Chapter Fourteen
Austin
Ten minutes ‘til seven, my friends started piling in. They brought plenty of food, so much that along with my food, we could’ve fed about three armies.
We got a slew of ‘congratulations’ and ‘I’m glad you two finally came to your senses’. Everyone either had a bottle or a glass in their hands but there was an absence that wasn’t being spoken about.
I reached for another bottle for Dad but Alma stopped me with her hand on my arm. “Austin, I’ve got him on some pain meds now. One beer is plenty. I probably shouldn’t have allowed him to have that.”
I put it down and leaned over to kiss her temple. She always took care of Dad as if he was her own.
Speaking of her own dad…
I heard his truck before I saw it. I swallowed against the ball of anxiety rising in my throat. My stomach was in knots.
“It’s going to be fine, Austin. You’ll see.” Alma consoled me from underneath my arm. She’d stayed glued to me most of the night and I loved every second of it. Showing her off to my friends and having everyone know that she and I belonged together.
“I’m late. I’m so sorry.” Alma’s mother Teresa came in, dressed in almost the same color as her daughter, carrying something that smelled like tamales.
“It’s fine. We are so glad you’re here.” I walked up to her, taking the dish but she moved it to the side.
“Come on, Alma. Take this.”
Okay, so this wasn’t going to be all roses and sunshine. Fine. But I was doing this the right way.
Sometimes the right way isn’t paved with rose petals.
“Where’s Mr. Villanueva?” I asked, leaning to the side to look out the window.
“He had other plans.” Alma’s mother’s tone was sharp, and it pierced my side.
“Other plans? Other plans?” Alma’s voice got higher with every syllable. She was shocked and hurt. I knew that tone well.
“Alma, your dad is a busy man. Let’s just enjoy ourselves.” I put on the façade for her, hoping it would help but looking at her face, I knew it was all over. She would be miserable the rest of the night. She worshiped her father and needed his approval or at least his acknowledgment of her choices.
I guess everyone needs someone to acknowledge their choices – good or bad.
“Let’s just eat, I guess. Austin spent all day making this spread. Let’s dig in.”
Her smile was fake. I wasn’t sure if everyone else could tell but I sure as hell could.
Throughout the night, I tried to meet her gaze but her eyes told it all. She sat down next to my dad and they spoke in hushed tones.
She wiped away a tear hoping I couldn’t or wouldn’t see.
Nevertheless, the night went well. There were twenty people in my home who were wishing us well and asking when the wedding would be. Most of our friends told stories about us being together when we were kids.
But even a hundred people’s approval didn’t matter when the one person you needed it from wasn’t there.
After everyone left, we cleaned up in silence. She stopped to help my dad make it back to the bed for the night.
“He needs you for bathroom stuff,” she whispered to me in passing through the kitchen.
“Okay.”
I went to help Dad but he didn’t need to go to the bathroom. He wanted to talk to me.
“She’s hurt and angry. Don’t let this fester, Austin. It will become a wedge before you know it.”
“I won’t, Dad. I’m going to talk to her about it tonight.”
“Good man. Now, how much will it take to get me another one of those brownies?”
I laughed and went to get him one, but by the time I got back, he was already asleep.
“Goodnight, Dad. I love you.”
I was answered by a snore.
Back in the kitchen, Alma was cleaning an already clean countertop.
“Hey, let’s go outside,” I said.
“I should go home.”
“Give me ten minutes, Alma.”
“Fine.”
It was already becoming a wedge.
I flipped the light switch on the way out, lighting up about a thousand Christmas lights in the backyard. She wasn’t impressed. Mostly because her mind was somewhere else.
“Can we talk?”
“Talk? Sure. Talk.”
A long, heavy sigh came from my mouth before I started. “Your dad may have just been busy, Alma.”
That got me a good dose of the stink eye.
“Can I ask you something? Why does it matter to you? Why do you have to have your father’s approval of us? You’re not sixteen anymore, and I’m not the lowly farmhand. We are adults now.”
“I know that, Austin.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“It’s not like you’re old fashioned, Alma. If you were, you and I would’ve never happened in the first place.”
Silence was her response.
I reached down in my left pocket and rolled the ring around in my palm. It wasn’t happening tonight. For the love of Pete, she wouldn’t even look at me.
“I don’t think I can do this, Alma. Not again.”
She turned toward me. I rolled my eyes. It took a threat to get her attention.
“What are you saying?”
“Look at you, sweetheart. We knew he wouldn’t approve. We knew he wasn’t going to stroll in here and give me a big bear hug and insist I call him Dad. I don’t know what you were expecting. Our whole night was ruined because he didn’t show.”
“Our whole night was ruined? How? Everyone had fun.”
I laughed but there was no humor in it. “Everyone except the two people who should’ve been the happiest. You were downright miserable the entire night, and I was so worried about you that I don’t even remember half the night.”
Her hands were on her hips now. All of a sudden, her dad being absent was tearing us apart right before my eyes. Again.
“Well, I’m so sorry I ruined your night. Next time I’ll be happy no matter what.”
“Do you even hear yourself, Alma? I love you. I was worried about you because I care so much. I don’t give two rat’s butts about who was here or the food or anything. I wanted you to be happy because we are in love and sharing that with the people in our lives. And you didn’t answer my question.”
“What was the question, Austin? What?” She’d taken the hairband from her wrist and piled up her hair on top of her head. Her heels were in the house, long forgotten.
This was how I loved my girl.
She was my dream.
“I think you need to do some heavy thinking, Alma Villanueva. I think you need to explore why you need his approval so much and whether or not his approval is more important than how much you say you love me.”
She pinned me down with a stare. “Are you asking me to choose, Austin? Seriously? You’re asking me to choose?”
I mulled it over for a second. Tipping my head back to look at the moon, the twinkling lights made little halos in my peripheral vision.
I hated doing this to her. She was a far cry from the sixteen year old I’d known before, but there was still a little growing up for her to do.
For me too.
“Yeah. You know what? I am.”
“And what if I choose you and never see my father again?”
I sobered. This was not the conversation I wanted to be having with her. “Sweetheart, did you ever have his full love if he stops loving you over me? Over someone you love? Over someone who has waited his whole life to be with you? Isn’t that what a father wants for his daughter?”
“What would you do, Austin? What if your dad disapproved of us?”
The thought had already rolled through my head. I knew the answer too.
“Alma, nothing and no one in this world is more important to me than you. If Dad didn’t approve, he would just have to deal with it.”
She huffed out a snort of disbelief. “Bull. It’s easy to say.”
I stood. I didn’t even remember sitting. “Actually, it is, Alma. It’s so very easy to say how much I love you and how I’d give up anything for you. It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
We stood there at a standstill, both of us losing.
“What do we do now?” Her voice had softened, but she was far from being over her rage.
“I’m gonna do what I always do, Alma. I’m gonna leave my heart in your hands. Let me know what you decide.” I turned to go inside.
“Austin?” Her call to me was a whimper. I balled my fists at my sides, willing myself not to go to her.
“Like I said, Alma. Let me know.”