“Those are actually rumors planted in the media by my agent. He thought the bad boy image would sell better. He did it without my knowledge once, and it took off like wildfire.”
“Are you serious?”
“I swear. I can’t say he wasn’t right about it. It did kind of put my name out there. Not one of my proudest accomplishments.”
“Oh my God! This is so crazy!”
“You will be surprised. There are public image experts who come up with detailed plans on how to rehabilitate your image or enhance it. It’s the high art of influence psychology. I don’t deal with the business side of it and stay focused on my game.”
“That’s shocking.”
“The more shocking news I have for you… I don’t know if you are ready for it…”
“What? I am ready. Ready as I will ever be…” Caroline said hoping he wasn’t going to tell her he was gay. That would explain why he resisted having sex with her and how he was the most romantically inclined person she had ever met.
“My mom is sick. She has lung cancer. Never smoked a day in her life. It is the most shocking news ever. Everyone is surprised. Including her doctors.”
“I am so sorry,” Caroline said, hugging him tighter than she had ever before.
“We have still not come to terms with it. They are giving her twelve to eighteen months. They have these new therapies that can potentially buy her more time. But still…”
“I can’t imagine how horrible it must be for you. And for her. So sorry…”
“What can we do? It is like the worst kind of lottery to get. To know that she didn’t do anything to cause it makes it hard to accept. She is so crazy about life. She was raised as a single child and had only me, and was anxiously looking forward to having a big family. Always pressing me to get married and have many kids. That is her biggest dream. And then this happens and kind of destroys everything. Now you see why I was reticent about it and didn’t want to tell you…”
How does one respond to this? In the case of love stricken Caroline, there was only one short answer. “Let’s do it!” She said it out loud. Every part of her body begged to say so and her tongue complied.
It was as if in a moment her purpose in life was instantaneously clarified. All the promises of growing up and becoming an adult woman, the distant dream and hope of having a happy family with a carrying life partner… She couldn’t possibly do better than this man she had been infatuated with… And there too was the promise of stepping outside of her father’s shadow and becoming her own person. If motherhood short-circuits her anxiety of what career path to pursue, what better gift can there be?
“I am sorry to put this on you. I feel guilty for putting you in this position. I couldn’t possibly accept without giving you an opportunity to think about it.”
“I love you, Jack! I have been crazy about you for so long I can’t even remember. My worst fear was you didn’t feel the same way about me…”
Caroline turned towards him and started kissing him wildly. Can life get any better than this? Could there be a better graduation gift than this?
“Why don’t we visit mum together and see how it goes… It is never a great idea to make life changing decisions in the moment of passion, as my coach used to tell me.”
“I can wait as long as you are mine,” she jumped on him, finally giving in to all the urge inside of her.
Totally free and willing.
~~~
