Chapter 14 - Owen Didn’t Want The Study Anymore
Owen returned the next morning.
Daniel had slept badly.
Lily was at school.
The study door stood open upstairs.
Owen looked at it from the foyer.
“Feels wrong.”
“What?”
“Open.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“You want it locked?”
“No.”
They went upstairs.
Henry’s notebook sat on the desk.
Owen did not reach for it.
Daniel noticed.
“You can read it.”
“I read enough.”
“So did I.”
They sat on opposite sides of Henry’s desk.
For a moment, both looked like men waiting for a father who would never come in and complain about them touching his papers.
Daniel broke the silence.
“Why didn't you come inside the funeral?”
Owen rubbed his hands together.
“I told you.”
“Dad asked you not to turn it into our reunion.”
“That wasn't the whole reason.”
“No.”
Owen looked toward the window.
“I saw you.”
“Where?”
“Front steps.”
Daniel remembered standing outside greeting people.
Vanessa beside him.
Lily holding his hand.
“You looked like you had a family.”
“I did.”
“I didn't want to find out whether there was room.”
Daniel stared.
“You decided.”
“Yes.”
“You're good at that too.”
Owen smiled faintly.
“Apparently genetic.”
They sat.
Daniel asked:
“Do you want a relationship with me?”
Owen looked uncomfortable.
“That is an aggressively adult question.”
“Answer.”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel nodded.
Good.
Owen continued.
“I want to know you.”
“That’s a relationship.”
“Maybe I want the option.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Coward.”
“Probably.”
Then Owen looked at him.
“Do you want one?”
Daniel thought.
“I wanted a brother for years.”
“That wasn't the question.”
Daniel stared.
“No.”
He tried again.
“I want to see what happens if we stop making twelve years decide the next twelve.”
Owen looked down.
“That sounded prepared.”
“It wasn't.”
“Worse.”
They both laughed.
Small.
Unearned but real.
Owen looked at the shelves.
“What are you doing with all this?”
“Cataloging.”
“Vanessa’s plan.”
“Without throwing it out.”
“Still Vanessa’s plan.”
Daniel smiled.
“Maybe not every idea becomes contaminated because the person who had it screwed up.”
Owen considered that.
“Dangerously mature.”
“Leave.”
“Soon.”
He stood.
At the door, Owen looked back.
“Dad kept one thing from you that I’m not sure is mine to tell.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
Owen immediately shook his head.
“No. Forget I said it.”
“You don't get to—”
“I know.”
Owen came back into the room.
He looked genuinely irritated with himself.
“Dad talked about selling the house.”
Daniel frowned.
“That’s it?”
“Before he got sick.”
“Why is that a secret?”
“Because he changed his mind after you said Lily loved it here.”
Daniel stared.
Owen continued.
“He kept making major decisions around what he thought you needed.”
“So?”
“So do not turn keeping this house into loyalty to him.”
Daniel looked around the study.
Not a hidden crime.
Not an inheritance trick.
Just one more dead man’s preference disguising itself as obligation.
“Did he want me to sell?”
“At one point.”
“Later?”
“No idea.”
Daniel nodded.
“Then neither do I.”
Owen smiled.
“Annoying.”
“What?”
“You're learning.”
Daniel threw a pencil at him.
Owen caught it badly.
For half a second they were boys again.
Then it passed.
Owen put the pencil on the desk.
“I’m flying out Thursday.”
“Where?”
“Denver.”
“Work?”
“Yes.”
“You coming back?”
“I don't know.”
May you like
Daniel nodded.
Neither asked the other to promise.
