A Cosmic Kind of Love(26)

I stared at her for so long, my aunt frowned. She opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it, my voice husky with emotion. “You know, when Mom died, there was this selfish part of me that hated her for leaving me with him. I knew I had Miguel, but it differed from having my mom to turn to. At her funeral, I felt so fucking lost. Father wouldn’t let Miguel leave his side, and I was just this kid who felt totally unanchored to anything. Like no one would care if I just disappeared. That wasn’t true. Not for the reasons I wanted though. If my father realized I was hiding during Mom’s wake, he’d lose his shit, see it as an embarrassment.

“But I wasn’t alone, was I? You sat down on the couch beside me—in that room filled with strangers who’d come because they needed to foster their business connection with my father—and you took my hand and didn’t let go. We never said a word to each other. You just held my hand. And I knew I wasn’t alone.”

Emotion overcame Aunt Richelle, tears silently slipping down her cheeks.

I reached over and took her hand. “Thank you for always being there for me. And for being so fucking wise.”

She swiped at her tears with her free hand and laughed hoarsely when she saw the mascara streaks on her fingertips. “Oh jeez, you ruined my makeup. You owe me. I better get a mention in your acknowledgments.”

“A mention?” I grinned at her. “I’m dedicating the book to you.” It wasn’t a lie.

Fresh tears sprung to her eyes. “Look what you’re doing to me,” she said, overly dramatic. “I have to leave before I dehydrate.”

My laughter followed her out of the room, and my gaze drifted back to my laptop. Aunt Richelle’s sage advice had saved me from needing to overanalyze what I was doing. I did want to explore my Mexican heritage, but fear of straining my relationship with my father even more than it was had always stopped me. Maybe Aunt Richelle was right. Maybe I had to stop thinking about everyone and everything else and just focus on what I needed now. Determined to forget about the call from NASA, forget about my father, I tried to find my way back to a natural rhythm with my writing.

Who would have thought it? Me, a writer?

A few hours later, after putting more words on the page, I sat down to dinner with Aunt Richelle. As soon as we slipped onto stools at her island to eat the takeout she’d ordered, my cell rang.

It was my father.

I hit the button on the side that silenced the ringer.

“You know you’re going to have to talk to him eventually, or he’ll come looking for you, and if you make him come looking for you, he’ll be even angrier.”

Scowling, I huffed, “I’m a grown man.”

“Then maybe answer your phone like one.”

She was right, which was even more annoying. Ignoring that she was right, I dug into the Thai food.

“Have you received any more videos from your pink-haired event planner?” She smirked knowingly at me.

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes at her. Sometimes she treated me like I was thirteen, but I didn’t need to act like it. “A few.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what she talks to you about?”

“No,” I replied firmly. “She thinks no one is seeing these videos. It’s bad enough I’m watching them.”

“You should just call her up instead of attending Darcy’s engagement party to see her. The party doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

“I’m not calling Hallie. I have every intention of telling her the truth, and I can’t do that on the phone. It has to be face-to-face.”

“Then hire her.”

“What?”

“Hire her. Get her to help you plan a retirement party from the air force. Weren’t you just saying the other day that you feel you didn’t get closure? That one minute you were in the air force and the next you weren’t. You could invite friends from the military, if they’re home, and your colleagues from NASA. The college friends you still talk to. Maybe having those people in the same room will provide some clarity.”

I considered this. “I can’t ask people to come to New York for a party.”

“Well, have it in Houston.”

“A few of my college friends live in New York and Boston, but most of them are scattered all over.”

“We’ll have it here,” she suddenly announced. “And we’ll invite your father’s fancy friends to keep him placated.”

“All so I can meet Hallie?”

Aunt Richelle nudged me playfully. “You’re not subtle—I have caught you watching her videos more times than I can count. Meet the woman. See what’s she all about. Planning something together will give you the perfect opportunity to get to know her.”

As much as I’d like that, I didn’t want to have to be the center of attention at a party that involved dragging people out to the Hamptons. “People will feel obligated to come, and they’re too busy for me to throw something as frivolous as a retirement party.”

“Boo, you’re no fun.” Aunt Richelle sighed. “Fine, go to your ex-girlfriend’s engagement party. Just don’t be blinded by her long legs and perky tits.”

I burst out laughing. “She’s engaged to another man.”

“So? Sweetheart, you may be one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever known, but you’re still a man. And when it comes to women, men are stupid. They will happily overlook the cute-as-a-button event planner for the supermodel even if the supermodel is a selfish, disloyal, cheating, uppity society cow.”