joked.

  Sully grinned at him and then they joined the others in the living room.

  There was general chitchat for a while.

  And then the front door opened.

  Sasha went flying, screaming, “Bowie!”

  Sully got off a couch he hoped the blue of his jeans didn’t stain to watch Sasha hit his dad like a bag of bricks, but when Genny came abreast of him on her way to greet Dad, he asked, “Where’s Matt?”

  “He’s up at the house, he’s…uh, decided to stay there and wait for us to join him,” Genny answered.

  “Sorry, Gen,” Sully whispered.

  He’d met Matt at Thanksgiving. Good guy. Nothing like his sisters. Mature, openly protective of the women in his life.

  Sully approved.

  Genny hadn’t talked to Sul about it or anything, but he knew she wanted her son to patch shit up with his dad.

  This had yet to happen.

  And apparently, it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

  And this was something to think about.

  Because he was, in a way, doing the same with his mom as Matt was doing with his dad.

  Genny grabbed his biceps, squeezed, then moved away.

  When she made it to Dad, she got a huge kiss where Dad actually bent her back over his arm a little bit, and honest to fuck, it was like some Hollywood photo.

  Her in her swanky outfit and heels, hair shiny and pretty, holding her fancy drink aloft, bent over a man’s arm, getting a snog from a tall, dark, handsome dude.

  Dad finally had that.

  And more, when they broke away, and Genny smiled at him like Sasha smiled all the time, and Dad’s face got all tender and tranquil…

  Dad had that too.

  As far as he knew, Genny had driven down before Dad so she could be sure to get Sul in case Dad was further delayed, even though Gage could have done it. Or Sasha. Or Chloe.

  That was not their way.

  From the beginning when Gage and Sully walked into the house while they were cooking dinner, even if their kids were all grown, they were the parental units.

  And even twenty-one and grown up, Sully could not say that sucked.

  Still, they’d probably been apart three hours.

  And they were kissing and looking at each other like that.

  Then again, the last time they were parted, it had lasted twenty-eight years.

  So he g
ot it.

  “Dad, I’m in protest at no pets. I can’t be in a space without pets,” Gage called.

  “Get over it. Two of our animals don’t meet HOA code,” Dad returned, moving to Sully, his eyes glued to his oldest son even if he was talking to his youngest.

  “Who cares about HOA. We can sneak ’em in,” Gage said.

  “I’m all for that!” Sasha cried.

  Dad rounded the back of Sully’s neck with his hand and squeezed, warm and tight.

  “Sul.”

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “You good?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Yeah?”

  He knew what Dad was asking.

  “Chloe says she’s a fool.”

  “Chloe is always right.”

  “Now, that should go on a coffee mug,” Chloe decreed.

  Everyone laughed.

  But for Sully, the rest of his tension slipped away.

  Because Dad’s hand was on his neck, Dad was there, Dad got that this sucked for him.

  And when he was with Dad, everything was always all right.

  His father let him go, looked at what was in Sully’s hand, and around the room, and then asked, “Christ, what are you all drinking?”

  “Snowmen Jack, would you like one?” Chloe offered.

  Duncan Holloway didn’t even bother.

  He turned to his youngest and ordered, “Gage, get your old man a beer.”

  Everyone laughed at that too.

  Gage took off to the open-plan kitchen, which was, yeah, all white.

  Even the counters.

  And the counter appliances.

  “So what do you think of a white tree with pink ornaments?” Dad asked him. “That is, the ornaments that aren’t white.”

  “No offense, Genny,” he said to her where she was standing in the curve of his father’s arm, then to his dad, “I think it sucks.”

  Genny giggled.

  Dad’s eyes all crinkled, he caught him by the neck again.

  “Now, that’s my boy.”

  Yeah.

  Everything was all right.

  *****

  Tom

  The doorbell rang, and he went to open it.

  The man stood outside.

  “Duncan,” Tom greeted.

  “Tom,” Duncan returned.

  He stepped aside. “Come in.”

  Duncan entered.

  Tom closed the door behind him, led him to the living room, and asked, “You want a drink?”

  “You got beer?”

  He looked to the guy. “I was going to have a whiskey.”