by BWWM Club
So she smiled, and nodded.
She didn't see him pay the bill, but he must have, because they were ushered out with a great deal of ceremony. In the elevator, he took her hand, raised it to his lips, and smiled at her. He didn't let go of her hand and she didn't try to get it back, either. It felt nice, having her hand held like that. It had been so long since she'd experienced a moment of such simple intimacy.
"I... Oh! This is your car?"
It was definitely extravagant. It was a gleaming Porsche.
At least it wasn't a convertible.
"Don't you like it?"
He opened the door for her, and she slid in, feeling a little uneasy. The whole restaurant experience was one thing - anybody could manage that, it was a matter of one evening - but that, combined with the car, and the uniformed chauffeur who had been waiting for them -how was she supposed to ask if the man was rich?
He was a retiree, so she supposed he was well off, but this seemed to be beyond just well off.
Rebecca was preoccupied with the question, and George noticed.
"Rebecca? Is something wrong? Is there anything you need?"
"Oh! Oh, no, it's just... George, I feel like you have spent far too much money on this evening. I'm sure you haven't spent what you can't afford, of course, but it's still... I think I'm a little uneasy," confessed Rebecca.
George was silent for a moment.
"I thought we'd go for a walk by the river, down to the pier. Do you mind?"
"That sounds lovely," said Rebecca politely, and took his hand as he helped her out of the car.
There it was again, that little electric thrill that shocked her. It didn't help her uneasiness. He didn't let go of her hand.
"Rebecca, you didn't look up who I am, did you?" asked George, finally.
Rebecca smiled, shook her head.
"I probably should have, but somehow... Well, I told you about my first two dates. Any sensible person would have looked you up after that."
"I expected you to. I gave you enough details that you could if you wanted to, without much trouble."
Rebecca nodded.
"I noticed. Maybe that's why I didn't. I don't know, I just wanted to get to know you and make up my own mind."
"I'm touched. That matters to me. But, well... Rebecca, I'm George Walters, as in the George Walters who developed most of this riverfront and invested in many companies, including WalTech."
It took Rebecca a moment to comprehend that.
"You... WalTech."
"I made my money in real estate first, but I diversified, and somehow WalTech became my legacy. I guess I expected you to find out at some point."
"I... I can see why you would have expected that."
Rebecca had come to a standstill. She tried to cast her mind back to what she knew about this man, what she had read about George Walters. Rich didn't begin to cover it. He was a billionaire!
"I don't understand why you were even on that dating service," said Rebecca, a little weakly.
George chuckled.
"Money doesn't buy certain things. I was very happily married for a long time, Rebecca. When Marsha died, I threw myself into work for a few years, but I found that I no longer knew exactly what I wanted from life. We had built it all together, and she wasn't there. It was a dark time. I got out of it, I retired, my son took over the company - and then I found that I was lonely. I joined that service on a whim. I didn't expect to get much out of it. I mean... Why not? I knew that the algorithm was effective, though. I matched with a few women, but all of them knew who I was. I was about to give up when you matched with me. It was my last attempt."
"Oh."
"Rebecca, does this change things for you?"
He asked that quietly, and she knew that if she said yes, then he would let her walk away. No, not quite. He would have her driven home, and he would walk away. She knew that was the kind of man he was.
"I don't know. I think... I need to think about this. A man in your position must have many considerations. And complications. And... Well, you're a public figure in many ways, aren't you?"
"I suppose I am. I'm not asking you to be a public figure with me. I just want to spend time with you. It's been lovely, getting to know you. I don't want that to stop."
Rebecca smiled, because she knew that he was being sincere. But for once, he was also being a little naive, wasn't he? It couldn't be that simple.
"I don't know how... I need to think about this, George. You have to understand that this changes things."
He was silent for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever.
"I want to say that that's unfair, but I've lived long enough to know that life is often unfair and there isn't much we can do about it."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm still the person you talked to. I'm still the man you said yes to, because you wanted to."
Rebecca nodded.
"I know. I just need to think, that's all."
George pulled back, and she knew when he let go of her hand that he was pulling back in more ways than one.
"Of course. I'll have you taken home. Just tell Rick where you wish to go, and he'll take you home. Rebecca, I should tell you that it's up to you. I won't try to persuade you, or change your mind."
Rebecca nodded, understanding that she would have to take responsibility for her choices. Hadn't her life always been that way?
"Of course."
"Then, Rebecca, thank you for the lovely evening. You have my number."
He signaled for the car, and Rebecca wondered if she was making a mistake as she got in, and was driven away.
She looked back, and saw that he had turned away. Had he turned away from her?
Why did that hurt so much?
Rebecca went home, and she tried to make sense out of what had happened. None of it made sense. None of it.
Finally, she gave up and did what she always did when she needed some sense knocked into her. She texted both Grace and Lillian.
"What happened?"
She sighed.
"Tomorrow. Lunch. Please?"
There were no questions asked. When one of them needed the others, they would always be there. And she needed them. This was uncharted territory for her, and she needed her friends, the women who had been there for her, beside her through everything life had thrown at her.
They would figure it out.
"What? Beck, have you completely lost your mind?"
Rebecca looked at Grace and re-evaluated.
"I just wanted you guys to tell me that I'd made the right decision."
"The right... Lill, please use words, I am tempted to use my fists."
Even Lillian had to take a deep breath.
"Becca, don't you think it's unreasonable to break up with a guy because of money? Unless he's trying to drag you into debt, of course, or take your money. Then it's different. You just disapprove of the amount of money he has. Wouldn't that be wrong if you disapproved because he didn't have enough?"
"I... Yes, but it's not the same thing," objected Rebecca.
"Of course it's not! It's better! He's not a grifter trying to get your money, though I want Dale's number later, if you don't mind. So what if he's rich? He's George fucking Walters, and you like him, and he likes you. Are you really going to walk away because you disapprove of how much money he has? Really, Beck?"
Grace was beginning to go a bit red. With her dark olive complexion, Grace had to get really worked up for it to show, and boy, it was beginning to show.
"So, you think I'm being unreasonable."
"Well, Becca, I think you're being a little... let's say, overly cautious? It sounds like you really like this guy. Does it really matter if he's rich? It's not like you're moving in with him. You're just getting to know the guy. What's wrong if he's got a lot of money?"
"I need another drink," muttered Grace.
"What if things get serious and I have to do all those... power person's partner things?"
Rebecca glanced at Grace, and then glanced away again very quickly.
Grace was still glowering at her.
"So... I'm overreacting?"
"No, you're reacting wrong. That's what you're doing. Look, Beck. What if he decided you didn't have enough money and walked away from you?"
"He'd never do that!" defended Rebecca.
"So how do you think he feels that you're walking away from him because he has too much? Not that I believe there's such a thing."
Rebecca sighed.
She had probably hurt him. She should have thought of that. She had never meant to do that.
"I have to call him," she realized.
"Hallelujah, finally, she makes sense," muttered Grace, and Rebecca felt her heart lift a little. She was going to call him.
And it felt right.
Chapter 6
Rebecca looked at her phone and sighed.
Of course he hadn't called or texted. He had made it perfectly clear that he wouldn't.
She knew what she was supposed to do, and yet she hesitated.
It was a little... scary. She could just let it go, accept the date for a date, and nothing more, and go back to her life, the life she was used to. Things didn't have to change.
Except that things had already changed, of course.
She sighed again.
"All right. I'm being a coward. Let's get it over with."
It had been twenty-four hours since the date, since she'd said that she needed to think. It wasn't a lot of time, but it had been enough.
Grace and Lill had been right. So she would call.
Taking a deep breath, she hit the green button, and she waited as the phone rang. She held her breath as it rang once, twice, three times - maybe he wouldn't answer. Maybe he was tired of waiting. Well, it had just been a day! Who could get tired of waiting in just a day? That was just unfair.
She...
"Hello?"
"George?"
"Rebecca."
"Yes."
Silence.
She'd come up with about a dozen scripts to follow, and they had all disappeared from her head. What... What was she supposed to say?
"I'm sorry," she blurted out.
"I don't know what you're sorry about, Rebecca."
He sounded amused.
"For leaving the way I did."
"Don't. I appreciate the honesty, if nothing else. I had a beautiful evening with you. I wish it hadn't gotten over so fast."
"Me too."
"You do?"
Rebecca smiled, letting herself relax a little.
"Of course I do. I was a little blindsided, but... Would you like to go out with me? Tomorrow?"
"Are you asking me out, Rebecca? That's very forward of you."
"I can be very forward. But I loved the time we spent together. I'd like to see you again."
"I'd love to see you again, too. Tomorrow evening, then. Shall I pick you up, this time?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"No. Not this time. I'm taking you out. It's not going to be as fancy as The Tower," she warned.
"Good. I don't have to wear a tie, then?"
Rebecca chuckled.
"You definitely do not. It will be casual."
"Perfect. I'll see you tomorrow then. And Rebecca?"
"Yes?"
"I'm very glad you called. I thought of you all day. I almost broke my word not to call you. I don't think that has happened to me in a long time. I thought perhaps you would like to know that."
Rebecca sighed a little as she hung up.
So, a second date. She'd asked him out. Now she had to come up with something to do.
Maybe she should have just let him do the planning after all.
*****
"This is the first time I've been picked up from my home by a lady for a date," declared George as she drove up to his house.
Rebecca couldn't really say anything because she felt more than a little tongue-tied. His home was a mansion with extensive manicured grounds. The driveway was so long that it could probably have had a street name and number of its own.
"You really are rich, aren't you?"
George glanced around as if it wasn't much.
"I suppose I am, but home soon becomes just home. Marsha is the one who designed most of this. She had a knack for it. She had a knack for most things."
It was the grief and love in his voice that made Rebecca snap out of it.
"You still miss her."
"I think I will always miss her. But I still have a life to live, as she reminded me herself. And live it I must. So, where are we going, Rebecca?"
"Well, I thought we might go bowling."
"Bowling?"
"Is that all right? If you don't like bowling, we can do something else. We don't have to do that. We can go to a museum, or we can go for one of the new art exhibitions. We could just go for a long drive, or a walk, or..."
"I haven't gone bowling in years."
"Is that a yes? A no?"
"That's a yes. Let's go bowling," declared George. He looked so thrilled at the idea that Rebecca laughed.
"All right, then. I used to go to this place all the time. There's some talk that it might be torn down soon. I hope not, young people need a few real places to hang out, too."
"Don't you believe that social media is real?"
Rebecca chuckled as she drove.
"Of course it's real. They might not physically inhabit the space but the interactions are real, the communication is real, the emotions are real. They develop very sophisticated ways of using words, and abbreviations, even emoticons. It's quite fascinating, it's as subtle and as important as body language. But there are things that being together in the physical space can give that social media cannot. Reading body language, expressions, tone cues. But all the places where they can hang out without spending too much money are being torn down. Some of my students never really knew how to do it at all. My grandchild might never have that. I... Sorry, I'm going on and on."
"You apologize too much. I never thought that a teacher could have that problem. But I never thought of that. Maybe we should do something about it. Oh, is this... I can't believe this place is still standing! I used to come here all the time!"
Rebecca laughed.
"Then it's a wonder that we never ran into each other, because I lived half my life here. Come on, let's go."
Rebecca let herself enjoy every moment of the evening - the excellent pizza, the bad beer, the bowling, even if they were both woefully out of touch. George soon got his touch back, though.
"And that's a strike, and that puts me ahead by... You know, maybe we shouldn't keep score."
Rebecca was so behind that it was a little embarrassing.
"It's been about twenty years," she told him, defensively.
"I think it's been longer than that for me. You're not using what you've learned from your taekwondo classes. Focus on how your breath moves through you, on how you need to move, on letting the ball feel like an extension of your arm. Don't let throwing it break the connection. Guide it through even after that."
"That makes no sense," she muttered, but she tried it anyway for her next attempt.
"Only three pins standing!"
"Excellent. You need more focus, but that's excellent improvement."
They talked, and laughed, and Rebecca was surprised by how easy it was to talk to him about Roger. He told her about Marsha, too, the woman he had been married to for about forty years.
Loving somebody for that
long left its marks on you. Hiding it seemed pointless and dishonest. She didn't try to hide any of it.
"Well, I guess you're the definite winner this evening," said Rebecca finally, a little reluctantly.
"I would agree. Do we have to give the shoes back? I've become used to them. They're not that bad."
"You complained about them for twenty minutes."
"Only twenty minutes," George pointed out.
Was it over? Their second date, it was...
"You have to take me home. You picked me up," said George with a smug grin.
Rebecca laughed.
"Of course. Part of the service."
On the way back, they discovered that they loved listening to the same music in the car, too. They both liked singing along as well, though Rebecca was markedly better at it than George was. Still, she appreciated his enthusiasm.
"It's amazing how much the city changes from one end to the other. Your neighborhood feels like a completely different place, really."
The gates were closed when she got to his driveway. She stopped, surprised. They were very formidable gates. They'd been open earlier. She hadn't noticed them. If she had, she might have been more than a little intimidated. And out of place.
"Hold on."
He grabbed his phone, did something, and the gates opened.
"Security. Unavoidable, I'm afraid."
"Oh."
"You're very uncomfortable with my wealth, aren't you, Rebecca?"
Rebecca considered denying it, but what was the point?
"It was a shock. I'm still working on separating the man from the money because I do like the man," she confessed, and he smiled.
"Good, because I like the woman, too. Come inside. I want to show you my home."
Rebecca grinned.
"Aren't you afraid I might run again?"
"If you're going to run, it might as well be sooner rather than later. I'm not going to hide parts of me. This is a part of who I am."
Rebecca nodded. He showed her where to park - anywhere, apparently, it would be taken care of - and took her hand as they walked up to the front door.
"I used to have a live-in staff, but that was a while ago. Marsha used to love entertaining. She always did too much. It seemed better to make sure she had help around at all times. Now, I use a service that comes in every day. And a security system, of course."