“From what I gather, not much, with your guy following me around.”
“Ha. I’m sure there’s been plenty. For the record, when Piper had her appendix removed, I almost stormed the hospital.”
After taking a gulp of my wine, I answered honestly. “That was a brutal time. Seth confirmed that she wasn’t his, something he long believed to be the truth. He knew it somewhere deep down, but she’s easy to fall in love with. Believe me, Seth isn’t an easy man. He comes across that way, but he isn’t. Piper softened him.”
“She looks exactly like me, Bex. Pretty hard not to know she’s not his,” Aston said with a wink, dismissing any discussion of Seth’s character.
“Yep, she was a daily reminder of you. Every time I looked at my daughter, I was reminded about your being gone. In reality, this was hardest on me, like I couldn’t move on. Seth knew it. I know you’d prefer not to talk about him, but Piper not being his was a bitter pill for him to swallow.”
Aston nodded, holding back his snark this time.
“She got the best of us, Aston. She really did,” I said, feeling my eyes get misty.
“She’s spectacular, from what I can tell.”
“She really is.”
Aston turned my face toward his with the tip of his finger. “Go on. Tell me more.”
“She’s so marvelous. Pragmatic, deep thinking, caring like you ... when you’re not being forced to choose between your lifelong goals and someone you fell in love with. Someone you shouldn’t be with,” I said, feeling compelled to throw the last part in. It had burned in my chest for so long.
“She’s a better person, I’m sure. If I teach her one thing, it will be not to sacrifice her own happiness for some stupid family business. She can build her own empire.”
“You could have too. Built your own,” I said, swallowing close to fifteen years of resentment. “Plus, Piper’s wise beyond her years. I’m sure most parents say that, but I mean it. She’s pretty inside and out. The way she cares for Tyler. All of her. She’s the best. She’ll find her own way,” I quickly added, not giving Aston a chance to argue.
“Which is why I don’t want my father anywhere near her. Don’t ignore what I said, Bex. I will tell her to find her own happiness.”
I nodded more for appearance’s sake and took another sip of wine.
Our first course arrived, a cold soup. Vichyssoise. I knew what it was from my time working at the club.
For Aston, it was another dinner out, but for me, it was a special night. Here we were, sipping soup in silence, his warm palm on my thigh. I tried to reconcile it all.
A Caesar salad was made tableside a few minutes later.
“This is better than the soup,” I said. “I love Caesar.”
“Good, I want you to enjoy yourself. You deserve it and more, Bex, and I’m going to use all I’ve got to make sure that every day is magnificent for you, going forward.”
There was no rebuttal to that, so I ate my salad.
“By the way, is that job of yours safe?” he asked. “Do you worry about it? Did Seth?”
And here we go with Aston taking over. I knew it would only be a matter of time.
I did my best to skirt around the issue and move the conversation to lighter, easier topics. As the courses arrived, wine flowed, and we laughed more.
“Milly’s kids are wild,” I said, grinning. “She got her payback, definitely.”
“Yeah, Mike’s mentioned they’re a handful for her. He does pretty well with them, and he was no angel either.”
“Like you were.”
“Hey, my kids are pretty dang good.”
Noticing a sadness creeping into his tone, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“They’re good because of Cass. And despite her. She’s a mess because we’re always fighting. I’ve done my fair share of shit. They think they need to behave so we love them, or some bullshit like that. It’s what the therapist says.”
