“You don’t lay hands on my fucking father. The man is fighting Cancer.”
“Nathaniel, please listen to me. I arrived late for the wedding, he didn’t know I was coming, and -”
He shoves the security guy and swings for me again, but I dodge it. “Buddy, I never fucking met you,” I say. “What’s your damage?”
“No, but you met her, didn’t you? And she’s here for you, so I followed to-”
“I’m here for Carly’s wedding. I told you why I wanted to go!”
“If you folks don’t break this up, you’ll all be ejected from this resort,” the security guard says, once again pushing between us. He’s smaller than either of us and needs backup.
“And when I didn’t want you to go because he’s here, you took off without me, so here I am and I see you with him,” Nathaniel grinds out.
“I’m with all of them. We’re heading to our rooms before dinner. Most of them have to change, and- ”
“And where is his room?” Nathaniel demands.
“People?” the security guard tries to get our attention.
“We’ll break it up,” Ally tells him. “No worries.”
Meryl gasps. “You didn’t just say that to me.”
“Is that where you were going, Merry?”
She pulls a keycard from her bag, holding it up. “Look. Austin, can you show him your key?”
I see 402 on her ring.
I wanna rip this guy’s face off.
“Fuck you, buddy. Maybe if you didn’t act like a neanderthal, she wouldn’t have taken off on you.”
“Maybe if you’d kept your hands off her, you wouldn’t have confused her.”
“Nathaniel!” Meryl pleads, pulling on his hand.
“Austin’s not even on the fourth floor,” Ally says. “He’s next to my room on the twenty-third.”
“I read her diary, man. I know exactly what went down with you two,” Nathaniel says.
I give him a cocky smile, pouring gasoline on the fire.
Now there are two more hotel employees coming over.
The guy growls at me.
“You what?” Meryl demands.
He looks at her. “Yeah. I read it.”
Her mouth drops. She’s pale.
“I knew a little about him from what your sister said, but the diary gave me the full picture since you wouldn’t.”
“Whoa. Everyone settle down here. Why doesn’t everyone go to the bar over there, sit down, have a drink, and talk like civilized people,” My father suggests.
“If this doesn’t stop now, management will have to decide if your party is welcome at this hotel,” the security guy says.
“Whoa. This can’t affect the reception, everyone. Break it up!” Carly’s mother orders and then gets louder with an almost guttural, “Break it up!”
Mama bear mode has been initiated at the thought of disruption to her daughter’s wedding reception.
“I apologize,” Meryl says to the guard. “This is over. You guys go ahead. I’ll talk to Nate. You all have the reception to get to. I’ll… I’ll see everyone later on.” Meryl grabs his hand and tugs on it, steering him in the other direction. And she no longer looks timid. Now she looks pissed.
I scoff, eyeing the guy. He glares back over his shoulder at me as she stomps back to where his luggage sits, pulling him along.
Carly’s mother puts her hand on my elbow and ushers me into the elevator.
“Let’s go, honey. Give things a minute to simmer down.”
As the doors close, I see Meryl mouth, “I’m sorry” to me.
Whatever.
***
There’s a knock on the door to my hotel room. I’ve showered and gotten halfway to dressed. I approach the door, buttoning up a fresh shirt.
I open it to Meryl.
“Austin,” she says softly, apology in her eyes.
“No. Fuck this shit,” I snap, and she backs up with a wince.
My mother’s suddenly here, waltzing in and closing the door on Meryl.
“Are you all right?” Audra asks.
“And here you are,” I wave her in and then step into my shoes.
“That’s an odd thing to say,” she remarks, and then reaches for my face. “You’re going to have a black eye for the photos. Look at that, Austin. Though, really, what does it matter? Did you see what Carly’s maid of honor did to her hair? That girl is an odd duck, isn’t she?”
I pull back. “I’m fine,” I say. “You missed the action. Guess you were busy with Roger?”
She flinches.
“Yeah, I saw. He was chasing down Sienna is my guess, who showed up about ten minutes too late to disrupt the wedding.
She sighs. “At least she didn’t get here on time. Roger told her the wrong resort name, suspecting she was fishing to find out how to disrupt the wedding. That girl is such a bundle of emotions. She has got to get over her fixation on your brother.”
I shake my head. “No thanks to you she has that fixation.”
She straightens. “Sometimes we have to put the past behind us.”
My mother meddled trying to get Aiden and Sienna back together a few months back and Sienna evidently still carries her torch. Or she just wants to stick it to my brother and ruin his life.