The kid was like a tornado. He’d thrown his sweatshirt over a chair. A pair of his socks were lying on the floor in the family room. An empty pop can sat on an end table, along with several sweat rings from other drinks. A cell phone, personal music device and both chargers were strewn across one of the kitchen counters. An empty milk carton sat next to the kitchen sink along with several dirty dishes and the jar of peanut butter and there were bread crumbs scattered everywhere.
Only three months. You can do it.
After changing out of his doctor garb for his preferred mode of dress—jeans and a T-shirt—he rapped on Austin’s closed bedroom door. “Austin, time to get up.”
No response.
“Austin?”
Still nothing.
“Austin.”
“What?” came the surly response.
Sean took a deep breath and tried to let it slide. “It’s after noon. You can’t sleep the entire day away.”
There was a long moment of silence. “I’ll get up in a minute.”
Sean went to the kitchen and set about making himself a sandwich for lunch. Once he pulled out the bread, he realized it’d be just as easy to make two sandwiches. A few minutes later, as he was sitting down at the table, Austin shuffled into the room. “I made you some lunch,” Sean said, nodding at the plate opposite him.
Austin glanced from Sean to the plate and back again. “I’m not hungry.”
Seemed like this kid was bound and determined to make this difficult no matter what Sean did or didn’t do. “Suit yourself.”
Austin opened the refrigerator door and searched around. Then he poured himself a glass of milk. A moment later, he reached for the plate. “I guess I’ll just take this to my bedroom.”
“Nuh-uh.” Sean held down the edge of the plate. “If you’re going to eat, eat here.”
Austin sighed and shook his head. “Whatever.” Reluctantly, he sat and started to eat.
They sat in awkward, uncomfortable silence. Sean racked his brain for some way to make a connection to this young man. His son. How weird was that? Surreptitiously, he watched Austin. The kid propped one elbow on the table, tilted his head to the left and used a napkin in a side-swiping motion. His mannerisms were too similar to Sean’s to be coincidence. This kid was a Griffin, through and through. Somehow, someway, he had to make a connection.
“Look, Austin, I don’t know what Denise told you about me, but, for what it’s worth, I didn’t know you existed until she called me a couple weeks ago.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know you existed, either,” he said. “So that makes us even.”
“You don’t need to be such an—”
“Is this what you woke me for? To talk?” He rolled his eyes and pushed away from the table. “Get real, okay? You’re not my dad. I don’t have a dad. I don’t want a dad. And if I ever did want a dad, I sure as hell wouldn’t want you.” With that, Austin stalked off toward the front door. “I’ll meet you outside.”
No longer hungry, Sean threw away what was left of his sandwich. Then he put their dishes in the sink and tried to recall what Arlo had said that first day about Austin. The kid had a right to be angry, and Sean needed to be patient. Unfortunately, patience had never been his strong suit. He took a long, deep breath, went outside and found Austin waiting for him on the porch.
The kid glared at him. “So now what?”
This was going to be a damned long summer.
“So now we find out what you can do around here,” Sean said as cheerfully as he could manage.
The crew was out on the first of the afternoon trail rides, so for now it was relatively quiet in the yard. The only activity amounted to Arlo rigging a carriage until Grace walked into the yard and headed for the barn.
Suddenly, Austin’s demeanor changed. “Who’s that?”
“Grace Kahill. She’s visiting for the summer and boarding her horse here.”
“Damn.”
You could say that again.
Dressed in tight, low-slung jeans, a straw cowboy hat and tall riding boots, she looked good. The bandanna around her neck was a nice touch, too. She went into the barn, came back outside with her horse and started brushing him.
Sean cleared his throat and, pulling his gaze away from Grace, pointed to the row of saddles hanging in the back. “Okay, Austin. Let’s see what you got. Saddle this bay.”
The sullen, obstinate teen suddenly turned nervous and unsure. “I don’t know to saddle a horse.”
That didn’t make any sense. “But you can ride, right?”
“Sure. Been on plenty of trail rides and stuff on family vacations.”
Family vacations? In other words, he didn’t know diddly about diddly squat with regard to horses. “Your mom said you knew horses.”
“What can I say? She lied. So what else is new?”
Shit. “I don’t have time to teach you. And neither does Arlo or any of the rest of the crew.”
“Well, good news for you,” Austin said. “Now you have an excuse to send me home.”
“I didn’t say I was going to send you home.”
“That’s what you want though, isn’t it?”
Sean had had about all he could take. “Look. There’s enough to do around here to keep you plenty busy.” He pointed to one of the barns. “Take that wheelbarrow and shovel over there and muck out all the stalls in the livery barn.”
“Are you serious?”
“Very. Dump your loads into the manure spreader.”
“Yes, sir.” Austin mock-saluted and took off for the barn.
Arlo shook his head as he came toward Sean.
“Might as well spit it out,” Sean said.
“Seems to me you’re setting up one helluva confrontational relationship with that boy,” Arlo said under his breath. “You sure that’s what you want?”
“What I want is to not be a father.”
“Too late for that.”
“Dammit!” Denise had said he was a chip off the old block. “When I was his age I was running a trail riding operation, not working at one.”
“But is that what you want for your son?”
“He could do worse,” he said, watching Grace bring a pad and saddle outside and setting them over the nearest rail fence.
“I raised two boys here on Mirabelle,” Arlo said. “Made ’em work here at the stables every summer. They helped take care of the horses every winter. And you know what?”
Sean waited.
“Neither one of ’em ever comes to the island to visit. Oh, they came down to Florida last winter. Couldn’t wait to see me and Lynnie once we were off the island. But Mirabelle? They don’t want anything to do with this place.” Arlo started heading toward the livery barn. “Seems to me there’s an opportunity here for you two. What’s made of it is entirely up to you. Not that young man.”
Sean stood alone in the yard. Arlo was right, of course. It was up to Sean to take the first step in forging a relationship with Austin and to make whatever relationship they developed worthwhile. Still, he didn’t know where to start. How