“It’s so odd to think about being a celebrity as a business,” I said. Cal’s description of their services for their clients included the gamut of legal services from contract negotiations to making bail to defending their clients from various lawsuits. It sounded more interesting than I would have expected.
“Well, they’re in the business of making money to support themselves just like everyone else,” Cal said as he settled into his chair. A bottle of wine appeared next to Cal’s shoulder in the sommelier’s hands. Cal was a regular. He nodded as the sommelier poured a small portion into his wine glass. He paused just long enough to taste it and indicate his approval before continuing. “It just happens to be that part of their business is living a part of their lives in the view of the public. As distasteful as it might sound, that is part of their image. If they are popular with the masses, everything they touch will turn to gold. If they fall from favor, well, that has the equal negative consequences.”
“It makes sense,” I said as my wineglass was filled.
“A toast,” Cal said as he pushed his glass up into the air. “I am a lucky man to be having dinner with two such lovely companions this evening. To my beautiful bride to be.” My mother practically glowed as she leaned over the table, and she and Cal exchanged a soft kiss. I looked away embarrassed by the public display of affection. I went to take a sip of my wine when Cal’s voice stopped me. “And, of course, congratulations to you, Alexa, for a job well done. Happy graduation.”
The sentiment was unexpected. “Thank you,” I said simply. Most of my mother’s husbands barely deigned me with a second glance. I was more of a minor annoyance than anything else. Luckily, my mother hadn’t shipped me off to boarding school to get rid of me like husband number three suggested.
We ordered our meals and then talk turned back to me, catching me again by surprise. “So, you mother tells me that you are quite the academic,” Cal said.
I flushed. “I liked getting good grades because I’m competitive like that. I’m also a big klutz, so sports were pretty much off the table. I focused on my schoolwork, and it seemed to come naturally. I liked it.”
“That’s good,” Cal said. “I wish I could say the same pursuit of intellectual wisdom was evident with my son.”
My eyebrows rose. I glanced at my mother. “Oh, I didn’t know you had a son.” A new stepbrother to add to the mix. Hooray.
“Yes, he’s been quite a handful from the day he was born. He did have a natural gift for sports, I must admit, but that meant that his scholarly pursuits suffered. He decided that a career with that kind of bent was better than pursuing a college degree. He dropped out of college when he was twenty and hasn’t shown any inclination of going back.”
“Well, if he’s good at what he does, then it shouldn’t matter, right?” I wondered what it would feel like if my mother talked about me with the same scorn in her voice that I heard in Cal’s. It was obvious he didn’t approve of his son’s life choices.
“I would have preferred he chose a career that had better long-term prospects. Physical prowess and stamina can fade, and in my line of work, it is unbelievable the number of accidents we see that take athletes out the game. The worst part is, most of them squander their money on frivolous things and then when those accidents do happen, they end up going bankrupt and losing it all. If they had only been serious about investing and looking after their financial future when the money was flowing like water from a faucet, they wouldn’t be in those dire straits. It’s difficult to recover when you have nothing to fall back on.”
I had a feeling this wasn’t the first time Cal had let loose on this subject. “Hopefully, he’ll come around then.” I didn’t want to sour the evening or my warming feelings toward Cal by deciding he was an unreasonable, controlling ass when it came to his son.
Cal snapped his fingers causing me to jump. He pointed at my mother. “You said that Alexa was a bit of a whiz with numbers, right?”
“I do have a double major in business administration and mathematics,” I said, answering on my own behalf. Our entrees arrived, and my mouth watered looking at the expensive filet mignon on my plate. It had been months since I’d had a good steak. “Numbers are easy. It’s people that are hard.” It was a sentiment that I expressed to Stacey often. Stacey’s minor was in psychology. She enjoyed helping people talk through their problems. I wondered at what point she was going to start charging me for listening to my endless babble about feeling like a failure in my life.
“Did I hear correctly that you also don’t have a job lined up yet? What is that about? I would think you could have your pick of any job out there with your GPA,” Cal said.