My Path To Serenity

Chapter six

"Damn Allison, you look.. so beautiful," he stood across from me admiring me. He stepped closer and kissed my cheek, leaving goosebumps on my skin. I couldn't help but smile and blush by the way he was looking at me. He looked good himself. The classy bow tie and tuxedo looked so sexy on him. And actually, it took all the attention away from his black eye. I turned to look in the mirror at my dazzling white, flowing, dress, with lace on the sleeves. With my vail over my face, and my hair curled down to my shoulders, I was more than ready to renew my vows with Jasper. Though we have our ups and downs, I wouldn't want to have these ups and downs with anyone else. He slipped his hands around my waist from behind me and whispered, "Happy five year anniversary, darling." I grasped his hand tight and turned a little to look into his eyes. "I love you." "And I love you." He twirled me around and kissed my hand. "You look mesmerizing." I smiled as I put my hand on his chest and kissed his lips. I looked up in his eyes and thought about our breakfast date we had this morning. I grabbed his hand and sat him down on the bed, and I sat beside him. "Would you like to talk to me now about our discussion at breakfast?" I asked concerned, putting my hand on his shoulder. He shook his head and looked down, "Oh, uh, not really. Not right now." He looked back up at me and leaned in closer to kiss my cheek down to my neck, to change the topic and end that discussion. He kissed down my collarbone, and back up to my plush, red velvet lips. "Jasper," I began, "I would feel a lot more comfortable doing this if I felt there wasn't something you're keeping from me."

All of the sudden, there was a knock on our hotel room door. I looked at him rather confused, "Are we expecting company?" He shook his head as he started to walk over the door. He looked through the peep hole and seen a tall, older, man smiling. Jasper was hesitant to open the door, but he did anyways. The man greeted him politely. "Hey, I'm Ralph. Room service guy." Jasper stuttered as he furrowed his eyebrows, "Uh, hi. I didn't order anything," he looked back at me. "Did you?" I walked over the door and examined the entre on the cart. Two salads, breadsticks, pasta, and a bottle of wine. "I'm sorry sir, but we didn't order this," I spoke up. He shrugged and looked at his watch. "I have about three more minutes of my shift before I can punch out and go home for the day. I was told to deliver this to this room, and I don't really have the time to investigate this mistake. Here, just take it." I looked up at Jasper, and he looked at me. Before we could speak any further, the butler added, "I really don't want to go searching around this building. My buddy George will be here to take him over the evening shift in a few minutes, so please, just take it. It's on us, Sunrise hotel." "Uh, sure, okay." Jasper anticipated. The butler took a sigh of relief and wheeled it into our room. "I apologize for the inconvenience, you two. I've been working here for fourty years, and when you've been making the same minimum wage since you were eighteen, you tend to care just a little less each day." I felt sorry for the man, quite frankly. He sounded miserable working here. "Well," Jasper began, "I know you said this was a mistake, but the food looks delicious, so I don't believe there was any mistakes here." He laughed. "And hey, it's never too late to change jobs." Ralph waved his hand in the air and shrugged off his potentially life changing advice. "Oh, please. I've heard it all. My dad worked in hospitality, my grandfather worked in hospitality, and my great grandfather also worked in hospitality. I have to keep the chain going." Jasper frowned, but didn't want to say too much more that would possibly upset him. "I'm sorry." "Aye, what am I gonna do? Tomorrow I got to be back up here at four am, and I ain't leaving til midnight. It's a harsh job, but I need to feed my family." Jasper reached over to grab his wallet off the dresser and tipped him twenty dollars. If we weren't going to pay for the food, we might as well pay it forward with a tip, anyway. "Here you go man, you deserve it. Actually, you deserve much more." He smiled real big as he put the twenty dollar bill in his shirt pocket. He almost looked like he was going to tear up by Jasper's gesture. "Why, thank you kind people. I can provide a home cooked meal for my wife and kids tonight. Thank you!" Jasper eyed the breadsticks on the cart and looked back at the man with a grin, "No, thank you! Have a good day you two." The man turned around and walked away.

Now, I'm very confused today. "I'm not quite sure how the chef could manage to write the wrong hotel door number on the ticket, but I guess not all mistakes are bad!" Jasper chatted on and on. "Now I know what we're having for lunch." He smiled. "And we even got a free bottle of wine!" I chuckled as I seen the happiness on his face. It made me feel delighted knowing he was feeling better than he was earlier, but my mind wouldn't let that incident at Sunrise Diner go. "Shall we say a cheers? Just one sip wouldn't hurt." He grabbed a bottle opener and popped off the cork, leaving it spurt out the wine bottle. I couldn't move quickly enough, and the red wine had spilled all over my wedding dress.

"Damn it!" He grabbed a towel in hopes of cleaning up the stain. "I'm so sorry," he then laughed off nervously. "I wasn't thinking straight, I just opened it so carelessly. What are we gonna do now? We're going to show up to that church with a black eye and a wine stained dress." I wasn't angry, nor upset. Yes, I wished for my dress to be white and clean, but shit happens. "Shit happens," I answered. "It's okay. At least now we're evened out. One black eye and a stained dressed husband and wife." He noticed how calm I was being and chuckled, feeling lighter about the accident. "Yeah, you're right. Now I'm not the only one that looks bad." He put the wine in the refrigerator and looked at me. "Maybe we're better off saving that for tonight."