“I’m not gambling, Dad,” I say, pretending to be reading something on my computer screen, rather than desperatelytrying to think of who I could be in Vegas with. Stephanie is the only person I’ve ever known well who left Star Falls. Everyone else in this town has lived here their entire lives. Stephanie being back has completely blown my cover.
“Then why are you going?” Bray asks.
“The spa. And stuff. I told you that sometimes Stephanie’s friends from Arizona come to Vegas. This year Stephanie can’t go, but I’m still meeting up with them. Girls’ trip.” It’s a possibility I may have mentioned Stephanie’s friends. Part of the reason I’m a bad liar is that I can never remember what I said.
My dad looks affronted. “That doesn’t seem very nice for Stephanie.”
“She dropped out last minute. She insisted the rest of us go,” I say with a dismissive wave of my hand.
Dad pulls his eyebrows together and looks confused.
“What did they say about the fruit at the Club?” I ask, hoping to distract everyone from the Las Vegas debacle.
“Yeah,” Bray says, looking hopefully at Dad. “Did they like it? We gave them all the A-plus stuff. They won’t get better.”
“I don’t know,” Dad says. “I just left the fruit, got the signature and came home—and ran into Donna.”
“Look, Dad,” I say, standing up. “I have to get these boxes moved. Someone’s going to have an accident while I’m away. And I still need to chase up the payment on the Oxburg account.”
“Don’t we have that in yet?” Bray asks. Bray never knows what’s going on with the finances of the business, and that’s how I’d like it to stay. He’s not a spreadsheet-paperwork guy.
“Jesus, what is their problem?” Dad asks. “They know we’re a small business.”
“They don’t care, Dad,” I say. “But don’t worry about it. I’m on it.”
“But we need that or we can’t put the down payment on the new cherry pickers. We’re going to need two at least,” Dad says.
“I know,” I reply. Except I don’t. If the cherry pickers are working, why do we need to replace them? “I’m chasing them. But you two have to let me get on with my day, or I’m never going to get all my work done before I leave for Las Vegas.” Shit, I have to write all these lies down or I’m never going to remember them all.
I also have to remember to throw out all the paperwork relating to my high school studies before I go. Dad won’t deliberately go poking about in my room, but it would be just my luck that he’d be trying to find a missing screwdriver or crossword puzzle and he’d find my books and papers. It’s not like he’d be mad. It would just bring up too much of the past. Past that’s long been forgotten.
“It’s a shame you’re not going to Vegas later in the year. I heard rumors Celine Dion has a new residency,” Dad says. “I always wanted to take your mother to see her. You know how much she liked that song.”
“I do,” I reply in a soft voice. My mom and dad were the most romantic couple that have ever lived. And even now when he hears Celine sing about how she felt lifted up when she felt small, Dad gets a tear in his eye. Although, that would be the case even if my mom were still alive. He’s mush to his core, my dad. I look at him and wonder ifheever wants to escape to Vegas or New York or somewhere away from here?
Does he want anything more? Does Bray?
“So what are you going to be doing for two nights?” Bray asks. “Sitting around in robes talking about how much the spa costs?”
I stand and point my thumb at the door. “You two need to stop chitchatting and get out of here. I’m on a one-woman mission to get a down payment for some cherry pickers, so leave me be.”
They both grumble but head out. I need to chase down that payment from Oxburg, set a reminder on my phone to hide my books, and write down all the lies I just told. Hopefully they bought them. I’m not sure I have it in me to come up with an idea to reassure my dad that I’m not going to gamble away the three hundred dollars I have to my name, since I just paid for tickets to the New York City Ballet.
The only place I’ve ever wanted to go apart from Star Falls is New York City. For a long time, I yearned to live there, to pursue my dreams to be up there on the stage as part of a ballet company.
But now?
Now I’m on the family fruit farm, and here is where I’ll stay. I’ve made my peace with that. But for three days and two nights out of every three hundred and sixty-five, I give myself a chance, once a year, to think about the life I used to dream about.
TWO
Jack
I’m my father’s proxy. His trainee. His understudy. Tonight, he’s busy, and so it’s my job to accompany my mother to the New York City Ballet for the season opening.
Tomorrow, I might have to sit in on a meeting, take a call from someone he doesn’t want to speak to. But tonight, it’s my job to go to the ballet. Over the years, I’ve taken his position on a couple of charitable foundations. I also sit on the board of our family foundation.
My father isn’t just my father, he’s my boss. And I’m his heir.
