The older man nodded. “Yes, you're young but with my heart condition I could check out at anytime. I want to see even one grandkid before I go.”
Storm flopped down into the chair across from his father’s desk. “You can get grandbabies from Vanessa or Kathy. Why don’t you go harass them?”
“Stop talking crap, Storm. You’re my only son, the one who’ll preserve the Hunter name. It’s you I want my grandkids from.” Then he shrugged and grinned. “Besides you’re the oldest.”
Storm could only stare at his father. It was absolutely no use arguing. He’d tried it many times before and the senior Hunter always came back to the same old question - when are you going to settle down?
The problem was, Edgar Hunter had been so busy making money in his younger years he hadn’t settled down until he was in his late forties. By the time his first child was born he was already fifty-one. At a time when he should have been looking forward to grandchildren he’d just produced his first offspring. Now that he was in his late seventies he was ever more aware of his mortality. He was determined to see the face of his first grandchild before he left the earth and Storm was the designated deliverer.
“What about Lola?” Edgar asked, his rugged face brightening. “She really likes you. She makes that plain enough. And she’s from a good family.”
Storm groaned and raked his fingers through his hair. Not the Lola conversation again. He needed to get out of his father’s office before the man drove him totally insane. He got up and pulled out his iPhone. “Dad, I’ve got to go.”
“As usual,” Edgar snorted. “As soon as we start talking serious business you run off. This is your future we’re talking about, Storm. My future. The family’s future.”
Even as his father raged Storm turned and began walking toward the door.
“You can’t keep riding motorcycles across the country and racing cars at the track. You’re my only male heir, Storm. Remember that. And you’d better get married and get a child before you try those crazy stunts of yours again.” By this time Storm was opening the door, intent on making a hasty exit.
“I’m going to speak to your mother about this. You can’t keep refusing-”
“Bye, Dad.” Storm pulled the door shut behind him and even as he walked away he could still hear his father ranting about all that he was going to say to his mother.
Storm could only shudder as he headed down the hallway toward the elevator. He knew that strategy well. His father was going to set the bulldog on him. If there was anyone who could wear a person down, it was his mother.
Storm spent the rest of the afternoon at his own office at Hunter’s Run headquarters. He was getting ready to launch a new line of fashionable leather jackets for men and women. Italian made, they were of top quality, as were all his product lines. Hunter's Run clothing had a reputation for high style, quality and durability. And they didn’t come cheap.
He’d be having a meeting with the advertising agency in two days and he needed to have all the relevant information ready. He was in the middle of working on the briefing when there was a light tap on the door and his executive assistant, Marisol, peeked in.
“You have a special visitor,” she said with a bright smile. Marisol only smiled like that when someone from his family came by.
Storm’s mood changed immediately. He could guess who was on the other side of the door. His mother.
“Let her in,” he said, his voice little more than a grumble. He was not looking forward to the lecture he knew was coming. Why had he stayed in the same city, in the same state, as his parents? He should have moved hundreds of miles away while he’d had the chance. Then they wouldn’t be able to just drop in at will. But it was too late now. He’d already bought a home on Earlston Road and he loved it. He wasn’t planning to move for a long while.
“Hey, big bro. How’re things?” A strawberry-blonde girl bounced into the room, her face all smiles.
“Vanessa,” Storm said, and his face broke into a grin. “I thought it was Mom coming to harass me, as usual.”
“Only me,” she said with a laugh then dropped into the chair across from him. “I’ve been assigned to do the harassing for today.”
“What? Not you, too.” Storm frowned at his sister. “I never expected you to turn traitor on me.”
She shrugged. “I had no choice. It was either come and pester you or have them bug me all day and night about Buster. It feels good to have the spotlight off me sometimes.”
“I can’t imagine why,” he said dryly. “I mean, with a boyfriend named Buster who seems to have no greater aim in life than to sit around strumming his guitar pretending to be a country and western singer, why wouldn’t you want the spotlight on you?”
“For the hundredth time, Buster is not a bum,” she shot back.
“I didn’t say he was. Those were your words.”
“You implied it and that’s just as bad.” Vanessa was glaring at him now. “When he makes it big in the music business you’ll all see.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Storm said with a wave of his hand. “So what were you instructed to come and harass me about?”
“The usual. Marriage and such stuff. Did Daddy tell you he had a scare the other day?”
Storm frowned at his sister. “What kind of scare?”
"Chest pains, shortness of breath. He thought he was going to die.”
Storm felt his heart jerk in his chest. No matter that he was forever arguing with his father, he loved him. The thought that he could have lost him so suddenly filled him with apprehension. “Why didn’t anybody call me? What was it?”
“We rushed him to the emergency room but it was just gas.” Vanessa gave him a serious look. “We were lucky that time but it could have been worse. Far worse.” For a moment she remained silent, just staring at him, the laughter gone from her eyes. “You know what he wants, Storm. You may have to give it to him.”
Storm fixed his sister with a sober look of his own. She knew how to jab him right where it would hurt. And this time it did.
“So what’s new with Lola these days?" she asked, changing the subject just as abruptly as she’d introduced it. “Are you taking her to the Vanderbilt party on Saturday?”
“No, I'll probably go alone. Or," he said, thinking out loud, "maybe I'll ask Stephanie.”