Saved by the sea

Chapter 6

The next day went smoothly.

Well, smoothly is a strong word, but it was a lot better than the previous ones, so I guess we can say it went okay.

As I felt somewhat human after what felt like a century of sleep, I returned to the office. Oliver was unavailable once again, and I had no other choice other than to wait for him to free up, so I concentrated on work instead. To no surprise, nothing has been touched since I left the day before, giving me a lot to concentrate on.

What motivated me was the sole idea that once I finished all this, I would have more time for my honeymoon with Oliver and all this work is worth it. I will do some extra tasks for Oliver as well, so he would have more of a free schedule for us to spend more time together. Just thinking about spending time with him made me giggly. A week just me and him will be just great, my heart beats faster just thinking about it. This time I push all the overly happy thoughts away and concentrate on the task at hand. It took me a while, but I was finally caught up. I had been working without taking a moment to rest, and my eyes were making it clear that it was time to rest as the lines and numbers began to blur. I guess that is enough for today. Once I checked the clock at the bottom of my screen, I saw that it was already way past nine. I had been working for over nine hours without a break.

Shit...

When I looked around, I saw that there was no one else in the office other than me. I released a deep sigh as I realized how tired I was. As I began to gather my things to go home, my phone vibrated notifying me that I had received a text.

It was from Oliver.

Hey babe. I will be out of the office tomorrow, so I will see you at the ceremony...

Your dad will pick you up at eleven. Be ready, see you then.

And another one pops in right after the first.

I appreciate all the work you put it so we could have a honeymoon.

I messaged him back with just a short I will be there. I had no energy for more, it felt like the moment I stood up from my desk I felt a hudge wave of exhaustion hit me.

Once I gathered my stuff and took the elevator to the first floor, I re-read his text and realized that I did not ask him about why he would be out of office, so I texted a quick question about where he would be tomorrow, but I never received the answer.

As I was walking out the front door, I felt my phone ring in my pocket and I was hoping that it was Oliver, but I was kinda disappointed when I saw that it was my dad calling.

"Hi, Daddy..."

"Hey, Pumpkin. Why are you not home?"

Shit...

How does he know that?

"I was working late daddy."

"Beka... you are still recovering from your cold. You shouldn't push yourself too hard before the wedding."

"I know... I know... there is just so much work to be done before the wedding and Oliver wants to take a few weeks off for a honeymoon, so there is a lot of catching up to do... and you know that work never waits. I just had to finish it all before the weekend."

I heard a defeated sigh from the other end of the line as my father answered me.

"Okay… okay... how about I make dinner for both of us?"

"Mhm... great daddy… but I will only be home in... about fifteen minutes..."

"I know you are not home yet... because I was outside your apartment, and you are not answering your door... so... I let myself into your place."

"Oh, okay Daddy. I will hurry home then."

"Great. I will be waiting, and we can talk about your wedding at dinner."

Shit... he wants to talk about my wedding. I don't know s**t about it. Oliver's mother doesn't talk to me about it, well doesn't talk to me at all and I could never lie to my father. Well, not well enough for him to believe me.

"Why... why don't we talk about something a little more interesting instead?'

This was a very poor excuse, but I hope he wouldn't push for more detail or ask questions.

"Okay, well, we will see... See you soon baby girl."

"Bey daddy."

As the line went dead, I released a deep sigh and stared at my phone. This is going to be a long evening.

For a moment, it felt like my luck was changing as I saw my bus arriving the moment I stopped at the bus stop.

As I walked into my apartment I smelled the heavenly smell of my fathers cooking and part of the exhaustion from today slipped away as I pulled off my coat and threw it over the back of the couch as I made it into the kitchen.

"Hi daddy."

"Hi sweetheart... look what I found inside your door."

Next to my father in the kitchen stood Oliver.

"Hi Oliver... I wasn't expecting you to join us this evening."

He produced a smile that I had never seen before.There was something... something fake... and twisted about it, that made my stomach turn in a bad way.

"Yes baby, I wanted to check on you after yesterday."

But he knew that I was at work, and he never stopped to talk, he didn't even answer my text...

What the f**k?

Before I could ask any further questions, the doorbell rang and Oliver rushed to answer it.

"I wanted to make spaghetti, but Oliver assured me that you would love something from one of those popular restaurants."

"Oh no daddy...I would have loved your spaghetti."

"It's okay baby, I know you are only saying this to save your old man's feelings."

"No daddy..."

"Shh... it's okay. Why don't you change, and I will set the table with Oliver?"

"Okay daddy."

I changed into one of the prettiest pajamas that I have and rushed back into the kitchen to find my father had already set the table and had the food sorted.

"Sorry that I kept you waiting."

"No, we just finished, Oliver is getting the wine."

"Oh... great then."

Oliver walked in holding an expensive-looking wine bottle in his hands.

"This is the most expensive wine they had. It will do, I guess. If I knew that we would be having dinner I would have gotten something better from my father's cellar.."

"It is okay Oliver, sit. The wine you have looks great, the food looks deciduous, but what matters the most is the people at this table, family..."

The last part brought a deep sadness in my father's voice and face, but he chased it away and returned his usual smile.

"Lets dig in and Beka, why don't you tell me more about the wedding?"

"Mhm... Daddy..."

"Oh Mister West, it will just be a simple family gathering. This will suit us better than a big celebration. The whole thing will take place in my mother's club and there will be around fifty people there."

Well, this was all new to me. I tried to keep my face straight and not give myself away to my father, so I was happy that my father was concentrating on Oliver rather than me.

"After that we will take my father's yacht for a ride around Barbados for our honeymoon... we should return in a week..."

My father's face had this shine of happiness on it. He looked genuinely happy. I hadn't seen him this happy in the last year.

"Maybe you would like to stay on your honeymoon a little bit longer?"

My father offered with a soft smile.

"I wish we could, but I can't leave work for that long and my half brother is returning in a week and a half. He is having a rough time, and he needs support, so father asked me to keep him company."

"Oh... that is so sad... and what happened to him?"

My father asked before I could. I knew that Oliver had a brother from all the office gossip. Well, a half brother. He was five or six years older than him, but had lived away from the family.

"He is a heart surgeon. There was a difficult situation and his last three patients died. He is struggling a bit... sorry... this is a hard topic to talk about."

For a moment, Oliver got quiet, and my father turned the conversation the other way around, to give him some space.