ASTONOn a rainy Saturday morning, Blake and I welcomed baby Emma Rose McAllen into the world. She was a pink, healthy little angel that had both of us wrapped around her little finger the very first second we laid eyes on her.The hospital was busy. I could hear people milling around outside, some running to take care of patients and others here to visit friends and family, and to meet the new arrivals. Emma was only three hours old, but I was sure Blake’s family and Tiffany would get here soon.Both Tiffany and Blake’s mom had wanted to be in the waiting room when she was born, but I went into labor in the early hours of Saturday morning and in our rush to get to the hospital, we hadn’t wanted to disturb them in the middle of the night.For now it was just us and our little cherub in our bubble of the most perfect, serene happiness I’d ever known. With Emma’s tummy full for the first time, she was dozing in her daddy’s arms and the scene in front of me was as precious as I’d known i
AstonEverything further away than what could be reached in two or three hours by plane, he let Danny handle. Blake had been my rock, my constant. With him as the dad, I could see myself having a lot more children. He certainly seemed to be on board.A nurse came in to check on us, as they did every so often. This was one who must have just started her shift, since I hadn’t seen her around earlier. She was an older woman with bright red hair and a kind smile. “Is everything okay in here? I need to take the baby for observation, it won’t be more than a few minutes before she’s back.”Blake’s eyes widened comically. “You’re taking her away?”“Just for a few minutes, sir.” The nurse smiled sympathetically. “I won’t take my eyes off of her for a second, you have my word. I know it’s hard for you to let go of her right now.”“She has to go?” Blake asked, not looking like he was inclined to hand her over at all.The nurse nodded. “A few minutes, sir. She’ll be back before you know it.”Relu
BLAKE“Excuse me, could I have one of those?” I asked. The flight attendant glanced down at the stack of newspapers in her arms, a surprised expression crossing her features before her pink lips curled into a flirtatious smile.“There’s a news channel on board, number fifty four.” She bent down lower than necessary, giving me a glimpse of the lacy black bra underneath her uniform. Her breasts brushed my bicep as she reached for the controller in my armrest. “Here, let me help you with that.”A couple of years ago, I would have leaned into it. I would have smiled back and taken her to a hotel room as soon as the plane touched down. Not anymore.Shifting a bit so my arm wasn’t in the way of her ample chest anymore, I smiled politely and nodded at the newspapers. “I prefer getting my news from the papers.”The flirtatious smile faltered before she straightened up. “Of course sir. The Times?”“One of each, please. Thank you.”She shuffled through the stack, then handed me three different
BLAKEI arrived on his floor and dashed through the first slit in the elevator doors as soon as it appeared. My feet sank into plush carpeting as I made my way to his office.“Good morning Norma,” I greeted his secretary, an old battle ax of a woman who’d been with him since the beginning of time.She lifted a white eyebrow and peered at me over the rim of her glasses. “You’re late Blake. Best go in quickly, Danny’s already been in there a while.”I groaned, as I’d been hoping to beat my brother into the office. I actually liked my dad, so it would have been nice to have a few minutes to catch up. Guess I should have thought about that before taking so much time getting here.“Get in there,” Norma instructed sternly. “Before Danny’s fanciful ideas have a chance to seep into the old man’s head.”A soft chuckle I couldn’t hold in burst free. There were less than a handful of people in the world who would talk to or about my father that way. I loved Norma for it. “You’re right. Before we
ASTON The lobby was quiet at this time of the morning. Slowly but surely, a small trickle of people were making their way from the bank of elevators to my left across the lobby to the breakfast area. I was proud to say our breakfast area was one of the best Palo Alto had to offer.The hotel basically sat on the beach and while having bacon and eggs—or an egg white omelet for the more health conscious—clients could enjoy the magnificent view. The sparkling blue ocean lay to one side and great city views to the other.I’d even had a hand in arranging the tables on the outside deck so everyone would have something pretty to look at while getting fueled up for the day ahead. I tried to make every guest feel special and welcomed, from the Silicon Valley business guys to the Stanford students needing some grease to cure their hangovers. Making sure their breakfast came with a view was only one way I tried to achieve my goal. When I got promoted to manager of this property, the California b
ASTONOne knocked into a standing vase and I cringed and waited for the crash when it hit the floor, but the doorman managed to grab it just before it toppled over. He got knocked on the head by a few of the flowers from the arrangement, but he’d saved us from having to salvage them all from the floor.The frat guy didn’t acknowledge Fred at all. He just swept past the poor doorman and punched his buddy on the shoulder as they headed toward us. I sighed, a group of rowdy frat guys checking in always caused trouble, which was the last thing I was in the mood for, but clearly these guys wouldn’t care.Tiffany, on the other hand, straightened up and checked her lip gloss in the reflection of the computer monitor as she nudged me with her elbow. “Perfect timing. Some might even call it divine intervention. What are the odds of them appearing right at this moment? Just think—one of them could be the guy who finally pops your cherry. The time has come, girl. Take your pick first, but person
BLAKEJust my luck, I missed the last flight to California yesterday while I was going over some numbers with Dad, so I was stuck spending the night in Florida after all. At least our property here made a mean pancake.Tomorrow I would go back to healthy choices, but today I wanted my pancakes. I stretched out on the king-sized bed and reached for the phone to call room service before I’d even opened my eyes. A definite advantage to practically living in hotels was never having to worry about fixing your own breakfast.Once my food was ordered, I rolled out of bed and rubbed my eyes as I headed to the bathroom. I was useless before a shower in the mornings.This hotel property, one of the three we had in Florida, was the first hotel dad had owned. It was an older building than most of the rest, but it had been redone to fit in with the comfortable modernist feel of the chain as a whole. Dad’s vision was to create beautiful hotels with every luxury he could afford to put in them, while
BLAKE“Wouldn’t you like to stay in one place for a while?” He paused, pushing his glasses up onto his forehead to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I’m worried about you, son. Always on the road, always traveling, never taking the time to stop. I wish you would consider just taking a break every once in a while.”The corners of my mouth pressed in. I’d always hated seeing my dad worried. It was an occupational hazard, given that he was now the CEO of a multinational company, but it had only been us and him for years.Danny was always more focused on what people thought about the public image of our dad than the man himself. It left me to be the one to take care of the man behind the business.Traveling didn’t bother me. It never had. I checked in with my dad often, and spoke to him at least once a week. I didn’t realize the traveling was a problem for him. “I love doing what I do, Dad. You don’t have to worry about me. I don’t need to stop or take a break at all.”A grim smile crossed h