Chapter Seventeen
Emily
The last few days have been crazy, I’ve been trying to focus, and it has been so hard to do it without thinking of him. My parents have summoned me to the house this weekend. Dad sounds a lot happier, but I don’t want to tell him about my problems with Marvin or the fact that my business has gone from being on in the slumps to a little empire at the moment. The new Marketing Manager is taking things in the right direction. Contracts that were canceled have been replaced with new ones, more profitable ones.
I ring the bell and think about the fact that I’ve gone from being so low to being so high lately.
“There she is!” mom smiles as she opens the door.
Wow, the way she’s acting, it’s as if she hasn’t seen me in years. When she only met me last week for lunch. She didn’t stop talking, and it’s funny seeing her now with her blonde highlights and her new hair cut. Maybe selling the company wasn’t only the best thing for dad, but her too.
“Hi, mom. Sorry, I’m late.”
She waves her hand, “If you ever turned up on time anywhere. Now that would be a surprise.”
“I suppose,” I mumble as I hand her the bottle of wine that I got from the store on the way here.
“You didn’t need to do that.”
I nod, knowing that I didn’t, but it makes a nice change from buying a bottle for myself and using it to help me sleep. Which has been a bad habit lately, one that I need to break before it gets out of hand?
“I know, but I thought that you might like it.”
She kisses me on the cheek, “I do.”
I walk around the house and notice that it’s empty. I thought that dad was going to be here and we were going to have dinner together.
“Oh, dad’s not there. They’re at the back..”
They?
“Who’s they?”
She doesn’t answer me as I follow her to the back. I’m not sure how I never noticed the smoke before but as I see both dad and Marvin sharing a beer. I have the answer to my question.
Holy crap! The last thing I need is to see him. I feel like taking the wine that she’s holding in her hand and going back out where I just came from. I want to scream that it’s a problem. A big fucking problem and I don’t want to be anywhere near that man.
My eyes dart to mom as she smiles, “Marvin said that he'd join us.”
I stop at the porch doors, “It’s not a problem is it, Emily?”
I want to do the one thing that I’m good at..run!
I don’t want to be anywhere near him, and the idea of pretending is too much for me to bear. Mom smiles and I wonder if he’s told them. Did he tell them that he used me to get to Vegas? Made me fall for him knowing that he was the main reason that my company was in trouble.
Did he tell them that?
No, I bet he didn’t because he’s the type of man that loves to act like a snake. That’s the part of him that I missed out on the whole trip.
‘Just listen to him!’
Katie’s been begging me to do the for the last couple of weeks.
‘Maybe there’s a good reason for what he did,’ Michelle tried to explain to me. It makes no difference what they think about him because it’s as clear as night and day that he owns The Silk Box and he knew that it’s the thorn in my business side.
Mom winks at me, “Just give him a chance.”
“I did, and he used me…”
Mom shakes her head and then takes my arm and drags me to the kitchen. Away from them. Away from him.
“You were innocent in all of this too. You could have told him no and just gone to the bank and if that didn’t work just sold up as your dad did. He gave your business the life that it needed to run again. I’m not saying that what he did was right.”
She’s probably trying to make sense of it. Thank goodness I wasn’t around when she heard about what happened, I would hate to have seen their faces knowing that their daughter had offered herself for the sake of her business.
“All I know is that Marvin’s a good man. He’s been friends with your dad for years. He may not be perfect, but then no man is. He’s loved you for so long. Even I knew that.”
“You did? But why did you never say anything?”
“Because the only thing that your dad wanted to talk about was the business. And the only thing you could see was your designs. I’ve been ignored in this family for so many years that if he hadn’t sold it. I would have walked out.”
“What?”
“Emily, it doesn’t matter. All I know is that Marvin’s been trying to help you for years. Correct?”
I nod and then she continues talking.
“He’s told you that he’s interested in investing in that type of a business for a while and you were never interested. Correct?”
“No, I was never interested in giving him my body for…’
“That’s not what I asked you. You could have come up with a contract or something. Told him that you would listen to him. Take his investment under his terms. But you never did, correct?”
God! I hate listening to home truths. I move to the other side of the kitchen. Get the bottle opener seeing as mom’s going to walk around all evening with the bottle of wine in her hand.
As she hands me the glasses and I pop open the bottle. I start to pour the wine and mumble, “Okay mom. You have a point.”
She knocks her glass next to mine and smiles, “You are too stubborn just like your father.”
She takes a sip and says, “Marvin saw a business opportunity and took it. There’s nothing wrong with that in his world. Why he kept it from you, do you have to ask? He was worried that you'd take it the wrong way. Look I do not agree with what either of you did, but I do know one thing. You’ve been miserable and by the look of him too. He’s been feeling the same. Don’t make the whole thing go to waste. At least give your love a try.”
I giggle as I sip a bit too much wine quickly, “I was shocked seeing him unshaven and in those shorts.”
She nods her head, “And as for the Hawaiian shirt. What’s up with that?”
She takes my hand and leads me outside to dad and Marvin. As soon as Marvin seems me, he’s no longer smiling but looking at me.
“Dad,” I kiss him on the cheek, and he hugs me, making me nearly spill my wine.
“Dad! Why did you do that?”
I say as I pull back, thinking that maybe after today I’ll stop drinking. I’m getting a bit too attached to it.
“Because I thought that you would run through the door.”
I turn and face Marvin, “Marvin.”
“Emily.”
Dad blurts out, “Okay can you kiss and make-up already. I want to have a nice dinner tonight with the people that I care the most about.”
Marvin takes off his shades and says, “At least we’re speaking now.”
I nod my head, “Yes, but one step at a time.”
“I just want you to hear what I have to say.”
“Mom already explained some of it to me. But you can do it too…”
“But not tonight. As I said tonight's about celebrating. You guys can have your discussions later. Right now, I’ve got a big steak to cook and too much beer to get through. Now, Marvin come help me behind here and stop making sad eyes at my daughter!”
I laugh with that final comment. I decide that I’ll listen to what Marvin has to say, what mom said made a lot of sense. I feel like a fool acting as if I’m the wounded soldier, I’ve never been in a relationship before ever been in love. I didn’t know how to react to it all. Now, I’m starting to realize that I have been a fool in love.