Broken Wings, Fixed Heart

Page 5

Em walked out of her apartment complex and hailed a cab for the Gansevoort hotel. She watched the city pass her by as the cab took her to the hotel, she dreaded seeing her mother when she was of balance like this. She knew her mother would notice that she was off today, but what could she do? If she cancelled, her mother would just come to her place and if she saw Kyle there she would start hinting about marriage again. Em took a deep breath trying to steady her nerves and her brain, she had done this many a times and she knew the drill: go in, have some brunch, talk about her future, argue about her future, talk about when she would come home again, and leave. Her phone buzzed breaking her reverie, it was a text from Kyle.

K: Hey, going home see you tomorrow.

E: Okay. Love you.

K: Of course you do.

Em frowned at the response but smiled, her mood lifting as she knew that her haven was hers again. Kyle rarely came over to her place after her dad had flipped out on him for trying to live with her. She was upset at the time and hadn't talked to her father for 2 weeks, but now she appreciated the solitude and space from him.

The cab pulled up to the hotel, she paid the cabbie and left him a $10 tip in her excitement. She walked into the restaurant, a huge smile on her face, and looked for her mother. She found her on the patio overlooking the pool, she walked over and kissed her mother on the cheek.

"Hi mom, you're here early or am I late?"

"Late? Dear you're practically early."

Em laughed, she loved how her mother always arrived 30 minutes late because she liked to be fashionably late, but this time she was pleasantly surprised, her mother was early.

"Well dear, your father has crashed brunch, and he brought a client with him."

"Oh great! Another stuffy business man to bore the conversation."

"He's not a business man, he's a musician."

"What?"

"He's record label signed a new artist and he wanted to meet him. You know how he is about getting to know the artists he signs."

Em looked at her mother knowingly and laughed. She guessed that this guy had to be really special if her dad was taking him to brunch. Her dad owned a lot of companies, he was a great business man who could almost always predict the direction of the market, and was good at expanding into many businesses. His latest venture was music, and he had many connections. Since he was one of the major investors of Sony he had requested to head RCA records, this was temporary of course, her father never stayed for too long, he got things moving then handed them over to someone else. His reasoning was that once you get over the pain and struggle of getting everything started, it got boring. Talk about a man who liked a challenge.

"Is that my little Em!!"

"DADDY!!!"

Em stood up, and turned around to greet her dad. He pulled her into great big bear hug, as he did this she thought about how different this was from his work persona. He pulled away and looked at her.

"Glad to see you looking well, and that you must have done some shopping lately."

Em laughed, "But of course daddy. I had to look presentable at lunch." She said turning to wink at her mother.

"So what are you doing here daddy? Shouldn't you be in Paris, Japan or China?"

"Well I came here to meet with a new artist, and I missed my little girl. Where is the boyfriend?"

"At his place."

"Good."

Em saw a figure moving towards their table from the corner of her eye. Her father turned around to meet the figure. They shook hands and smiled. Em turned to meet the stranger, but he wasn't such a stranger at all.

"Emma meet..."

"Will," Em finished.