“We just want to see you settled,” Dad said, and it took me a second to mentally rejoin the conversation that was going on in the present. Probably because it was so identical to so many conversations we’d had in the past. “Comfortable. Don’t see why you had to break up with that nice Steven boy. He would have seen to you.”
“Yes, Steven was delightful,” my mother added. “Are you sure he won’t take you back? Perhaps if you explained things and apologized—the male ego is a fragile one, and you aren’t always most delicate, dear, with your words…”
I couldn’t believe this; I had explained the break-up with Stevie to them a hundred times. “Uh, he was fucking terrible. He showed up yelling at me at work!”
“Language, dear.”
“He was the worst!” I edited. “He didn’t trust me around other guys, he whined constantly about his thesis, and he blew up over the smallest things!”
“Oh, surely it wasn’t that bad,” my mother said lightly. “If you really look back at it, I’m sure—”
“And he lied! When we first started dating, he said he admired my passion for design and my ambition to start a business, but five months later he was making fun of me to my face and pressuring me to quit so I could work more hours to support him!” And that was what had really stung. That not only didn’t he trust my heart, but he didn’t trust my mind—didn’t believe that I could really make a go of it with my lingerie. “He called it—” I spat the word—“my hobby.”
“Right, you’re definitely about to put Victoria’s Secret out of business,” Brian began with a chuckle, but my mother shot him a look. I would have been more mollified if that look had been more don’t mock your sister and less Brian, honey, remember what Kate did to the good china last time you made a joke.
“So how is your little ‘business?’” my dad asked, trying but failing to keep from pronouncing the little quote marks. “People, uh…liking it?”
“Yes, Dad,” I said, trying not to clench my jaw. “I have several return customers, and word of mouth is increasing them.”
“Still,” he grunted. “Can’t really meet a man that way. Not the right kind of man.”
“Now, now, Fred,” my mother interjected. “This will all make a nice story someday. Katherine’s always been rebellious—oh, I remember when I used to dress her up so nicely for church on Sunday, in those little pink frocks with all the ribbons, and she would rip them right off and go streaking through the park in her birthday suit!”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said sarcastically. “I really appreciate you putting my grown-up business venture on the same level as embarrassing stories from when I was four. That really makes me feel like you believe in me.”
“I’m so sorry,” my mom said, drawing herself up and trying to look serious. “Do tell me all about your latest—Brian, what on Earth are you doing? You’ll get whiplash.”
And just like that, we were off the topic of me and my life, and back to Brian. Not that I’d particularly enjoyed being condescended to about all my life choices, but honestly, some days that’s all the attention I can get from my parents. And doesn’t every kid crave their parents’ attention?
“That’s Asher Young,” Brian was saying, and I snapped back to attention. Brian was craning his neck to watch Asher, who was crossing the room with Brody to their own table. “I heard he comes here sometimes, but I didn’t think we’d really get to see him!”
Meanwhile, my parents were hanging on Brian’s every word, as if Brian were a naturalist who had spotted a very rare eagle in its natural habitat, and was doing a David Attenborough style narration of its habits.
“Name sounds familiar,” my father grunted around a mouthful of mashed potatoes. “Didn’t that fella invest in some computer thing? Make millions before he could legally drink?”
“Billions,” Brian corrected in the awe-filled voice he usually reserved for Bill Gates profiles in Time Magazine. “And he just keeps doing it! They say he has a golden eye; you remember that Schumacher debacle? Nobody thought that company would go anywhere after the investors bailed, but Asher Young had a couple of meetings with the founder and before you know it, he’s invested ten billion and the sales figures are off the charts. Any company he touches, you know it’s going to be a success!”
“It’s funny you should say that,” I said, turning back to Brian so it didn’t look like our whole table was gawking at Asher like tourists at the zoo. “Because Asher offered to invest in my business.”