Zoey chuckled. “Wow, that was an open-ended question,” she complained.
Mark turned his head and smiled. “Got anything better to do at the moment?” he asked.
“Actually, I had a hair appointment, but I guess I’m gonna miss that,” she quipped.
Mark chuckled back, and Zoey realized how much she loved hearing him laugh.
“Right, well, after graduation, I went to the community college there in Juneau and got my associates degree in business. I didn’t particularly enjoy the classes though and wasn’t sure what else I wanted to do. I got a job in one of the tourist shops down near the cruise ship docks, and that keeps me busy in the summer.”
“How did you start working for my dad?” Mark asked.
Ducking under a branch and jumping over a puddle, Zoey went on. “It was after the shops had all closed for the winter one year. I ran into your dad in the grocery store. Literally, I ran into him with my cart and knocked him down. I felt terrible, but he was really nice about it. I insisted on helping him get his groceries to his car, then offered to cook something for him in apology. I knew who he was; I’d seen him at graduation with you and Malcom, and occasionally around town. He only agreed to let me cook for him, I think, because I admitted I’d walked to the store, and he was trying to be nice and figure out a way to give me a ride without forcing me. Anyway, I made him stuffed peppers that night, and he offered me a job on the spot. I started that week, cleaning his house and doing general chores. And over the next few months, we became good friends.”
She stopped talking, wondering how much Mark wanted to hear. She didn’t want to say anything that would make him sad.
“Go on,” Mark urged.
“I…I know you guys didn’t really get along. I don’t want to say anything out of line.”
“Is that what you think? That we didn’t get along?”
“Well…yeah. You never really came home to visit, and Malcom said you two had a falling out and that was why you were never around.”
“I loved my pop more than I can say,” Mark said without turning around. “I admit that I should’ve come back at least once after I left, but I didn’t stay away because of him. Not really.”
“Then why?”
Mark sighed, and Zoey felt bad for asking, but eventually he answered. “Because I was afraid that I’d just continue disappointing him. I knew he wanted me to work with him. All through high school, he talked about me taking a job at Heritage Plastics and working my way up the chain to eventually be his vice president. I didn’t even get a college degree. I couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in his eyes when he realized that I’d never be interested in doing what he does. He’d talk about all the stuff his company was working on and my eyes would glass over. I couldn’t think of anything worse than sitting in a cubicle, or worse, working in a factory.”
Zoey frowned and ran a few steps to catch up with Mark. She put her hand on his arm and tugged, forcing him to stop. He turned around and looked at her questioningly.
“Mark, Colin was so proud of you.” When Mark looked at her skeptically, she squeezed his arm tighter. “Seriously. I know you didn’t email all that often, but when you did, he’d tell anyone and everyone about how great you were doing. He bragged all the time about you being a SEAL, and how you were out doing the hard work so people like him could sit on his butt and sell plastic.”
She saw Mark swallow hard before asking, “Yeah?”
“Yeah. He didn’t care less that you didn’t have a degree. He was as proud of you as he could be.”
Running a hand over his face, Mark said, “I should’ve come to visit.”
Zoey shrugged. “Maybe. But he didn’t love you any less because of it. He always said you were too busy saving the world to worry about little ol’ him.”
Mark chuckled, but it sounded kind of sad. “I regret it,” he said quietly.
Zoey squeezed his arm.
“I also regret not staying in better touch with Mal. Maybe it’s not too late to fix that relationship.”
Zoey did her best to keep her expression even, but she must not have done a very good job of it, because Mark asked, “What?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly, not wanting to say anything that would turn Mark off his brother. Their relationship was no business of hers. “As I said earlier, I don’t know what I should and shouldn’t say in regard to your dad. I won’t talk about him if it hurts too much.”
Mark shook his head. “No. I mean, yeah, it hurts, but I’d like to hear about him, if you’re okay talking about him.”
Zoey smiled. “How about we walk and talk?”
Mark chuckled. “You sayin’ I’m taking too many breaks, woman?”
“You said it, not me,” she sassed.
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” he said and gave her a smart salute, then turned back around and began walking once more.
For just a second, Zoey could totally imagine him standing there in his white dress uniform and saluting. She’d seen pictures of him wearing it. He’d recently emailed his dad a photo of him and his teammates wearing their dress whites. They were standing on a beach surrounding a man and woman who were obviously just married. She couldn’t help but drool over him just a bit. She’d always had a thing for a man in uniform, even though she’d die before admitting it.
“So, there was this one time a girl came by your dad’s house. She was selling cookies, and she was crying a little because she’d been turned down so many times. Colin invited her and her mother in and kneeled down in front of her and talked to her for about ten minutes. They talked about what subjects she liked best in school, what her favorite food was, and a million other random things. Then he asked how many boxes of cookies she had to sell—and proceeded to buy double that amount from her. When the girl left, she was smiling from ear to ear and telling her mom she couldn’t wait to tell her friends that she’d doubled the minimum requirement. He was always doing things like that. Unselfish things. Colin had a lot of money, but he never acted like it. He was just as happy eating boxed mac and cheese as he was a fifty-dollar steak.”
“What’d he do with all the cookies?” Mark asked.
Zoey looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Pop hated those cookies. Said they tasted like crap. I know he didn’t eat them, so what’d he do with all those boxes?”
Zoey smiled. Mark might regret his relationship with his dad, but he still knew the man. Even though he hadn’t seen him in over a decade, he knew his dad. “He donated them to the homeless shelter and women’s shelter in town.”
Mark nodded. Zoey couldn’t see his face, but she had a feeling he was smiling. “Yeah, that sounds like something Pop would do. What else?”
Over the next hour or so, Zoey told Mark as many stories as she could remember about his dad. Some were sad, but most were silly and happy memories. It felt good to talk about him. When she finally ran out of stories, Mark said, “Thank you. I can tell you loved him very much.”
She did. Colin Wright could be grumpy and annoying, but couldn’t anyone? And he’d done more for her than just about anyone else in her life. He believed in her and always encouraged her to do whatever she wanted. Of course she loved him.