Below Zero

Robert smirked. “Toasting the groom.”

“What groom?” she asked, although she knew.

“The groom. There’s going to be a big wedding in the hotel in a few days. But you don’t need to know anything more about it.”

“Why don’t you trust me?” she asked.

“Because,” he said, taking a sip from his drink, “I think you’re a devious little tramp.”

“I’m not a tramp.”

“Yeah, I forgot,” Robert said. “That was a nunnery Dad found you in, not a brothel.”

“He saved me,” she said. She was so angry she nearly forgot that if she stood up to slap his face he’d see the phone.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Why are you doing this to him? Making him do these things?”

Robert sat back, steepled his fingers, and stared at her as if weighing how much to tell. “I’m actually helping him.”

“How does doing these things help him?”

“You wouldn’t understand, girlie.”

Oh, how she disliked him.

SHE’D OVERHEARD some of the conversation in the car earlier that day as they drove south from Wyoming into Colorado. Stenko and his son, Robert, spoke in hushed tones, but she sensed it when Robert would shoot looks at her in the back seat. She pretended to sleep so she could listen and they’d feel like they could talk freely.

Stenko had said, “So the name of the groom is what again?”

“Alexander Stumpf,” Robert said, reading off the screen of his laptop. “Son of Cornelius and Binkie Stumpf of La Jolla, California. Heir to the Stumpf shipping fortune. Reading this, he sounds like a snooty little bastard. The bride is named Patty Johnston. You know, Johnston Cosmetics?”

“I guess I’ve heard of it.”

“Everybody’s heard of Johnston Cosmetics, Dad. Sometimes you astound me. They’re one of the biggest of the multinationals. They make billions on the backs of Third World workers they exploit so rich women can smell good.”

Stenko didn’t reply.

“There’s a picture of Patty Johnston here. She’s kind of a looker. But now she wants to be known as Patty Johnston-Stumpf. Christ Almighty.”

“You don’t even know her,” Stenko said.

Robert snorted. “It sounds like a royal wedding. Guests are flying in from Europe and both coasts for it. Two trust fund babies getting together in Aspen to tie the knot. It’s one of the biggest society shindigs of the year, or at least the only one I can find online that’s close to us.”

“You’ve got a trust fund,” Stenko said.

Said Robert, “Considering what you put me through and the dying planet you’re leaving me with, it was the least you could do. And unlike Patty Johnston or Alexander Stumpf, I’m spending mine in a responsible way, aren’t I? At least I’m giving back, Dad. And because of the way the trust fund came about, I have a hell of a lot to account for, don’t I?”

Stenko sighed. “Don’t be like that.”

“How do you expect me to be? How would you expect different, Dad?”

“Maybe you could be a little nicer.”

“It’s too late for that.”

She didn’t like the way Robert spoke to his father, the man who had saved her life and been nothing but sweet to her.

“Is she still sleeping?” Stenko whispered.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t be so loud. You’ll wake her up.”

“Fuck her.”

“Robert, please.”

“You’re more considerate of her than you ever were of me,” Robert said. “Of course, Carmen was another matter. Carmen loved her daddy, and you called her Little Angel right in front of me. She was Little Angel and I was what? You never really got around to a nickname for me, did you? I mean, we hardly even saw you growing up. And when we did, you were too busy for us. Remember that time we went to the Wisconsin Dells and got that cabin? You left the first morning and didn’t show up for a week afterward.”

A long pause. “I had business. We were opening a new casino and there were labor problems. I’m sorry about leaving you kids with your mother for so long.”

“But you did,” Robert said, triumphant. “But you did. All I can remember about that place is being eaten alive by mosquitoes. It was hot and humid, and the crickets kept me awake all night. Do you remember when I told you I wanted to learn how to fish? Do you remember that?”