What If

6. Weekend at Bernie's

When I heard this man, James, say that about his parents, I tried to stop Sean from punching him. Mainly because I didn't want him to get in trouble. But when I saw Sean's fist hit him square in the face, I couldn't help the satisfaction that came over me.

James fell to the floor instantly and covered his bleeding nose with his hand. Henri arrived immediately with security. He pointed to the man on the ground. "Get this man out of here. He's now banned from this casino." The security team took the now whining James away, and Henri looked to Sean. "Sir, do you need a doctor for your hand?"

Sean lifted his hand and winced when he saw how it looked. There was blood coating his knuckles and fingers. "No, I'm fine. Henri, can you take my chips and put them in my account?"

"Yes, of course," the manager answered. "We warned that man yesterday for harassment. I must give you a warning, Mr. Williams. We do not allow violence in this casino, as you know."

Henri left and I looked at Sean. "We should go upstairs and clean you up."

"Yeah." By the sound of his voice, it was clear the devastation from James' words were still affecting him. "Let's go."

Neither one of us spoke as we took the elevator to his floor. When we finally got to his suite, I instructed him to sit at the breakfast bar while I went to get some wet paper towels to clean his hand. 

I carefully wiped at his fingers. "He shouldn't have said that about your parents."

He looked up at me and I lifted my eyes, meeting his. "You know?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm so sorry."

He exhaled a deep breath, running his good hand through his hair. "I bought them those tickets for their anniversary. I got them that vacation. I was supposed to be on that plane." His voice came out ragged, full of emotion and his eyes started to water. "It's my fault they died."

He's confiding in me, I thought. No one had ever done that before. I took a deep breath before saying, "My parents weren't around growing up. They were meth-heads who only cared about getting their next fix. I had to fend for myself. They—they beat me. When I was eleven, my father was high and attacked my mother. She never wanted me." I continued wiping the blood off his knuckles. "She took my brothers and left. My dad is still in prison. I was in foster care after that. They always seemed to blame me for everything. I tried to be good, but—"

"It wasn't your fault, Lydia."

I looked up at him. "What happened to your parents wasn't your fault either."

We were both quiet for a few minutes before I went to the freezer to get him some ice and wrapped it in a towel. "Here, this will help."

"Thank you. Not just for my hand, but for everything else."

I gave him a half smile. "You, too."

I was desperate to lighten the mood for both of us. I tried to think of something to help, and an idea occurred to me. "Want to watch a movie?"

When he looked up at me, he had an odd expression on his face. He seemed surprised—like no one has ever asked him that before. "I'd love too."

"Okay," I smiled. "You go get cleaned up and I'm going to order us some food." When he arched a questioning brow, I chuckled. "Look, neither of us feels like cooking tonight. I'm ordering a pizza from room service. Pepperoni work for you?"

With a deep sigh, he nodded. "Pepperoni is perfect."

After I ordered the pizza, I went into my room to get changed into some comfortable clothes. Mary from 24K included two pajama sets. I laid out the poker chips I won on the dresser and studied them. I still couldn't believe I won. Yes, Sean gave me the chips to bet, but I did the rest on my own. I was so worried I wouldn't be able to pay him back. Now...now I could.