Mina Ch. 06

"I saw the picture in the newspaper."

Mina's blood ran cold and her hands actually began to shake, she pressed the phone against her ear so she wouldn't drop it. She'd never been afraid of Bryan but there was something so scary about the way he said those words. There was no emotion in his voice...she would have expected disappointment or anger...something. "I'm so sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't know they were taking pictures for the paper."

"Fuck the newspaper!" Bryan almost yelled. "Are you dating him?"

"No," Mina said quickly.

The other end of the phone was silent for a moment. "So, you're telling me that you are not dating the Senator's son?"

He spat the last two words. Mina frowned. "No, I'm not!" she yelled. "I didn't even know who his parents were until we got to the luncheon. I was just doing him a favor. It was technically not a date!" And that was technically not a lie.

"Look," Bryan said with a defeated sigh. "I'm working my ass off here and it doesn't really seem to matter."

"Bryan..."

"I've got to call you back."

The line went dead in her ear and Mina swallowed the frustrated scream rising in her throat. She didn't want to wake Ava from her afternoon nap and she had to get back to the computer. She was halfway through with a term paper for Art History class when someone knocked. "Bryan," she whispered saving the document as quickly as she could.

William gave her a huge grin and a single red rose when she pulled the door open.

Damn it! Mina stepped aside to let him enter the apartment.

"Where's your kid?" he asked glancing around. She noticed he was holding a cream-colored bear behind his back.

"She's sleeping," Mina said motioning to the couch so they could both sit. He hander her the bear and tossed his arm across the back of the couch as he sat, as if he expected her to nestle into the spot beside him. She sat on the opposite end, leaving the middle cushion beside him empty. "William, you really should have given me a heads up about that lunch thing."

"What do you mean?" The faint grin on his lips showed that he knew exactly what she meant.

Mina sighed. "I mean, you didn't mention that it was such a big deal...or who your parents are...or that we'd be on Page Six and in every newspaper from here to Buffalo."

"I did say the fundraiser was important and I just assumed you knew who my father is...everyone else does."

Mina couldn't help bristling at his self-righteous tone. "Well, I didn't. Now I'm screwed. Bryan saw it and he's so pissed right now..."

"Bryan?" William asked leaning against the arm of the chair. "You mean Ava's dad?"

She frowned.

"Oh, God, Mina," Williams said sitting up and leaning towards her. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound like a jerk but I honestly didn't think you'd mind being in the society papers. I mean, it's really where you belong considering who your mother is."

Mina blinked at him slowly digesting what he'd just told her. "How do you know my mother?"

"Oh, I don't. My father does."

Oh. My. God. "Your father knows my mother?" Mina realized she sounded brain damaged but something just wasn't clicking somewhere.

"Of course. Your mother is a very famous litigator worth millions of dollars and one of his constituents."

Mina felt like she was suffocating. She leapt off the couch as she gasped for breath. Everything was starting to make perfect sense. "Oh my God, William!" she barked. "Did my mother set us up? Did she tell you to ask me out? Did she tell you to take me to that luncheon?"

William watched her coolly. "My father was the one who made me aware of your attending this school. I don't know if your mother had anything to do with that."

"Of course she did!" Mina said fisting her hair in both hands like a mad woman. "She must have had something to do with this! Damn it! Damn it!"

"Mina," William said reaching for her, "Are you okay?"

She hadn't even noticed him get up from the couch or approach her but as soon as he tried to touch her she leapt backwards. "No," she said waggling a finger at him. "You have got to go."

William frowned. "Are you serious?"

"Hell yeah, I'm serious!" Mina snapped taking a few steps away from him.

"Are you telling me that you'll have a kid with some loser drug dealer but you don't want shit to do with me?"

Mina was surprised; she'd never heard him use foul language before.

"You're still in love with him, aren't you?"

Mina remained silent.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" William snapped. "You and I make sense. You are perfect for me. Two families rooted in the law and politics. Do you realize that I plan on being president some day?"

Mina shook her head. "I can't be Jacqueline to your JFK. I have no interest in politics and I don't plan on being anyone's trophy wife. Who I date is not contingent on my mother's money. So, I'm asking you nicely one last time to leave."

William stared at her, with a look on his face that she could read easily. He was shocked and probably embarrassed that she wasn't willing to go out with him. He'd been working so hard to connect with her and he was not one accustomed to failure. He shook his head ever so slightly when she didn't look away from his gaze and turned for the door.

Mina locked the door behind him and shut herself in her room to call her mother.

Diana answered on the second ring.

"Mother," Mina said through clenched teeth, "did you tell Senator Malone to get his son to ask me out?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mina." The statement was simple enough; but there was no indignation or insult in her tone. Her tone was too matter-of-fact.

"Don't be a lawyer right now!" Mina snapped. "I need you to be my mother and admit what you did!"

"Okay, so I may have mentioned to the Senator that our children attended the same college...and that you were single. What is so bad about that?" There was the indignation that indicated her mother was telling the truth.

"I told you that I wasn't ready to date yet."

"Are you going to pine for Bryan the rest of your life? You made a mistake but you don't have to pay for it the rest of your life!"

Mina wanted to scream, but instead she kept her tone even when she said, "I can't disconnect from Bryan the way you did with dad. I don't want Ava to grow up not knowing her father."

The only sound on the line was a quick hitch in her mother's breath. "We didn't need him," she said quietly, as if she talking to herself.

"No, mother, you didn't need him. I did. I know that you think my getting pregnant was a mistake I made all on my own, but your decision was a contributing factor in that. I needed a dad to tell me that I was smart and pretty every once in a while."

"I told you those things," Diana said with a sniff.

"You told me I was capable of making better grades and that I'd look better if I wore my hair down. It's not exactly the same thing." Mina sighed.

"But..."

"I have to go," Mina interrupted. "I'm going to call Bryan and I'd appreciate it if you stay out of my love life. Ava and I will see you for dinner on Saturday." She pressed END without hearing her mother's reply.