Chapter Thirteen: Thomas

I’m not going to complain about two months of having sex with Sophia. Sure, we’ve had it a little more conventional than we used to like, but it’s a process. We’ve gone from the nice hotels to meeting up in her new apartment. The one she was living in wasn’t acceptable for her or me. I helped her find a great place that was safer and it has a gate so the cameramen can’t get in and bother her. She was a bit hesitant to leave her old place behind.

“I just feel like I’m taking advantage of your generosity. You’re already giving me so much,” she had said when I showed her the pictures I’d taken of the place.

“Nonsense,” I’d responded. “This is something you deserve.”

She’d finally relented and moved into the apartment last week. I had a mover do everything for her and opened up some accounts for her in nearby stores.

I needed to feel like she was safe while I actually had to be somewhere every day. Any minute she could be carrying my little heir. The job has mostly been the guys who work right under the CEO pitching me ideas I could fund. I'm beginning to think the only reason they hired me was so I could foot the bill. I’m a little unclear on how legal it is to do that. It seems like there should be some conflict of interest.

I don't want to write it off yet. They've listened to a couple of my ideas and it will be cool to see one actually come to life.

I took Sophia to dinner with my parents last night. It went as well as could be expected. For some reason, my mother had invited Julia. Probably her reasoning was to make it as awkward as possible. Here's how the night went.

We arrived early to the house and mother said dinner was at seven. She was nowhere to be found at fifteen minutes before. My father said she was still getting ready so I shouldn't have been surprised when she came down in a long green gown and a tiara.

“You didn't tell me this was formal,” I said as she glided into the room glass of wine in hand.

“There's nothing wrong with getting dressed up to meet your lady love son.” My mother walked up to Sophia and held out her hand.

Sophia took it and smiled. She looked lovely in a purple dress.

Julia came in also over-dressed for the dinner and blatantly looked at Sophia when she said, “Oh I thought this was a nice dinner.”

Sophia didn't seem to notice or ignored the slight. “I didn't know you had a sister honey,” she said holding a hand out to Julia.

“I'm not his sister. We're very good friends. We go way back.”

“Julia is a lovely dog sitter, “my mother said.

I had to fight a smile because my mother completely took the wind out of her sails.

“I love dogs.” Sophia sat at the table in front of my mother and I took the seat next to her.

“So, Sophia, what do you do?” Julia asked. I had told her what she did of course, but the paper hadn’t said she was a manager and I hadn’t clued her into the fact that I lied a little about what she did.

“I work at the bar. I’m sure you’ve seen it in the papers,” she says spooning some soup into her mouth.

“Yes, Julia,” my father says. “Remember he told us about her.”

The rest of the dinner had been just as awkward with my mother getting drunker with every course and Julia asking inappropriate questions. I had been happy to retreat.

My father had followed me outside when we’d gotten ready to leave.

“Sophia seems lovely son, I hope you’re as happy as you seem.”

That statement threw me off a bit, but I didn’t think there was any way he could see through what we were doing. Sophia did make me happy as a lover and a friend, so it was probably genuine feelings he was getting from me. There was no reason for him to know the seriousness of our relationship wasn’t real.

“Thank you, Dad.” I smiled and walked towards the car.

“I’m proud of you for getting a job too, son. It’s good to see you not resting on your laurels. This whole thing with the heir was kind of to wake you up, but if you end up marrying and having children with Sophia, I’ll honor it. You know your mother is very angry with me. I just want to see what life is like when you don’t have anything.”

“You’ll still have whatever you need from me, you know that.”

He clapped me on the back and smiled. The thought had crossed my mind a couple of times there was something my father wasn’t telling me. I didn’t know what it could be, maybe just a feeling.

I pull up my anonymous email address and send a couple gossip mags a tip about where Sophia and I are going to have lunch. I think I’ll take her to Chopped.

Once she’s pregnant, I won’t do this anymore. It’s simply for authenticity at this point. Once she’s pregnant she will need to avoid getting swarmed by photographers. I have been checking the tabloids to see what they say. I need my father to think this is something that developed organically.

One said they were doing a bump watch with Sophia which she said made her feel strange. It made me feel protective of her to think of the men constantly staking out her apartment. Sometimes I feel guilty, I hadn’t really thought of how much this whole thing would interfere with her life.

I find myself looking forward to having lunch with her. I just have to get through meeting with the partners first.

“Thomas, looking well,” Baxter says as I walk into the conference room. They’ve set out lots of finger foods and drinks. I didn’t realize we were going to meet with a client. I had thought it was just the partners. There’s a very pretty redhead sitting at the head of the table with a much older man. She wears a white suit with a white hat and looks very put out by the sandwiches.

“Mrs. And Mr. Bernard, I give you Thomas Henry.” Jeffry Church the other partner says as he points to me. I stand and shake hands with the couple.

“They own the old theater downtown and are looking for someone to help them rebuild it. Our company would handle all the advertising for the shows after it’s rebuilt.”

“That’s amazing. Marketing plays and musical acts would be a dream come true,” I nod.

“Thomas, the Bernards feel like they have enough funds to get started on the renovation, but they may need a little extra push once it really gets going. I mentioned to them you liked to fund charitable events and we thought this might be an opportunity for one.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” the redhead speaks in a throaty voice. She must smoke a lot of cigarettes. “We have plenty of money. It’s just not money we’re willing to tie up in this particular investment.”

Because you’re stingy with it. I think, but I don’t express it.

If this is how they want to play Baxter and Church are in for a game. I’m not just going to give money to whoever they want me to.

“I think we could do something great with it. A community theater or a camp for kids. We can raise money for several fundraisers throughout the year. Once you get started, we’ll know how much you’ll need and how many events we need to have.”

“Jeffry, you said he’d just give us the money,” Mrs. Bernard says.

I try not to let them see the anger building up inside of me. It’s now becoming more obvious I’ve only been hired to be their purse strings.

“Well,” Jeff stammers, “I said we’d see if he wanted to contribute.”

“Harold,” Mrs. Bernard addresses her husband who hasn’t said a word. “We’re leaving. We’ll find someone serious about financing.”

“Last I checked, we were a marketing company,” I said when they left. “I’m not here to just invest in your client’s needs. I thought you wanted me here because of my background and good ideas. I’ll be in my office.”

I think my pride is hurt more than anything else. I almost told them right then my dad was cutting me off. It’s no good having a lot of money. People don’t take you seriously. I kill time until my lunch with Sophia and neither man comes in to tell me I have it all wrong. Their actions speak volumes.