It was strange that he was letting this bother him. It had certainly never bothered him before.
But he would have to examine the reasoning behind his sudden preoccupation with the nuclear family later. Right now, he was eating with his father, and if there was one thing his father had absolutely no patience for, it was navel-gazing. He definitely wasn’t going to put up with Lucas sitting across from him and being introspective instead of talking.
“Tell me about the future prospects for your company,” his father said, spearing some salad on his fork. “The last time we spoke, you were talking about a new contraceptive.”
Back to business, I guess.
“Yes,” Lucas said, rallying. At least this was something he could be proud of. “It’s ready to go into mass production, actually. We’ll be releasing it to the public very soon.”
“And you think this is a good way to advance your company?” his father asked. “After all, it’s hardly a new market. Most people have already chosen the type they like best. They’re not going to switch to your product, surely.”
“I think they will,” Lucas said.
“Sell it to me,” his father ordered.
Lucas had been expecting this. It was a ritual in their family and had been as long as he could remember. If he wanted to convince his father of anything, he had to give him a pitch. Only if he presented his case successfully would his father “buy it.”
“All right,” he said. “There are two reasons I think this is going to work. One of them is very simple. The market for contraceptives is always changing. Young people become sexually active for the first time every day, and that’s not something that’s going to change. Even if everyone who uses contraceptives today is perfectly happy with what they have, tomorrow there are going to be brand-new users.”
“Good point.” For all his flaws, Lucas’s father was excellent at recognizing good business sense when he saw it. “What’s your second reason.”
“Gender equality,” Lucas said. “Women bear way too much of the responsibility for preventing unwanted pregnancy. Androcyl is a pill for men. It takes the financial and physical onus off of the woman for the first time in history. Once it hits the shelves, every woman is going to want her man to buy it.”
His father nodded slowly. “The marketing practically writes itself,” he said.
“Exactly,” Lucas said. “I have a lot of faith in this product, Dad. It’s going to change the industry forever.”
What he didn’t say—what he felt—was that it was also going to change a lot of people’s lives for the better. That wasn’t something he was going to tell his father. His father would consider that next to irrelevant. But to Lucas, it was the most important part.
The two men finished their dinner and rose to leave. Lucas lingered until his father had made his way outside, then pulled out his wallet and left a tip on the table. Just because this was his dad’s place and they ate for free here didn’t mean that their server didn’t deserve a tip for his work.
The same car that had brought him to the restaurant escorted him back home. The driver was just as silent. Lucas wondered what the man said to his family when he went home for the day about the rich family who never wanted to hear their driver speak.
They laugh at us, I’ll bet, he thought.
He sort of hoped that was true.
He had forgotten to turn on the lights in his penthouse. Fortunately, moonlight shone in through the huge windows that made up one wall of the living room, so he was able to see his way to the switches easily enough. He went around the place turning every single light on until the penthouse blazed brightly.
Lucas didn’t know why he liked having all the lights on, exactly, but he did. Somehow, it made the penthouse seem less empty on nights like this.
His place was comfortably large and well-appointed. The kitchen had all the latest gadgets and equipment, some of which Lucas had never even used. The living room boasted a massive TV, and Lucas had a remote control he could use to drop blackout curtains over the windows when he wanted to watch a movie in the dark. He even had a game room with a wet bar and a pool table—not that there was anyone to play pool with.
It was hard, sometimes, not to succumb to loneliness.
All of these things would have been better with somebody to share in them.
Once or twice, Lucas had actually entertained the idea of getting a roommate. But who could afford to split the rent on a place like this? Anybody with that kind of money would surely want to get a place of their own.
It was only Lucas who didn’t want to be on his own.
He knew what people did about this feeling.
They entered into relationships. They got girlfriends. They got married.
But how was he supposed to seriously entertain that idea? Just look at his parents. Look at what they had become. They were business partners, nothing more. They rarely even saw each other. That kind of relationship was the last thing in the world Lucas wanted to be a part of. It would drain his soul.
Still, maybe that was why he had been dwelling so much on what had happened with Elise lately. He had been feeling especially lonely since he had returned from Rome. After the joy of seeing that beautiful city, so warm and alive with history around every corner, it had been uncomfortable to be back up here in his cold penthouse surrounded by nothing but furniture and silence.
That makes sense, he thought. It’s nothing about Elise specifically. She’s just the last person I was with, and so now when I think about having somebody in my life, I think about her.
It felt as if a tension in his chest was easing as he made the realization. It didn’t matter that Elise hadn’t called him. He didn’t actually want to talk to her again. He was just having a little bout of loneliness.
And that was something he would get over. He always did.
Chapter 9
Elise
Elise spread her yoga mat on the rec center floor and sat down, gazing around the room.
She was surrounded by women in various stages of pregnancy. Some boasted massive, swollen bellies. Others, like her, weren’t yet showing and sat there looking nervous and out of place.
“Where’s Dad?” a woman with fiery red hair asked, spreading her mat out beside Elise.
Elise looked over. The woman appeared to be about her own age. She was attended by a solicitous-looking dark-haired man.
“I’m sorry?” Elise asked.
“The baby’s father,” the woman clarified. “Is he parking the car?”
“No, he’s, um…” Elise swallowed. “He’s not in the picture.”
“Oh, my God.” The woman smacked the heel of her hand against her forehead. “Nice going, Marie! I really put my foot in it, didn’t I? I’m so sorry. That was a rude question.”
“No, it’s fine,” Elise assured her. “I’m sure people will be asking me that for the next twenty years or so, so I’d better get used to it, right? I know you didn’t mean anything.”
Marie grinned. “Thanks for understanding,” she said. “This is my first day here.”
“Mine too,” Elise said.
“How far along are you?”