“Why not?” Dad asked. “Go to the island and tell him you love him.”
“The auction is by invite only, and I made sure to get myself uninvited. I basically told him I never wanted to see him again.” I hung my head in shame. Without a ticket, I would be lucky to get past the security guards at the airport, let alone the ones at the mansion. I had a feeling Bastian would have far more security than just Elijah working for an event as big as this one.
“We'll come up with something,” Dad promised. “I want to see you happy. If I have to sell my car to buy you an invite, then I'll walk to the grocery store.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” I whispered. He hugged me closer.
“Carl,” Jackie said, biting her lip and looking at the two of us. “You don't have to buy your way onto the island.”
“What do you mean?” Dad asked, his brows coming together.
“The tickets.” Jackie motioned to the table and grinned. Dad's mouth opened as he realized what she was talking about and then split into a ear-to-ear grin. He jumped up from the floor and kissed her, full on the lips.
“You are a wonderful woman!” he exclaimed, kissing her again. Jackie blushed a deep shade of crimson, but she grinned.
Dad went to the kitchen table and dug through the pile of mail, murmuring to himself until he found what he was looking for. He handed it to me triumphantly before going to stand next to Jackie.
“Jenny always gives me a ticket to the events I've appraised,” he explained as I opened the small white envelope with my aunt's neat handwriting and pulled out the golden invitation. He squeezed Jackie's hand and grinned. “That's how you get into the auction.”
“But what about you?” I asked, looking up. “I just got here....”
“I'll be fine. Besides, I have a new ticker.” He tapped twice on his chest and then winced at the soreness from the incision. “And I have this lovely lady to look out for me. You go.”
I opened my mouth, feeling like I should protest, even if it was halfhearted.
“I've got him, Ava,” Jackie promised. “I'll give you hourly updates if you want and I promise to make him eat his vegetables.”
“Just daily updates and all the veggies you can get.” I chuckled. If she got him to eat something green that was chile, then she was a superstar. Dad hated vegetables. “You're sure?”
“Go,” Dad said, a grin filling his face. He put his arm around Jackie. “Go and be happy. You have to find the people that make you happy and keep them in your life.”
I stood on shaky legs, hugging them both.
Bastian wasn't Chad. He wasn't out to use me. He loved me. Honest to goodness, love without expecting anything in return, loved me.
You have to find the people that make you happy and keep them in your life.
Dad was right. He was proving it with Jackie. Just because one person left, doesn't mean the next person is going to do the same.
I was an idiot for not seeing it sooner and letting my history with a selfish man cloud my judgment concerning a good man. I was a fool to push him away.
I wasn't going to be a fool for long.
Sunrise Kisses: Chapter 25
Flying coach sucked.
Flying coach with three layovers sucked even more.
I arrived on the island bleary-eyed and exhausted the next morning after scrambling to get a last minute ticket. I had paid through the nose, but as I took a deep breath of tropical air, I knew it was worth it. I had to see Bastian. I had to tell him how I felt or I would never be able to forgive myself.
I stopped in the tiny airport's bathroom and did my best to straighten my dress and fix the disaster that was my makeup. Sleeping with a stranger's head on my shoulder while my legs cramped under me was not a beauty regime I could get behind. I sighed at the mirror and put on a brave smile. I was here to see Bastian, not to look pretty. It shouldn't matter how I looked. He would still be excited to see me, not my makeup.
I hoped.
I took a deep breath and went to find a cab. The ride back to the mansion was longer than I remembered it.
What if he doesn't want to see me? What if he's found someone else? What if he hates me? The what-if's buzzed around my head like vultures as palm trees and smaller beach houses whizzed by. I shook my head. What if he's pulled a Mr. Rochester and is now terribly blind and scarred from a fire? I was going to make myself crazy with questions that I couldn't answer until I saw Bastian.