Page 14 of Irresistible

“No. Don’t apologize. It’s just a little painful to talk about. But I don’t hide where I came from just like I don’t hide where I want to go. That’s part of trying to be a successful person,” Richard explained.

“That’s an incredibly mature way to look at it.”

“It’s the only way I know how to look at it. Business is largely about calculated honesty, but you can’t get by if you hide a large part of your past. People will find out eventually and ask you why you had to hide it in the first place. It’s just a bad thing to do, in general,” Richard continued.

“So you grew up somewhat poor then?” Scarlet asked, letting her guard down a little bit.

“Yeah. Our dad left us when I was about three. There were four of us: me, my two sisters, and my mom. When my dad left, we had to move into a small apartment in the bad part of town. Our mom did everything she could to keep us safe and to keep food on the table. At one point, she was working three jobs and saving for us to go to college. It was a rough time, but we made the best of it.”

Richard’s story was fascinating. Scarlet came from a fairly typical background. She had two brothers, and her parents were still together. They weren’t rich, by any means. But they never wanted for anything, and they never had to figure out where their next meal was going to come from. Their home was always warm, there were always presents under the tree at Christmas, and everyone seemed to be exactly where they needed to be. It was no surprise that someone like Richard wound up achieving such success in life. When you grow up with so little, it can light a fire under you. You have to work ten times harder than most other people do just to survive.

“That’s terrible. I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Scarlet said, looking down at what remained of her sandwich.

She still regretting bringing up the topic. It was incredibly awkward for her to talk about struggle with someone who endured so much. Scarlet liked to think of herself as a strong person, but the truth was that she never really had any reason to demonstrate the strength and endurance that someone like Richard had to.

“Don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything. As much as I sometimes wish we had more growing up, coming up poor gives you a tremendous amount that a lot of other people don’t have. My family is incredibly close because we had to rely on each other for so much. We have really good work ethics because we had to strive and scrape for everything we have. That all comes in handy later on,” Richard explained.

“You’re right. And clearly you’ve done much more than make the best of it. I mean, look at you, you pretty much have it all, right?” Scarlet said, now unafraid of offending him.

“I guess. That mentality never really leaves you. I think that’s the most negative thing, even though it can give some pretty great results. You’re never comfortable, even when you’re living in extreme comfort. You always want more. You’re never satisfied. You always want to keep the people you suffered with from ever suffering again.”

“Well, it seems like you’re in position to keep your family from suffering ever again.”

“My mother is getting on in years. I like to think I’ve made it so that she will never have any material trouble again. But I can’t keep her from aging. I just feel so bad that she spent some of her best years struggling to keep our family afloat. She has a nice home now. But she’ll only have it for, what, another twenty or so years if we’re very lucky? That kind of stuff I can’t help.”

Richard clearly had a great deal of time to think about these things. He seemed much more emotionally mature than Scarlet. Scarlet couldn’t help but feel incredibly stunted in her personal development. She couldn’t even keep her love life together, and now she was hopelessly lusting after her boss, a man who had achieved so much more in life than anyone else she knew. Scarlet worked hard, and she was generally proud of who she was as a person. But she hadn’t done the sort of hard work that Richard did. She barely even knew what she wanted to do with her life.

“You seem like a really great guy, Richard. Surely, all the women must be tripping over themselves to be with you,” Scarlet said, kicking herself again as she said it.

“I haven’t really had time for dating. I’ve had a few relationships here and there, but nothing serious. I want to change that at some point, but it seems like there’s just never time, you know? This job is still fairly new to me, and I have a lot to learn. At the same time, you can’t put these things off forever. I guess I just have to see how it turns out.”

“I see,” Scarlet said, trying to do anything to change the topic.

“What about you? What do your parents do?” Richard asked, tired of talking about himself.

“My dad’s an accountant and my mom runs a flower shop downtown. They’ve basically been doing the same thing for thirty years. They love it. It seems like they’ve always known what they want to do, and they just do it,” Scarlet said.

“Well, it’s clear that they raised a great daughter. You’re really very easy to talk to. But you make it seem like you have some regrets of your own. You sound like you’re comparing your parents’ careers to your own.”

Richard was incredibly insightful, which came in very handy in business. When you’re negotiating a large deal or trying to get around management problems, it helps to be able to read your opponent. He was adept at doing just that, and it was a consistent point of praise in his performance reviews throughout the years.

“I guess I just don’t entirely know what I want to do with my life. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy working here. But I’m not sure what I want to do long-term,” Scarlet elaborated.

“I understand. It can be difficult to find the right fit.”

“It doesn’t seem to have been very difficult for you,” Scarlet chortled.

“Everyone’s different. Who knows how I would have turned out if I didn’t have the upbringing I had? I may have felt comfortable enough to do something a little further off the beaten path. But I knew money was important, so I pursued something that I not only liked, but had a high chance of making money.”

“You’re not the only one who is easy to talk to, Richard,” Scarlet said flirtatiously, trying to keep her tone as subdued as possible.

“That’s nice to hear.”

The two continued to talk for about another ten minutes. They talked about their families, their interests, and their passions. Richard had taught himself to play piano at a young age, offering to clean a teacher’s classroom in exchange for time on their piano. He still played as often as he could. Scarlet always had an interest in art. She enrolled in art school before being put off by an extremely critical professor her freshman year. Conversation flowed easily between them, and before they knew it, an hour had gone by.

“Wow. Can you believe we’ve been talking for an hour? I should probably get back to work,” Richard said, glancing at his watch.

“Yeah. I guess time flies when you’re having fun. I should let you get back to it. Is there anything you need?”