Silicon Valley Sweetheart (8 page)

I
was rushing
around trying to find something to wear when Mark knocked on my door. “Just a minute,” I yelled out to let him know I’d be right there. We were going to his dad’s house for dinner. I finally settled on a white sundress. I walked to the door while I pulled the dress over my head.

“You look wonderful!” Mark said, embracing me as he walked in the door.

“Thank you. Is this dress appropriate for me to wear tonight?”

“I happen to think you look best in nothing at all,” Mark smiled.

“Yes, but I’m sure your father would prefer I come wearing clothes,” I said, checking my hair in the mirror.

“I don’t think my father has any interest in how you come, to be honest with you,” Mark smirked. I tossed my hairbrush at him.

“Let’s get going.”

M
ark knocked
on his father’s door. I was a little surprised he waited for his father to answer rather than just going in. Fred came to the door and greeted us both. He directed us to the living room.

“Shirin, you look lovely tonight. Come in. Can I get you a drink?”

“I’d love a glass of wine. Thank you.”

He walked over to the bar and grabbed a bottle. As he was opening it, he called out to Brenda. “Brenda, Shirin and Mark are here. Come say hello.”

She didn’t respond. “She’ll be out in a few minutes,” Fred said, covering for her.

We sat down in the living room and started talking about work.

“Shirin, are you enjoying your internship?” Fred asked.

“Yes, I am. Thank you very much.”

“I’m pleased with the progress you’re making. Once you’ve finished your studies, I see lots of potential opportunities for you at Woodham Industries.”

I didn’t even want to think about that right now. By the time I finish my studies, Fred probably will have succumbed to his cancer. I wondered if Mark had thought about what would happen with our arrangement if Fred’s cancer went into remission. I felt a little uneasy wondering what it would mean to my career if Fred learned how we had been deceiving him.

Just then, Brenda came out. “Brenda, can I help you in the kitchen?” I offered.

“Sure, I’d love some help.”

As soon as I got into the kitchen, Brenda shut the door. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” scathed Brenda.

Her statement completely took me by surprise. I didn’t know what had given her the idea that Mark and I weren’t really together. We had been so careful.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said as innocently as I could.

“Don’t you think I know that this engagement to Mark is a sham?”

“Our engagement isn’t fake. Why would you say that?” I said that as confidently as I could, trying my best to make her believe me.

Brenda just rolled her eyes.

“What! Do you think I’m stupid? Mark will never get married to you. You know that and I know that. He’s just doing this so his father won’t sell the business.” Brenda glared into my eyes. She wasn’t finished yet, though. “Sit and watch. When I have proof that you both are attempting to manipulate Fred, I’m going to sue you both for everything you have. So help me God, Mark will not get away with this. He’ll be left penniless by the time I’m done with him.”

Just then, Fred and Mark walked into the kitchen. I was so relieved they had come in when they did.

Mark came up behind me and put his arms around my waist. I looked over to see if Brenda was watching. I reached back and softly caressed Mark’s neck for her benefit.

“You two look so happy together,” said Fred, “Just like two lovebirds.”

Fred’s eyes twinkled. He was genuinely happy that his son had finally found someone special. I felt bad deceiving him like we were.

“I’m a very lucky man,” smiled Mark.

“Dinner is ready,” announced Brenda. “Let’s go to the dining room.”

I was surprised how nice Brenda was during dinner. She acted like nothing had happened between us. And, unlike the last time we had dinner, she didn’t attempt to make Mark look bad in front of his father.

Instead of being relieved, though, her niceness made me more worried. She was like a friendly rattlesnake. Sure, at the moment, she was on her best behavior. But, don’t turn your back because she will strike when you are not looking.

After we’d finished eating, I got up, to help Brenda with the dishes. We both grabbed a stack of plates and headed into the kitchen. I halfway expected her to resume the conversation she had started earlier. She didn’t say anything.

When we finished, Brenda called everyone into the living room for dessert. She had prepared ice cream with seasonal berries. I helped her carry two of them into the living room.

“Have you set a date, yet?” Fred asked looking at me.

“We’re still talking about dates. It’s really important to me that I finish my studies at Stanford first. I’m not sure I want to get married before I graduate.”

“Yeah, we’ll probably wait a couple of years. I want Shirin to get her degree, first,” Mark added.

Fred seemed disappointed that I wasn’t planning to have our wedding sooner. “Well, you could always get married on one of your school breaks. There’s nothing that says you can’t be married and go to school. I know you’re really busy with school and your internship. I’m sure Brenda would be more than happy to help you with the wedding arrangements.”

Yes, I’m sure she would be happy to help. I’m just not certain the type of help she would provide would end up being truly helpful.

“Mark and I will certainly think about that,” I said, picking up my ice cream cup. I was hoping we would change the subject.

“Mark, I’m feeling tired. Will you be ready to go home, soon?”

I’d had enough of Brenda for one evening.

“My dad and I were going to have a single malt scotch and a cigar. Care to join us? We can leave after that.”

“Whatever you wish,” I reluctantly agreed. I couldn’t wait to get into the car to tell Mark about Brenda and her suspicions.

A
s soon as
we got into the car, I let out a long sigh, trying to figure out how I was going to bring up the subject of Brenda’s accusation.

Mark looked over at me. Putting his hand on my leg, he asked, “What’s wrong? You were wonderful tonight.”

“Are you ready for this?” I said, looking over at Mark. “Brenda is on to us. She confronted me in the kitchen.”

Mark’s brow furrowed.

“What did she say?”

“She told me she knew that our engagement was a sham, and the only reason you were doing it was to keep your father from selling the business. She also said that she would sue us both for everything we have once she’s able to prove it.”

Mark just shook his head. “Don’t worry about her. There’s nothing she could throw our way that we can’t handle.”

“Aren’t you worried at all?”

Mark was silent for a few moments. I could tell he was deep in thought.

“Want to know where I got that painting hanging in my living room?”

“The one of the ocean?”

“Yes. That one. It was my mother’s. She loved that painting. I had a friend call me from an auction at Christie’s. He thought he recognized the painting. Since it was from an anonymous seller, he texted me a photo to find out if it was the same one.

“I couldn’t believe my father would auction it without at least consulting me first. I asked him to bid up to $250,000 on my behalf. As soon as I found out, I raced over to my dad’s house. I went into the kitchen and saw the paperwork on the counter. I looked around for Brenda. She was in their bedroom watching the live auction on TV.”

“Did you confront her?”

“No, she didn’t see me. I went back to the kitchen. A few minutes later, my dad came home. I waited for her to come back downstairs. As soon as she did, I asked him about the painting. He knew nothing about it being up for auction. In fact, he went on to reminisce about how happy my mother was when she learned that she was the one who would inherit it from her aunt. It had belonged to her great-grandmother. He said that he meant to call the insurance broker and have it reappraised to make sure he had adequate insurance on it.”

“Brenda just didn’t care?”

“No. She didn’t. Fortunately for me, my friend won the auction. That’s how I got the painting back.”

“Yeah, but it cost you a lot of money.”

“True. But money isn’t what matters. I have the painting back. That’s all that matters.” Even though Mark was trying to sound nonchalant about the matter, I could clearly hear the pain in his voice.

“A few weeks later I got a call from a college buddy of mine who is a private banker at West Pacific. Brenda had opened an account there. He was ecstatic because he’d been trying to get my family’s business for years.

“The next time I saw my dad and Brenda, I asked about it. I could see her squirm. She assured us both that my friend was mistaken—she’d never opened an account. I could tell that she was lying. She knows that I know about it, too.”

I couldn’t imagine what I would have done in similar circumstances. Clearly, Brenda had complete disregard for anything that was important to either her husband or her stepson.

“Why didn’t you say anything to your father?”

“The last promise I made to my mother was that I would always stay close with my father,” Mark said, trying hard not to choke up. “Fortunately, in Brenda’s haste to make a quick buck, she allowed the painting to be sold for a ridiculously low price.”

Mark looked down. I could see how vulnerable he was feeling.

“I couldn’t tell my father. It would force him to make a decision between me and Brenda. I couldn’t bear for him to choose her over me.”

Mark was battling his inner demons. I could see it in his eyes. I reached over and put my hand on Mark’s. I wished there was a way to make his pain go away.

Suddenly, he snapped out of it. Looking over at me, he said, “You look worried.”

“How can I not be?”

“Don’t be. There’s nothing Brenda can throw our way that we can’t handle. Typically, I know what she’s going to do even before she does.”

I hoped he was right.

“Trust me. I promise you Brenda will never hurt you. I’ll be there to protect you.”

I
was looking forward
to making dinner for Mark. He was coming over tonight. We were having Chelo Kebab with saffron rice. I was threading the skewers with seasoned lamb when Mark walked in.

I didn’t hear him since I had the radio blaring. When he saw me, he smiled and said, “It smells delicious in here.”

“Dinner should be ready shortly. How was your day?”

“It was fine. How was school?”

“Excellent. Can I get you something to drink?”

“I brought this for us to enjoy tonight,” he said holding up a bottle of wine. “It’s a 2012 Pinot Noir. The grapes were outstanding that year.”

He brushed against me as he walked over to the drawer to pull out the wine opener. His touch sent shivers down my spine.

Skype beeped on my computer. I looked up at it to see it with Amanda calling.

“Are you going to get that?” Mark asked.

“No, I’ll call her back later.” I didn’t want to talk to her with Mark there. Given the fact that he had taken the phone away from me to talk to my uncle, who knew what he would say to my best friend.

“Oh come on, it’ll be fun!” Mark said, answering the Skype call.

I could tell Amanda didn’t know what to think when she saw Mark’s face show up on the screen. Apprehensively, she asked, “Is Shirin there?”

“Hello, you must be Amanda,” Mark said, “I’ve heard so much about you. It’s nice to meet you, virtually, anyway.”

I could see Amanda was confused.

“Hey, aren’t you the guy we met at that club in New York?” she asked.

“Yep. That was me. I seem to have forgotten something in the car. But, Shirin and I have some exciting news we want to share with you. I’ll be right back.”

I couldn’t believe he set me up to have to tell Amanda. How could he do this to me? Especially without any warning.

“Hi Amanda,” I said, putting myself in front of the camera.

“You look great. What your big news? Are you and Mr. Hottie together?” She looked genuinely excited for me.

“Well… Yes… It’s a little more complicated than that…” I hadn’t prepared for this. I was nervous not knowing how she would take my news.

“Do share…” she demanded, impatiently.

I told her everything. I could tell she wasn’t happy. How could I expect her to be? It was a lot of information to take in all at once. I would have a hard time believing it myself.

“What the hell, Shirin? How are you going to manage this?” I could tell she was worried for me.

“It’s really very simple. Once the company has transferred to Mark, he will break off our engagement. And, we’ll both go our separate ways. No one will be harmed by this. I swear.” Deep down inside, I knew that probably wasn’t true. I had no idea how I was going to deal with losing Mark.

“That’s not what I was talking about.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know you’re falling in love with him. I can see it in your eyes. I’m not even there, and I can see it. What’s going to keep you from getting hurt? We won’t be there to help you when you fall.”

“I know what I’m doing. I’m not falling in love with him. Everything’s going to be fine.”

I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince Amanda or myself that everything was going to be okay.

“You may think you’re not falling for him, but I’m not so sure.”

“It will be alright. I swear.”

I hoped Amanda believed me.

“The reason I called is that Emily and I want to come out to San Francisco. Are you going to be around next week?”

“Of course! I can’t wait to see you! You can stay here with me. Plus, you’ll be in town for our engagement party.” It would be so nice to spend some time with Amanda. I missed them a lot.

“Okay. We’ll let you know the details once we have everything settled.”

“Call me as soon as you know. I’ll plan to pick you up at the airport. Listen, dinner is almost ready. I need to get going. I can’t wait to see you!”

“I’ll call you soon. Bye!” Amanda hung up.

Mark came back in the apartment. I was happy I had finished the call with Amanda before he came back in. I didn’t want to tell him what Amanda said.

“How did Amanda take it?” he asked, somewhat apprehensively.

“She’s not real excited about our engagement.” I knew that was somewhat of an understatement. I didn’t want to get into it with him right now.

“Don’t worry. I’ll grow on her in time. I always do,” he said with the sly grin.

I put our dinner into serving dishes and grabbed some plates and silverware to set the table. “Dinner is ready. Let’s sit down at the table.”

“Well then, let’s eat. And then, we can discuss that sex that you still owe me.”

“I owe you what?” I asked with a smile.

“I think you know,” he said with a grin.

I really did want him tonight. More than he would ever know. Unfortunately, I had a paper to finish tonight.

“I’m sorry. I’ll have to give you a raincheck. Schoolwork beckons.”

“Far be it from me to keep you from your studies. You’ll owe me double, another night,” he quipped. I could tell he was disappointed. I couldn’t afford not to do well in any of my classes. As much as I would have liked to spend the night with him, finishing my assignment was far more important.

After we had cleared the table, he helped me do the dishes, and then he headed home. I went back to my computer to work on my paper. It was hard for me to concentrate. I couldn’t stop thinking about Mark. I wanted him badly.

I started to worry about Amanda telling Emily about my arrangement with Mark. It would be better for her to hear it from me. I opened up my email and sent her a message:

With the time difference, I knew she wasn’t going to respond right away. I hoped she would take it better than Amanda had. I could use their support at my engagement party. I hoped they’d decide to come.

I finished my paper and headed to bed. As I lay there, my mind kept wandering back to Mark.