Forever - Chapter 32 #2
I nodded. Mason had been with me the day I’d been told that Brooklyn had passed away.
He’d seen how little her father had seemed to care.
It was hard to shake off that memory. It was hard to move forward.
I looked down at the velvet box in my hand.
But we were moving forward. I put the box in my pocket. “I’ll be right back,” I said.
“What? Dinner is about to start…”
I hurried out of the room and went down the hall to what had been my bedroom while I was living here. I closed the door behind me. All my stuff was still here because Nigel refused to help me move out. I sat down on the edge of my bed, pulled out my phone, and hit Mr. Pruitt’s number.
I knew that Mr. Pruitt was out of cell phone reception or something. But if there was a small chance that he could get reception…I wanted him to hear from me too. The call went straight to voicemail.
I waited for the beep and took a deep breath.
“Hi, Mr. Pruitt. It’s Matt. Brooklyn really wants you at the wedding tomorrow.
It would mean the world to her.” I clenched my jaw.
This was harder than I thought it would be.
“And I really want you there.” I clenched my jaw again.
“I know we’re not on the best terms. But I want to move forward.
I know you were trying to protect Brooklyn 16 years ago.
And even though I don’t agree with what you did, I do understand wanting to protect her. I…” my voice trailed off.
I took another deep breath. “I do believe that you love Brooklyn. But you’ve been doing it in all the wrong ways. If you show up tomorrow though? You’ll finally be doing something right. She wants you to walk her down the aisle. She wants her father there.”
This was not coming out right. I wasn’t trying to reprimand him.
I was trying to convince him to show up for once in his fucking life.
And if we were ever going to be a family, I knew what I needed to say.
If Brooklyn was able to forgive her father, so could I.
“I want to leave the past in the past. I want to move forward starting right now. So I just want you to know that I forgive you for the past 16 years, even though you put me through hell. I forgive you, Mr. Pruitt.”
There. It was done. I exhaled slowly. Actually, that felt damn good. “Please come to the wedding tomorrow. We want you there.” I tried to think of anything else I could say to him that would make him come. “Your daughter needs you.” I ended the call.
“Dinner is ready.”
I jumped. I hadn’t seen Nigel walk in.
“Unless you need a pre-dinner bath?”
“I’m good,” I said and stood up. “I’m excited about everything you prepared.”
Nigel smiled. “Make sure to try the whole spread of wildfowl. I know how much you like your meats.”
“Mhm.”
“Everyone is already seated,” he said as we made our way out into the hall. “But Robert didn’t read the place cards and it’s all awry. And the kids aren’t at the kids’ table. And you and I aren’t even sitting at the head of the table together now. Should I reprimand Robert?”
“That’s okay, Nigel,” I said. “I need to sit with Brooklyn.”
“Ah yes, of course. But there are no empty seats near Brooklyn either.”
What the hell? I walked into the dining room. It didn’t look like any couples were seated together. Nigel was right. This was absolute chaos.
“Actually, Nigel,” I said. “Make everyone move.”
Nigel pulled his horn out of his back pocket and blew it. “Ladies and gentlemen, dinner shall not be served until you are in your proper seats. Please make your way to your place cards.” He blew his horn again.
And everyone actually got up and started moving around. The kids sat around the kids’ table, and all the couples started to sit down next to each other. But Rob leaned over the table, swapped his place card with someone else’s, and then sat back down next to Brooklyn.
I didn’t know what he was up to, but at least there was still an empty seat on the other side of Brooklyn.
“Thanks, Nigel,” I said.
Nigel nodded. “All in a day’s work.” He made his way over to the kids’ table and sat down.
Why was he sitting… Never mind. Whatever made him happy. I sat down in the empty seat next to Brooklyn. “Hey, baby.”
She smiled up at me, but it wasn’t one of her normal carefree smiles. She looked nervous. “Hey.” She pressed her lips together, like she was forcing herself not to say anything else.
“Is everything alright?”
“Everything is fine,” Rob said and leaned forward so I could see him. “Brooklyn and I are having a marvelous evening.”
“Why are you being so weird?” I asked.
“Why are you being so weird?” he said back.
“Everyone dig in!” Nigel yelled from the kids’ table.
Mason laughed. “You don’t have to tell me twice.” He started to serve himself and then everyone else followed suit.
Brooklyn didn’t put any food on her plate though.
“You were looking forward to turkey all day,” I said. “Is your stomach bothering you again?”
“Mhm,” Rob said and leaned forward. “She was just telling me that.”
“Do you want more ginger ale?” I asked, ignoring Rob.
She shook her head, her face growing more pale.
I was getting worried that she was going to throw up on her plate. But she’d barely eaten anything today. I wasn’t sure she had anything in her stomach to throw up.
“Do you think it’s time?” Rob asked.
“No,” Brooklyn hissed.
“Yeah…let’s wait a bit.”
“Time for what?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Rob said and winked at me.
Why was he winking at me? What the hell was going on? “Baby, you really need to eat something.” I served her some turkey and mashed potatoes. “Please. For me.”
She lifted up her fork and Rob slapped the utensil out of her hand.
“What the hell are you doing?” I said. “She needs to eat.”
“Psh. She doesn’t need that.”
I glared at him. “What the hell does that mean?” Was he calling Brooklyn fat or something? She was pregnant and she was hardly even showing yet. I was going to kill him.
“Sanders knows I think she’s hot. Cut it out, Matt.”
I needed to cut it out? I put my hand on Brooklyn’s thigh and leaned in so I could whisper in her ear. “Blink twice if you’re under duress.”
She finally laughed and looked up at me, the worry momentarily gone from her eyes. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too.” I lowered my voice even more. “If Rob is bothering you…”
“He’s not. I just… I mean he just…” she shook her head. “I honestly don’t think anything could ruin this night, no matter how hard anyone tries.”
Rob really did seem to be trying.
“You know, this is a first for me,” Brooklyn said with a smile.
“Your first rehearsal dinner.” I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Hmm.” I was starting to like the idea of being her last everything. Because she definitely wasn’t going to be having another one of these.
“And I’m going to enjoy myself.” Brooklyn took a bite of mashed potatoes and audibly sighed around her spoon.
Fuck. Now all I could picture were her lips wrapped around my cock instead.
“God, I was so hungry.” She cut off a piece of turkey and put it in her mouth. She moaned around the meat.
She’d definitely be doing that around my cock later.
“I tried to warn you, Sanders,” Rob said. “But I am kind of curious about this eel.” He stabbed his fork into the slimy eel on one of the platters. But the fork didn’t penetrate it and the eel rolled off the side of the platter.
“Don’t make a mess, Rob,” I said.
He chuckled. “Oh, I would hardly classify this as a mess. Just wait for it.”
What the hell did he mean by that? But I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Rob loved to say that. Right before he did something stupid. I took a deep breath. I was going to kill him if he messed up this dinner.