Circle of Friends, Part 2 by Susan Mallery Page A

she prepared sandwiches for lunch.
    â€œHe’s your father.”
    â€œThat’s a technicality.”
    â€œHe’s your family. He’s old and he’s here to make amends.”
    â€œThat’s not possible.”
    She looked at Dev. “Sometimes you are so pigheaded, I just want to shake you. Have you ever considered there are things you don’t know that might change everything?” She hesitated, not sure if she should share what she’d been told, then figured it couldn’t make things worse. “Your father left because he believed you had a future,” she said, then explained what Jackson had told her.
    â€œIt wasn’t my grandfather’s idea,” he said heatedly, when she’d finished.
    â€œWhy would your father lie?”
    â€œTo make himself look better.”
    â€œCalling himself a failure makes him look really good, right?”
    Dev frowned. “He wasn’t a failure. He worked at the company until he left. He provided for us. He didn’t fail.”
    â€œFunny how he thinks he did. And that’s before he walked out on his two kids. Imagine how he feels now.”
    He narrowed his gaze. “Don’t get in the middle of this, Noelle.”
    â€œI’ll do my best not to,” she said. “In return, maybe you could keep an open mind.”
    Dev swore. “He’s been here less than an hour and he’s getting to you. Let’s cut to the chase. The man walked out on his two children right after their mother died. How am I supposed to forgive that?”
    â€œI don’t know,” she told him. “Maybe you start by listening.”
    * * *
    T HE FOLLOWING S ATURDAY afternoon Dev found himself invaded by yet more of Tiffany’s friends. There was a chick-flick movie fest going on in the family room and way too much sugar happening in the kitchen. Noelle was at her study group and he couldn’t seem to concentrate on the work he’d brought home.
    If it had been Jimmy instead of Tiffany, he would have ordered everyone out and enjoyed the subsequent silence. But as his relationship with his brother had gone so badly, he decided to ignore his instincts. Which left him restless, with nowhere to go.
    As he couldn’t stand one more shriek of laughter or the off-tone music from an erupting cell phone, he walked outside, only to be faced by the pool house. His father had been in residence nearly a week and Dev had managed to avoid the man completely. Maybe it was time to change that.
    But when he approached the pool house he was surprised to see the door open and Bob, Noelle’s father, sitting on the sofa.
    â€œDev,” Bob said, spotting him before he could escape. “We were just talking about you.”
    â€œI’ll bet,” Dev said, then stepped inside. “Sir.”
    He shook hands with his father-in-law and nodded at his own father.
    â€œNoelle called me a couple of days ago and asked me to stop by,” Bob said. “She seemed to think I might have some insight.”
    Dev wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Noelle hadn’t discussed contacting her father with him, but then they weren’t having all that many conversations these days.
    â€œSon.” His father stood and motioned to the small refrigerator in the corner of what was basically a game room/studio apartment. “Can I get you something to drink?”
    Several sofas and a large-screen TV dominated the space. There was a Murphy bed against one wall, a kitchenette and a full bathroom.
    â€œI’m good,” Dev said, wishing he’d never come out here. Now there was no way to politely escape. He sat across from his father, on the same sofa as Bob.
    â€œYour dad was just telling me about his travels,” Bob said easily. “He spent a lot of time in the South Pacific.”
    â€œIs that where you went?” Dev asked, not really interested in the details.
    â€œMostly. I worked in