After embellishing her resume, Valerie-a single mom-lands a job as an administrative assistant to the hottest, most entitled and obnoxious man she's ever met: Preston Cartwright, the CFO of the prestigious Cartwright & Sons Enterprises.
Several yea...
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There's a band playing when I enter the house I grew up in. It doesn't feel like a home any longer and looks nothing like it did when I was little except on the outside. It has been renovated, so the once normal-sized living room where my brothers and I used to watch TV and play video games is now like a reception hall at an exclusive hotel.
The band has set up in the corner next to an elaborate bar my father had custom-built. It's currently occupied by no less than three bartenders, and they are all busy pouring drinks to the sizeable crowd of people surrounding it. I recognize most of them as being part of my parents' circle, a few movie stars and other celebrities, but there are also some people I've never met. I assume they are at my dad's party because they are the people he's hoping to impress next. Most likely, he wants to make some kind of business deal.
These parties are always the same dog and pony show. Mom is dressed to the nines with not a single piece of hair out of place and Dad loves to show her off. She's ten years younger than him, and what people would consider a trophy wife, but she looks even younger thanks to all the Botox and spa treatments. She was only twenty when she had Andrew, but she looks closer to his age, then Dad's. over by the open accordion glass doors to the backyard patio, allowing the indoor-outdoor living people seem to want.
"Happy birthday, Dad," I say when I get to them and hand over the whiskey Valerie ordered.
He smiles and pulls me into a one-armed hug. "Thanks, Preston."
Mom is next. She wraps her skinny arms around me. Her blonde hair is styled into a bob which feels stiff against my face. I can just imagine the amount of hairspray used to hold everything in place. She leans back and places a kiss on my cheek while my dad peeks into the gift bag. He lets out a small whistle when he sees what it is. "That's a good one, Pres. Thank you."
He seems genuinely excited about it. Valerie must have picked a good one.
"You're welcome."
He smiles and I smile back. I'm starting to relax, thinking I'm in the clear and that this may be one party where they won't try to help me find a wife, but then he waves to someone.. "I want you to meet Alonso Hernandez and his daughter."
Of course he does.
I haven't been at the party for more than a minute and he's already introducing me to some potential client with an eligible daughter. It's so predictable I want to groan out loud, but instead I school my face and turn to the side to watch a shorter man with dark curly hair and an impressive mustache approach us. He has a beautiful young woman on his arm.
"This is my youngest son, Preston," my dad says. I smile and shake the man's hand. "Mr. Hernandez is the architect that will be working on the First Street project after the new year," my father continues. "And his daughter Antonia is in her first year of college, pre-law."
Pre-law is a bit impressive, especially if she sticks with it all through college and finishes law school. But she's a college freshman. That's a bit desperate, even for my parents. Legally, she can't even drink yet, but that doesn't stop her from taking small sips from the crystal champagne glass in her hand. Nobody seems bothered that she's at least ten years younger than I am, but then that's the age difference between my parents.
