First Time: Ian's Story (First Time (Ian) Book 1) (34 page)

“
And what are your
concerns?” Burt put his hands in his pockets, pushing his
unbuttoned jacket back.

“
My main concern is tanking
the whole project and destroying our firm. But I do have some
personal worries, as well,” I admitted.

“
Because of this girl you’re
seeing?” Burt smiled the tense smile of a man who’s seen an
enormous pile of money and would say anything to keep it from being
taken away.

“
Yeah. We’ve been talking
about the future, when we would like to start a family, that sort
of thing. I’m getting old, Burt. I’d like to see my children grow
up.” I rarely got this personal with my business partner. During my
initial separation from Gena, he’d expressed his sympathies, but we
weren’t friends. We owned a business together. He wasn’t going to
see my rejection of a job this large as reasonable, even if I told
him I only had six months to live. He would find a way to prop up
my corpse at the building site.

“
So, you bring her down for
a visit, ride horses on the beach at sunset, take her back to your
place and get her pregnant,” he said, as though it were perfectly
reasonable for him to be planning out the conception of my future
child.

“
Come on, Burt.” There was a
warning in my tone.

“
I’m sorry to be vulgar. I
just can’t believe you would even consider the possibility of
turning this offer down.”

“
I’m not considering turning
it down. I’m just not happy that I can’t.” And that was the crux of
the problem. I had a choice in the matter, but it was already
decided, by my inability to walk away from an
obligation.

Jesus Christ, it was like my
divorce, all over again. The only difference was that I stood
to
make
money from
this.

“
Don’t worry. I’m not going
to ruin this,” I promised him. “I just need more than a full day to
get my head around it and plan what I’m going to do. Rushing the
planning is just going to destroy us in the long term.”

“
You’re right,” he agreed.
He was probably so relieved I wasn’t turning down the job that he
would agree with anything I said, at the moment.

His phone chimed in his pocket, and he
fished it out. His eyebrows rose as he read the screen. “I have to
take this.”

He answered the call on his way out the
door. I tilted back in my chair, my gaze fixed on the ceiling. Six
months ago, this job would have been a dream.

First things first, though. I needed to
invite Penny to Thanksgiving. Receiving personal calls at work
bothered the hell out of me, but I knew she didn’t mind, so I
brought up her number on my phone.

“
Hello?”

The sound of her voice washed away some of
my tension. “You’re American.”

“
You noticed.” I heard the
smile in her voice. “Hi, Ian.”

“
Hello, Doll.” I chuckled. I
was trying to get better at starting a phone conversation
“normally”, as Penny would describe it, but every time it was a
struggle. “Do you know who else is American?”

“
You are, even though you
rarely admit it.”

“
How dare you?” I said, with
no real offense behind it. “I was going to say, my sister’s husband
is American. And since I assume you’re not going to spend
Thanksgiving with your lovely parents—”

She snorted in response.

“
Maybe you’d like to come to
Thanksgiving dinner at her house, with me?”

There was a brief pause. “I’d love to.
But…”

“
But?”

She sighed. “Your sister doesn’t want to
meet me. That was kind of obvious when she ran away to D.C. to
avoid me.”

“
She didn’t run away.” She’d
just neglected to tell me that the week I’d chosen to bring Penny
with me to church, she would be out of the city. “And even if she
did, this time, she couldn’t. Because I know where she lives, and
that woman would never abandon a turkey.” I tried to laugh, so it
wouldn’t sound like I was begging. “Look, I don’t want to pressure
you—”

“
No, it’s fine.”

I wasn’t looking for fine, though. Fine led
to…situations.

“
I’m sorry,” Penny began,
again. “I don’t know why I’m being a bitch about this.”

“
It’s because you’re
nervous.” I realized that I’d just agreed to her assessment, so I
picked up the pace of my words in the hope that she wouldn’t
notice. “You know that it’s important to me that the two of you get
along. But I swear, Penny, I am not going to kick you out of my
life if you’re not my sister’s favorite person.”

“
Why do you assume it’s
going to go down that way instead of the other way around?” Her
defensive tone made me suspect that perhaps she had noticed my
accidental agreement to her bitch comment, but it was far too late
to explain it away now.

“
Because I know my sister,
and I know that of the two of you, you’re the one who’s going into
this wanting to get along.”

“
And your sister, she’s not
going to want to get along?” Penny countered.

I considered carefully. “She’s going to be
cautious. I won’t mince words about that.”

“
That sounds kind of mince-y
to me.”

“
I believe that my sister
will like you. And she’ll want to like you, as well. But she’ll
stay guarded.” Annie was judgmental, and once rendered, a judgment
was usually final. But, at the end of the day, she just wanted me
to be happy. “When she sees how much I love you, and how important
you are to me, she’ll back off.”

“
If I don’t get along…” Her
voice trailed off, and she started her sentence over. “If I don’t
get along with your family, our relationship isn’t
doomed?”

“
Did I get along with your
parents?” I countered. She hadn’t dropped me for speaking to her
parents the way I had. They didn’t seem as close as I was to my
family, but they were family, all the same. “You’ll get along just
fine. If you don’t, we’ll live with it. But Annie doesn’t decide my
personal relationships for me.”

“
Okay,” Penny agreed, with
some reluctance. “Is there anything I should bring?”

“
No, don’t. Annie will think
you doubted that she could handle all the food, and she’ll take it
as an insult,” I warned. “I’ll get a really nice wine, and we can
bring that.”

“
We?” Penny giggled. “I like
the sound of showing up places as a couple and only needing to
bring one dish to pass.”

“
That’s one of the benefits
of serious, long-term relationships,” I informed her. “That and
health insurance.”

“
Do you need my health
insurance?” She laughed.

“
It’s probably better than
mine.” Knowing Sophie and her radically liberal politics, she
probably paid for her employees’ prescriptions herself.

Reason number four hundred
and thirty that you need this resort job,
I
told myself.
What if your child is born
with some kind of defect? Do you think treatments and surgery come
cheap?

“
Well, we can compare our
plans later. But you’ll go with me on Thursday?” I double
checked.

“
Yes. I’ll go anywhere, as
long as it’s with you.”

My chest tightened.
Ask her, you stupid arsehole. Ask her to come to
Nassau with you.
It wasn’t the kind of
thing you asked someone over the phone during the middle of their
workday. That would be inconsiderate. “Noted. Do you want to stay
at my place on Wednesday night?”

“
No, it’s the biggest bar
night of the year. I’m going out with a couple of friends. But I
can meet you at your place on Thursday.”

“
Fair enough. I’ll find out
what time we should be there and I’ll let you know
tonight.”

We said our I-love-yous and hung up, and I
turned my chair to face my computer. I woke up the screen,
confronting myself with the detailed floor plans Carrie’s office
had sent over. She was looking for a change.

I just wanted everything to stay the
same.

Chapter Seventeen

Somewhere in Manhattan, Santa Claus was on
his way to Macy’s. Hopefully, my girlfriend was on her way to my
place. She was almost twenty minutes late, and likely hung over,
judging from the drunk texts I’d received the night before. It
wasn’t like her to be late, and I was annoyed.

My annoyance was driven mostly by anxiety. I
wanted everything to be perfect when Penny met Annie, but give that
woman an ounce of ammunition and she would fire. Showing up late
would be a hand grenade with the pin already pulled.

The buzzer sounded. I hit the button.

“
I’m here!” Penny shouted,
her words distorted by her volume. “I’m sorry!”

“
Meet me inside.” I couldn’t
stay upset at her. My irritation had completely faded by the time I
released the intercom button.

I took the elevator down and found Penny in
the lobby. She wore a sweet little dress, a brown plaid number with
a cut straight from the 1960’s, tied at her waist with a wide
yellow band. I’d just thrown on a sweater and some corduroy
slacks.

“
You look beautiful!” I
exclaimed, meaning every single ounce of my enthusiasm. Somehow,
she looked better every time I saw her. Absence made the heart grow
fonder, so they said, but I’d never realized that absences of a
couple days counted.

“
Thanks,” she said, looking
down. “I’m so sorry I’m late.”

“
It’s no big deal. Annie
knows what a mess the city is on parade day.” She would also point
out that everyone who lived in the city knew about that mess, and
that they all planned accordingly. I looked on the bright side.
“She’ll just be thrilled that you weren’t my overnight
guest.”

“
She has a problem with you
having sex?” Penny asked, sounding a bit apprehensive.

“
Only extramarital.” Ah, but
that hadn’t helped.

“
Okay, so, what level of
physical contact am I allowed to have with you?” Penny asked as we
walked to the car. “I mean, obviously I won’t maul you in front of
your family, but if your sister is so weird about you and sex, is
she going to expect me to leave room for Jesus if I sit next to
you?”

That was a phrase I hadn’t heard in a while.
“Leaving room for Jesus only applies to dancing.”

I opened the car door for her and closed it
when she slid inside. I’d no sooner gotten into the driver’s seat
when she said, “You know, I want to be on my best behavior here and
make a good impression.”

“
Just be yourself. You’re
not on trial.”
I
would be on trial, and possibly facing execution. Penny would
just be entered into evidence.

When we pulled up to Annie’s place, I
reached for Penny’s hand. “Ready?”

Penny just smiled back at me, like someone
about to brave a very unpleasant medical procedure. As we walked up
to the door, she smoothed her dress and checked her hair
obsessively. I ignored her and pushed open the door, calling,
“We’re here!”

Danny was lying on the couch, the big stupid
oaf, and not helping in the kitchen as he should have been. He got
to his feet. “Uncle Ian. Penny. Good to see you, again.”

“
Nice to see you, too,”
Penny said, and gave Danny a hug that shocked him and me both. It
warmed me to see her so comfortable with someone important to
me.

She stepped back, saying, “Sorry, I didn’t
get a lot of affection as a child. I don’t know how to do family
dinners.”

“
Nah, you’re fine.” I put my
hand on the small of her back and led her toward the kitchen. She
stepped around the La-Z-Boy and into the dining room, where Annie
had decorated the table with one of my mom’s pristine lace
tablecloths and a centerpiece she’d probably copied from Martha
Stewart’s website. Penny slowed her steps as we passed the wall of
family photos, so I tugged impatiently on her hand. The 80’s hadn’t
been a good era for me. She didn’t need to see that.

In the kitchen, we found Bill pulling a pie
from the oven and Annie wiping her hands on a dishtowel.

“
We’re here,” I said again,
and Annie came toward us, smiling.

She gave me a hug that nearly squeezed the
life out of me. “I’d almost forgotten what you looked like.”

“
I thought you’d wait at
least until after the blessing to start guilting me.” When she
released her crushing hold, I gave Penny a little nudge forward
with my hand on her back. “This is Penny.”

“
Ah, the infamous Penny,”
Bill said, with a smile far more genuine than Annie’s was at the
moment. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

“
This is my sister, Annie,
and her husband, Bill,” I introduced them.

Annie tried to look welcoming and
enthusiastic, but she was a terrible liar. “How nice of you to
come.”

“
How nice of you to have
me,” Penny said, her eagerness too apparent. Annie would already be
formulating her attack. “This will be a great chance to get to know
you all.”

“
Well, not all of us,” Annie
corrected her. “Don’t forget, there are many of us across the pond.
I hope you have a passport.”

“
Is there anything we can
help with?” I asked, giving my sister a warning look. She could
have just graciously accepted the fucking good wishes.