AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Hello, dear," she said, her voice sounding flustered. "I was just speaking to Eloise Blake about Saturday night. That girl Alana that you brought along?"
"It’s Alexa, Mother..."
"Why are you bringing her? We invited the Blakes because we thought you and Felicia were a great pair. Why didn’t you tell me you had a steady girlfriend?"
"Mother, I don't tell you every intimate detail of my private life," I said. "I'm a fully-grown man. I look after my own relationships. I don’t need any matchmakers."
"I understand that, but you haven't been serious about anyone so far since last year. I was just surprised to meet this Alicia girl. She's pretty, if you like full-figured girls, but really…"
"She's not full-figured. She's curvaceous. She's not a girl either, Mother. She's a woman. She's a Master's student at Columbia studying International Relations. She's very smart. And her name is ALEXA."
"Well, whatever," my adoptive mother said and I could hear the impatience and disapproval in her voice. "We're inviting the Blakes to the beach house. I hope you're bringing along John at least. The Blakes have made plans to spend the entire weekend and so I don’t want poor Felicia to be all alone."
"Don't worry,” I replied dryly. "John is coming and he's very eager to get to know the lovely Ms. Blake better."
“He is? Oh, good," she replied, sounding pleased. "That's one thing I can cross off my to-do list then."
"Was there anything else?" I asked. "My eggs are getting cold. We're at Barney's for lunch."
"No, that's all, dear. See you on Friday night."
"See you then," I replied and ended the call.
"Evil Dragon Lady problems?" John asked with a grin.
"As usual, meddling in everyone's affairs. She's glad you’re coming, though. She was worried that poor Felicia would be without a dinner companion at the table. You don't mind?"
"Not at all," John said and smiled eagerly. "Count me in. The Blakes are a great old family. My mother will be so pleased to hear I spent the weekend with her."
"Your mother," I said with a laugh. "So different from Dragon Lady. No meddling."
"Ever," John said. "Just polite questions and patient waiting for me to meet Ms. Right. Unlike you, I want to get married. Start my own dynasty."
"You'll have no problems, if that's your goal in life. I'm sure there'll be dozens of women lined up eager to be your princess."
"One of my goals," John said. "Marital bliss like my parents had."
I nodded. John's parents were like Alexa's. Happily married for three dozen years. Then Mr. Andrews kicked off after a massive heart attack and left Mrs. Andrews alone. I liked John's family. A lot more than mine.
But John was a romantic. Always falling in love with every tall woman he met. At barely six feet, he was shorter than me, and he had a preference for tall dark-haired women.
"I like to see them eye to eye," he said one day when we were sitting in the park during lunch watching the people go by.
I preferred petite women.
Night and day, the two of us, but we'd been friends forever.
* * *
I left John and went back to my office, spending the afternoon working on several reports, trying to distract myself from the upcoming meeting about the deal. It kept me busy for a while, but soon, my stomach growled and I decided to take a few reports home so I could read them over that night after supper.
When I got back to my apartment, I felt at a loss. I didn’t know what to do with myself when I wasn't at work or working out. I paced my apartment, listening with half an ear to the game on television, thinking about the upcoming meeting with JL Investments, the parent company of the tech giant that wanted to buy Chatter. We'd already met once and discussed options, and this meeting coming up would be the clincher. We'd either have a deal or it would be off, but I was sure it was on.
Still, I was tense, wondering whether the deal would go through. I wanted to do something with my life, not just live idly off the money my family's money created and passed on from one generation to the next. When the money from the Chatter deal came through, I wanted to invest as much of it as possible in ethical stocks and investments.
Then I thought about Alexa.
She was a political type, and I figured she'd know about things like human rights and labor laws.
