“Honestly?” I sighed when I asked the question.
“Yes, please.” He smiled, but I guessed he wasn’t going to expect my answer.
“No.” I was right. The handsome man’s face twisted with surprise. He opened his mouth, but I spoke again before he could ask the question.
“I was honest before about everything I like about Beth. Perhaps a few years down the road we could date, or be friends, or I dunno.” I sighed again. “I do like spending time with her, but I feel too guarded. I don’t understand her. I’d like to, but my parents’ death is still something I am struggling to deal with. Beth helped me with some of that, and I am thankful to her. I’m just not going to be good for her, and I don’t think she is good for me now. I’m sure I’ll be better in a few years, but then she might have moved on. I just don’t see it working right now.”
John had recovered quickly from his surprise and nodded at my words. I took a swig of my beer and realized that I was empty. I didn’t feel like having more, so I placed it back on the counter and then sat down on a stool.
“Thank you for your honesty,” John said at last. I couldn’t remember whose turn it was at the game, but he lined up a shot, and I trusted that he had kept a tally. He wasn’t making eye contact with me, and I wondered how badly I had pissed him off.
“Are you uncomfortable with a romantic relationship, or does just a friendship seem out of the question?” John asked right before he took his shot. He missed, but there were only two of his balls left before he would try for the eight.
“I wouldn’t mind a friendship, but I’m going to guess that you know Beth better than me. She seems to get really intense about something she wants.” John chuckled and nodded. “I do not think she would just want a friendship.” I regretted those words again. Was I telling the man his daughter was throwing herself at me? Ugh. My stomach flipped again. It would have been easier if he’d just asked me to leave.
“But what if you could be friends and if you did not have to worry about her... intensity?”
“I’m still attracted to her, sir.” I felt my voice waiver. “As much as I don’t want to say this; I would feel just as awkward around her.”
“And you do not feel awkward around Aimee?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yes I do!” I laughed and shook my head. “They are both beautiful, smart, and funny.”
“I think I understand.” He gestured for me to take my next shot, and I managed to get a ball in before I missed again.
“I do want Beth to have a friend. So I am saddened by what you have said. I obviously cannot force you to do something, but I would like to know if you would reconsider the friendship aspect. What if there was a way that I could keep it platonic?”
“I don’t know.” I worked through the idea and wondered how he thought he could do that. The conversation was weird enough as it was. I didn’t want to ask him if he had a stainless steel chastity belt sized to fit Beth. Or maybe he would have a bodyguard follow her around everywhere. I was somewhat surprised that she currently didn’t have a body guard.
“I’ve tried to push her away. It hasn’t worked.”
“Then why did you come today?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I felt bad about the museum,” I said. Then I let out a loud sigh. Perhaps it was best to admit to him the truth even if I hadn’t admitted it to myself. “I think that part of me wanted you to meet me and then tell me to stop hanging out with her. Then I could have an easy way out of future contact. I could just tell her that you or her mom warned me off.”
“Ahhh. That makes some sense.”
“Does it? It sounds pretty dumb and cowardly when I say it out loud.” We both laughed.
“If I understand you correctly. You like Beth and Aimee?”
“Uhhhhggggh.” I covered my face with my hands. “Yes. But Jack is dating Aimee, and Beth is too young and too smart for me. I can’t believe I am telling you this.”
“You are here because you hoped something would happen to push the relationships in one direction or the other. It seems like you are not happy with the way they currently are?”
“Yeah.” I shouldn’t have been surprised by his perfect summary. This guy was in charge of a massive pharmaceutical company that he built with his wife. He must have dealt with all sorts of relationship-assessment stuff in his life. This conversation made me miss my own father. I could have asked for his advice if he was still alive.
“What do you think Jack would say if you and Aimee began to date?”
“He’d be hurt and upset. I don’t know the exact nature of their relationship. I thought they were dating, but Aimee has said that it isn’t serious.” I wondered if John would give me more information or maybe reveal what he thought of their situation.
“Keiko was dating one of my good friends.” John laughed. “I was worried about hurting the friendship at first, but it all worked out in the end.”
“Was he mad at you?” I asked. The story sounded a little different from what Aimee had told me.
“For a time, but in college everyone is just trying to figure out their lives. He has a wife and kids now. He is also one of my VPs.” John winked at me. “I think men forgive that stuff easily as soon as they find another woman.”
“It still feels like betrayal.”
“Because it is, but the things you take seriously become different when you grow older. My friend and Keiko had been dating for a few months. She did not know if she wanted to be serious with him. If I had stayed away, I would not have married her, probably would not have founded my company with her, and would not have Aimee and Beth.”
“So you’re saying I should date Aimee?” I couldn’t help but laugh. John chuckled with me.
“I’m saying that you are all in college and that things are going to change dramatically in your life once you get out of school and start your careers. There is a chance that Aimee and you are meant for each other, but you will never know if you stand on the sidelines.”
“You could say the same thing about Beth.” I smirked at him.
“I could.” I thought it was odd that he didn’t say anything else, but he lined up his next shot and seemed to focus on the ball.
“Beth is leaving for Italy after New Year,” he said after he hit the ball in. “She will be alone another year. We will miss her, but I think she has the same sort of problem connecting to us that we do to her.” His eyes met mine again, and his face was serious. “I would like her to be happy for her last few months here. I would like her to want to return instead of feel like our home is just purgatory until she goes to her next school. She has almost been a different person since she met you.”
“So what are you asking me to do?”
“As I said before: I want you to be her friend. I will talk to her about the age difference. I am guessing that she believes it does not apply to her.”
“Yep.”
“I cannot control the girl. I wish I could. Aimee will do anything I ask her to. Beth always lived her own life and did not care about any rules that we tried to establish. If you will agree to continue to spend time with her, then I will make sure that she knows the boundaries of your relationship.”
“You just said you can’t control her though. I wouldn’t mind hanging out with her, John. But I don’t want to get in trouble with you, or with Aimee.” I felt my head start to clear and my stomach unclench. I didn’t know what he meant by ‘spending time’ with her, but I was going to guess it meant coming over to their house.
“You will get in trouble with Aimee.” He shrugged. “She will get over it though.”
“Are you saying that you’d rather me be Beth’s friend than date Aimee?” This was an outcome I hadn’t predicted. I thought that John would have told me to stay away from both girls, or told me that he’d tell them to stay away from me, or even tell me that I could date Aimee but not Beth. I hadn’t expected the other way around. Then again, he wasn’t telling me to be more than Beth’s friend.
<
br /> “Yes, if you are asking my preference. I have spent plenty of time judging someone’s intentions. The board rooms are full of vipers and blowhards. I have only spent a few hours with you, Eric, but I like you. It is a shame that both my girls are interested in you romantically, but only because it means one of them has to have hurt feelings.”
“I think Aimee feels like Beth gets preferential treatment in life...” I trailed off and didn’t finish my thought.
“I know how Aimee feels. This is the kind of situation that happens when you have kids close together in age. One feels jealous of the other and can forget that the grass isn’t greener. Far corner.” He pointed with his pool cue and lined up the eight ball. It went in cleanly, and the man stood with a grin on his face. “Another round?”
“Sure,” I said, but I really didn’t feel like playing anymore. This conversation wasn’t clearing my mind. It was only making me more confused about what I should do. I was guessing that John didn’t want to come out and say ‘date my sixteen-year-old daughter because she is lonely and I want her to have someone here she wants to come back home to so she’ll want to come back.’ but... that was what he was hinting at.
“How will you convince Beth that she shouldn’t look at our relationship romantically?”
“I will just tell her that she cannot expect you to commit to something when she is only going to be in California for a few more months.” He moved to break.
I shook my head, but the man wasn’t watching me. I could see that conversation going a dozen different ways with Beth, and none of them would give John the result he wanted. If he told Beth that she only had two months to be with me, she would try even harder to move our relationship forward. Or she would ask me to come to Italy with her, or she would just decide not to go.
But I couldn’t tell this guy he was wrong. I doubted he would believe me, and if he did, I would be pretty much telling the man that his daughter was trying to get me to sleep with her anyway she could. No, I needed to figure out how to position him so he had a better story to tell Beth. My mind scrambled for another story he could tell her, or anything that he could say that would make her curb her advances. I came up empty though. If I knew of a way to make Beth not interested in me, I would have done it already.
Or would I?
I knew I was attracted to the girl even though it was dangerous. I could have called Aimee when Beth made one of her numerous visits. I could have even called the police. Maybe I was flattered by her attention. Maybe I wanted her to want me more than I wanted to be safe. I suddenly knew a way I could make it so that the girl wasn’t interested in me: I could tell her that I didn’t like her art.
It would be a lie of course, but Beth hadn’t paid much attention to me before she saw me studying her paintings. She must have had hundreds, maybe thousands, of men attempt to socialize with her at the modeling events she worked. Then she finds a guy that was impressed with her art and wanted to know more about what drove her passions. That was probably appealing to her. It would have been appealing to me if the same thing happened with my music.
Beth had done the same thing with me and my music. She had gotten me a piano to play, and then she had encouraged me to pick up my guitar again. She hadn’t pressed about it in our conversations, but she did enough to show me that she was interested in my art. Perhaps I had been thinking about her wrong. The girl may have been forcing her presence in my life so that she could understand my artistic passions.
“You’re up,” John reminded me.
“Sorry. Lost in thought.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I really like Beth.” I smiled at him and felt my cheeks heat. “She helped me get back into music. A few have tried and failed. I just didn’t want to play after my parents passed away. I think her art is interesting, and I could spend all day looking at her paintings. I like spending time with her, but I feel like it can’t go anywhere. It is giving us both the wrong expectations.”
“So just maintain a friendship.” He shrugged. John must have known how persuasive his daughter was. How in hell did he think I could maintain a friendship with Beth?
“John, this thing is...” I took a deep breath because I figured what I was going to say would make him a little angry. Maybe if he threw me out of his home, I would have an easy way out of dealing with Aimee and Beth.
Or maybe they would want me more.
“I have plenty of friends and feel like my time is already strained. There are women that want my time. Your advice earlier was true with Aimee. We both need to date people. I don’t want to sound selfish, but if I can’t have a romantic relationship with Beth, then what is the point? She is interesting and wonderful, but how can I tell another girl I am not free to hang out with her because I am hanging out with this other girl who I’m not planning on dating because she is underage. It just sounds crazy.”
He nodded and took the final sip from his bottle. I guessed that he was gathering his thoughts.
“I understand. Hell, I’m there every day. My time is my most valuable asset, and I have reached a point where it requires most of my employees to jump through hoops to speak with me. I used to have an open-door policy, I used to talk to everyone, but then I just ran out of time. That is something you realize when you get older, sounds like you are already gripping it.”
“Yeah... I guess my parents made me think that way.”
“It was selfish of me to think that you would sacrifice your time for Beth.”
“It isn’t like that though. I don’t want to come across too... Machiavellian?” He nodded at my comparison, and I smiled again. “Okay, so here is the thing: I’d date Beth if I could. I want to. But I can’t. I also wish my parents were alive. But they aren’t. Sometimes shit just happens, and I can’t turn shit into gold.”
The door to the game room opened before John could answer. Aimee poked her head in past the doors and her long dark-brown hair fell over the side of her perfect neck.
“Dinner is ready.” She smiled, and then she opened the door all the way once John and I set down our pool ques.
“Are you guys done talking?”
“For now,” John said. “How is my sweetie doing?” He pulled the girl into his arms and kissed her on the forehead.
“Good.” She hugged him back, “But I wish I could have played pool with you both.” Aimee’s voice pouted and she stuck her bottom lip out at her father.
“Let us go and sit down.” He laughed lightly at her and then they walked hand in hand down the hallway toward the dining room.
Beth was already sitting in her seat, but she stood when the three of us walked into the grand room. The beautiful girl skipped a few steps and then threw her arms around my neck.
“I missed you,” her breath was hot inside my ear, and I put my palms to her hips so that I could gently push her away.
“Your dad and I played some pool.” She hadn’t asked where I was, but I didn’t know what else to say when our eyes met. My hands were still on her hips, and she ran her fingers down my arm and then entwined them around mine.
“Come sit down,” Beth pulled me past an annoyed Aimee and gestured to the same seat I had occupied for brunch. She didn’t let go of my left hand when we sat, and my attempts to unweave my fingers from her grasp resulted in the model giving me a pouting look.
“Ahem.” Aimee sat on my right and leaned forward to catch Beth’s eyes from across mine. I didn’t think she could see our hands entwined under the table, but she hadn’t seen Beth let go, so she must have assumed we were still connected.
“Something wrong, Sis?”
“Yes. Don’t act all innocent.”
“I’m not a mind reader. What is wrong?” Beth smiled sweetly.
“Daddy...” Aimee looked at John, who had moved to the other side of the dining room to help Loretta and Keiko with the plates they just brought.
“Girls, if you cannot be respectful to each other, I will ask Eric to leave. I have already talked to h
im about it.”
“But-”
“Eric does not want to be in the middle of this either. He has already offered to leave if his presence becomes too hard for you and Beth to manage. Right Eric?”
“Yep,” I said quickly. Beth squeezed my hand, and, when she released the tension, I was able to slip out of her grasp.
“Water?” Beth reached her right hand out across the table and grabbed a glass pitcher. I nodded, and the girl poured some into my glass.
“Can I get you a roll, Eric?” Aimee grabbed a plate as soon as her mother set it down on the table.
“Sure.” She smiled at me and then used a pair of silvery looking tongs to pick up the bread and set it on my plate. Aimee’s blue eyes darted in Beth’s direction, and there was no mistaking the glare she gave her sister.
Loretta, Keiko, and John set down the rest of the plates. There was turkey, potatoes, rice, a rich green salad, yams, stuffing, and the usual Thanksgiving-type side dishes. I noticed there was a slight Japanese theme to the food. The turkey smelled to have been roasted in some soy-style sauce and there was a seaweed salad and several small plates of smoked fish.
“I’ll go get the rest, please sit,” Loretta instructed John and Keiko. They nodded and took their same seats at the table. They didn’t sit idle though; instead they passed dishes of the food around and put heaping portions on everyone’s plate. By the time Loretta came back with a few extra dishes of steamed veggies, all of our meals were set out and ready to be eaten. John grabbed a bottle of wine, and all of us took a glass.
“We have a family tradition at Thanksgiving every year, Eric,” Keiko said after Loretta sat, but before anyone touched their food. “At the end of the meal, we go around the table and everyone says what they are thankful for. You can think on it while we are eating.”
“Okay. Sounds like fun.” My family had never done anything like that at Thanksgiving, and I could see how it would help with the relationship.
“Let us get to eating then! I cannot believe how hungry I am. Eating, drinking, and playing music give me an appetite.” John laughed, and we all chuckled with him.
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