Page 65 of Fathers of the Bride

Honestly, I didn’t know exactly what exactly meant but it meant enough that he didn’t ask again.

“Sweetheart,” I called through the door. “Go downstairs and make some coffee. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Andy and I sat quietly in bed giving her time to go downstairs.

“I would like some coffee,” he said.

“I’ll take her out to the terrace. That way you can slip out.”

“And then what?”

It took a moment for me to remember that we’d come home in his car. That left me without a car and no one to take me to Santa Monica to get it.

“Come back later and take me to me car?”

“Can’t I just go back to sleep?” he asked. “If you’ll recall, we didn’t get a lot of sleep.”

“No, you can’t do that. She’ll hear you snoring.”

“I don’t snore.”

“Oh, Andy, please.”

Hurriedly, I pulled on a pair of jeans and a button-down shirt and rushed downstairs. Like a good girl, Kelly was in the kitchen making coffee.

“Daddy, are you all right?”

“Of course. I’m fine.”

“I’ve been trying to call you since last night.”

“I lost my phone in the Pacific.”

“Oh. I guess I should have thought of that. I’ve been trying to call Papa, too. He doesn’t answer either.”

“I have no idea where your father’s phone is,” I said, somewhat truthfully. Yes, I’d watched him throw it out a window, but I have no idea where it landed.

“I saw the video,” she said.

“What video?”

“People had their phones out when you fell off the pier. You’re trending. Haven’t you been online?”

“I’ve been, um, sleeping.”

“Check your computer,” she said, as she pressed the button for the coffee to perk. People everywhere were watching me get tossed off a pier. Oh my God, I was an episode ofAmerica’s Funniest Home Videos.

Brushing it off, or at least trying to, I reached into the freezer and pulled out some vegan mini scones I’d made a week before—cinnamon and pecan.

“We should heat these up to go with our coffee.”

She took them from me and popped them into the microwave.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened with the elephant,” I suggested. “I take it Pudge and Lissa wanted you to ride into the party on top of it?”

“Ugh, I was so angry. I felt so bad for that poor creature. No one should be riding an endangered species.”

“What did they say to that?”