“Please do not tellme how I should be feeling, Henry. This isn’t how I wanted to do things, and you know it. I want to have a party to announce the engagement, not a cheap dinner and drinks with just your family.”
Count to three. Breathe in. Breathe Out. Tonight is supposed to be happy, and I’m barely out the door of our place and already pissed off. Denise can’t seem to understand why it’s important to me to make a big deal about asking her to marry me and that I want to tell my family before her friends and clients.
I take another deep breath through my nose and look at my fiancée. “Denise, we can still have a party and invite everyone you want, but first, I want to tell my family that we’re going to be married and that you’re going to be a Riggs. We called your parents. They already know, so I wanted to tell my family over a toast and some good food.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m not changing my name, Henry. It’ll be hyphenated. Yes, I know this is important to you. I’ll just power through it.”
I don’t want to dissect what that means.
“Your father is going to be happy you’re finally settling down. Officially keeping roots in Strutt’s. Maybe this will push him toward the idea of you as CEO. I know they encouraged you to start dating after the Air Force. That they want this for you.”
“That’s not—” I huff in frustration. “The family business has nothing to do with us being engaged. And I’ve told you that I have no interest in taking full ownership. I like what I’m doing right now.” I push my hand into my pocket, pinching my thigh, so I don’t fly off the handle with the direction this conversation is going. “Let’s not talk about this. I don’t want to be in a bad mood when I tell my family about a huge life decision like this.”
She is right about them encouraging me to date. It took me a long time to look at women again. At least for anything more than just a quick, meaningless lay. Everly was the one who encouraged me to try. She knew how broken I had been after we moved her back from New York.
It took a year before I went on a date. And then a couple more months until I met Denise at the Summer Farmers’ Market. By then, my family’s business was starting to really take off, and I was finally on a high. At first, we were friends. I’d see her around town and then we ended up working out at the same gym. Then she asked me out.
She gives me the space that I need, and I do the same for her.
My father is waiting for us at the host station, and my two brothers are behind him, talking to a few professional snowboarders who are in town to kick off the winter season.
“There they are,” my youngest brother, Law, yells out.
The three snowboarders, who I know well from when I took them out last season on a memorable end-of-snow adventure, start yelling at the same time, “Bro! Henry, my man!”
“If it isn’t the biggest badass I know. Damn, Henry, it’s been a minute. How you been, bro?” my buddy Sean calls out.
“I didn’t realize you were back already. You’re like two weeks too early. We haven’t even had a good dump of fresh powder yet.” I laugh.
Aside from being my friends, they’re also high-profile clients, and each of them has their own set of fans on the other side of the world. I’m never too busy for hellos to the people who make an effort and have done right by me. I see out of the corner of my eye that my father is taking the reins on chatting with Denise, so she won’t be huffing behind my back for ignoring her for a few minutes.
We say our goodbyes and promise a night out for drinks while they’re in town. It’s pretty clear that we’ve caused a loud enough commotion that the patrons of the restaurant keep trying to see the celebrities. That happens in this town; you have the same faces all year long, but in the peak season, there’s a roster of celebrities and athletes that come in to enjoy the winter sports. It’s the business my father built, and how I’m helping him cultivate it, that brings that level of money and attention to this place. I’m proud of it. The business, the vision for it, and the town’s natural resources are what afford it all to happen.
“Asher, you have to try it. It’s all about the turmeric right now. There are all of these healing properties…” Denise carries on her conversation with my father, and I can tell by the perma-smile on Dad’s face that he’s already stopped listening.
“Dad.” Shaking hands, he grips my other shoulder and squeezes. Then plants a kiss on my cheek. It’s his way of greeting and telling me he’s proud of me without needing to say it out loud. I give him a nod in thanks for occupying my fiancée.
“Your sister is already here. Somewhere,” he says, looking around. “She texted me about an hour ago saying she wanted to make sure David had set us up with a great table for the night. Ah! There he is now. David.” My father nods at our long-time family friend and neighbor. Most of this town knows David as the top sommelier of this place, who can pair food with a wine like none other. And while all of that is true, there’s more to him than that. He also owns the ranch next door to where we grew up. Many acres next door, but we are neighbors nonetheless. That term goes a long way in Strutt’s Peak. Stronger than family, in some cases.
What many don’t know about David is that he and my father are business partners. They bought the restaurant we’re in together, and a handful of others, just a few years ago. Both of them could retire if they wanted, but they each have grown kids and say all the time how they’d be bored golfing or playing around all day.
My mother isn’t in the picture; she left us a long time ago. My father never said a bad thing about her, but I knew it killed a part of him that she wasn’t here for us. Even with the lack of an example, I never had a skewed reality of wanting to find the right woman, get married, and start a family of my own. Hell, my brothers, sister, and my father are such a huge part of my life that starting and growing a family has always been something I’ve wanted. Just as much, if not more, than a successful career.
I didn’t want to start again. Starting over was hard enough. I hated that Denise gave me an ultimatum, but I knew the idea of finding the kind of partner I fantasized about wasn’t going to happen. I’d foundheralready. I knew I did. Andshewasn’t an option. She was gone. No matter how hard I had looked for her.
Which is why I also knew if I didn’t try to move forward, then I’d end up alone. And I wanted to share my life. So with Denise, I kept saying yes. My sister, hell, even my brothers convinced me that it was time to live outside of work. So I did. She’s smart, beautiful, and she goes after what she wants. We’re similar in a lot of ways, which some would argue is a bad thing, but for me, it works.
So, when she jilted me by saying we needed to make a change, move on, or move forward, I said let’s try forward. That was two nights ago. Yesterday, we picked out a ring. Today, we tell the people that I love that we’re going to get married.
7
Giselle
I splashwater up my arms, flicking the excess onto my neck. Just enough to wake me up a bit, knock some reality back into my situation. I just need to get my bearings. I’ve just made a new friend. I haven’t had one of these in a while. It’s been a lonely three years trying to figure out how to be someone new, and now I’m ready to fold some new people into that. Hooking up with random men fills that void only for so long. I don’t think I realized how much I just needed a friend. I can do this.
As I stare in the mirror, it’s hard to recognize myself sometimes. I’m not who I once was. I’m new here. My name, my attitude, my accent, everything I once knew, has been forcefully forgotten. Evicted from my brain and filed away back east. I’ve come around finally to the idea that anything before is now dead, and everything after is the life I’m left with to create and not fuck up. At least I’m alive. That’s the whole point, right? I’m alive. So let’s start living.
I gather my wits, nod at myself in the mirror, and walk back into the dining room of the picturesque restaurant. Time to meet my new friend’s family. I’m nervous and not much makes me feel this way. The idea of being the new person in a group setting means talking about myself. I need to remember the balance of how much of what I say can be truth versus the lie.