Chapter Two: Family

New York City

Few Years Earlier

This was long before Adrian Cole became one of the youngest CEOs in Manhattan, before the glass penthouse and the long silences and the grief back when he was just Adrian. And every Friday evening, without fail, he left the office behind to keep one promise.

He stepped out of his office buttoning his jacket, briefcase in hand. A handful of employees were still at their desks, finishing the last of their paperwork before the weekend.

"You're leaving already?" a junior analyst asked, looking up.

"Yeah. I have plans."

The analyst blinked. "You?"

A woman a few desks over looked up, suddenly interested. Someone else leaned back in his chair, grinning.

Adrian turned slowly, one eyebrow lifting. "What's that supposed to mean? I occasionally leave the office."

"So the rumors are true."

"Here we go. What rumors?"

"That you actually have friends."

A few people burst out laughing. Adrian shook his head and adjusted his grip on the briefcase. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

That only made it worse. He headed for the elevator and left them to it. The doors slid shut, and his expression softened almost at once. For all the teasing, he was genuinely looking forward to the evening.

***************

Fifteen minutes later, Marcus Bennett was waiting outside the elementary school gates with two cups of lemonade. He checked his watch the second Adrian came into view.

"You were almost late."

"No I wasn’t, I'm three minutes early."

"Exactly. Almost late."

Adrian took one of the cups with a scoff. "You're just jobless."

"I'm a shareholder at the company we both work at. Technically I'm one of your bosses."

"How does that make you a boss? Never mind. Whatever." Adrian flipped him off and drank his lemonade.

Marcus laughed. "You're just jealous I can leave whenever I want, and you're stuck in that office all day."

"What does that have to do with anything? You're hopeless."

"Takes one to know one, buddy."

Before Marcus could land another jab, the school doors opened and children poured out in a wave.

"DAAAD!"

Kai's voice rose above the noise, but he ran straight past his own father.

"Uncle Adrian!"

Adrian barely saved the lemonade before Kai slammed into him, arms around his waist.

"Whoa easy, buddy." He laughed, one arm coming around the boy. "You almost made me spill this."

Kai pulled back just far enough to look up at him, beaming. "You're here!"

"Of course I am. You didn't think I'd come?"

Kai shook his head and hugged him again, tighter. Marcus stood a step away, watching the whole thing with exaggerated offense.

"Wow. Okay. I see how it is. Your father's been standing here the whole time, and the second you show up, you run straight past me to hug your uncle."

Kai blinked, glanced at Adrian, then at his father. "Sorry, Daddy." He peeled off and wrapped his arms around Marcus's waist instead.

Marcus smiled despite himself, resting a hand on the back of his son's head. "It's fine. I'm only your father. What do I know?"

"Daddy!" Kai giggled.

"Now you remember I exist."

"Stop it," Adrian said, laughing.

"Stay out of this. You're the problem." Marcus shot him a look over Kai's head.

Adrian only grinned into his lemonade. Kai pulled back, suddenly remembering something more important than either of them.

"Uncle Adrian, guess what? I got ninety-eight on my spelling test!"

Adrian's face lit up. "Ninety-eight? That's my boy. What'd you miss?"

"Hippopotamus."

Adrian considered this gravely. "Ah. That's a hard one."

Marcus turned to look at him. Adrian ignored it.

"Don't worry about it, buddy. I can't spell that word properly either. Your dad probably can't." He leaned down, lowering his voice like he was sharing a secret. "You, me, and your dad, we'll learn it together."

Kai's eyes went wide. "You can't spell hippopotamus either?"

"Not without help."

Marcus burst out laughing. "Unbelievable. You tricked this child into thinking you can't spell hippopotamus."

"I'm protecting his confidence," Adrian whispered.

"You're protecting nothing, I can spell hippopotamus. H-I-P-P-O-P-O-T-A-M-U-S."

"See?" Adrian said to Kai. "Your dad's showing off now."

Kai dissolved into giggles, hands over his mouth. Marcus just shook his head, wondering not for the first time how he'd ended up the least sensible person in a conversation with his own son and his best friend.

The Bennett house smelled of cinnamon before the front door even opened that, and something savory baking underneath it. Sarah appeared from the kitchen with flour on one cheek and her apron still tied on, kissed Marcus hello, then crouched to Kai's level.

"Hey, baby. How was school?"

"School was fine, Mummy! I got ninety-eight on my spelling test." Kai practically bounced announcing it.

"Ohhh, that's my baby." She pulled him into a quick hug, then looked up to catch Adrian edging toward the door. "Wait where do you think you're going? Aren't you staying for dinner?"

Adrian pressed a hand to his chest, wounded. "I would have, but I wasn't invited."

"Please. You stopped needing invitations years ago." Sarah rolled her eyes. "You practically live here. You even have a room we call it the guest room, but it's yours and you know it."

Kai grabbed his hand before he could argue. "Please stay. I think she's making lasagna."

"Ohhh." Adrian's eyebrows went up. "That does sound yummy."

"And garlic bread. And chocolate cake."

"That's a lot." He turned to Sarah. "I'm assuming refusing isn't on the table."

"I wasn't going to let you leave anyway."

Kai tugged his hand again. "Come on!"

Adrian laughed under his breath and let the boy pull him into the house. "I knew there was a catch."

Dinner at the Bennett house was never quiet. Marcus argued with the evening news, then with a soccer replay, then with whatever was on afterward. Sarah kept pushing more food onto everyone's plates whether they'd finished or not. And Kai talked about football with an enthusiasm that made everyone wonder how he never ran dry kicking his feet under the table the whole time he talked, like the energy had to go somewhere.

Ignoring Kai mid-story was a dangerous game. Once he decided you weren't listening, you were in his bad books, and he wasn't above threatening to cry about it. So everyone listened.

Adrian listened for a different reason. He liked hearing about Kai's day the small arguments with classmates, the goals he swore he'd score one day, all of it delivered like testimony that deserved a full hearing. It had quietly become his favorite part of the week.

Halfway through the meal, Kai vanished upstairs without a word.

"Where's he going?" Marcus asked.

Sarah didn't look up from her plate. "Probably getting something to show us."

A few minutes later Kai reappeared, carrying a framed drawing carefully in both hands, and went straight to Adrian.

Adrian accepted it with exaggerated solemnity, holding it up like an important document. Four stick figures stood in front of a house. One was tall, wearing what might've been a tie. Another had an enormous round head and hair sticking out in every direction. A third stood close by, holding something that looked suspiciously like a cane. The last figure was noticeably smaller than the rest.

"Ummm. Okay." Adrian pointed at the tallest one. "Who's this?"

"That's you."

"Oh, wow." He moved his finger to the figure with the wild hair. "And this?"

"Mum."

He stared at it a second longer than necessary. "Oh, jeez."

Sarah turned her head toward him slowly. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing. Just admiring the artistic choices." He pointed to the figure beside Sarah's. "And this one?"

"Dad!"

Marcus straightened, pleased. "There we go. At least someone got me right."

"You have a cane?"

"It's probably a walking stick," Kai offered helpfully.

Marcus's mouth fell open. "A walking stick? Why would I have a walking stick?"

"Because you're old."

Sarah laughed so hard she had to set down her fork.

"I'm twenty-seven! Twenty-seven! How am I old?"

"You always say your back hurts."

"That's completely different!"

"Careful, Marcus," Adrian said, grinning. "Next drawing might have you in a rocking chair."

"I hate both of you."

"No you don't," Sarah said brightly, reaching for the serving dish. "Eat your food."

Adrian turned back to the drawing and pointed at the smallest figure. "And the little one?"

Kai's jaw dropped like he'd just been deeply wronged. "That's ME! Uncle Adrian."

"Oh. My mistake."

Kai giggled, thoroughly satisfied with the bit, and Adrian looked down at the paper again. This time something else caught his eye across the top, in Kai's uneven handwriting:

My Family.

His smile faded into something quieter. He glanced at Marcus. Marcus was already looking back at him. Neither one said anything.

Across the table, Sarah began clearing plates without a word, letting the silence sit where it wanted to.

Kai hadn't thought twice about the drawing. He'd simply drawn the people who mattered, and that was that. He was seven he couldn't have explained what best friend meant if you'd asked him. But he knew Adrian showed up every Friday without fail, listened like it mattered, and made room for him even on the busy weeks. In the uncomplicated way children understand the world, that made him family.

*************

The following Tuesday, Adrian was back at Columbia not as a student this time, but as a guest speaker. His lecture on corporate finance ended an hour early, leaving him loose time before his next meeting. Instead of heading back to the office, he wandered into Butler Library.

He hadn't meant to stay. But the moment he stepped inside, he slowed without meaning to. The quiet was familiar pages turning, pens scratching, the occasional footstep on polished floor. He used to spend hours here without a second thought. Standing in it again, he realized how much he'd missed it.

He exhaled, hands sliding into his pockets. God, I've missed this place.

Then someone laughed. Not a polite chuckle a full, unguarded laugh that rang clean through the reading room and turned every head within earshot.

Adrian turned toward it, frowning. Who laughs in a library?

Between two bookshelves stood a young woman with one hand clapped over her mouth, failing badly to contain herself her shoulders were still shaking. Three books lay scattered at her feet. An elderly librarian stood a few steps off, watching her over the rim of her glasses with the particular weariness of someone who'd had this exact conversation before.

"Miss Hayes."

The woman straightened at once. "Oh my God, I'm sorry."

"You've apologized twice already."

She pressed her lips together, clearly losing the fight against another smile. "I always forget I'm sorry. Never again, I promise."

The librarian pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't know what to do with you."

"I'll try harder," the woman offered, not remotely convincingly.

The librarian sighed and walked off, muttering something Adrian couldn't make out. The second she was gone, the woman crouched to gather her books.

Adrian noticed one lying near his own feet and bent for it just as she reached for the same one. Their heads collided with a solid thud.

"Ow!"

They both recoiled, hands to their foreheads. She stumbled back a step; he caught her arm before she lost her balance.

"I'm terribly sorry." His expression shifted. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

She rubbed her forehead, blinked at him then laughed.

He stared. "You're laughing? I just walked into you."

"You didn't even check if I was hurt before you apologized."

"I didn't need to check. I knew I'd bumped into you. The apology came first."

She studied him, her laugh settling into a smile. "That's unexpected."

"What is?"

"The apology. It's nice."

"I promise I'm not fishing for compliments."

"Okay, then." She bent to collect a book, brushing hair out of her face. "I should apologize too, I suppose. For nearly knocking your head off."

He looked at her for a beat, and a smile finally broke through.

She caught it instantly and laughed again.

His smile vanished. "What?"

"You were frowning the entire time. I was starting to think this was all my fault." She pointed at him, delighted with herself. "Were you waiting for me to apologize first or something?"

"No. I do smile. I just didn't see anything to smile about yet."

To prove it, he smiled again deliberately, this time.

"You really don't smile often, do you?"

His smile faltered slightly. "That's not true."

"Hmm."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing." She shrugged, still smiling. "Just a shame. You have a nice smile."

For once, Adrian had no answer ready. She seemed to find that even funnier than the frown. She shifted the books to one arm and held out her free hand.

"Eleanor Hayes."

He looked at the hand a moment before taking it. "Adrian Cole."

Her hand was warm. It was an ordinary handshake between two strangers who'd collided by accident in a university library, no reason either of them should remember it past the walk back to their afternoons.

And yet Adrian held her gaze a beat longer than the moment called for before he let go. Eleanor smiled once more and bent to gather the rest of her books. Neither of them knew it yet, but Butler Library wasn't going to let either of them forget this.