Heavenstone 02 - Secret Whispers

until that moment to invite Ethan. I suppose I had been thinking he would be back home looking to find some meaningful employment.
    Besides, when it came to the wedding, there was something else on my mind. I didn’t want to bring it up right now, but my father’s agreeing with Lucille to replace Uncle Perry as his best man was still bothering me.
    “Maybe it’s becoming too much of an event, more like a political event, Uncle Perry.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Having the senator be my father’s best man,” I replied. “I’m sure they’re not that close.”
    Ethan’s eyebrows rose. I hadn’t told him about any of that. “A United States senator?” he asked.
    I nodded. “Uncle Perry should be my father’s best man.”
    “Oh, don’t worry about it,” Uncle Perry said. “I was your father’s best man when he married your mother. That meant far more to me than it would this time around.”
    My eyes glistened with tears. He couldn’t have said anything that would have given me more comfort.
    “Let’s just ride with the tide, Sam. We’ll all do just fine,” he added, reaching to squeeze my hand. “C’mon, let’s get back to my offices. I want to show you where you’d work if you want to have a real job, and I’d like your opinion of a new advertising concept involving the Internet, Ethan.”
    “Absolutely. I’d be honored,” he said.
    Uncle Perry gave me a sort of half-smile, one that signaled a note of caution. Ethan was sounding a little too diplomatic. It opened the door to a Cassie-like thought. Christmas trees, Semantha. Get him to stop trying so hard. Even a blind man could see through the coats of sugar.
    When we stepped into the parking lot, Uncle Perry whistled at my car. “What was it like driving that over here?” he asked Ethan.
    “Like I had stepped into some dream machine. We didn’t ride; we floated.”
    We entered Uncle Perry’s offices, and he immediately showed Ethan some of his advertising plans for the Internet. Although he was nice about it, Ethan was very critical. He supported all of his criticism with good information, and by the end of the afternoon, he had persuaded Uncle Perry to make changes.
    “You do have a pretty bright guy here,” Uncle Perry told me when we could speak without Ethan overhearing. “And someone who’s not afraid to disagree when he thinks he’s right. I wasn’t expecting it. I like that.”
    His review of Ethan made my day, but I couldn’t say I was very excited about my prospective area in Uncle Perry’s offices. It made me feel a bit claustrophobic. He sensed it and told me to take my time deciding. He promised that no matter what I decided, he would still rely on me for advice. It made me think of Lucille’s advice, which was similar, but I didn’t tell him that. Maybe I was the one who was being the diplomat now.
    Later, when we were alone again, Ethan told me he didn’t think I would enjoy spending my time in a small office at one of the stores. He almost parroted Lucille word for word, telling me I should be out among younger people more.
    “Maybe you should take your time and enroll in some college classes,” he added. “You have a good community college nearby.”
    I didn’t say anything, but there was a part of me that wasn’t happy with the suggestion. If I were a young man seeing a girl like me, I wouldn’t want her in any environment where she could meet someoneelse and maybe fall in love with someone else. “Love when it’s real and passionate makes you selfish,” Mother had once told me. I had been too young then to fully understand what she meant, but I understood it now. You become unreasonably jealous and don’t like sharing your loved one with anyone, even for good reason.
    I think Ethan saw the disappointment in my face. He quickly added, “As long as it’s an all-girl college.”
    Lucille had thought of everything for us when she and Daddy had planned our day. She had arranged for both of us to freshen up at the store’s executive bathrooms and had the head of the men’s clothing department arrange for Ethan to be dressed and fitted in something new. The same was done for me in the women’s department. It was as if Christmas had arrived early. Because I had never really taken advantage of being my father’s daughter at any of our stores, both Ethan and I felt like kids turned loose in a candy store. We rushed up and down the stairs to show each other what we might choose.
    Afterward, when