Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
The trip to Lancaster wasn’t something either of them was really looking forward to. His family drama had been more than enough for one month. Heading into another potentially chaotic scene was the last thing they wanted.
Mostly they wanted to be alone or at the club, but they’d made a commitment, so they went.
Entering Kate’s parents’ house was eye-opening for Rory. Everything was white on white, and there were vast open spaces. Three thousand square feet for two people who seemed to have very few possessions.
It was evident right off the bat that her dad wasn’t happy Rory was with Kate.
They’d insisted that he and Kate stay at the house.
Kate in her old room. Rory in a guest room.
Rory wanted to tell them that Kate was in college, not a convent.
Her dad, a psychologist, had to know the statistics, but Rory knew it had to be different when it was your own little girl.
Rory and Kate had their own rhythms. He had to stop himself from ordering her to do things and from calling her kitten. She had to stop herself from occasionally calling him Sir and from looking to him for approval or permission to do so many of the little things she did.
The other thing that seemed to be putting Kate on edge were the frequent mentions that girls’ goals and potential were often interrupted or lost when they got too involved with a guy.
Her dad in particular seemed to want a thousand reassurances from Kate that she would finish her degree.
He even said that women should delay marriage until after grad school or later.
Rory felt like punching the guy, but didn’t. He also tried hard not to let his frustration show. Kate had been worried enough about this interaction. If she sensed he was upset, that would probably be the last straw.
The roasted rosemary chicken was delicious, and Kate’s mom seemed smart and talented.
She painted as a hobby and had a studio in the back of the house.
He wondered if Kate got her creative side from her mom.
Kate looked more like her dad and her drive seemed to come from him, or at least because he’d pushed her her whole life to excel.
Rory got the tour of the wall of Kate’s academic achievements. There were framed certificates and trophies from various academic contests she’d won.
Kate was mortified by the display and kept apologizing, but Rory got it.
The old man wanted him to know she wasn’t just any girl.
She was bright and special, and Rory’s decisions should be influenced by that knowledge.
Rory could’ve told the guy he already knew it, but he liked seeing Kate’s trophies and ribbons.
He liked seeing the pictures too. This was how his kitten had grown up and turned into who she was now.
If it had been anyone else Rory would’ve walked out the door and not come back, but it was about Kate, so he stayed.
Kate was so angry at her dad. He’d promised he’d be polite to Rory if they stayed at the house rather than a hotel, but the entire day had been full of pointed remarks and looks.
Her dad basically implied in a bunch of not very subtle ways that Rory wasn’t good enough for her and that he was a pointless distraction from her studies.
Her dad had remarked that young women often squandered their potential by too highly prioritizing dead-end relationships, and then they lived to regret it.
“I’m not going to regret anything,” she said, fuming.
“I didn’t say you, Kate. I’m saying young women in general. Though you should bear it in mind. Always better to learn from someone else’s mistakes or from the data than to make the mistake yourself.”
“I don’t think I’m hungry anymore,” she said, lurching to her feet.
Rory glanced at her and shook his head.
“Why?” she said, her hands balled into fists.
How could Rory be so calm? He never let anyone disrespect him. She knew he understood the subtext of the conversations.
“I need more ice,” she said.
She bolted into the kitchen and stood at the sink, angry tears filling her eyes.
How could they not see that this wasn’t some childish crush?
That she was in love with Rory and would abandon school and everything else to be with him, but he wasn’t asking that?
She felt like telling her dad that it was Rory who insisted that she bring her schoolwork to his place and made her work on it on weekends when she was with him.
“I thought you were getting ice, kitten?”
“I am. A whole bucket, to throw over his damn head.”
“Easy.”
“How can you say that?” she snapped.
“Watch your tone,” he said.
She sagged against the counter. “I can’t take anymore. I’m going to tell him off.” Her lip trembled. “Seriously.”
“Yeah, that’ll make you feel better,” he said mildly. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “I’m not mad because he’s your dad and he’s trying to look out for you. Plus I know he can’t take you back because you’re mine now, so I feel bad for him.”
“He broke his promise to be polite.”
“Nah. He’s been perfectly polite while acting like a dick.”
She laughed through her tears. “Please don’t make me come back to the table.”
He kissed her on the mouth, then said, “Fix your face, then get that juicy ass back in your seat.”
“He didn’t even have her set the dining room table. We’re eating in the breakfast nook, like you’re not even company. I won’t just sit there and let him treat you like that.”
“I don’t need you to defend me, kitten, so don’t. Your ass in the chair in five minutes, I mean it,” he said in that voice.
Kate shivered. “I’ll come, but it’s wrong of you to make me,” she said, pouting.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “I like it when you pout. Gives me an excuse to give you something to pout about.”
He turned and walked out. She dabbed her eyes and checked her makeup, wiping away the smudges under her lower lashes. She took a few deep breaths and returned to the table.
“Read your paper in Scientific American,” Rory said. “All made sense, except mentioning the Rudiyard study. That’s what? Forty subjects all from the Midwest? You really think that study validates anything?”
Her dad blinked, surprised, but he gamely entered into a discussion about his area of research.
Though Rory said that he didn’t know the material well, he more than held his own in the discussion, dropping facts and statistics like an expert.
He’d obviously read a bunch of her dad’s papers and prepped himself for the trip. She’d had no idea he’d done that.
Her dad was shocked too, especially when Rory brought up one of her dad’s earliest studies that had later been refuted by a larger one.
“Size matters,” Rory said without the slightest hint that he was making a joke. Kate bent her head so her hair would hide her smile.
“Where did you go to school, Rory?” her dad finally asked.
“St. Thomas Elementary in Baltimore.”
Her dad blinked and then laughed. “Rigorous course of study there?”
“As tough as it comes. Sister Mary-Paul never came out and said we’d go to hell if we didn’t finish the year’s reading list, but she implied it well enough. Pretty good motivator, eternal damnation.”
Her dad’s smile widened. “How about later in life? College?”
“Princeton.”
“Family school?”
“Not when I went, but since then one of my brothers. And my little sister’s there now.”
“What made you choose Princeton?”
“The name. I first heard of it as a little kid. I thought it was a college to train you to be a prince. As a five-year-old, being a prince seemed like a good gig.”
Kate smiled and shook her head. He had to be making this up.
“What do you do? Kate didn’t even seem to know when we asked.”
“I’m an investor.”
“In the stock market?”
“Sure, there. But also as part of a group that finds start-ups with potential and provides venture capital. For example, we invested in Uber and Twitter when they were ideas.”
Kate’s brows shot up. How did she not know this about him?
“That must have been lucrative.”
“It keeps the lights on. I choose some small businesses myself as a lone investor, too. That’s actually more satisfying.
More hands on. Kate’s design project that won the Mann-Sayers award actually has me looking at some former graduates of the degree program she’s interested in.
There’s a kid who just graduated with Yale’s Computing & the Arts degree who has some really innovative ideas.
I usually stay away from tech, too crowded and not my area of interest, but this wouldn’t force me to go to meetings in Silicon Valley, so I’m gonna take a serious look.
His first business plan wouldn’t fly, but I think he understands how to revise it. ”
“I would imagine that many creative minds don’t necessarily have the skills needed to run a business.”
“Some don’t. But they either have to develop the skills or partner with someone who does if they want to be entrepreneurs. Otherwise they’d be better off working for a company, rather than starting their own.”
“What do you think, Kate?” her dad said. “Maybe you should have Rory teach you some of the principles he shares with other talented minds.”
“Rory teaches me things all the time.”
The corner of Rory’s mouth curved up.
“Maybe you should work on a mock-up of a business proposal for him to critique,” he suggested.
“I think it’s too early for that,” Kate said. “And I’m not—I think I’d be happier working at a small firm that someone else runs. I don’t want to be in charge.”
“Rory, help me convince her. The potential for the greatest success comes from owning the business.”
“No, too narrow a view.”
“In what way?”