Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (46 page)

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Slowly
,
” Novak replied.

“I need to make some calls
.
” Paul murmured.

“I should go home
.
” Angel told
Gavin.

“I’ll give you a hand Mr.
J” Novak
offered.

“Dad, I’ll help out when I get
back ok?” Gavin
asked.

“Yeah sure
,
” Paul answered
.
“Julian did mention that he wanted
Angel home early. Good luck by the way
,
” he grinned at his son.

“I’m not going in
.
” Gavin replied.

“That’s what you think
.
” Angel
retorted.

“Don’t go just yet
.
” Suzanne a
ppeared, heavily laden with a tray full of bacon
sandwiches, followed by Monica who carried a tray bearing coffee cups and
coffee pots, closely followed by Paula, Jackson, Michael and Matt
.
“Have something to eat, Gavin can take
you home afterwards
.
”

The f
amily gathered around the table, helping
themselves to sandwiches and coffee. Suzanne sat by her husband, leafing
through his phone book, marking the pages he would require, Gavin took the seat
next to Paul with Angel next to him and Novak on her other sid
e with Marissa next to him. Paula and Jackson were to
Novak’s left next to Matt with Monica and Michael completing the group.

“What’s wrong with the pool?” Michael asked.

“It’s leaking
,
” Paul answered,
not looking up from his phone book.

“It’s bloody
stupid having an outside pool in
this country anyway. I hope you have realised that and will fill it in
.
” Michael commented.

“Michael
,
” Monica warned.

Gavin felt Paul stiffen next to him and Suzanne grasped Paul’s hand
.
“Don’t rise to it
,
” she told him.

Pa
ul appeared to be considering what she had
said before answering
,
“
t
oo late
,
” as he looked at his father
.
“It may have escaped your notice Dad,
but you are in my house, the house that I own outright by the way, with the
pool that is kept because my childre
n love it which,
to be perfectly honest, is the sole reason I keep it as unlike you, the
happiness and wellbeing of my family are the things that matter the most to me.
I’d appreciate it in future, if you kept your comments to yourself.”

“Well said
,
” Matt
spoke
.
“You were a
little out of line Dad
.
”

Michael scowled at his youngest son across the table before turning to
his wife
.
“We should make
a move
,
we are
obviously in the way here
.
”

“You aren’t in the way
,
” Paul told him
.
“I do expect you to show some respect
to my family and my position while you are here though
.
”

“Oh shit
,
” Gavin
whispered, he leaned closer to Angel
.
“Time to go, this is going to get nasty
,
” he grasped her hand and hastily left
the table.

“How dare you s
peak to me that way
,
” Michael fumed
.
“Especially when you precious family is
falling apart all around you
.
”

“You don’t know what you are talking about
.
” Paul replied.

“Your son is a mess, your daughter is a first class brat, and you have
hangers on crawlin
g out of the woodwork, your
relationship with your wife is based on purely physical needs and the honesty
of your business practices are highly questionable
,
” Michael spat, the entire population
around the table turned their gazes upon Paul as Michael fini
shed his tirade.

Inside, Paul was fuming, he sorely wanted to walk away but knew he
couldn’t, he wouldn’t let Michael think he was weak, he addressed each point in
turn
.
“My son isn’t as much of a mess as he
used to be, he’s behaving himself and working ha
rd,
we do have a few communication problems that’s true but it’s
something
we
are
work
ing
on.
M
y daughter
i
s spoil
ed
and
I am addressing that issue.
I expect you will see a vast
improvement in her behaviour the next time
I allow
you see her
.

 
 
“B
ut regardl
ess of my children’s problems, you
should be grateful that out of your three children, I’m the only one who has
given you any Grandchildren.
And
Novak is by no means a hanger on, he is considered a welcome member of my
family, I consider him my son. My rel
ationship with
my wife goes so much deeper than what she provides for me physically, my
emotional attachment to her will extend to far beyond the grave and as for my
business practises, everything I do is above board and legal, why do you think
I have a te
am of full time lawyers? They make sure I
do everything by the book, you just can’t get your head around the fact I’m
successful, I haven’t made a wrong move in any of the businesses I own or of
any of those I have taken over. 

“
I don’t owe anyone anythin
g. It galls you to know that your runt of a son is mor
e successful and infinitely
wealth
ier
than you will ever be, people in the
business world fear me and have a healthy respect for me, it’s about time you
followed suit
.
” Paul rose from
his seat, picked u
p his phone book and left the
table, not one person said a word.

“What was all that about?” Angel asked
as
they were in the car, heading to her
house.

“Dad and Gramps don’t get on, they generally don’t bother to speak to
each other but Gramps will find any
excuse to have a
dig. In the past Dad would just ignore him and walk away but over the last
couple of years he’s began to wade in and have a go back, it gets nasty very
quickly, that’s why I thought it would be a good idea to leave
,
” Gavin answered.

“How
do you feel about it?”

“I get on well with Gramps but I hate it when he starts on Dad, I know
Dad and I don’t have the perfect relationship but whatever we have is better
than the one he has with Gramps. I can remember as a kid, Gramps digging at Dad
every
time we were there and I could see Dad getting
mad
,
but because I
was there, he bit his tongue and we usually left, I guess now he’s
a
successful
man in his own right
he feels it’s time to answer back and I
think he’s right. Gramps has a habit of trying to drag me into it which is why
I tend to get out of the way when they start.”

“I guess I can see why Paul finds it difficult to talk to you now though,
it isn’t as if
he’s had a close father son
relationship of his own
,
” Angel mused.
“I know, just as I know he really wants us to sit
down and talk but there are things he’s done that I don’t want to talk about,
things that make me so angry and that’s not the person I want
to be anymore, I’m happier the way I am right now and I
don’t see the point of dredging up the past
.
”

“You will have a better relationship with your Dad if you do, make all
those issues water under the bridge so to speak and move on. I don’t know what
I w
ould do without my Dad and the relationship I have
with him
.
”

“I don’t know what I would do without my Dad if I’m honest and I really
don’t know how he’s remained so calm even when I was being a first class brat,
we’ve had one flair up since I’ve lived her
e and that
actually helped
,
so in that
respect, I guess I should sit down and have a heart to heart with him
.
B
ut right now I’m at the point where I don’t think it will make any
difference
.
”

“You should try and at least meet him half way
,
” Angel said as th
ey pulled into her driveway
.
“You may as well come in and face the
music while you are here
.
”

“Oh let me see
,
” he smiled
.
“I could go home and get caught in the
middle of the row between Gramps and Dad or I could stay here and have “
’
the talk
’
” from your D
ad?
Actually, “
’
t
he talk
’
” seems to be
the better option
.
”

Linda told them that Julian was working on his car when they entered the
house and, biting the bullet, Gavin went to find the older man.

“It’s coming along Julian
,
” he greeted
him.

Julian beckoned
to the polytunnel that had been
set up and unzipped an opaque panel over a clear Perspex window so that Gavin
could see inside.

“The paint is curing, but that’s the bulk of the spraying done, I might
enlist your help putting the car back together
,
” he told
him.

“Yeah, I’d like to help
,
” Gavin nodded
.
“Any news on Angel’s engine?” he asked.

“Should be arriving Friday, it’ll be fitted early next week
,
” Julian confirmed
.
“I’m glad you mentioned Angel, saves me
doing it
,
” he gestured
for Gavin to sit on one of
the large toolboxes
.
“You know the obvious thing I’m going
to say is don’t you hurt her
.
”