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“Lemme check.” The guy walked around the bar and through a set of double doors. “Another five minutes,” he said when he came back out.
“What have you got?”
“Cheeseburger isn’t half bad.”
“I’ll take one of those.”
“Fries?”
“What would a black-tie dinner be without fries?” I said, waving my hand over my tuxedo.
He laughed, shook his head, and shouted my order to the kitchen.
“Where ya headed?” he asked.
“Palm Beach.”
“Damn. Wish I could join you. You golf?”
“Probably the only thing I’ll be doing the next few days.” I held up my glass. “Well, that and drinking.”
“Sounds better than pouring beer on Christmas.”
He walked away, presumably to get my food. Right now, faced with the prospect of spending the next several days with my family rather than with Calla as I’d hoped, pouring beer didn’t sound that bad.
I devoured the burger and fries, turned down his offer of another drink, and walked across the way to the gate when I heard the announcement saying the flight was boarding. I sunk into my seat after grabbing a blanket and pillow from the overhead compartment. If there was a God, I prayed he’d let me sleep.
“Mr. Vaughn?”I felt a hand on my arm and opened my eyes. “We’ve landed, sir.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” I muttered, stunned I’d slept through takeoff, the entire flight, and landing. Thirty minutes from now, I’d board the next plane, and two hours after that, I’d land in Palm Beach, where I’d catch a car service to my parents’ place and pray the same God who’d let me sleep on the flight would grant me six or seven straight days of it. An even twelve would be better. That way, I’d miss my family’s New Year’s Eve party—the one Casper was supposed to attend with me.
“What are you doing here?”I asked my mother when I walked in the front door and she greeted me. She took a step forward and kissed both my cheeks.
“Hello, Corbin. It’s nice to see you too.”
Only my mother insisted on calling me by my given name. Even my asshole father called me Spider.
“I thought you were leaving for Placid yesterday. Or was it the day before?”
“Dein decided he wanted to get a few rounds of golf with your father in, so he flew here instead. We’ll leave Christmas Eve.”
“Dein is here?” Jesus, could this get any worse? Evidently, it could, I decided when two kids came barreling at me.
“Uncle Spider!” my niece and nephew screeched. “We didn’t know you’d be here! This is awesome.”
“Can you take us out in the boat?” my niece Coryn asked.
“I want to go on the jet skis,” shouted my nephew, Steffan.
“We can do both tomorrow, provided you allow your uncle to get some much-needed sleep.”
“Why are you in your tuxedo?” my mother asked, evidently just noticing my attire. “And where is your bag?”
“I don’t have one. As for why I’m dressed the way I am, that’s another thing for tomorrow. Good day, everyone.” I bounded up the stairs, down the hallway to the house’s west wing, and into my bedroom.My bedroom,I thought as I closed and locked the door. I was a thirty-four-year-old man who still had a bedroom in his parents’ house. And not just in one; at all of their houses. God, I was pathetic. No wonder Calla wanted nothing to do with me.
I stripped off my clothes, turned the water in the shower on, and climbed in, wishing I could think about anything other than her.
Even Winslow turning down my proposal hadn’t hurt as much as watching Calla race away from me. The look in her eyes had nearly leveled me.
