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“Of course he is And I only saw him for a moment, but you can bet he’s not exactly in the holiday spirit And you have no one but yourself to blame”

As much as I wanted to chew Saht about Dad I needed to talk to hi from what had happened

“We’re not done, Sam,” I said

“Maybe But you most certainly are”

I wished I had sory, too tired And my mind needed to be focused on the conversation I was about to have with the oldtoward the study Once I reached the doors, I stopped, knowing the course of e forever

Dad was inside, like Sam had said he’d be, seated in his usual chair The fire crackled in the fireplace, but other than that, dead silence hung in the room He didn’t even take a look inback

I sat down in the chair next to hi if he’d reach over and throttle ht’ve evenan earned punishment But instead, Dad was silent Even worse

Mo

“I’ood of a place to start as any

More silence, and for a second I thought heme the silent treat me out of his mind and life forever

“You’re sorry I’ll bet you are”

“I don’t knohat to say”

“Funny thing about doing so like you did—when you have to think about it and explain the da you don’t knohat the hell to say”

“I…it’s that I’ve wanted to run this company since I was a kid, and when you told ot so ahead of myself”