Alpha Billionaire Series
Coming Home Chapter 6

HOLDEN

Summer was going by entirely too fast. This was supposed to be the last summer before the start of my career and responsibilities. July was almost over. I never had enough time with Makenzie, even when we were home together. I wanted it to last forever. I felt

responsibility rushing at me at a dizzying speed and there was no dodging it.

What had started as a random thought evolved into an idea. And instead of shrugging it off as a crazy thought like I typically would, I followed the idea up with some research and some conversations. A lot of conversations.

When I couldn't be with Makenzie, I found myself doing a lot of thinking down on the beach. The Fourth of July came and went, and my plan seemed even more important. Makenzie wasn't going to like my idea, but she was smart, she would see that in the end, everything would work out to our advantage. Mom wasn't going to be a fan of it either.

I didn't want anyone to try to talk me out of it. I held off on saying anything until everything was a done deal. I signed my name on the dotted line and committed.

Even though it was summer, Dad was at his desk with his head down studying a report. Mom's charity planning was on hold, and I didn't crack open a single book, we were on vacation. Even though we took the entire summer on Nantucket as a family, Dad didn't stop working. Dad never stopped working; it was going to be the death of him.

I wrapped my knuckles on the door frame to his office.

He looked up and ran a hand through his hair. He looked older than I remember him ever looking before. It's not like his hair was fully gray or anything, but the lines around his face weren't so fine anymore. He looked perpetually tired. Maybe that was age, maybe there was something stressing him out.

"Holden, come in. What has you darkening my door? You don't typically knock, so I assume something is bothering you?"

Dad was right, if I wanted something I usually strolled in, asked what I needed to ask, and then strolled right on out again. I stood in front of his desk. Part of me thought about how I should be standing, and when would I start naturally saying 'sir.' But I wasn't in the military, not yet, and Dad had never been as strict as his father had been.

"I was thinking about the future," I started.

A knowing grin crossed Dad's face and he began nodding. I could tell by the smirk what he was thinking. Only this time he wasn't right.

"You've met a girl. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Are you serious about her?"

I lifted my hands and pressed my palms out in a double stop gesture. I had met a girl and even though I had known her for most of my life, I don't think I actually met her until about two years ago. I was as serious as I could be about her. But this wasn't about Makenzie, this was something else entirely.

I shook my head. "No girl at the moment." Lying about our relationship was a little too easy. "I've been thinking about something that I need to do. I'm tired of paying lip service to my convictions, and in honor of Grandfather and this great country we live in, I've joined the Army."

Dad's face changed from a knowing smirk to no emotion whatsoever. He stood slowly and walked around to the front of his desk. Even in shorts and dock shoes, he had the edge of serious business around him. With his arms crossed, he seemed to study me, assess my abilities, and reason.

"I thought after a few years of being a pilot, you would work for me."

"I know. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wasn't needed as a commercial pilot. I can be of more value, and fulfill my destiny in the Army. And when I get out, I'll have more expertise and be able to contribute to the business more." "You know you don't have to be a pilot to have expertise. I thought you wanted to fly!"

"I do, I will. I've already met the basic requirements to be a pilot for the Army. I've got over twelve hundred flight hours. With my degree, I'm walking straight in as an Aviation Officer. After basic training, I'm hitting helicopter training." "This is going to break your mother's heart. I think she wanted you around as her little boy for a while longer."

"I'm not a little boy, haven't been for a while."

Dad nodded. "You've been taller than me since you hit sixteen. You don't need to tell me. Though I really had thought this would be about a girl."

"I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. At least not yet."

Dad stood and clapped me on my shoulder. "When you are, you talk to your mother. I think she has a ring for you to use."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I'm sure she does."

"How soon do you leave?"

"I need to be at Fort Benning in ten days."

Dad hissed through his teeth. "Ten days, that doesn't give us much time."

"I didn't want to give anyone time to try to talk me out of it. My mind's made up."

Dad put his hand on my shoulder. "I guess we should go tell your mother."

He guided me from his office and onto the back patio where Mom was sunbathing.

I expected her to be disappointed, mad even. I hadn't expected her to cry.

"But I don't understand."

"It's not for us to understand, Jeanette. It's our job to support his decisions." My dad had his arms around her. "He's a grown man."

"He's, my baby!" Mom pulled out of Dad's embrace and pulled me into one of her own. She held me like a small child. It was kind of awkward since I was well over six feet, and she was barely five and a half feet tall.

"It will be okay, Mom, I promise. I'm going in as an officer, and straight to flight training. I've put a lot of thought into this."

"So, you didn't get some girl pregnant and are skipping town to avoid her shot-gun-wielding father?"

I had to laugh. "No, nothing like that."

"You couldn't have given us more time?"

"The summer is already almost over. I'd be leaving for a job either way," I pointed out.

"You won't be able to summer with us."

"Mom, if I had a job, I wouldn't be able to summer with you," I explained.

"I don't understand why you think you need to have a job, a career? There is no reason for you to work, and you know that. Powell, tell him."

"He's well aware of that, Jeanette. A man has to have something to occupy his mind. You don't want Holden to do nothing. He can't sit by and idly twiddle his thumbs." "He could play golf."

"I don't like golf, Mom. It's not the end of the world. Everything will be okay."

"I don't see what the point of trust funds having available if you're going to just go out and get a job?"

She insisted that I hug her one last time. At least for the afternoon.

"Will you be back for dinner?"

"Probably not tonight, Mom. But I will be here in the morning. I'm going to head out and replace Travis. I haven't told him yet."

"How do you think he'll take it? You've done everything together since you've been in school."

I shrugged. "It's not like we were going into business together. He's going to go work in some New York skyscraper and that's never been for me."

"Good luck, son." Dad clapped me on the shoulder before I left.

This was harder than I had thought it would be. My recruiter had warned me it would be hard. It had been his idea to limit the time I had left. He had even suggested that I break the news the night before I was scheduled to leave.

I couldn't do that, that wasn't enough time. I still needed time to get used to the idea. Mom and Dad needed time. It wouldn't be fair. As it was, ten days were barely going to give me time to properly tell Makenzie goodbye. I wasn't sure there would ever be enough time to tell Makenzie goodbye.

I pulled out my phone and typed in a message.

I waited for her reply. I sat in my car and waited for her text to tell me where to meet her.

My phone buzzed and I looked at her message. I shook my head. We wouldn't be able to be alone, but there would be no chance of running into either of our families.

It would have to do.