“You look beautiful,” I say as I scratch the back of my head.
“Oh, uh, thanks,” she manages. “What’s up, Al?”
Al looks between us and smiles. “Remember that ring you found a while back and we never did figure out whose it was?”
She nods. “I do.”
“Well, guess what?”
She’s silent as she waits for him to answer his own question.
“It was actually worth some money. I finally got around to taking it to my pawn shop friend. It’s worth six thousand dollars,” he says as he hands her the envelope.
She opens it and stares at the cash. Her mouth opens, but she doesn’t speak.
I walk up to her and look into the envelope. There is a stack of one-hundred-dollar bills.
“I think you should use it to come to the wedding,” Al says as he looks between us.
Carly still isn’t speaking. I watch her as she continues staring at the money. I was going to offer to pay for them to go, but I know she’d turn me down. She’s proud and stubborn. But with this money, there’s no reason she shouldn’t go.
“It’s enough for you guys to go and then some,” I point out.
She swallows and looks up at me. “How much was your plane ticket?”
“I haven’t booked it yet,” I explain.
Frowning, she looks from me to Al. “I thought everyone had already booked.”
We shake our heads. “No. I think Roxy and Gray might have. But I’m not sure about everyone else,” I say.
I pull out my phone and open my travel app. I search flights and grin. “There’s a sale. I can get us business class for eight hundred each way,” I say, not mentioning that means I’m using some points. She’d never otherwise buy business class, and she certainly wouldn’t let me pay for her tickets without an epic fight.
She pulls out the money and hands me thirty-two hundred dollars.
“Vito’s parents have offered up the guesthouses they have on the property, so we don’t have to pay for a place to stay,” I add.
“They have?” she asks.
“Yeah, I saw Fletcher this morning. So, you can use the rest for food and stuff and then bank anything you don’t spend,” I say with a grin, knowing that she always worries about money.
There’s a look of relief on her face that I don’t like. I hate that she wants for anything. “I think I will. I mean, I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right?” she says.
Al laughs. “Certainly not. Well, that settles that. I’m off to my weekly breakfast with my old golfing buddies. See you kids later,” he says as he walks to the door and opens it.
“Mr. Al?” Ava says.
“Yes?”
“Are you Santa Claus?” she asks. We all look at each other because even for Ava, that was a random question.
Al doubles over, really laughing this time. “No, Peanut. I’m not. But thanks for making an old man’s day.”
Ava purses her lips as if she doesn’t quite believe him.
He holds up his hands. “I promise. I’m just Mr. Al.”
She crosses her arms and tilts her head. “OK,” she says suspiciously. “But if you are, can I get a new dollhouse for Christmas?”
