Aspen
(Ten minutes prior)
Dad pulls out my chair and I sit down to the table, smoothing out my dress. Thankfully Lexi can work miracles with hair, otherwise I might be wearing a baseball cap right now.
Dad smiles as he slides into the chair across from me. “I took the liberty of ordering you the salmon before we got arrived. Still your favorite, I presume?”
I force myself to grin. “It is. Thank you.” A moment passes before I realize that I haven’t asked him about the company. Normally this routine we fall into comes easily, but with thoughts of Bastian swirling around inside my head I feel a bit out of sorts. “How’s work?”
Dad's eyes light up at the opportunity to discuss his favorite topic. “Fantastic. Brian convinced his father to make a substantial investment in the company. And with his father’s connections overseas, we’ll be able to expand into seventeen European markets by the end of the year.” He chuckles. “This wedding might be the best thing that’s ever happened to Spencer Pharmaceuticals.”
I just nod. Dad couldn’t be more transparent. He’s reminding me what’s at stake with this wedding. I’m willing to bet that it’s the only reason he’s even here. To make sure that I’m still on board after I discovered what they had planned for me. We both know I’d have gone through with the wedding no matter what if they’d got me home and had everything already set up, our friends and family all in attendance. But two days is enough time for me to think about what I’m about to do. Enough time to get cold feet.
I should tell him that I know what he’s up to. I should tell him about Bastian’s showing up here, that I’m going to spend the next two days in his arms while I sort through my feelings.
I should tell him he’s a monster for firing Bastian’s mother. Dad would probably fall out of his chair.
But what I actually say is, “That’s great.” I can’t help wondering if the words sound as hollow as they feel. God I’m such a coward.
Dad reaches over and pats my hand. “I’ve never been more proud of you sweetheart.”
I feel my face flush and I drop my head. I hate how good it makes me feel to hear those words from him. Even when I know it’s just manipulation.
“I come bearing gifts,” he announces.
I lift my head at that. Search his face for a hint as to what he’s up to. “What gifts?”
His grin grows wider. He takes out a dime, a nickel, and a quarter and spreads them across the table. “I believe you know how this works.”
I can’t help a goofy grin at the sight the coins. We haven’t played this game since I was little. I cover my face with my hands and peek at him through my fingers. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, but I am. Now I admit it’s been a while so remember you can have your gifts in any order. The quarter is obviously the biggest gift of the three, the dime the smallest.”
I lean over the table, feeling just like the little girl that would play this game with my father whenever he came home from a business trip. “Okay, I choose the dime first.”
Dad laughs. “You always were no fun.” He reaches into his pocket for a cell phone and places it onto the table.
I lift an eyebrow. “I already have a cell phone, Dad.”
He shakes his head. “Pick it up.”
I grab the phone, and see that there’s a video on pause. I tap the screen and the video begins to play. It’s Dad, looking much younger, holding me as a baby. I hear Mom’s laughter in the background, so I assume she’s the one holding the camcorder. “Tell your daughter something,” I hear Mom say. “Something for when she’s all grown up.” Dad goes red. “Gracious, no pressure.” He thinks for a moment, then looks directly into the camera. “I guess I’d just want you to know that I love you, and that I’m going to do my best to look out for you. You’re my favorite person in the whole world.” “More than me?” Mom laughs. Dad looks into the camera again, laughing too. “More than your mother, sweetheart.”
The video cuts out and I have to wipe the tears from my eyes. “Gosh, Dad. That was the smallest of the gifts?”
“Time wise, probably not,” he replies. “You wouldn’t believe how long it me took me to figure out how to get a video from a cassette to my phone. Lots of hours spent scouring the Internet.”
I shake my head. “Gosh that was…. How do you top that?”
Dad nods toward the nickel and quarter. “Pick one and find out.”
My eyes slide to the quarter. But I pick the nickel.
Dad tilts head back and laughs loudly. “You’re really gonna play this straight aren’t you? But very well, we’ll save the best for last.” He takes away the nickel and pushes a box across the table.
I stare at it for a moment. “Jewelry?”
Dad shrugs. “Open it and see.”
I do, and feel my jaw drop. A diamond pendant sparkles in the box. “This can’t be for me.”
“Only the best for my princess. May I?”
He stands and moves around the table to where I’m sitting. I pull my hair to one side and he clasps it around my neck. The pendant feels cool against my skin.
Dad kisses my cheek and retakes his seat on the other side of the table. “Do you like it?”
“It’s beautiful,” I say.
“One more to go,” he grins.
“Oh come on,” I say. “What could possibly….”
Dad takes up the quarter and slides an even bigger box across the table. I feel my face flush. I open it, and there’s a sparkly piece of costume jewelry inside. Grinning I pick up, “And how exactly is plastic jewelry a better than real jewelry.” It’s so gaudy I glance around me to see who else sees.
And that’s when I see him. My heart skips it’s next beat.
Sebastian looks determined, his dark eyes fixed on me. He comes right up to our table and grabs hold of my hand. It shivers inside of his.
“What the hell are you doing here?” my father shouts.
“Bastian…” I say.
“I won’t wait a second longer,” Sebastian tells me. “If you’re gonna leave with me, it’s gotta be right now.”
“The hell she is!” Dad stands up from the table, balling his fists.
Sebastian sees him and drops my hand. “Stay out of this,” he warns.
I get out of my seat, knowing full well what's coming. I do my best to put myself between them, but Sebastian uses his powerful arms to slide me out of the way. Dad gives him a hard shove and I see something inside Sebastian snap. He slams his fist into my father’s face, snapping his head backwards, sending him to the floor.
I scream and run around the table to where my father lays bleeding from his nose. Dad blinks a few times, his eyes wide and darting, until he sees me and reaches out. I takes his hands into mine. "It's okay," I tell him.
“You know he deserved that,” Sebastian says to me. “Please, leave with me. This is the last time I’ll ask.”
I freeze, unsure what to do. Can I really leave my father here, bleeding on the floor?
I have to.
Because Sebastian is right. I drop my father’s hand and stand back up. I back away from my Dad. I find my voice, even though it hurts me to say what I must. “You did deserve that,” I say. “For what you did to his mother. I’m sorry, but I’m leaving with him. Tell Brian I need some time to get my thoughts together.”
Am I doing the right thing? You can’t abandon Sebastian again, I tell myself.
The manager comes up to us. "I've called the police." He says this to Sebastian. Not to my father who made things physical. It's only now that I remember there are other people in the restaurant. All eyes are on us.
“Look in the box,” Dad says, holding his jaw. “Beneath the padding.”
Hearing Dad's voice pulls me back in. “I don’t care what other gift you brought me,” I say. “I never should’ve let them cloud my judgment in the first place. I should’ve told you this the moment we sat down.”
“Just look,” my father insists. “It’s a gift from Brian.”
“Brian?” I look to the table.
“Let’s just go,” Sebastian pleads. “Don’t give him the chance to mess with your head some more.”
I step closer to the table and reach into the box. I remove the padding. It’s a photograph: Brian and the grandmother I’ve never met, that I only know from pictures and the stories my mother tells me, side by side on a plane. But that’s not possible. My Mom's mother is from a dirt-poor town in Germany. She doesn’t have the proper paperwork to leave the country. I smile at Brian’s dorky thumbs up. “What is this?” I ask.
Dad sits up. “Brian never went to any bachelor party at a strip club. When he found out that your grandmother wasn’t going to be at the wedding, he hopped on his father’s private jet and went to get her. He snuck her out of the country so you have your whole family at the wedding. He loves you, Aspen.”
I have to sit down. “Then why would he tell me he went to a strip club?”
My father sighs. “After he got back, he called me all out of sorts because he heard you’d kissed some guy at a bar. And I told him you probably just had cold feet. I told him if he really loved you he should cut you some slack. So he came up with the whole bachelor party thing to give you an out. So you wouldn’t have to feel guilty.”
“He loves me,” I say.
“Aspen,” says Sebastian, more desperate.
“You should go before the police get here,” I say.
Sebastian gives me a look that breaks my heart. “You’re staying?”
My voice trembles when I speak. “He loves me,” I say. “I can't hurt him.”
Chills spill down my back as Sebastian turns and walks away.
My god, I can’t even breathe.
Sebastian
Lexi is parked just where I left her. She leans her head out of the car and I watch her eyes search the sidewalk for Aspen. I see her tense when she realizes what Aspen’s answer must have been.
I get into the passenger seat. “She loves him,” I say.
“Give her another chance”
“Can you take me back to my truck?” I ask.
She stares at me for a few seconds, then nods.
We don’t make it two blocks before I’m bawling my eyes out.