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Duke tightly gripped the groceries he had just bought in one hand while fumbling to get the door to his apartment open. If only his daughter, Brooklynne, had come out to help him, but no, she was too busy with her phone like she always was. It was enough to make him wish his ex-hadn’t sent her over to Boston for the summer. Eventually, he managed to get the door open and stomped his way in, almost dropping the groceries in the process. “10...9...8”, he huffed out counting down like he always did when he felt his blood pressure rising. This was his life, a constant cesspool of stress and anger that he wished he could get rid of. It wasn’t that easy, however, he had responsibilities to maintain and a lifestyle to uphold. It wasn’t like Duke couldn’t deal with the stress, as long as it kept him away from that ranch that he had to call his goddamned childhood home. He shivered just thinking about the mundaneness of his previous life, thankfully now he was in a better situation living in the city of Boston as a lawyer, and a damn good one at that.
“Brooklynne! Are you home?!” Duke yelled into the darkness of his seemingly empty apartment. It was all quiet for a few moments before his daughter strutted out from the study looking annoyed with her phone in one hand and Starbeans Frappuccino in the other.
“What?” she asked sounding like she would rather be anywhere else at that moment.
Duke clenched his fist trying to remind himself that this girl was his daughter. “Do you know how long I’ve been calling you, trying to get you to come down and help with the groceries!? And why is it so dark in here? What do you do at home all day?”
Brooklynne looked down at Duke’s hand finally seeming to notice the bags in her father’s hands. She threw her empty Starbeans cup into the trash and went over to him grabbing the bags, quickly moving into the kitchen ignoring his words. Duke was too exhausted to lecture her for being moody because of the case he was working on.
“Did anyone call?” Duke asked he followed her and set the bags on the counter.
“Mr. Delacroix’s assistant wanted me to tell you that he’s flying in to have lunch with you,” Brooklynne said as she began emptying the bags.
Duke felt his forehead scrunch up just from hearing Delacroix. Dorian had been fuming since he lost that piece of land he wanted, and Duke was the perfect person to vent to. He groaned internally as he thought about the long meeting that awaited him. “Anyone else?”, he asked just to make sure.
Brooklynne hesitated and Duke knew instantly that she was hiding something, after all, part of his job required him to read people.
“Who else called?”
“…Grandpa...”, she answered, making Duke’s heart palpitate from shock. “He said that he wanted to talk to you as soon as possible.”
Duke couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had talked to Cliff, but part of him was curious as to why the man had called. “Hey, Brooklynne get started on the pasta puttanesca while I talk to him.”
Brooklynne picked up a saucepan and for a moment Duke thought she was going to throw it at him, but she was just putting it on the stove.
Duke walked into the living room while looking for his father’s number in his contacts list. As he dialed the number, he loosened his tie and undid a few buttons on his shirt. After a while, someone’s voice came through. “Duke”.
“Sawyer. How are you?” Duke asked coldly.
“Fine” Sawyer replied voice dripping with sarcasm. “Thanks for worrying about us so much that you haven’t bothered to call us since leaving with your ex”.
Duke didn’t have enough patience to play Sawyer’s game. “Just give the phone to Dad,” he said feeling Sawyer’s eye roll from the other side of the call. He knew deep down that Sawyer had a valid reason to be upset and he hadn’t been the best brother or the best son. He still remembered the night he had found out about Brooklynne’s existence and had packed up all his belongings to leave behind Sweetridge with his now ex-wife. He desperately wanted to move on from that small town so he studied at Hartfeld until he could go to Northbridge Law School, sometimes working multiple jobs to keep his small family afloat. Duke must have lost himself somewhere around there because his wife woke him up in the middle of the night just to throw divorce papers at his face. Cliff’s voice broke him out of the trance he was falling under, wondering where he went wrong.
“Hello?”
Duke felt his throat constrict at the sound of the older man’s voice. He forced himself to recover as he said, “Brooklynne said you called, what did you want?”
“Do I need a reason to call my eldest son who, may I just say, hasn’t tried contacting his old man in a while?” Cliff gave a small chuckle trying to ease the tension but realized his son wasn’t having it.
“Well if there comes a day where my ex-wife wants to work things out, my daughter actually wants me as her dad and doesn’t just think of me as her sperm donor, then I’ll know you aren’t just spewing bullshit like you always do”.
There was dead silence on the other side as Duke realized he slipped up. “Sorry, just having a rough day” he grumbled trying to keep the conversation moving.
Cliff sighed. “You know son you can call and talk to me, anytime right?”
Duke grimaced at the thought of telling his Dad anything to have to do with his personal life. “But I know you won’t do that... I know you’ve been trying to avoid me and everyone else at home…”.
“Dad, what is going on?”
Cliff’s voice suddenly filled with emotion, “I just want to ask you a favor… please just come home for a few days. I know you’re busy with your fancy new life, but I just want to see my son and granddaughter, even if this is the only time.”
Duke knew this was coming, but he still wasn’t prepared for it. “Dad I- “.
Cliff cut him off. “Please just think about it, I have some things I would like to tell you and your brother in person”.
Duke thought about his case and all the work he had left to do by the next day. Then he pictured Brooklynne’s face every time he came home from work. She wanted to go back to her mother and her friends in New York City. There was nothing for her to do in Boston, nothing to tie her down to the city. However, there was a part of him that felt inclined to visit Sweetridge one last time. “Fine, I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not making any promises”.
“That’s all I ask of you son,” Cliff said ecstatically. “I hope to hear from you soon, goodbye”.
Duke hung up and looked out at the city from his window, it had started raining hard. When he said he hadn’t been to Sweetridge in a while it was a long while.
He was just an 18-year-old kid back then, who was forced to grow up too fast. He had heard stories of life beyond the ranch from his late mother. Stories of huge buildings that touched the sky and streets full of busy people rushing about. He knew he was going to leave Sweetridge eventually but under different circumstances. Nothing was tying him there; he could relate to Brooklynne in that sense. What would he do there? Take over the ranch? Become the town handyman and fix people’s fences for a living? He would rather do anything else. At first, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do in Boston, but then Dorian Delacroix scouted him while he was working at one of his construction sites. Duke thought he was dreaming when Dorian took him under his wing. He wasn’t sure why exactly an arrogant man like Dorian picked him out of all people. Maybe it was the pity of seeing a father struggling to make ends meet. Whatever it was, Duke owed Dorian for turning his life around, without the man, Duke would’ve never gotten through Northbridge Law School or working for his current firm and lived in Benbrook. The crackle of thunder and tapping of the rain outside brought him back to the present. Duke sighed and walked back into the kitchen where Brooklynne was standing next to the stove engrossed in her phone.
“Brooklynne start packing we’re visiting your grandpa in Sweetridge.”, Duke said standing in front of her, arms crossed.
Brooklynne looked upset. “What!? I can’t go, I just made some new friends and I was going to spend time with them over summer break! Plus there’s a cute boy who works at the café around the corner!” she screamed.
Duke was tired of the constant attitude he got from Brooklynne so he decided he would put his foot down for once. “No, both of us are going to Sweetridge to see your grandpa and that’s final”.
Brooklynne had tears forming in her eyes as she tightly gripped her phone and sped away from the kitchen, most likely going to complain to her friends about her asshole father.
Duke looked down at the simmering pasta in the pot as he leaned on the ceramic counter thinking about what his dad wanted to say. Maybe…no, no, no that couldn’t be it Sawyer would’ve called him ahead of time. They might’ve hated each other’s guts, but Sawyer couldn’t possibly hide that from him. Duke sighed once more, turning the heat on the stove off. It didn’t matter what Cliff was going to tell him, it would change nothing in the grand scheme of things. That’s what he told himself as he continued making dinner, maybe he was trying to convince himself. “Shit, what am I going to tell Dorian!?” He remembered the man was on a flight on his way to Boston. “Surely he’ll understand…”.