Free Anything But Mine by Barbara Justice

deflect the attention away from herself, she asked “So, let me turn the tables on you. Why did you decide to bid on a date with me?”
     
    Vince closed his eyes and smiled, remembering the first time he had laid eyes on Jennifer, at a polo match the previous August in Bridgehampton. An image of her, dressed in a white sundress, her long legs and toned arms golden and tanned, and her blonde hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, was seared in his memory. You were so stunning, so gorgeous that day , he thought. I watched as you shared a laugh with your boyfriend, and was desperate to meet you, but you disappeared before I could make my way across the tent. And I’ve been obsessed with you ever since.
     
    Unable to admit that to her, knowing it would probably send her running for the door, he instead simply answered her question. “Because I could.”
     
    Vince noticed that, once again, Jen was blushing and had become visibly uncomfortable. He asked, “Are you embarrassed?” When she was unable to meet his eyes, and nodded her head instead, he said, “Don’t be, Jennifer. You caught my eye at a polo match last summer, and I was immediately attracted to you. You’re a very beautiful woman. I wanted to meet you, but didn’t get the chance that day. So, when I heard about the charity auction and a chance to bid on a dinner date with you, and it was for a good cause, I decided to go for it.”
     
    His revelation left Jen momentarily speechless, and she was relieved when the waiter brought the bill. She silently watched as he paid for their meal with his Peter Luger charge card, before saying, quietly, “Thank you for dinner. I had a good time.”
     
    “My pleasure. Do you need a ride home?” When Jen hesitated, Vince said, “It’s okay, Jennifer. I don’t bite, and I’m not going to jump you. My driver is waiting outside.”
     
    “Um…okay,” Jen said, as she nervously accepted the offer of the ride, and followed Vince into the back seat of his limousine.
     
    After the short drive from Williamsburg to Brooklyn Heights, Vince escorted her to the front door of her apartment building. “I had a good time tonight, Jennifer,” he said as kissed her on the cheek.
     
    “I had a good time too. Thanks again for dinner, and for the ride home.”
     
    Vince watched as Jennifer disappeared inside the lobby, past the doorman, and into an elevator. He made a quick note of her address, before returning to his waiting limousine for the ride back to his home in Manhattan.
     
    Looking out the window while crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, Vince thought back to his childhood and the endless taunting he endured from the other children in his Bensonhurst neighborhood because his family was so poor. The bullies stole my new pencil case at the beginning of 6 th grade, the one Mama proudly gave me on the first day of school, and no one stuck up for me because I had no friends. They mocked me in the playground, and called me “skinny Vinny” because there was barely enough to eat at home, and so many nights I went to bed hungry. Mama would have stretched tonight’s dinner out over three or four nights, he thought, as he remembered the childhood promise he made to himself – that he and his parents would never “do without” again, once he was successful. If only Mama and Papa had lived long enough to enjoy my wealth and see how far I’ve come, he thought, regretfully. I know that they’d be proud of me.
     
    In the dark, quiet solitude of his limousine, more memories came flooding back. While the other, more popular kids played baseball or went to high school dances, I stayed home because I couldn’t afford a bat and mitt, or the admission fees for the dances, and I studied instead. He recalled the only time he asked a girl on a date, for his senior prom, after saving up money from his after- school job at the local pork store. She flatly refused to go with me, and I was humiliated, he thought, as he remembered