Jennifer and Rocket (The Princesses of Silicon Valley Book 6) (16 page)

For Valentine’s Day, Rocket surprises me. Driving into my apartment complex after work, I think I see his truck. Rocket emerges with a big bouquet of red roses and a heart-shaped box of chocolates. Who’d think that Rocket would do something so traditional? I can’t help but jump up and down and clap my hands. Rocket heads to me with that cocky half-smile of his.

Is he really my man?

Thank my lucky starts I didn’t screw up.

He looks good, all shaved and dressed in one of those nice shirts his parents got him. When he reaches me, he picks me up, swings me around in his arms, and gives me a big, sweet, wonderful kiss.

As we head up to my place, he tells me, “You need to put on one of those sexy skirts and high heels of yours; I made reservations at a nice place.”

Looking in the mirror after changing, I tell my reflection, he’s better than any of the other guys I’ve dated.

***

We invite Juliette and Nate to Rocket’s for the afternoon and dinner. Rocket works at the big forge in the morning, so all the bricks are hot, making it easy for him to use it as a pizza oven at night.

Since I’ve been with Rocket, I haven’t hung with my friends on the weekends. I’ve only met Nate a few times, most notably at Isabelle’s cabin over New Year’s. It’s interesting to see Juliette with him. She’s a lot different with Nate than she was with Stephan, or her previous boyfriend, Chris. With Nate, she seems more relaxed, happier, more herself. I always felt like she worked too hard to be who Stephan wanted her to be.

After the four of us come back from a hike, Juliette and I head to the kitchen where she helps me with the salad, leaving the guys to make the pizza.

“You’re out here a lot. How are you adapting to mountain life?” Juliette asks.

“The first time Rocket drove me here, I was shocked. I’m a city girl, and look at this place. He lives in a broken down Winnebago.”

“He’s a lot different than your previous boyfriends. I can’t see the two of you going to croquet parties at the club.”

“Yeah, when we first started dating, I thought he was my little rebellion. But now, every weekend feels like a mini-vacation.” Then in a whisper, I tell her what I feel deep down in my soul. “Rocket gets me in a way that no one has ever gotten me. He’s gotten me to push my boundaries, and the art. It’s amazing spending my weekends with him. Oh, and you’ll love this, he even got me on a mountain bike.”

“You? And how’d that work out?”

“Yeah, as well as you would have expected. If you were his girlfriend, you’d have him put you on a training schedule, though I don’t know which one of the multitude of sports you’d have to drop. Me, yuck, I got all dirty, and it was really hard. He made me ride up this hill, well, really I pushed the damn bike up the hill, and then he had me ride down the hill. It was so scary I had the brakes on the whole time. I screamed so much I think I woke the dead. Then the stupid bicycle ran into this branch and I fell off. The ground was muddy; I got covered. I was so mad at Rocket. I told him riding was a sucky sport and he should take off riding with his friends and leave me out of it.”

“This reminds me of Memorial Day weekend last year, when Isabelle and I took you on that hike up in Tahoe. You got mad at us, too.”

“That wasn’t a hike, it was a death march. Why would anyone want to do that? It was at Squaw Valley. I was pissed when we got to the top and found out they had a tram. If the goal was to get in their hot tub, we should have taken it up. Anyway, enough about me, how are things with you and Nate?”

“His old girlfriend’s in town.”

“What!” I say in alarm.

“She’s been blowing up my phone.”

“Why?”

“She wants to meet with me.”

“Why would she want to meet with you?”

“The only reason I can think of is she wants to tell me to get my hands off of her man.”

“Did you tell Nate?

“She sent me a text, I didn’t know who she was. I asked him if he ever heard of this person.”

“What did Nate say?”

Juliette gets a real worried look on her face. “He says that was over a long time ago. He’s made his choice and it’s me.”

“Then why do you look so worried?”

“He was engaged to her. She broke his heart, and now she wants him back.”

Knowing Juliette, she’s been spinning on this for a while. “What are you going to do?”

“What can I do? He’s with me…but—”

Rocket calling my name breaks the conversation as I yell back, “Almost done in here.”

Turning back to Juliette, I give her a hug. Then I wonder out loud, “What do you think they’re talking about?”

“Our relationships,” she sarcastically says.

We both look at each other. At the same time we say, “Never.”

At dinner, Juliette tells us about some crazy politics at work that she’s tangentially associated with. Nate’s jaw muscle flicks as she tells the story about how some manipulative blond is spreading malicious rumors about her. It appears that the blond has her eye on one of the executives and thinks he has his eyes on Juliette. Juliette thinks the blond is being ridiculous. Though I can tell by the look on Nate’s face, he’s not convinced.

Juliette then says, “Hita and I have a plan.”

“Hita? What is she going to do, cook for your nemesis?” Nate says.

I explain to Rocket, “Last year some guy broke up with Hita after she poisoned him with her cooking.”

Nate still looks worried as he says, “At least it’s not Kelly you’re scheming with.”

***

A few weeks later, as I’m grading papers, I get a text from Hita.
Did you hear the news?

Texting her back:
That’s rather vague

She texts me over a link to TechCrunch. Bringing up the website, the first article is about a young company that was bought for $1.3 Billion dollars by Google. I’m wondering why she sent it to me, when my eyes graze over the picture accompanying the article and see Anil, the guy Hita poisoned with her cooking, and my former boyfriend, Carter. Not the guy with all the shoes, the guy before that, the one who thought I wasted my education on teaching and told me crafting was fine for preschool children. He’s the one that looked down at Rocket when we went for Chinese food.

I gasp, I think my heart stops, and my blood pressure drops. Carter will get a huge bonus from this deal; he’ll now be considered a rainmaker. Carter dreamed of living in a big house in the hills, with a membership to the best country club, traveling first class to exotic places. It looks like Carter is getting his dream. Was that my dream, too? Or was I influenced by his proximity? Bringing myself back to the moment, I call Hita.

“Shit, can you believe those guys did that?”

“Shit, that guy liked me,” she says.

“Shit, that guy liked me, too,” I repeat.

“Shit, we could be living in the hills with a fancy car and a black credit card,” Hita says.

“Shit, we could be traveling anywhere, buying anything we want,” I tell her.

We both stay on the phone; I can hear her breathing. Neither of us says anything. Hita breaks the silence by exclaiming, “Shit I’d be married to a humorless guy who doesn’t get me.”

Nodding, I finally say, “I’d be married to a guy who thinks my career is nebulous and beneath him.”

“I’d be miserable,” Hita says.

And then the reality hits me. Even with all the things I always thought I craved, I would be miserable, too. “Yeah, so would I.”

“Man, for about three minutes my brain went into overdrive thinking of all the possibilities wealth would bring,” Hita says.

“Yeah, so did mine.”

“I could do so much with that money,” Hita says.

“Yeah, not just for me, but there are all kinds of programs I could fund.”

“Think of all the lives you can change.”

“We’d be another Gates foundation, saving the world,” I tell her.

“Yeah, what could have been?”

“Too bad we really didn’t like those guys.”

“But, can you believe that we actually knew guys who made it big? You read about people that make it big. But we actually went out with them,” Hita says.

“Yeah, it kind of blows my mind.”

Maybe those are someone else’s dreams.

***

As I start to adjust to the reality that Rocket is really my boyfriend, my brother shoots me an e-mail. He’ll be in Silicon Valley for work and would like to fly in early to get together. Calling him back, he asks to meet, “this boyfriend of yours.” This was definitely ordered by mom. After many questions about Rocket, I finally sent her the selfie I took at Halloween. She keeps on asking for more pictures, but I don’t want to send any that she can see Rocket’s piercings and tattoos. Knowing there’s no way around Nick’s visit, I spend a restless night thinking. It took Tristan to get over Rocket’s looks. But my family, they’ll freak. If Mom sees a “real” picture of Rocket, she’ll schedule an intervention.

At Tuesday’s dinner with the other princesses, I bring it up.

“My big brother is flying in for work and specifically asked to meet Rocket.”

Juliette gives me a knowing look, while Meredith asks, “And the issue is?”

“Judgment,” I say.

“Yours or your brothers?” Hita says.

“What does that mean?” I respond.

“Do you have issues with Rocket’s looks and lifestyle, or are you afraid your family will be judgmental? If they don’t like him, what will you do? Will it change your relationship?” Meredith asks.

“My family won’t approve of the tattoos and piercing.”

“The real question is, what do you want, and how do you present him to your family?”

I nod my head. I never realized how wise my friends were.

“Are you proud of him? Are you happy being with him?” Hita asks.

“What?” I question.

She clarifies, “Is the issue that you’re not proud of him, or are you proud of him?”

Without even contemplating, I answer, “He works hard and is really conscientious. I respect that. His art is amazing. He sold this really cool sculpture and is creating another one for the same art dealer.” It hits me as I defend Rocket. “When we first started dating, I considered him a wild fling. It took me a long time to get over how he appears to other people.”

Meredith gives me a really poignant look.

“Okay, I keep blaming other people. I have this perfection thing going.”

As my girlfriends all nod in agreement, I continue, “I want my men to look perfect. Rocket was out of my comfort zone.”

“But now?” Olivia questions.

“Now, I take Rocket seriously, I take our relationship seriously. I’m afraid of what my family will say. My grandmother and auntie are really harsh. I want their approval. I know they will be judgmental.”

“Is the issue you don’t want your family to meet a guy who’s temporary?” Juliette asks.

“I really like Rocket. He’s more than a fling. I look forward to our weekends together. I don’t know if this is forever, but it sure feels like it right now.”

“Sounds like your job is to make your family realize how happy you are with him. They need to look past the tattoos and piercing to see the good guy,” Juliette continues.

“It’s taken me months to look past the tattoos and really see the man. How can I expect my brother to do it over lunch?”

Jennifer tells me her brother, Nick, is flying into town, and she invites me to join them for lunch. It will be interesting to meet someone from her family. I’m not quite sure what she’s told them about me. She’s constantly texting and talking to her mom. I know she tells her she’s at my place, so they know we’re together.

***

Nick flies in on a Sunday morning and we plan to meet him in Los Gatos for lunch. Jennifer and I get there first, sitting on a bench in front of the restaurant while we wait for him. Jennifer is all bubbly and excited to see him. At some point, she gives out a squeal, then runs up and gives an average built Asian guy, dressed casually hip, a big hug. When he approaches me, he formally shakes my hand giving me strong eye contact.

This guy’s in big brother mode.

Jennifer becomes very nervous and seems to be trying to sell me too hard. Trying to be cool, it’s obvious he’s checking me out as he looks me over and starts asking questions. It doesn’t take long before he gives up on the interrogation. Once the conversation turns casual, Jennifer relaxes.

Nick’s an interesting guy, with an ironic sense of humor. It’s obvious that he’s protective of his little sister, which is cool. Whatever his opinion, I hope it doesn’t stress out Jennifer. I’m convinced our problems in January had to do with her family. She’s much easier to be with when she’s not all keyed up.

Nick texts me on Monday to see if I’m free for dinner. At dinner, our conversation is easy while I wait for him to get to Rocket. Since the unspoken conversation is starting to gnaw on me, I finally say, “I’m glad you flew in early and got to meet Rocket.”

Nick looks up and stares at me. Finally saying, “You’re serious with this guy?”

“We haven’t gone out long enough to be serious. But I like him.”

“He’s a hell of a lot better than that pretty boy asshat you took off with.”

“Yeah, you were rather embarrassing.”

Nick gives me a steely eye glare, “That guy was a complete dick. He was looking for a quick and easy hookup. You’re my sister.”

We read our menus in silence as I realize that Nick was right and saved me from making a big mistake.

He puts his menu down and says, “Anyway, don’t do anything rash, you’re still really young.”

“What does that mean?”

“Rocket’s older, you’re younger. Take your time. If the two of you like each other now, then you’ll like each other in a year or two from now.”

Holding up both of my hands to show him I have no rings on my fingers, I get defensive. “I don’t think we’re there yet. I’m not going to do something stupid.”

“Good.”

“What are you going to say to Mom?”

“About what?” he says with an annoyed voice.

Exasperated, I reply, “About Rocket and me.”

Nick lightly shrugs. “I’m not Mom’s proxy.”

“Then what’s the whole meeting the boyfriend thing about, if it’s not to report back to Mom?”

He looks at me with his typical big brother annoyed look, “I wanted to meet the guy you raced back to California for. The guys you date are typically pricks. Frankly, I was surprised. Rocket’s cool.”

A big smile spreads across my face. My brother thinks my boyfriend’s cool. I’ve been so worried that he wouldn’t approve, I didn’t realize he’d like him better than the other guys I’ve dated.

Nick gets an even more annoyed look on his face. “Don’t get so happy. It’s not like I said I thought you were cool.” Unable to control himself, he smirks.

“Anyway, how can Rocket be long-term? Grandma, Auntie and Mom would freak if I showed up with him.”

“Grow up, Jennifer,” he says. “It’s about time you stop making decisions based on what they will think. You’ve got to get their critical voices out of your head. Live your own life.”

“I am living my own life,” I defensively respond.

“No, not really. You seem happy with this guy, but you said it’s not long-term because of what they will think. Get those voices out of your head, and do what you think.”