'Til Sun Beams Find You [COMPLETE]

Twenty-six

3 months later...

Carter laid on the couch with his hands on his chest, staring up at the ceiling.

"What's the point of opening a business if you never go to work?"

He chuckled at his dad's words.

"I don't work on Mondays... slow day."

"I feel like I've seen you here on more than just Mondays," Dale replied as the back of his pen drew along the paper he was reading, following the words.

"Flexible hours.. the perks of being your own boss. You should do that."

"What should I do?" His dad glanced away from the papers and looked across his office towards where Carter laid.

"Take a day off and enjoy life. Spend time with your loved ones. You can't be working 24/7 or else when will you rest?"

"I'll rest when I'm dead," Dale replied, making Carter hum quietly.

He didn't agree with that mindset, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

"I was thinking of taking grandma to California next month.. so she could see her sisters. Five years is too long to go without seeing them. Especially since they're all still alive and getting up there in age.."

"Your grandmother is the sick one, why should she travel to see her sisters?"

"But that's family," Carter teased the same words his dad always echoed towards him.

The truth was, the wrongdoings that his mother's family did to her Carter carried forward, the same way Dale did.

He took off his glasses and delivered a look that Carter didn't even have to turn to acknowledge, he felt the glare on his cheek.

"If you wanna take her, take her."

"You don't wanna see your aunts and cousins?"

Dale put the papers in his hands down when he realized he was being slick. "My mother's family and your mother's family are completely different. Your mother's family loves you unconditionally, my mother's family resents me for my success. It's not the same thing. At some point, you have to find the forgiveness in your heart because of something from over 15 years ago."

He twisted his lips. "I'm good."

"So if you don't speak to your aunts, uncles or cousins, who will you have once your grandmother passes and I'm no longer here?"

"I'll start my own family by then."

Dale sighed when he realized he wouldn't be getting anywhere with Carter.

He picked up his glasses and went back to reading.

"You'll have to make sure you marry into a loving family then, with people who care about one another and wouldn't leave them when they're sick and in need, and one that shows up for each other," he said and then paused for a brief moment. "Do you really think that's Violet's family?"

Carter turned away from the ceiling for the first time since he finished eating his lunch. "I'm not marrying Letty."

"But you two are dating again," his dad said matter-of-factly.

His brows furrowed. "Where did you get that from?"

"Come on, Carter. I may be growing old but I'm not growing deaf. I hear things around this office."

Carter chuckled. "Gotta get them ears checked then cause I'm not with Letty. I'm not with anybody," he clarified.

"Mhm. Tread lightly, Carter. She may be in a relationship already, there's a junior partner at a nearby firm that has been stopping by a lot," he raised his brow at his son, but Carter's expression didn't change. "All I'm saying is, I know she's a great girl, but that's not a family you want to be tied to for the rest of your life."