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“Long term dating is an unnecessary complication,” he said.“It hurts your business empire.”
“Yes.”
Assessment of the cost to Kelly.I respected that.Even while resenting that I’d walked into a room only to hear my own problem explained back to me by a man who had built empires and somehow still had time to emotionally dismantle his sons.
“I know.”
“Do you.”
I let the question sit there.
He reached for his tea and took a measured sip.“Your mother told me she saw you leave before breakfast.”
“I’m sure she did.”
“And you didn’t stay long there as she’s now out with Britney.”
I gave him a long look.“You’re enjoying this.”
“No.”He set down the glass.“I’m interested.”
He folded his hands over one knee.“What do you want, Xerses?”
“Today?”
“In this.”
I could have answered with the obvious.I want my mother off Kelly’s back.I want graduation weekend not to become a circus.
I looked past him for a moment, out over the city, because saying certain things while meeting my father’s eyes felt too much like stepping onto ground I didn’t intend to defend.
“My business will be fine, but I don’t want her made smaller by something I started,” I said finally.
Silence.
When I looked back, he was still watching me in that quiet, terrible way that made it impossible to forget I’d been raised by a man who had built fortunes by noticing the one true thing under ten false ones and betting on it harder than everyone else.
“And,” he said.
I almost told him away.
Instead I said, “And I don’t like the idea of any another woman taking up the social space I put her in.”
His jaw worked, only slightly.
“Careful,” he said.
That irritated me instantly.“With what?”
“With confusing appetite for conviction.”
I went still.
“Wanting a woman,” he said, “is not the same thing as being prepared to treat her well and to be successful you must treat your wife like a queen.”
I rose before the conversation could become more useful than I wanted it to be.“I have a meeting.”
My father nodded once, as if he had not put a blade directly into the center of the thing I was trying not to name.“Then go.”
