He did think about
what she'd said. He thought about it a lot. He also started potty training
Romeo, with the help of the females in his life. His first thought was to move
Brianna into his house so she would be there to do the bulk of the training,
but his mother pointed out that using her like that wasn't exactly fair to
Brianna - if she would even agree to it, which wasn't a sure thing. She tried
to keep their relationship progressing in the normal sequence and timeframe.
Moving in that quickly wouldn't fit that timeframe, even if she slept in her
own room. And her sleeping across the hall instead of beside him wouldn't do
much for his mood. So he shelved that plan and tried to find another way.
They didn't get off
to a great start. His mother explained the process, and helped out when she
could as did Desiree And even Stephanie. When he was on duty he kept losing
track of the time and then had to deal with a mess. There'd been a lot of
accidents, but he thought they were finally making some progress - at least
during the day. At night he gave up and put a diaper - well, Pull Ups - on him.
He was able
to use his lack of skill to convince Brianna to spend more time than usual at his
house, which was both pleasure and torture for him.
He thought about her
other point as well - about when he was ready to tour again. The solution was a
no brainer to his mind, but he'd wait to see where their relationship was at
before mentioning it to her.
The holidays were
approaching quickly, and Brianna was having a hard time juggling her schedule
to fit everything in. She was being pulled in two directions and was trying to
divide up her time between her family and Jon's - with as few arguments as
possible. Plus, her prediction about the reaction to Jon starting to accept
invitations came true and they were inundated. And now that the kids were on
board with their relationship, he wanted her to go with him to every event. It
was a challenge to even her organizational skills!
She was trying to
find some time in the schedule to go Christmas shopping when her phone rang.
She answered without looking at the display. "Brianna Prentiss."
"Hello dear, how
are you?"
"Hi Mom. I'm
fine, how are you?"
"Fine. I'm
calling about Thanksgiving. Are you still coming home?" Edward had
decided he wanted his family all together for the holiday.
Like I have a choice? When Father says come home, you go
home. "Yes." This was
an area of argument.
"Alone?"
"Yes." This
was the reason for the argument.
"Oh. I thought
you might be bringing Jon with you."
"No. He needs to
be with his kids and they're having a big family dinner." This was another
reason for the argument. Jon wanted to have both families together, but Brianna
didn't feel that was a good idea for their first meeting. That needed to be a
much smaller gathering.
"Are we ever
going to get to meet them? Or are you going to hide us forever?" Sara's
voice was sharp.
I wish that was an
option! "You'll meet them,
I just haven't found the right opportunity yet. Holidays are hard for them
still and I don't want to overwhelm the kids."
"I understand,
but..." Sara sighed. "Your father's not going to get any easier to
deal with. If you and Jon are serious, he's going to have to deal with your
father at some point. He can't avoid him forever."
"Jon's not
trying to avoid him. Quite the opposite actually." Brianna admitted.
"So why are you
insisting on preventing them from meeting?"
"Not preventing,
just......delaying."
"Brianna..."
Sara began.
"Mom.....I
really like Jon. I don't want Father looking down his nose at him or
disparaging his career choice." Brianna explained. "And I don't want
to be told that he's not good enough or 'the preferred type of man' for me. I
married a man that met all of Father's qualifications and look where that got
me."
"He just wants
you to be looked after and happy."
"As long as it's
with a man he can brag to his business cronies about. Heaven forbid he have to
tell them his daughter's dating a musician - and not even a classical one which
might be accepted by the supporters of the arts, but a rock one. Everyone knows
rock musicians are only concerned about booze, drugs and making spectacles of
themselves. Hardly pillars of the community." Brianna retorted scornfully.
"Brianna
Nicole!" Sara scolded.
"I'm sorry Mom,
but you know I'm right." Brianna insisted. "I wish he could just
accept people for who they are, not what they are." She sighed.
"Jon's a good man Mom."
"Believe it or
not, your father will see that.....eventually."
A couple days later,
Jon and Brianna were sitting in his office in the city going over
correspondence, when there was a frantic call from Evelyn.
"I tried to stop
them, but he just ignored me."
"Who did?" Jon
asked, his brows snapping together in a frown.
"BRIANNA!"
Brianna closed her
eyes and groaned at the sound of her name being bellowed from her office.
"I'm sorry
Jon." Evelyn apologized.
"It's okay
Evelyn." He crooked a brow at Brianna.
"My father can't
be stopped if he doesn't want to." Brianna assured the receptionist.
Sighing, she stood and walked to the door way connecting their offices.
"Father, what are you doing? You can't just barge into someone else's
business offices!" She turned to the woman with him. "Hi Mom."
"I wanted to meet this.....musician
you're dating, and since you wouldn't come to me, I came to you."
"That doesn't
give you the right to just barge in here!" Brianna argued. Great first
impression Father! She felt Jon's presence behind her - and the irritation
radiating from him - before he spoke.
"This musician
is also the CEO of a multimillion dollar organization that does business all
over the world and these are my private offices. I expect them to be treated as
such." He set one hand on Brianna's hip and squeezed.
"Hmpf!" Edward snorted derisively.
The two men stared
each other down.
Sara elbowed her
husband and stepped up to Jon. "Jon, I'm Sara. It's so nice to finally
meet you. Brianna's told us so much about you."
"Nice to meet
you too Sara." Jon assured her, taking her offered hand in his. "I
can see where Bri gets her beauty from."
Sara couldn't prevent
her blush. "Well, aren't you the smooth one! Brianna, I can see why you
were keeping him to yourself."
Edward cleared his
throat. "Get your coats on or we'll be late for our dinner
reservation."
"Father! Jon has
four kids waiting for him at home. He can't just drop everything. He needs
notice. We can arrange to have dinner with you later in the week if you
want."
Edward didn't look
away from the younger man. "I assume there's a caregiver with the children
now. Surely they can continue for another hour or two."
As accustomed as she
was to her father's attitude, his dictatorial tendencies still set her teeth on
edge. "At the last minute? You can't expect....wait a minute, look who I'm
talking to."
Jon squeezed her hip
again to stop her. "Honey, it's okay." He turned back to her father.
"As it turns out, my parents are keeping an eye on my children at the
moment, and mentioned that they didn't have any plans tonight, so I'm fine to
stay in the city for dinner." They didn't need to know that had been his
plan all along.
Edward nodded and
started for the door. "My driver is waiting downstairs."
Sara smiled
apologetically at Jon and followed her husband.
Jon shifted to stand
in front of Brianna and wrapped his arms around her.
Brianna gripped
handfuls of his sweater and screamed into his chest.
He chuckled and
rubbed her back. "Come on Golden Eyes, he's not that bad."
She lifted her head.
"Tell me that after dinner. He hasn't started yet."
"BRIANNA!"
With a growl, she
shoved her hands into the arms of the coat Jon held for her and swiped up her
purse. There was no point in taking any work home with her, she knew she'd be
too aggravated to concentrate.
They walked silently
out of the office and joined her parents in the lobby before climbing into
Edward's waiting car.
Dinner was a familiar
torture for Brianna and an eye opener for Jon. It had been a long time since
he'd been given the third degree by a girlfriend's father. This time he wasn't
a nervous kid. This time he wouldn't be intimidated. And he'd worked too hard
and was too proud of his accomplishments to let this arrogant man belittle
them. But he was still Brianna's father, and Jon didn't want alienate him
completely.
But he didn't make it
easy.
"You called
yourself a CEO. Do you really think you can compare your little band to running
a major corporation?"
Even though that was
the nicest of the comments, Jon had had enough. Feeling Brianna tense in the
chair beside him, he squeezed her thigh. "My payroll when I'm on tour is
between one and two million a week. I'd say that makes it a fair sized
business."
That gave Edward
pause - he had no idea the organization was that big - and gave Sara a chance
to change the subject.
"Brianna tells
us you have four children."
Jon smiled.
"Yes. Stephanie's fourteen, Jesse's twelve, Jake's five and Romeo's two
and a half."
Sara's eyes filled
and she had to dab them with her napkin. "So young to lose their mother.
I'm so sorry for your loss."
Nodding in agreement,
Jon's smile turned sad and it was Brianna's turn to squeeze in support.
"Thank you. They're coping pretty well."
"I hope Brianna
is providing the help you need." Edward remarked.
"She's been
wonderful." Jon assured him. "I don't know what we would have done
without her."
Sara beamed while
Edward merely grunted in satisfaction. "I'm glad to hear she's living up
to her responsibilities."
Brianna fisted the
hand on her lap and reached for her wine glass.
Jon covered her fist
with his hand and squeezed. "You've raised a very bright, caring and
compassionate daughter. She's the best assistant I've ever had or could hope
for. But she's wasting her talents. I'm surprised she's not running her own
company. She's certainly capable."
She almost choked on
her wine. While she appreciated his support and confidence, she was well aware
of her father's opinion of her abilities - and that no matter how capable she
was, a female had no place in management of large corporations. She'd long
since stopped beating her head against that particular wall. All it got
her was a headache. "Ah, but don't you know Jon? Women don't hold
positions of power, they merely assist the men that do."
"Don't be snide
Brianna." Edward frowned. "It's not attractive."
"I think she's
beautiful." Jon disagreed, reaching out to tuck a tendril of hair that had
escaped her twist behind her ear.
Sara grinned at her
daughter in delight.
Edward grunted.
"Tell me about the charity work your involved with. Michael tells me
you're doing some work with Covenant House."
With the shift in
conversation the tension eased and Brianna was able to take a deep breath, but
food still stuck in her throat. At least the Foundation and its work was one
area of Jon's life her father couldn't criticize. By the end of the
conversation he actually had a grudging respect for what Jon was trying or
accomplish.
Still, it seemed like
an eternity before they finally were able to leave the restaurant. Sara and
Edward were staying at a hotel since they were staying in the city for a few
days. Declining the offer of a lift since they were going in different
directions, Jon flagged down a town car to take he and Brianna to her apartment.
It was a quiet ride
as they were both lost in their own thoughts.
WOW!
ReplyDeleteI can see why she was trying to keep her dad away!
Good luck with toilet training Jon! LOL! Just remember to be consistent and use positive reinforcement!
wow what an eye opener, Just remember Jon, M&M 's work as a reward. Great chapter Liz. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe Jon is using Brianna, I hope Brianna sees what he's doing and gets out , I thought Jon really cared? I guess not.
ReplyDeleteUh Oh...Dreaded Daddy....lol..sounds like Jons holding his own ok tho...who knows He might even end up respecting his Daughters Rockstar Boyfriend...If not he just might find himself off her Christmas list..
ReplyDeleteGood luck to them all on the Potty Training to...Oh the joy of Potty Training....hehehehe....Those were 2 great chapters Liz...