I chuckle to myself as I knock lightly on the door. I’m going to respect her wishes, and I’m going to knock… for now.

“How’s it going in there?”

“Come on! Please!”

I open the door to find a completely chaotic mess of a dozen odd looking women attacking Olivia’s face with strange devices.

“I thought you said these people were professionals?” she says, as one of them knocks over a stand of something. Don’t ask me what any of this makeup stuff is.

“They’re very highly recommended,” I say. “They’re perhaps a little eccentric, though.”

That gets me a look from one or two of them, but I’ve never been one to care what people think of me.

“You’re going to get her into the dress too, right?”

“Of course. Human wedding, right? Not a dog wedding?”

“No,” I say. “A human wedding, not a dog wedding.”

“I told you,” whispers Olivia, out of the side of her mouth. “Can you help me?”

“Looks like they’re doing an excellent job,” I say, pretending to inspect her face.

In reality, I can’t even see her. There’s a thick green goop covering her entire face, including her eyes, which are hopefully closed.

“Well, looks like everything’s under control,” I say, checking my watch. “Meet me downstairs. You’ll take a separate car, of course.”

“A separate car.”

“We’re not supposed to show up together,” I say.

I leave the room, and go over to Laura’s room.

“How’s it going?” I ask, watching Nancy braid Laura’s hair.

“I hate this,” says Laura, pouting.

“Just a little bit longer, sweetie,” says Nancy, tugging on Laura’s hair hard.

“Go easy on her,” I say.

“It needs to look right.”

“I don’t understand this, Dad,” says Laura, turning her head to Nancy’s annoyance and frustration. “Why are you getting married? You’ve already been married.”

“Sometimes that’s the way things work,” I say. “We’re very much in love, so we want to get married. I’m sure you’ll like Olivia.”

“I already don’t like her.”

“You haven’t even met her, have you?”

“I don’t know.”

I laugh. “I think you’d know,” I say. “She’s very pretty.”

“You just met her, didn’t you?”

“That’s right,” I say. “But sometimes these things happen fast. We’re adults, so we can make decisions like this.”

Nancy gives me a pleading look, essentially begging me to leave so that she can finish Laura’s hair. Although, of course, she’d never feel comfortable actually expressing that idea to me verbally.

Down at the bar, I pour myself a small whiskey on the rocks.

As I take the first sip, the vague smile fades completely from my face.

I really must be a horrible father. Who lies to their daughter like that? I just told her I was in love with someone that I’m not. I told her… yeah, I basically fed her a huge crock of shit.

But it’s for her own good, right?

Otherwise, she’s going to be living with Alicia under a bridge somewhere, begging for coins under some interstate overpass. That’s no life for a kid. That’s no life for anyone.

About the time I’m finished my drink, Olivia comes down the stairs.

The team of the strange women rush past her, clamoring down the stairs and out the door, leaving just the two of us here.

“Holy shit,” is the only thing I can say. My mouth falls open.

“Do I look all right?”

“You look incredible,” I say.

“Got to keep it realistic, right?”

“No, really. You look… insanely beautiful.”

She blushes, and I mean it. And I mean that I mean it.

I’ve never seen someone as radiant as she is.

They did a number on her, but it’s not like she’s unrecognizable. She’s still the same Olivia, but that team of strange women managed to enhance her natural features, really bringing out the beauty that was already there.

I thought she was hot before, as in a hot piece of ass, but now she’s just… at a different level entirely.

Seeing her like this sends a strange pang through me. It’s a pain of… I don’t know, longing? Maybe guilt? At putting an innocent girl through this whole charade.

But the pang doesn’t last long, and it’s time for her to be rushed off into the car that’s waiting for her.

Nancy arrives downstairs, with Laura in tow, and I pick up Laura and swing her around, despite her protesting, possibly because I’m feeling guilty about all this.

Laura, Nancy, and I pile into the back of a car that takes us to the wedding.

Most kids would be fascinated by being in the back of a chartered car, but Laura’s been through this kind of thing many times. Occasionally, there are business or social functions that children are allowed to attend, and I do always try to take her along, since I think it’s good for her education.

“Who’s going to be at the wedding?” says Laura.

“So it’s not so stupid now, is it? You want to know all about it?”

Laura shrugs.

“That’s good,” I say. “I’m glad you’re interested. I think you’ll have fun, and I’m sure you’ll like Olivia.”

She shrugs and doesn’t say anything.

Nancy is biting her lip for some reason.

“What’s wrong, Nancy?”

“Nothing, sir.”

It’s always like that with her. She’ll rarely tell me what she’s thinking.

“Anyway,” I say. “It’s a smaller sort of wedding. Only about a hundred people or so.”

“A hundred!”

“Yup,” I say.

“Who’s going to be there?”

“Oh, you know, family friends. Business associates. Those sorts of people.”

“Sounds boring. Will my mom be there?”

I sigh.

“I don’t think she’ll be able to make it.”

“I miss her.”

I don’t know what to say, so I close my eyes and don’t say anything.

I’m a guy who can take on entire companies and dominate entire industries, but I suddenly feel overwhelmed by my current situation, the situation that I’ve created myself.