Page 104 of The Boss

Epilogue

Ican’t think of a better way to close out this crazy year than to celebrate Christmas with family… and my girlfriend.

The Marcons don’t do Christmas, per se, but they’ve managed to schedule a family dinner on the first day of winter. This works out well for our travel plans—Julianna and I are about to hop on her plane to my family’s reunion in San Francisco. All of them. She’s going to meetallof them. My mother hasn’t stopped talking her up to my second cousins.

But today, it’s all about the Marcons in their family home. It’s about what you expect. A cold, albeit tastefully decorated atmosphere. Servants at everyone’s beck and call and all of them look like they can’t wait for Mr. and Mrs. Marcon to go on their yearly tropical getaway. Serena Marcon is on her second eggnog of the night and texting all the other bitter, old has-been wives of other well-to-do men. Her husband drinks as much as her but manages a cheery disposition as he fawns over his five-month-old granddaughter and insists that she has her grandmother’s eyes.

It’s the Marcon siblings who bring any warmth to this sad dinner. Jordan and Ted sit close together, their nanny already on her Christmas break and forcing them to be dads. (I know. Terrible.)

Julianna, on the other hand, has never looked so comfortable around her family. Granted, it’s the brother and brother-in-law she talks to, but I am confident when I say I’ve never seen Julianna so serene in the home she grew up in, let alone around her parents.

We’ve been together for almost a year. A year! Can anyone but Julianna believe it? She’s always saying that it’s perfectly natural for us to have been together this long and that we’re going to be together evenlonger. Me? I’m still trying to get used to the whirlwind life I’ve been living ever since Ms. Bradford made that stupid bet with my girlfriend. Bless her for it, though.

“By the way, we have an announcement to make,” Julianna says before dessert is served. Everyone at the table grows quiet if they weren’t before. I shift in my seat. Jordan’s eyebrows go halfway up his head. Serena braces herself for a marriage announcement. After all, exactly one year ago, Ted announced that he was getting gay married, and having his kids via a surrogate.

“Just tell us the date of the wedding so we can clear our schedules now,” Ted says as he accepts his daughter into his arms. Mr. Marcon sits at the head of the table with a cigar clamped between his teeth. It takes both Serena and Jordan glaring at him for the man to not light it around a baby. “Also, I suggest you name Julianna II anything but ‘Julianna II,’ because that’s too pretentious even for you.”

Julianna gives me thatI told you solook she always gets when I suggest we present things a certain way to her family. Never goes the way I imagine it in my head.

“It’s not that. For fuck’s sake.”

Ted pretends to cover his baby’s ears. “Language, Jules! Trying to raise a lady here.”

Julianna scoffs while I giggle. When’s she going to make the announcement? I’ve been dying to tell everyone since I got the news, but Julianna made me promise to not share with anyone but my mother until she had a chance to tell her family first. Because they would find out through the grapevine, and she didn’t want that.

“Anyway,” Julianna proudly wraps her arm around my shoulders. “My genius girlfriend has been accepted to UC Berkeley’s MBA program. You’re looking at a future CEO right here.”

“Congrats,” Jordan says. “That’s a tough program to get into.”

“Helps to have the right connections,” Serena mutters.

“So, how’s that going to work? You’re not commuting, are you?” Ted joins in on the party. “You finally moving to California, Jules?”

“No.” Julianna puts that to bed as quickly as she puts us getting shotgun married down. “She’s getting an apartment near campus for a couple of years, and we’re going to split the commute, depending on my schedule.”

“Ah, now that’s love,” Mr. Marcon says.

“Quite. Well, don’t let the stress of it get to you. Think of all those hot Californians moving in on your girlfriend, Jules.”

“I’d rather not, thank you.”

I admit, I’m nervous about living apart like that again. This October I moved into Julianna’s penthouse because my lease was up. Now I’m getting my apartment again? And won’t have the option of seeing, kissing, and sleeping next to her whatever night I want? We’ll meet up on the weekends, and she’ll come down to visit for whole weeks at a time if she can… and there are the breaks, of course… but it’s going to be hard.

Good thing I am confident that we will weather that storm. It’s only for two years. Not like we can’t see each other at all! What? Julianna’s rich! She can make anything happen!

Like making me her girlfriend. And possibly her wife. One day. I’ve made it clear that my MBA comes before any serious talks of rings and marriage licenses. Because as soon as I become Mrs. Julianna Marcon, the expectations will be wilder than ever before. (You know which expectations I’m talking about. Social functions. Money management. Motherhood.)

Whew. One thing at a time!

We go to bed in one of the guest rooms with further plans on our lips. And the other person’s lips, I suppose. It’s hard for us to go to bed and not make out, honestly.

When your girlfriend smells as good as her, sounds as good as her, and looks as good as her? Good luck getting any sleep, girls!

“You’re actually okay with me moving to Berkeley?” Let alone on her dime? Because I’m not getting financial aid unless you count my girlfriend’s coffers.

“If it makes you happy, I’m fine with almost anything. Getting into Berkeley is a feat, Lessa. Even if I somehow helped you by existing. You had to be pretty amazing, too.”

“I must be, if I got an internship at your place of business.”

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