Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (73 page)

She had to smile at his indignant
reaction.
 
“They know you’re my
boss—well, you’re everyone’s boss.
 
You run the entire company and I’m just an intern.”

“I suppose there’s an imbalance of power
there,” he allowed reluctantly.

“And they know you’re older than me.”

“A ten year age difference isn’t exactly
mind-blowing these days.”

“Also, my mother did some sort of web
search and saw all the ladies the tabloids have you associated with.
 
It’s quite a list.”

“Christ.”
 
He sat back in his seat, somewhat taken
aback.
 
“I guess it looks pretty bad
from that angle.”

“Pretty much from every angle.”
 
She smiled at him.

“Not funny.”

“I’m sorry.
 
I just—“ Her eyes teared up.
 
“I don’t want to leave the city.
 
Or you.”

“And you don’t have to.”

She sniffled.
 
The waiter came back and asked for their
breakfast order, oblivious to the crying girl at the table.
 
Red ordered for both of them, of
course.
 
Eggs Benedict for him and
the stuffed French toast for her.
 
She was happy with his choice.

After the waiter left, she managed to get
herself together.
 
“I think I’ll go
stay with my friend in Ithaca.
 
It’s
not
that
far from here.”
 
She looked at him, trying to discern
whether the move meant the end for them in his mind.

He shook his head.
 
“No way.
 
I’m not going to lose you.
 
I want to meet your parents.”

***

“My house is a little different from the
mansions and luxury apartments you’re used to,” she said to Red as they neared
her parents’ neighborhood just outside of Syracuse.

“I didn’t grow up wealthy,” he said.
 
“I probably had less money than you
growing up.
 
In fact, I know I did.”

“Still, you’ve gotten used to the good
life.”

“I can rub elbows with the commoners
too,” he joked.
 
He was definitely
taking it seriously though.
 
He’d
dressed down completely, wearing loose fitting jeans, work boots, and a light
gray sweater that he could have bought at Target (but probably had purchased
for $300 at Burberry).
 

It was strange to be back home,
especially under these circumstances, with someone like Red as her date.
 

Everything looked so small now, so
desperately in need of upkeep and repairs.
 
All of the houses looked the same—ranches side by side with just a
little bit of lawn, sometimes a chain link fence separating them.
 
Old used cars in the driveways.
 
Roofs needed new shingles and chimneys
had bricks falling off them.
 
Cars
were up on blocks in the middle of lawns.

But Red didn’t care, or so he
claimed.
 
He had his game face on.

She’d warned him that her
parents—particularly her mother—would refuse to like him no matter
how charming or gracious he was today.
 
In fact, the only reason her parents had agreed to host this little
cookout was because of Nicole’s dad.
 

He very rarely put his foot down about
anything, but when he did, her mother listened.
 
And he’d insisted that they at least
meet Red before hating him officially.

So now it was a cool Sunday afternoon and
they were parking in front of her parents’ house.
 
At least their home looked neat and well
tended.
 
Dad always took care of the
lawn; he enjoyed it.
 
The backyard
was big enough to have a grill on the deck and a badminton net too.

There were others here already.
 
Why they’d insisted on inviting other
people, she could only guess.
 
Nicole had been angry when they told her there would be neighbors and
cousins and the like.
 
This was
supposed to be a chance for Red and her parents to get to know one another, and
now it would be difficult for them to really talk.

She could see people around back, sitting
in lawn chairs, smoking cigars, drinking beer, talking and laughing.
 
Some old classic rock station was
playing on dad’s radio.

This was a familiar scene, and Nicole had
to admit it brought back mostly good memories from her childhood.

“Here we go,” she said, and Red grabbed
her hand and they walked to the backyard together.

Everyone stopped and stared.
 
It was worse than she’d feared.
 

Luckily, The Beatles were still blaring
from the radio, so it wasn’t total silence.
 
And then her Uncle Joe was waddling over
with his hand outstretched.
 
“Hey,
I’m Joe,” he said in his thick New York accent.
 
“You must be the rich guy everyone’s
blabbing about.”

This broke the ice, and everyone started
to laugh, including Red.
 
“I guess
that’s me.
 
Nice to meet you.”

Someone handed him a beer.
 
People crowded around, introducing
themselves, asking ridiculous questions about who he knew, had he ever met Jack
Nicholson, what was LeBron like in person?

Red handled it all in style, charming the
crowd with humorous encounters he’d had over the years.
 

But her mother and father just hung back
and watched.
 
Finally, after some of
the hyperactivity among the partygoers died down, Nicole’s dad came up and
said, “I’m Bud, Nicole’s father.”
 

Red had met his gaze and the two of them
shook hands firmly.
 
Something
seemed to pass unspoken between them, but Nicole couldn’t be sure just
what.
 
It was a guy thing, one of
those subtle male body language communications that women would never
understand.

Maybe it was just her dad’s way of
asserting himself, but Red seemed to purposely become less imposing, less
dominating, not wanting to offend her dad or make him feel small.

And then mom was there, her arms
folded.
 
“Hello, I’m Barb.”

“Hi Barb, very pleased to meet you,” Red
said.

She just nodded.
 
“Hungry?”

“Always,” he laughed.

“Well, then, maybe you’d like to cook
yourself something.”

Everyone got quiet and you could hear a
pin drop.
 
Nicole was just about to
say that she would be happy to cook for a guest at the house, when Red
responded.
 
“Tell you what, Barb.
 
I’m going to make you the best damn
burger you’ve ever eaten.”
 
And then
he walked to the grill and started going to work.

There was some hearty applause when he
got the burgers cooking, and it became clear that Red knew his way around a
grill.
 
Soon he was cooking not just
for her mother, or himself, but the entire party.
 

He spent the next thirty or forty minutes
taking orders and sending out burgers, hotdogs, sausages, chicken.
 
Nicole’s dad stood with him and the two
of them laughed and talked while Red sweated behind the grill.

Nicole’s cousin Jon was just two years
older than her.
 
He threw an arm
around her shoulder and looked at Red.
 
“I think he’s passing the test, cuz.”

“You think?
 
I don’t know.
 
They’re so determined to dislike him.”

“Nah, he’s a good guy.
 
I got a nose for these things.”

“Thanks Jon.”
 
She gave him a hug.
 
He positively reeked of beer, but he was
a nice person and it meant a lot that he’d said what he said.

Later, the sun started to drop and people
began drifting home, waving and shouting goodbyes as they left.

Pretty soon it was just the four of
them.
 
Somehow they ended up sitting
at the picnic table, swatting at the mosquitoes and drinking the last of the
beer.
 
Everyone was more relaxed
now, and talk turned more serious.

“You must be a busy guy,” her dad said,
scratching his belly and sipping from his nearly empty Miller Light can.

Red picked at his half-eaten burger
bun.
 
“Yeah, I guess.”

“You thinking about slowing down and
starting a family soon?”

“Dad…please,” Nicole moaned.
 
“Don’t start on that.”

“What, I’m just curious. He’s dating my
twenty-two year old daughter.”

“It’s a fair question,” Red said to
Nicole.
 
Then he turned to her
father.
 
“The truth is, Bud—I
don’t know.
 
I mean, I think I want
kids one day.”

Her mother snorted.
 
“He thinks.
 
He doesn’t know.
 
This is not a serious man.”

“I know that I want to be with Nicole,”
he told her.

She suddenly glared back at him.
 
“How dare you make that
pronouncement?
 
How long have you
even known her?
 
A month?”

“I understand why you feel—“

“You don’t understand anything,” she
spat.
 
“Coming here, strutting
around like a king with his peasants, making a big show.
 
I can see right through you, Mister.”

Red wasn’t ruffled.
 
He seemed even calmer, if that was
possible.
 
But his expression was
deadly serious.
 
“It seems to me that
you think Nicole is very fragile.”

“I think she’s young, and impressionable,
and that someone like you can easily take advantage of her.”

“Maybe you’re right,” he said.

Her mother’s eyes widened.

“But do you really think that
disapproving of me and insulting our relationship is going to change any of
that?” he finished.

For the first time that Nicole could
remember, her mother was stunned.
 
But it only lasted a fraction of a second and then she was back on the
attack.
 
“You’ll move on, just like
you’ve done before.
 
I’ve seen the
models and actresses on your arm.
 
There’s a pictorial history on the web, and the girls are as
interchangeable as your fancy suits.”

“Mom, stop,” Nicole said.
 
She could barely speak, she was so
mortified.

“I’m just trying to protect you.”

“Barb, it’s enough,” her dad said.
 

“No, she’s right,” Red said.
 
He turned to Nicole.
 
“I have been with a lot of women, and
I’ve been shallow.
 
I’ve been a
cretin, someone a mother would want to keep far away from her daughter.”

Nicole shook her head.
 
“Don’t.
 
Don’t say that.”

“Until I met you, Nicole.”
 
Suddenly he was reaching in his jeans
pocket.
 
He produced a black velvet
box.
 
And then he was down on one
knee, opening it for her to see.
 
There was an enormous, beautiful diamond ring glimmering inside.
 
“Nicole, will you do me the honor of
marrying me?”

She nodded at him, laughing and crying
all at once at the absurdity of it, and the perfectness of it.
 
“Of course I’ll marry you,” she said.

And then they embraced.

***

Needless to say, the drive back to New
York City was different than the drive to her parents’ house had been.
 

“I can’t believe it,” Nicole said,
staring at the huge ring on her finger.
 
It gleamed and sparkled whenever they passed a streetlamp or the
moonlight caught it just so.

This
ring costs more than my parents’ house, I bet.

 
Red grinned at her.
 
“Your mom couldn’t believe it
either.
 
Did you catch the look on
her face?”

“No, I was too busy being in shock.”

“I bought that ring the day I met you,”
he told her.

“No.”