Page 104 of Betting on the Boy Next Door
He considers that. “Still depends. I’m not in the business of telling my grandson’s business. But you can still try me.”
“Josh is the best guy I’ve ever dated,” I say, and he smiles.
“I approve of your opening statement. Continue, counselor.”
“It took us both a minute to get past some old ways of thinking about things, but aside from my roommates, I’ve never had someone so thoroughly in my corner. But I’m worried I might be causing problems with his parents, and I don’t want him choosing me over them.”
“You think his feelings might be strong enough that he would do that?”
I hesitate, playing over the things he’s said and the words that are still unsaid. Neither of us has talked about love. But he does for me the things I do for my roommates because I care and want them to be happy. I don’t know what you call that if it’s not love. “Yes, sir,” I answer. “I think his feelings might be that strong.”
“It bothers you, this idea that you could be an obstacle between them?”
“Yes.” As much as Josh has talked about figuring out his own path, about how he’s accepted that his parents will never see him as changed, it hurts him. He doesn’t say it, but I see him talking himself into believing that it doesn’t.
“What makes you think he’s going to be forced to choose?” Grampa Jim asks.
I can’t quite pin down his tone. He sounds kind of like one of my college professors using the Socratic method to lead me toward an answer. “They think I’m pulling him back into his old life. Partying. Not caring. Blowing off responsibilities. But I’m not,” I say before he can ask. “Josh really does love the law. I’m not sure he’s found exactly the right fit yet, but I think he likes being part of the firm, likes being a Brower. I won’t make him choose, and if he tried, I’d cut him loose.”
“Is that a fact?” He takes a sip from his mug, and I swear he’s trying to hide a smile.
I don’t back down. “Yes, sir. It’s a fact.”
He sets his mug on the arm of his chair and nods. “If I’ve got this right, Josh has been going out of his way to show his support for you. He refuses to quit the firm even though my stubborn son is practically taunting him to do it, and your worry is that he’ll try to choose you over them?”
“That’s . . .” It sounds so presumptuous when he says it, but . . . “Yeah, that’s it, basically.”
“You think that taking care of Josh means pushing him away so he doesn’t try to do that?”
“Ye—wait, no.” I stop and think. “Maybe? I don’t know. It almost made sense in my head until you said it that way.”
“Sounded kind of dumb, did it?” This time, there’s definitely a smile playing around his lips.
“To be honest, I was going for noble.”
He flat-out laughs. “You really are something, Samantha Sami. I think what you’re trying to do is figure out how to show up for Josh the way he’s shown up for you, but you’re overshooting the mark by quite a bit.”
“So what do I do?”
He smiles. “The last couple of months are the first time I’ve ever seen Josh go after whathewants. When he was screwing around in college, that was a reaction against what his parents wanted. Then when my Catherine died . . .” He trails off in a sigh, and I don’t try to fill the silence.
Eventually, he stirs again. “Catherine’s death shook Josh. He went the other way, trying to be exactly the son Steve and Elizabeth wanted. And now it looks like he’s leaning toward another extreme, which is the false binary that he must choose between you and them. If it’s not true, show him it’s not true. If you take yourself out of the equation, you’re only reinforcing that belief.”
“I’m trying to make sure he doesn’t shut them out,” I say. “I made him go to family dinner.”
“We appreciated it,” Grampa Jim says. “It’s good that you see he needs his family. But maybe it’s not him that you need to convince. It’s possible my son is pushing our Josh because he wants to have some control over when he gets hurt instead of waiting for Josh to blindside him.”
“Like when someone picks a fight so they can force a breakup they believe is coming,” I say. That’s Madi’s MO every single time.
“Exactly.”
“So, prove to Miss Elizabeth and Mr. Brower that Josh doesn’t have to choose between us, and make Josh believe it too?”
“Basically,” Grampa Jim says.
“But how?”
“That I don’t know. But I’ve faced down a lot of shrewd people in boardrooms and across negotiating tables in my career, and you could hold your own with any one of them. It’ll come to you.”
