Rich, Famous and Partnerless

Unfinished business

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“Why is it mischievous, fun, and sexy if a guy has a string of lovers that he’s cast aside, loved and left? Yet if a woman dates three or four people in an eight-year period, she is a serial dater, and it gives some 12-year-old the idea to call her a slut on the internet?"
Taylor Swift
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Margot

One hundred and three sheep
One hundred and five sheep
One hundred and six sheep
One hundred and seven sheep
One hundred and...

"Honey cakes, you're still listening to me, right?"

"Uhn? Um.. yes, yes of course, I'm still listening." I answer distractedly. Obviously, my sheep counting had worked perfectly well in tuning out my brother's annoying words. "So.." I pause, racking my brain for what we had been discussing before I tuned out. "You were talking about not all men being the same right?"

Over the phone, I hear Kevin give a long, exasperated sigh and I automatically know I had guessed wrongly. "I said that about five minutes ago! And we've moved on to another discussion."

"Another discussion which also involves men," I mumble.

"I heard that," he immediately informs me.

"Oh really? Come to think of it, I actually mumbled that loudly so you wouldn't hear what I was saying," I counter.

"Don't you get witty with me, young lady."

"Yessir!" I deepen my voice.

Kevin laughs, long and loud before speaking again, his tone taking on a serious edge. "Seriously, you know I don't bother you when it comes to your affairs. I mean, it's your life, your relationships. But Pops' been giving me shit about not talking you into settling down and giving him grandkids."

I can't help but laugh at his wry tone. "So he couldn't give me that talk himself. He had to threaten you into doing it for him. Interesting," I conclude, amusement clear in my voice.

I hear Kevin clear his throat at this statement.

Oops! I think I just bruised someone's ego.

"He didn't threaten me."

I said it!

Knowing he will definitely spill, I roll my eyes and stay silent, silently counting in my head.

"Okay. Maybe he told me he would tell Zara about that thing that happened when I was eight," he finally speaks up.

I was at number five, by the way.

"Oooh," I say, unable to keep the laughter out of my voice.

Zara, being Kevin's Italy-based girlfriend, has had the opportunity of communicating with both Dad and I and even Maria over the phone. Even though we are yet to meet, I already felt our spirits connect from the first time I heard her voice.

And from Dad's wide smile every time he's on the phone with her, I can tell he approves too.

But maybe he approves too much by threatening to tell his son's girlfriend about that time in grade three when Kevin had first told a girl he liked her and got turned down. And then wet his pants as he walked away from the girl with tears in his eyes and with everyone in the hallway laughing at the wide wet spot at the crotch area of his white pants.

Kevin would have given anything to erase that particular event from every one's brain, including Dad's and mine.

Unfortunately, more than thirty years later, that event is still used to blackmail him into doing some things he wouldn't have done on a norm.