Chapter 29: London Get Away

Minutes later they arrived at the restaurant. Arthur turned the car off and they sat in silence together for a while. Each thought about how to break the silence and how to get past this latest argument.

“Is it healthy to argue all the time? It does not feel good when we do,” Rachel said, carefully testing the waters of communication on the pink elephant topic they were avoiding discussing.

“I don’t know. Part of me says yes and part says no. I’ve never met anyone like you. That’s not an excuse, just information.”

“What do you mean?”

Arthur put his right hand on top of her left hand in the car. “Someone so complicated; someone so...challenging to get to know.”

“Hmmm. Is there something you’d like to ask me about in particular?”

“Everything. Nothing. Something. Like that. I’m confused. What are we doing?”

“‘Wait and see’ doesn’t set too easily with you, I guess, huh, Arthur?”

“No, it doesn’t,” he replied.

“The only thing I can compare this to...whatever we’re doing... is my parents’ relationship,” she said.

“Yeah, me too. But for me that was not the healthiest template and it is painful to talk about.”

“Well, maybe we could take cautious steps and see how far we get together.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He squeezed her hand gently.

###

Once inside the restaurant, the savory smells and the enticing ambiance made them forget why they were fighting in the first place. He pulled her chair out for her and pushed her in.

“Order whatever you like. My treat.”

“Okay. Great. Let’s start with an appetizer,” Rachel said with enthusiasm.

“Let’s start with my apology. I guess I’m just not used to not having to defend myself at every turn to such a young woman as yourself. Forgive me?” He looked into her eyes while kissing her hand.

“Wait. Is this for real or for show?” she said, gently taking her kissed hand back from his grasp.

“It is as real as we both want to make it.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’d like to get to know you better. We don’t need to pretend if what we have is real. By getting to know each other better, maybe we’ll find out who we are together.”

“Okay Word Man, make it plain. Is this a real date?”

“Yes! Is that plain enough for you?”

“Definitely. That’s a good start,” defining things up front would prevent future fights, she hoped.

“Why don’t you start? I shared some about my parents the last time we had a long chat. I’m like a sponge: eager to soak up everything you say. You have my full attention”, Arthur said, leaning back in his chair with the air of expectation.

“Well, I guess by telling you a little bit about myself, I’ll get to them.”

“Possible. Possible. Go right ahead.”

“I’m adopted. I identify as African-American, but my adopted parents were both White. My mom died when I was 19. I never looked for my birth parents.”

“Oh,” he responded, continuing to give Rachel his full attention as he leaned forward.

“Before my mom died, my mom and dad seemed to have a storybook romance. They were the king and queen of the castle, and I, their only child, was the princess. Once she passed away, everything changed.”

“Okay.”

“My father became less accessible and less patient.”

“I can understand that. We have that in common.”

“He threw himself into his career. And dating. He seemed to feel that at age 19, I was an adult and did not need more parenting, which he was not equipped or inclined to do. He saw that as my late mother’s role and without her to do it, it was abandoned. I did not like him that much once all of those changes started happening. That dislike grew,” she continued, looking downward in dismay.

“Incredible. Our dads had a lot in common except my parents divorced and were separated by continents, using me to hurt the other, and your parents’ relationship ended with your mother’s death.”

“Exactly.”

Rachel was not exactly lying. The facts were basically the same, but she just left out the part of the privilege she had access to with a father who was a billionaire and a mother who was an heiress.”

“I’m sorry you lost your mom when you were so young. When my mom got sick, then passed away, I was in my twenties, but not much older than you. There is never a good time to lose a parent, is there?”

“No, Arthur, there isn’t,” she agreed, tearing up at the thought of her.

“You remind me so much of my mom, both culturally and in your behavior, the good and the bad, when we are fighting and when things are good between us.”

“Is that a good thing?” Rachel asked.

“I’m not sure, but it explains a lot.”

“Would you argue with her the way you have with me?”

“Unfortunately, sometimes...okay often, yes. We had a dysfunctional family.”

“Whose wasn’t?”

“Trust me, I never thought of my parents or me as living a fairytale lifestyle. Although I hated being shipped off to boarding school, it gave me a break from their cross-continental tug of war custody battles for the summers and the holidays.”

“Wow. That sounds horrible.”

“The funny thing is that they would fight so hard to get me, but when each had custody, they pushed me off on others. I have nothing negative to say about those others, but it hurt not to be truly wanted on some level. For my dad that involved my living with my grandma and working in Faye’s bakery; for my mom that meant my living with some distant relative she could pay to take me while she job hopped and man shopped.”

“That must have been horrible for you, too.”

“Quite.”

They ate their soup and salad, peacefully processing the information they received about the other. They tried to put the pieces together and understand what experiences made them who they each were.

Rachel finished first and resumed talking, “I hope this marks a turning point for us; I hope we can treat each other better. I am not going to hurt you by leaving you if you let me in; just promise me that you’re not going to look for every chance you get to hurt me with you words and involve me with your eloquent arguments or put downs.”

“Agreed.”

They finished their meal in good spirits. On their way back to Arthur’s car, Rachel saw a newspaper stand on the opposite side of the street. Making the excuse of wanting to get some breath mints, she checked out the tabloids. Sure enough, one that reported on American gossip carried a story about Kurt and her upcoming wedding, although she was not named. She didn’t dare buy it and subject herself to increased scrutiny from Arthur after they had come to such a ground-breaking point in their relationship with each other. But deep down, she knew that if they were really going to make things work between them, her lies could get in the way someday. But she did not want to think about that, not yet.