Hotel Bel Air; April 20 2016
Jennifer- "And I'll have the barbecue salmon salad, please."
Jen replied to the waitress taking their order.
Waitress- "Okay! We'll have that right out for you."
Jennifer- "Thanks."
Her and her dad were grabbing a late lunch before his evening flight back to New York. He sat across from her sipping a coke.
Jennifer- "You should stay an extra day, I think I could get tomorrow off."
David- "Honey as great as that sounds I've gotta get back to the city. I've got meetings and-"
Jennifer- "Why don't you ever just take a break. You've worked your whole life, you're an old man, don't you ever just want to take a minute."
David- "Don't you old man me!"
Jennifer- "Okay, okay!"
Jen chuckled
David- "My work gives me a reason to get up everyday."
David- "Jennifer be honest with me. How are you? You seem lonely."
Jennifer- "What do you mean? Even though Max and Emme are in Miami with Mark this week, they're with me most of the time. And I almost always have meetings with people-"
David- "But are you happy? That's all I want, for you to be happy."
The question pondered her mind. Was she happy? Jen sat there in a trance, fidgeting with the charms on her bracelet. I mean of course she had her dream career, two beautiful kids, and a wonderful circle of friends, but he was right something was missing. She was most definitely surrounded by happiness, but was Jen happy?
Jennifer-"I, I don't kno- dad!"
She quavered, looking across the table at a limp, expressionless David, who grasped his chest. Jen got up and around the table just in time to support her father, who had fallen out of consciousness shortly after. After that, things started to move very quickly. One of the waitresses came over to offer help, while another dialed 911. Soon the EMT's arrived wheeling him over to an ambulance on a stretcher before loading him in, where they told her they presumed he was having a stroke or heart attack and would need immediate medical attention.
Jennifer- "Okay."
Jen remembered saying over and over again. It all felt like some disastrous nightmare that she would wake up from at any moment, but this was not the case. Her first and only instinct was to call her sisters and mom, who all were in New York. They took the news like Jen, pretty rough, and told her they'd be there later that evening on the first flight out to Los Angeles.
There she stood stunned and alone, out by where the valet was stationed in front of the restaurant, as she watched the ambulance pull away. Tears streaming down face, she felt frozen as if her feet were glued to the floor. Jen's legs suddenly felt like jello, she was going down, right when she could feel them about to give out from beneath her a strong embrace wrapped around her from behind. She didn't need to see a face to know who it was, there was only one person who could send that kind of electric warmth through her.
She turned reciprocating the firm grasp he had on her. He wiped the tears from Jen's puffy cheeks as she rested her head on his chest.
Ben- "Shhhhh."
Ben whispered in her ear.
Ben- "Everything's gonna be alright."
A few moments later in Ben's car...
Jen sat in the passenger seat of Ben's car.
