Embarrassment
tugged at him. He hadn’t told her how much this meant to him. “Yes. It’s important to me. He’s the reason I want to go. I want you to meet him.”
She smiled at him. “He’s important to you. It’s important to you that I meet him?”
He nodded. “Yes. He’s all I have left of my dad.”
“So, this trip is really for me to basically meet your parents.”
He shifted his feet. “More or less. You still need to meet my mom and my sister.”
“I get the impression that you don’t care what they think as much as you do your grandfather.” Her brown eyes watched his face. How did she see him so easily?
“They like everyone. My grandfather is more... picky.” There was a very good reason why he’d never brought a girl home to Grandfather. None of them measured up. He thought Bonnie would.
She hugged him. “I now see how important this is to you. So, let’s go.”
“Yeah?” His spirits lifted.
“Yeah. But, no public areas. I’m still not sure going to New Orleans is a great idea,” she told him. “But, it’s important to you. So, I’ll go.”
He grinned and hugged her.
She was going to meet his grandfather.
Chapter 26
Dylan
The plane ride went smoother than Dylan could have hoped for. He knew she was nervous about flying and leaving their safe haven of the ranch. He wanted her to feel safe. Luckily, being a billionaire had some perks. Like private jets.
He’d loved watching her eyes go wide as they drove up to his jet. He’d loved watching her wander around the jet and asking if this was really all for them. He was fairly sure her mouth didn’t close the entire take-off because she was so amazed to have the plane all to themselves.
That in itself made the purchase of the jet worth it.
They’d flown out of the small local airport. Carter had made sure the runway could handle jets, so the entire airport serviced only small crop dusters and multi-million dollar airplanes. It always made Dylan chuckle to see a ten thousand dollar crop duster sitting next to his ten million dollar jet on the tarmac like that was a normal thing.
The flight was quick and uneventful. She refused the champagne but loved the chocolate covered strawberries he’d had put on-board for her.
“Tell me about your grandfather,” she said, settling into one of the over-sized white leather chairs. She popped a strawberry into her mouth.
“What do you want to know?” he asked, taking the seat opposite of her and grabbing his own strawberry.
She thought for a moment. “Your favorite memory of him.”
“That’s easy,” Dylan told her. He smiled, remembering the moment. “I was nineteen and in college. I hated it. I hated going to classes that didn’t matter and listening to professors that were only teaching because they couldn’t get jobs in the field.”
“Wow.” Bonnie raised her eyebrows. “I sense no bitterness there.”
He chuckled at her sarcasm. “I was supposed to get a finance degree so I could manage the family businesses. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. I had this idea for a computer run business, but my dad was determined I would get this degree and that it would give me the best shot at a good future.”
“You don’t strike me as someone who would enjoy a finance degree,” Bonnie replied.
He shook his head and made a sour face. “I hated it. I liked computers. I liked programming. I was really good at it too, but my father was insistent on the finance degree.” Dylan shook his head slowly. “I wanted to tell him I was going to quit and do computer work, but I was terrified. I didn’t want to disappoint him.”
Bonnie nodded, taking another strawberry.
“It was Thanksgiving. We were all at my grandfather’s house, per tradition. We’d already eaten, and I found myself out on the porch with PawPaw,” Dylan continued. If he closed his eyes, he could still see it in his mind. The smell of leftover turkey and potatoes, the soft laughter of his mother and sister as they washed dishes, the cool breeze as it came in off the lake. It was all still fresh in his mind.