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“I’ll come and pick you up, so have them come to your place.”
“I really am sorry to impose.”
“It’s not a problem, he promised. “I’m happy to do it.”
She phoned her parents and told them the plan, omitting the part about Daniel being a billionaire. She didn’t want to deal with that reaction.
But Daniel didn’t make it easy to be low profile. When he came to the door, and escorted them out to his car, it was a limo waiting for them. The restaurant he took them to was one of the most expensive and exclusive in the city, and he’d arranged for champagne and a special birthday cake for her as well as a big bouquet of pale pink roses.
“This is too much,” she whispered to him as they sat down. “I didn’t expect—”
“I know. I just thought you deserved a carefree birthday, and something special.”
“I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“You can always pay kindness forward,” he told her. “That keeps it going.”
He was a good host, too, charming her parents, telling funny stories, asking them about the things that were important in their lives. He was a genuinely nice guy, and Sophia felt blessed that he had taken the time and effort to be nice to her.
On the way out, though, after a perfectly lovely evening, things took a turn that was less lovely. As they exited the restaurant, Phil appeared, pretending to be passing by. “What a coincidence. Hello Vicky, Harold.”
“Phil, how nice,” her mother said as Phil gave her a kiss on the cheek. “How have you been?”
He shrugged. “Missing our girl,” he told her.
“Let’s go, Mom.”
“But Sophia…”
“Seriously, Mom, the car is here. Let’s go.” She grabbed her mother’s arm and propelled her toward the limo.
Phil just stared.
In the car, Sophia’s mother said, “That was not very nice, Sophia. I thought we raised you better than that.”
“Mom, he’s stalking me. How can you ask me to be nice to him?” she demanded.
“Oh honey, if you’d just be more patient with him—”
“No.”
Everyone turned to Daniel. “No, he hasn’t earned patience, Mrs. Eklund. My sister had a stalker like that. People told her she should be nicer to him, more patient, that she should have tried harder to make the relationship work. In the end, he attacked and nearly killed her. She was in the hospital for a month with savage knife wounds.”
“Oh my goodness, is she all right?”
“She’s married and he’s in prison, but one day he’ll be out and she lives in fear of that day. Don’t ever fault Sophia for the way she’s treated that man. She doesn’t deserve to be terrorized by him.”
Sophia’s parents exchanged looks, but said nothing more.
They said good-bye at her door, and drove back to their suburb still thinking that Sophia had traded up.
“Thank you. For everything.”
“Let me see you to your door.”
“You’re the genuine article, aren’t you?” she asked as they walked up the stairs.
“What d’you mean?”
