Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
The door shuts quietly behind them, leaving me alone with Aspen’s dad.
Jace’s dad.
“We’ll go around back,” he says. He’s got the kind of soft-spoken voice that is still so commanding. I bet he’s just like Jace. Used to leading without ever giving orders or bossing people around. Jace was the kind of man people instantly liked, trusted, and followed. He was the kind of person who would have stepped in front of a bullet for a total stranger, what more the men he considered his brothers. He would have done so much more for any of us.
I swallow thickly as I follow Aspen’s dad through the gate he unlatches in the fence. Then, we walk past the crooked section to a deck that appears new. The boards look so newly stained that I can practically smell the chemicals.
“The fence has to go next.” So her dad has obviously noticed the lean. “It’s been a work in progress. I only get so many days off every summer, but I’m taking a week off next month, and I’ll get her done and done right. Not to knock the old girl. She’s been standing for a good thirty years, so I guess she doesn’t owe us anything. We’ll pile up the boards that are still salvageable and donate them to someone who might need them for a project. That way, she can have a second shot at being useful.”
We sit down on a brand-new outdoor sectional. The cushions are a bright cherry red.
“This is Margaret’s pride and joy, this sectional. We saved up for it. Five hundred dollars seems like a splurge, but we’ll take care of it, and hopefully, it lasts. She takes the cushions in and out at least ten times a day.”
I think he’s serious. I sit carefully, not wanting to wreck anything, even if that’s illogical.
I think I might have ruined their daughter.
And I didn’t keep their son safe.
I’ve done enough damage already.
I expect the usual what are your intentions with my daughter interrogation, but Aspen’s dad just sets one knee on top of the other and lets his leather sandal waggle off the front of his foot. He jiggles it until it slips back to where it’s supposed to be.
“I think Aspen was serious about being in there for just a few minutes. If you want to ask me what kind of person I am, what I’ve done with your daughter, and what I’m planning on doing with her in the future, you should start before they get back,” I say, trying to keep any nerves from my voice.
Her dad raises an amused brow at me. “It’s alright, son. She already explained all of that on the phone.”
Son. I know that word is commonplace, but to me, it’s jarring. I’ve never been anyone’s son. Not really.
Aspen stepped out of the house yesterday. She went into the backyard, and I gave her privacy. I knew she was talking to her parents. I knew she was probably telling them everything and trying to do damage control, but I didn’t ask her about it, and she didn’t explain anything to me after. She just asked if I was okay checking in online since our flight was leaving early.
It’s still early enough now. It’s not even noon, and we’ve flown halfway across the country, gotten our bags, caught a cab, and had the first introduction that I was not-so-secretly dreading.
I wonder if Aspen told them about Jace. About how I left and abandoned him. I wonder if she told them we’re married. That we’ve consummated said marriage and are still planning on annulling it. I wonder if she told them that she wants to move to San Jose if I don’t want to live in Atlanta or somewhere else if I should decide to go elsewhere.
“I’m not going to lie. We’re worried. We want the best life for Aspen. We want her to be happy. We want her to be safe and loved. We are really trying not to smother her.” His eyes grow sad, and so, so tired. “We’re trying not to make her feel like she has to take Jace’s place because he’s not here. I know some parents want to hold their only remaining child tightly, but that’s not fair to her. She knows her mind, and she should be free to make her own choices. She told us that you have enough money to make all her dreams come true, but she also said she didn’t want it. She said the one thing she wants is for us to get to know you and love you, not like you’re Jace, because you aren’t, but like you’re a man who needs it. Even if Jace hadn’t asked us to do this, we still would have because she asked. Everyone should have a family. Everyone should know what it is like to be loved. Hopefully, you don’t mind us fumbling around while trying at it. Wherever you are, and wherever Aspen is, you’re a part of our family if you want to be.”