Texas Fall Read Online Free Page A

To open it was to admit to Kathy that he wanted to bring in
someone else. He knew he needed to; he couldn’t spread himself as thin as he
had been doing. He wanted to spend more time at home with the kids, with Jack,
and this could be the way forward.
    “Okay. Send him in when he
gets here.”
    Kathy stood and smoothed
down nonexistent wrinkles in her skirt. “I’ll go and get coffee and cake,” she
announced. She left, and Riley stared down at the file with the label of Tom’s
name.
    His first call as soon as
she left was to his dad. Thank God Jim answered. He’d understand why Riley was
so hesitant to do this. He had to know how difficult it was for Riley to let go
of any of this. Surely?
    Instead he got something
very different.
    “About time you took
someone else on,” Jim Bailey said firmly. “You’re working too many hours, and
you’ll drop the baton at this rate.”
    “But—”
    “No buts, son. It won’t
hurt to spread your workload a little, get a sounding board in, someone with
your instincts.”
    “But what if he isn’t as
good…” as me , Riley finished internally.
    Jim chuckled. “You will
never find someone who you think is as good as you at working for CH. But he’s
young and he’ll learn from you.”
    “Young? I’m only five
years older than him.”
    “Only five years in age,
but you have a generation of experience. Just talk to him and see what you
think. Oh, and your mom asks if you and Jack could bring the kids over for
dinner, she has a new mac and cheese recipe she wants to try out for Max.”
    Max’s absolute favorite
food was mac and cheese, and Riley loved that his mom was making the effort; still,
something had to be said. “She does know he’s the only one who likes that stuff?”
    Jim’s chuckle turned into
an outright laugh. “She’ll find a way to put cheese sauce in dessert as well,
you wait and see.”
    Riley ended the call with his
dad and checked the clock. Kathy was deadly serious about this if she’d gone
across the street for coffee and cake. That was normally his job and the
only time he got away from the office. Still, the break gave him time to clear
some more paperwork from his desk. By ten thirty he’d worked his way through
anger, resentment, and was now on the resignation leg of giving in to having
someone work with him.
    Tom arrived, and with
coffee and slice of cake, he was shown into Riley’s office where Riley was
pretending to work. He gestured for Tom to sit and kept on pretending long
enough to push down the nerves. In his head he had interview questions. How?
When? Why? But none of them really happened.
    There was Tom looking all
fresh-faced and wide-eyed in a suit, balancing cake on his knee and holding the
coffee in his hand. His dark hair was curly and cut close to his head, his
brown eyes warm, and he was smiling. No, grinning. Shouldn’t he be nervous or
something?
    He placed the plate on the
desk and balanced his coffee on it, then stood and extended his hand, which
Riley took immediately. “Tom Hendry,” he said. His hand was warm from the
coffee and his tone enthusiastic. He sat down as soon as he’d finished.
    “Riley Campbell-Hayes,”
Riley offered even though he really didn’t need to.
    “It’s a pleasure to
finally meet you, sir,” Tom began. “Officially, I mean.”
    Riley didn’t tell Tom he
should call him Riley, he just forged ahead with the one question that wouldn’t
leave him alone. “What happened at Santone?” Riley asked in response. “Why are
you leaving?”
    Riley wished he could pull
the words back when Tom’s smile fell and the confidence that held him upright
slid a little. He looked startled even though he had to have been expecting the
question at some point. Maybe he just didn’t expect it so early on in the
interview.
    “Personal reasons, sir.”
    “Riley.”
    “Riley, sir.”
    “Just Riley. I’m going to
need more than that if I let you in here.” He gestured at his trays of files
and