Page 26 of Irresistible

“I like that, though. There aren’t enough honest people in this world, certainly not enough who know themselves well enough to ask for they want. I really respect that,” he started.

“You’re entirely too chipper. How do you cultivate that? Wait, answer my other question first,” Scarlet said, tongue-tied.

“Right. One thing at a time,” Richard laughed. “To your first question, there was a time when I went out with famous younger actresses. It was a very short time. I quickly realized that I didn’t have anything in common with them. I got bored very quickly. They really were very nice people, but things didn’t last long.”

It was a perfectly coherent and acceptable explanation, but Scarlet could feel herself getting irrationally jealous. She had absolutely no reason to be. Richard didn’t owe her anything, and she was the one brought up the issue. But she needed to know more.

“How many of them did you date? Before you realized that you needed to go in a different direction, I mean.”

She tried to come off as being genuinely curious. But Richard could tell that it was getting under her skin. He actually thought it was kind of cute and decided to go with it.

“Only a few. I think I’ve only ever dated three actresses, and two of them were famous. You seem very interested in this.”

“You’re an interesting person. I’m interested in you, so this all interests me,” Scarlet said hastily, realizing too late that she was overusing derivatives of the word “interest”.

“Ah. I see. To answer your second question, I don’t think I’ve intentionally cultivated any of my ‘chipper-ness’. Coming from where I came from, you learn to cherish any bit of good fortune you come across. Of course, I don’t just mean financial or material good fortune. Just being around a good friend or sharing enjoyable times is its own form of good fortune. I’ve just had so much of it lately that I just can’t help from being happy about it. It can all go away at any time.”

Scarlet felt humbled and put in her place. He had the proper outlook on life, one that came from a childhood of relative scarcity and hardship. She had a lot to learn.

“Another question. I’m sorry if this seems a little rapid fire.”

“It can’t be worse than a shareholder meeting. At least I actually want to talk to you.”

“Have you ever been in love? How long ago was it?”

“You really don’t beat around the bush, do you?” Richard asked sarcastically.

“It’s not something I’m known for.”

“Fair enough. Uh, yes, I have been in love before. Once before. It was a while ago. I was a much younger man then.”

“Was it with one of the starlets?”

“Haha. No. That was one of the reasons I stopped going down that road. No, this was a young woman I dated starting my senior year of college. We were together for about three years. I fell really hard for her. I honestly thought we might get married, but things didn’t work out. Sorry, that’s probably more than you wanted to know.”

It wasn’t nearly as much as she wanted to know. She had so many other questions. What made him fall in love with her? What kept them together? How did they meet? Did he ever actually ask her to marry him? That all seemed to be too much for the moment, although she did want to get one question out since he did go into such detail.

“Why did you two break up, if you were so in love with her?”

“That’s a very complicated question. The short answer is that I could tell that she was in love with someone else. After we graduated from college, I could tell that we were going on two different paths. I was working all the time and I eventually became obsessed with success. She was also a very ambitious person, but she found satisfaction in the position that she took right out of school. We eventually grew apart, and it was apparent that she was falling for someone she worked with. Of course, she would never admit it, but I knew. Once I figured it out, things went downhill from there. She actually wound up marrying him. They have two kids and live somewhere in Vermont now, I think.”

Scarlet remained silent, processing all the information she had just heard.

“I guess that wasn’t really the short version, was it?” Richard asked.

“No, I appreciate you telling me all that. She sounds like a very special person,” Scarlet said, trying to sound pleasant and neutral.

“She was. But I’ve moved on. I’ve gotten some of my more juvenile tendencies out of the way, or at least I like to think so. I’m ready to meet the right person and really make something of it.”

He seemed sure of himself, as he usually did. Scarlet felt both relieved and pressured. The questions started popping back up in her mind. What if she wasn’t the one he was looking for? What if she was just wasting his time? Was she looking for “the one”, or was she still working on getting her own “juvenile tendencies” out of her system?

“Thank you for being so honest with me. I hope I didn’t come off as rude. I guess once I get fixed on something, it’s very difficult for me to let go.”

“It’s no problem at all. You’re passionate, and that’s a great trait in a person. You’re honestly very special, and I’m not just saying that.”

Scarlet blushed again. She couldn’t help it. She sighed as she pulled into the parking lot of the Janesville branch of Local Citizens Bank. It seemed like a good stopping point in the conversation. It was difficult to go from asking about the woman someone once loved to asking what their siblings do for a living.

“You’re far too kind. Well, we’re here,” Scarlet said, once again playfully brushing back her hair.

“That felt like it took no time at all. I guess time flies with great company.”