Page 48 of Housekeeping

“So, there’s this woman I’m seeing, and she’s not like any of the women I’ve been with before, so get that out of your head. You could say… she’s a woman that’s used to being around ordinary people. Well, people not raised in our world.”

“Ah,” she said, nodding in understanding. “It’s not someone at the mansion, right? Maybe at the hotel?”

I hesitated a little on whether or not I should give this detail, but in the end, I decided there was nothing particularly wrong with it.

“At the hotel. Her name… is Laura.”

I didn’t get the time to add more because Emily spurted out the sip of tea she was taking. I could only watch with my mouth open. She set the cup down with a loud clink and leveled a glare at me.

“Tell me you did not just say ‘Laura’? Are there two of them working at the hotel, or what? Because you better not mean who I’m thinking of.”

I arched an eyebrow, taken aback by the passionate response. Did she somehow know Laura? It was a surprise, only because Laura worked at the hotel, and Emily rarely ever went there. Laura had never been to the mansion, so how could the two have ever met?

“It could be the same person,” I said slowly. “Because as far as I know, there’s only one Laura working at the hotel…”

“Are you playing with her?” she immediately demanded. “She’s my friend too, Mason, so you better not be using her for one of your games. I mean, I don’t speak to her as often as I speak to Jessi, but you definitely will get into trouble with me if I hear from either of them that you made her cry.”

I frowned. “Who the hell is Jessi, anyway? And why the hell do you think I’d make her cry? I just told you I’m dating her, have I ever said that to you about a woman before?”

That was enough to give her pause, and she relaxed a little, though she was still frowning.

“You’re dating. Huh,” she repeated to herself. “What exactly have you done together?”

I arched an eyebrow but guessed she didn’t mean in the bedroom. My little sister might be twenty-one but she was still way too young to know about that side of relationships. At least in my opinion. As far as I knew, she’d never had a crush on someone in real life, maybe some of the boy bands and actors she watched on TV. So I told her everything I’d done with Laura so far. There was plenty more I wanted the two of us to experience together, but I didn’t mention those just yet because it was a pretty long list.

“You’re doing it all wrong,” she declared, once I was finished.

“What do you mean, all wrong?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“This is why, big brother, I always say you’re smart but a little stupid. Just think about it. At least you stopped it with the gifts but what you’re doing right now isn’t any better. As far as I know, Laura’s always led a pretty simple, but sometimes hard life. It’s never gonna be about your money or the gifts with her. If you want your relationship with her to go well, then what you bring into it, besides the riches, will matter more. Try doing things for her, simple things, instead of throwing the world at her feet, because it’s only going to make her uncomfortable.”

I understood what Emily was saying. I knew this much, like when I made her dinner and bought her groceries instead of taking expensive candy and flowers to her apartment that night. I still did that, and she was happy every time, but…

“I want to do more for her,” I admitted. “She’s the first woman I’ve cared this much about, Emily. I want to do… everything I’ve ever wanted to do with her. But that’s wrong?”

She sighed, rolling her eyes at me like I was the biggest idiot in the universe. A look that hadn't changed much since she was five and trying to get me to do things for her.

“That’s fine and all, but why don’t you start slow? Like, you know, doing what she wants to do first, then moving on to what you want to do later, but explain it to her. You could take her to her favorite places, for example, not just where you want to go. It would go over better, at least in the beginning. Because basically, what you’ve been doing is showing her that she’s missing something from life. From our perspective maybe it is but to her, it’s like telling her that her life wasn’t good enough, that she should be aiming higher. She might not want to do that.”

I sighed and leaned back in my seat, running a hand down my face. Emily was right; I’d been acting the idiot about this whole thing, like taking one step forward and two steps back.

“If you want to treat her right,” Emily continued, “then talk to her about things, don’t just assume. Laura would want the simple things, like going to diners and Mexican restaurants instead of luxury lunch in the family yacht or taking her somewhere expensive. She’ll want to go to the library, or to the hiking trails. It’s all she needs; you just have to focus on it.”

I nodded slowly. I would never have thought I’d be listening to my little sister talk to me about how to do right by a woman, but that was where I found myself. I had to compromise what I wanted to do if it would make Laura comfortable, make her happy.

So Emily spent the afternoon, and well most of the evening, giving me a long talk about the difference in lifestyle between me and a woman like Laura.