Stephanie Ch. 01

"Love you always," signed Stephanie.

I dropped the shirt off at the front desk to have it cleaned and pressed so I could wear to dinner, then continued outside to roam around town. I wandered around for a few hours, never really noticing what was around me due to the visions of Stephanie filling my mind. She was all I could think of or see. No woman has ever had this kind of effect on me before.

Returning to my room, I shaved and showered before getting dressed, putting on my new shirt. I then headed down to the restaurant to meet Dave, Karen, and Stephanie for dinner.

The conversation was light as ate, mostly talking about different places we'd been to, as well as what we had seen in and around Jasper, but there was a definite tension in the air. Stephanie had a sad look on her face, looking like she was trying to hold back tears, and was trying to avoid looking at me. As soon as she finished eating, she excused herself to go to the washroom, and Karen went with her.

Dave and I sat there in an awkward silence for a moment or two, until he spoke.

"Karen and I don't know exactly what happened last night between you and Steph, but we have our suspicions, and we do not approve of it. We figure that the two of you were probably planning to get together again tonight. Well' I'll tell you the same as I told her. Forget those plans. We are taking Steph out this evening, and we won't be back until late. We will also be keeping the door between our rooms open so that we can keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't sneak out."

My heart sank as he told me this.

"We invited you here to dinner tonight to thank you for saving Steph yesterday, as well as to have a chance for us all to say good-bye. Our invitation for you to visit us in White Rock still stands, but we would prefer that you do not try to contact Steph. She's growing up too fast, and is at a difficult and confusing time in her life, and we don't want anything making it more difficult for her. She has her whole life ahead of her, starting with university this fall, We know that she will be on her own then, and will be able to to do pretty much whatever she wants, but we've already had this talk with her. I can't tell either of you what to do, but I will ask you, and hope that you will respect our wishes."

Just then, I saw Stephanie quickly walking from the washrooms toward the exit, with Karen about 10 feet behind her. Just before she reached the doors, she stopped and looked at me, and I could see the redness and tears in her eyes as she mouthed 'I love you' to me, before running out of the restaurant.

I stood as Karen came back to the table and told us "She's very upset, I'm going to up to her room and try to talk to her." Looking at me, she said "It was very nice to have met you, Terry. I'm sorry that our good-byes have to be like this."

She came around the table to give me a final hug and kiss on the cheek before she left. My eyes followed her to the door as I reached for my wallet to pay for my meal, but Dave told me to put it away.

Standing there, still looking toward the door, I could feel tears building in my eyes as I realised that that was probably the last time I would ever see Stephanie. I turned back to Dave, and told him "I will try to respect your wishes, but that's all that I will promise. Stephanie isn't a little girl anymore, and, I hope you will respect my honesty when I tell you that if Stephanie ever wants to contact me, or visit me, I will not refuse her. She is an adult, and, no matter how much you may always want her to be your baby girl, she can make her own decisions."

Dave frowned at me and nodded his head as he stood and extended his hand for a handshake. Taking my hand in his grip, he told me "I don't like it, but I do understand. Good-bye, Terry. It was nice to have met you."

After he released my hand, I left and walked back to my now very empty and lonely feeling room, as a great sadness crushed down on my heart.

I began cleaning up and packing some of my things away, pausing and thinking of the night before as I put the bag with Stephanie's thong into my suitcase, then took the memory card with the pictures of her from my camera bag and started up my laptop to view them.

"At least I'll always have these to remember her with," I thought as I sat there, looking at the picture and thinking about her for a couple of hours before shutting off the laptop and going to bed.