“I can understand why you miss her so much.” David said. He understood her better now. He understood why she wanted to leave… figure out herself. There was something freeing about impulse, something life-affirming.
“She’d have liked you,” Bonnie confirmed. “You’re very roll-with-the punches, much like she was. And your taste in boats?” She gave him a thumbs-up.
“Glad to have been of assistance. So what was the plan for after the wedding? I mean… if you had gone through with it”
“To live happily-ever-after.” She toasted him with her bottle, but he didn’t miss the sarcastic smirk. “Take over his late mother’s role on various charity boards. Throw parties for his clients and business associates.”
“Sounds…fun?”
“It might have been, although I doubt it. But as my father reminded me, it wasn’t like I had a career or anything to worry about. Marcus was a safe bet. Or at least I thought he was. I didn't want to agree at first but my father kinda talked me into it… and I know that I shouldn't have let him. He said he and my mother had an arranged marriage, and I thought, maybe it would work out for me the way it did for them, but I just couldn't bring myself to go through with it and I panicked and ran away.”
Not that it was any of his business, but now that he knew the story, David was grateful for whatever clicked in her head. No one deserved to be tethered to a life that wasn’t of their choosing, and it was clear, especially given where they sat at this moment, that the life her father had planned for her was not her choice…and he knew that it was a bit selfish, but he knew that if she had gone through with it, he wouldn’t have met her.
“The ironic thing is,” she mused, “Grams would have loathed Marcus. I guess I saw a lot more in that mirror than just myself on my wedding day. Standing there, laced into a dress that didn’t feel like me at all, I couldn’t see myself. Or maybe I was seeing myself too clearly. But, yeah, now that I think of it, she would definitely not have approved of me marrying Marcus.”
David chuckled. “There must have been something about him that got you that far.”
“Daddy’s approval. That’s what Marcus got me. All my life I always listened to him… always did what he wanted. Of course, Marcus's firm also means a whole new influx of cash to my father’s company. I’m betting that deal’s been blown to smithereens… especially now that I know he has moved on.”
David didn’t respond. He didn’t want to be reminded of how different they were; what different life experiences they’d had. What vastly opposite worlds they inhabited. He liked her. More than he should. More than was rational and practical. Like Bonnie, he decided to believe, at least for a little while longer, in the fairy-tale aspect of their current circumstance rather than the reality that would come crashing down on them once this thing with her father was over she returned back to her life.
Bonnie Rimmer wasn’t one to have her wings clipped; her father and Marcus had tried. Perhaps she still had some work to do on closing doors behind her when it came to life changes. “What do you plan to do once the dust settles and you’re back to your everyday life?”
“I have absolutely no idea.” She leaned her head against the back of the chair and let out a heavy sigh.
“What did you want to do? Wait, scratch that.” He pushed away his empty plate and rested his arms on the table. “What did you want to do before you started doing what you had to?”
Bonnie narrowed her gaze. “That’s a rather astute observation from a nonpsychiatrist.”
“I tend to listen more than most people.” Not just to the words, he thought. But to the thoughts beneath them. What was the first thing you wanted to be?”
“Oh, that’s easy. A waitress.” She laughed at his expression. One of those deep-from-her-belly, joyous laughs that made his own lips tug. “I’m serious. Grams and I used to go to this great little diner every once in a while. Usually on our way back from a weekend road trip. They had the most amazing old-fashioned cash register. The kind with the buttons for each amount. Every time you hit Total, a bell would ding. I loved watching the waitresses ring up the bills, so, of course, I thought that would be the coolest job ever. I was six, by the way.” She held up a finger to clarify. “I bet when you were six you already knew what you wanted to be.”
“Sure did.” He chuckled. He could get used to this, just sitting in the early spring breeze, talking endlessly with her about…anything. Just being around her made him feel lighter. Happier. “I planned to be a pirate when I was six… but I went into my current job after I met Rick and I'm grateful for that.”
“Well, you came close, Captain.” She saluted him. “Tell me, when you are not a private investigator…or bodyguard…Do you spend your free days searching for lost treasure and wrecked ships?”
“I do not. What happened after you were six? What else did you want to be?”
“I went through a lot of phases. For a while my career goals coincided with whatever book I was reading at the time. I even considered being a medical examiner for a while because of a series of crime fiction I was addicted to. Then I realized that would mean medical school, so I gave up that idea.” Her eyes dimmed a bit. “I ended up majoring in business and marketing because I thought maybe I’d make an impression with my father.” She drank the last of her beer. “He canceled coming to my graduation about an hour before the ceremony because he had some work stuff to do. And for the record, I have yet to have a job in either business or marketing. For the past few years I helped my grandmother catalog and organize her estate and took over a lot of her responsibilities for the different organizations she helped to run. You know, charity events, fundraisers. I even planned a few weddings for friends of the family. The kind of stuff Marcus would have expected me to do.”