SWNOVELS Chapter 12
“Aren’t I the lucky woman tonight—having dinner with Tobias Stone?”
“It’s a shame Dad couldn’t make it.”
“He’s meeting me at the Manhattan Theatre Club at 8. Why don’t you come along? I’m sure we can get you a ticket.” Tobias shook his head. Meeting his mother for dinner on such short notice was one thing, spending the rest of the evening with his parents was another. He was tired from his trip and not in the mood for dodging his mother’s prying questions. “Thanks, but no. I‘ve had a tough week and need to go home. How is he?”
“Your father is very well, despite having two sons who seem to have forgotten their parents.” Millicent Stone sucked on the olive from her Martini while Tobias felt his neck tense up. “That’s not true. We haven’t forgotten you. I admit I’ve been slightly lax, but Xavier makes an effort.” He’s got nothing much else to do, thought Tobias. His mother pursed her stringy lips together, disagreeing. “If you can call that an effort. As for your father, he’s meeting an old friend and I thought it would be a good time to catch up with my elusive son.”
“I’ve been busy, Mom.” Tobias explained.
“Too busy to make Christmas or New Year’s visits?”
“I saw you at Thanksgiving!”
“Tobias,” his mother dipped her chin and gave him a death stare. “I only have two boys, and both of you seem to have forgotten all about me.” Even if he saw her every week, it wouldn’t be enough.
She seemed to want more of them as they got older and he had a feeling that she was rather lonely, despite her seemingly busy social life. His father kept himself busy with his friend but his mother seemed to go through moments when she wanted to know what they were up to and wanted to see them more often. She seemed needy in a way his father wasn’t.
Even Ivy had found her a little interfering and intimidating at times, and he understood why. She wanted to know everything, be involved in everything, and found it difficult to let go. He had shielded Ivy from accepting one too many dinner invitations from her, or from committing to spend every Christmas with his parents. It didn’t matter who he was or that he ran a company that made billions of dollars, or that he counted well-known business leaders as friends close enough to send Christmas cards to, Millicent Stone was a formidable woman. Even he found her imposing at times, and he’d had plenty of years to get used to her.
“I thought you might bring Naomi with you?” He picked that moment to fill his mouth with a big chunk of steak and spent several moments chewing it slowly. Millicent waited, her wine glass cradled in her leathery, silver braceleted hand. Her thin lips not giving any indication of what she was thinking about or of what she knew.
He knew, even if she hadn’t said it in as many words, that his mother didn’t like Naomi very much. To this day, he had failed to understand the reason why. Naomi had been ‘properly dressed’, she’d dripped from head to toe in designer labels that his mother would have approved of, and she looked ‘right’ in all the right parts though her hair was died a shade of blonde that didn’t quite match her eyebrows. Still, there was no way that his mother would have known that she was a high class escort.
“I just got back from San Diego, Mom.” He didn’t want to get into a conversation about Naomi.
“She must have been busy tonight if you’ve been away for a week, was it? And you’ve chosen to have dinner with me instead of with her.” She didn’t miss a trick, his mother.
He nodded. “It was a week.” If he told her he had split with Naomi, she’d be lining up daughters of friends from ‘the right type of people’ she knew. His father didn’t interfere, and in his own quiet way managed to touch base with him, even if all that passed between them was a ‘how’s it going?’ followed by a nod. That’s what he loved about his father. Ellery Stone didn’t pry; his mother, on the other hand, wanted not only details, but times and measurements along with it. He wondered if it would be rude to get the bill immediately after he’d finished his dinner. “What time is your show?”
“Not for another hour. We have time for coffee.”
His shoulders slumped. “I saw Xavier on New Year’s Eve,” he said, trying to catch the waiter’s eye and get the order hurried along. His mother sniffed discontentedly. “We saw him last weekend when he introduced us to a Russian waif, Petra Something-or-other-wich.” Tobias couldn’t help but smile. Xavier had some balls bringing his girlfriend over to meet his parents.
“He brought her over to meet you?”
His mother dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin. “Yes. For Sunday lunch. You recall that family tradition we used to have, way before you both discovered sex and girls and then disappeared into your own lives?”
“What was she like?” he asked, ignoring her comment.
“Very skinny and extremely tall,” his mother murmured, her face a blanket of displeasure. When they were younger, she had seemed softer. When he quickly reached the echelons of the super wealthy, Tobias had set his parents up in a beautiful home in Connecticut as well as a townhouse in New York. They seemed happy with their lives, traveling and socializing between their two homes but he’d noticed a gradual change in his mother. “We used to live in Queens before, or have you erased all those memories from your past? I hope you’re not ashamed about where you came from.”
“I don’t have any airs or graces.” He raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. “You should leave Xavier alone and not interfere.”
“I just think he can do better.”
“I rest my case.”
She threw her napkin to the side in protest. “You make me out to be a monster, Tobias.” Thankfully, a waiter appeared, ready to take their order. “Filter coffee for me, and—?” he looked at his mother.
“A mint tea.” The waiter nodded and scurried off. But he was still curious to know. “What was she like?” He asked, trying to imagine Xavier and his new girlfriend at what could only have been a painful meal. There was only so much diplomacy his father could dish out.
“She reminded me of Ivy, only taller, and with longer hair and she talked funny.” Tobias’s lips clamped together tightly at the mention of Ivy’s name. “But, he does seem happy and I hope this one lasts longer than his previous attempts at finding a girlfriend. It’s about time he thought about settling down.”
“I don’t think he’s looking for a lifetime commitment,” Tobias contended.
“Why not? You were married and settled at his age.” He looked away. He’d been happy, so deliriously happy that he’d taken it all for granted. “We’re not the same, Mom. He’s not ready to settle down. I’m happy for him.” He wasn’t sure if the girl his brother had been with on New Year’s Eve was this new one. That evening seemed a long time ago, even though it hadn’t been. For him, so much had happened during that time. “Thank you.” He said, as the waiter placed their hot drinks on the table. “Naomi and I split up.” Something forced the words out and he watched his mother’s face freeze over. “Thank heavens for that,” she murmured, finally.
“You never really liked her, did you?” he asked, watching her knobbled fingers as she stirred the mint in her tea.
“She wasn’t the right type of girl for you, Tobias.”
“And what would the right type of girl be?”
“Someone like Ivy, of course. Good family, nice parents.”
Tobias snorted loudly. “You used to say I could do better before I married Ivy, and you never liked her parents much either.”
“But she was perfect for you.”
“You never acted as if she was, when she was alive.”
“She was.” His mother insisted. “She was the best of them all.”
“I never had many girlfriends, Mom. We met at 16, or have you wiped that from your memory as well?” He’d had many girlfriends before Ivy, but that didn’t count and after Ivy, there had only been Naomi. He wasn’t sure yet whether he had won Savannah Page back. But the signs looked promising.
She placed her leathery hand over his. “I might not have been as understanding as I could have, Tobias. But even I could see that Ivy was a gem. I feel for you, my darling. You don’t talk about it anymore.”
“I don’t want to,” he said, moving his hand away and drinking his coffee quickly. “She’s gone and I have to move on.”
Much to his surprise his mother didn’t come out with a list of possible matches for him. “It makes me very happy to hear that. You don’t need to rush into anything, Tobias. You take your time.”
“I’m not rushing into anything, Mom,” he replied, dropping a brown sugar cube into his coffee. He thought back to his encounter with Savannah just now. As with most of his interactions with her, he couldn’t tell for sure but she’d looked as if she wanted to talk to him. Maybe the tide was turning and Savannah Page was trying to reach out to him. If he could play it cool a little longer, things might turn around completely.
“Nor should you, not with what you’ve been through, my darling.”
He smiled as he remembered the day at Bryant Park with Savannah and Jacob. “What’s so funny?” His mother’s hawk eyes examined his face.
“Nothing,” he replied, quickly. He didn’t need his mother’s opinion on Savannah and Jacob. Sometimes, he wondered himself if he was trying to recreate his past. “It can’t be nothing if you’re smiling like that.” His mother persisted, fishing for information. Tobias shrugged and lifted up his cup of coffee. “Just a young boy I met recently.”
“A young boy?”
“A friend’s son. He reminds me of myself, a little.”
His mother’s face hardened. “He reminds you of yourself or—”
“Don’t go there.”
“Tobias.”
“Don’t.” He replied, staring at his coffee and taking the last sip quickly. “Look at that,” he said, loudly, glancing at his watch. “You’re going to be late for your show. Let me call you a cab because I’ve sent Morris home.” He didn’t care whether she had finished her mint tea or not.
Reluctantly, Millicent got up as Tobias settled the bill. A waiter rushed over with her white fur coat. “Next time, don’t leave it so long.”
“I won’t,” he replied, thanking his lucky stars that he’d gotten through the evening relatively unscathed.
What, he wondered, would his mother make of Savannah?