Page 21 of Love In The Spotlight

“Oh,” she said. “Care to elaborate on that?”

Normally she was all business so this was nice they were warming up another way. “I know you did some research on me.”

“You are from outside of Bentonville, Arkansas, and your father is a pastor, your mother is active in the church also.”

“Yes,” he said. “I had religion shoved down my throat. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in God and all, but I don’t go to church. I don’t think you need to show up every Sunday in your best clothes so other people know what rules you may or may not follow.”

“I’m sure you didn’t follow a lot of the rules,” she said.

“No. Not even close. I’m not sure I tried either. My parents supported my football career, but when I started to come home from college and had different thoughts than them, they weren’t happy.”

“We all should be entitled to our opinions,” she said. “Just like I don’t agree with my mother having eight kids while my father was away so much. My uncle and his wife, they’ve got nine kids. They believe that the bigger the family the better life is. I’m not sure I feel that way. I definitely don’t feel a woman should be a birthing machine and then stay home and change diapers all day either.”

He shuddered. “I’m so glad we are done with diapers.”

She laughed. “Imagine having eight of them.”

“No,” he said. “I have a better appreciation for what my mother did. I’m doing it alone and I’m not sure I’m equipped for some things.”

“Alone?” she asked. “Who had Penelope when you were in Detroit? Or right now?”

“I have help. A nanny who lives in a guesthouse and stays in the main house when I’m out of town. But I’m a very hands-on father.”

Unlike his father, who wasn’t always there for him. His father would be there more for parishioners than his son at times, though he’d never voiced that more than once.

That one time was enough to get the lecture on being selfish and that his father was there to serve those who were without.

Too bad his father and mother didn’t always think that maybe their own kids went without at the expense of others.

“That’s nice to hear,” she said. “I don’t remember a lot about my father. I mean I do, but he wasn’t around much. He died when West was eighteen. I was thirteen. Talia was four. She didn’t know him at all. West was more of a father to me at times and that was annoying.”

“And you are working for him now,” he said. “Can I ask how that came about?”

“We all knew what West had planned with his life. We knew he’d succeed too. He always did. Nothing was going to stop him. He had this sense of loyalty to be the provider of the family. I think it has more to do with a combination of how he wanted my mother to have a better life and then be the man he thought my father should have been. And that is horrible to say.”

“No,” he said. “It’s not. Not if you feel it. I know what I would have liked out of my father and didn’t get it, so I understand.”

“Anyway,” she said, “when I graduated from college, West already had a few businesses he’d invested in. Braylon was right there helping him out too. West said he couldn’t pay me a ton and understood if I wanted to go work somewhere else for experience.”

“You wouldn’t have,” he said.

“No, I didn’t. I worked for him. Braylon and West had been living together to save money. I had an apartment with a few friends to do the same. I made enough. And then slowly it seemed, though it was pretty fast looking back, West just hit it big. It only took that one big deal and then the money was there. He didn’t waste it though, but he was able to pay Braylon and me more. Took care of our student loans and his too. Made it easier for us to pick up and follow him here too.”

“You were going to follow West anywhere,” he said. “Even if it was a tiny town in Vermont and you’d be living in a yurt.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, laughing. “But eight kids in a three bedroom, one and a half bath...I would have welcomed a yurt to myself back then.”

“I at least had my own room, but it wasn’t much of one,” he said. “We lived in church housing and it wasn’t as if it was that modern. There were more kids in and out of the place though so it never felt as if it was mine anyway.”

“I’m sorry about that,” she said. “When I went home last week I wanted some time with my mother alone but knew I wasn’t going to get it. None of us see her much except Talia.”

“Why not take a few days off and go visit her?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I’m busy. Speaking of which, we should get to it.” She looked at her watch. “West is joining us soon.”

“Oh,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve got an idea about the start of hiring. Or a person to bring on to get the ball rolling. West will present it.”

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