Chapter 83: A Matter of Pride

"Hey, what's up?" Coby asks, coming home to find Stina out on the balcony, watching the sun set.

"I got an internship," she says, not looking at him, "In Paris."

"What, Paris, France?" he asks.

"Well, not Paris, Texas," she laughs, her smile weak and wavering as she meets his eyes. "Coby, this is important, for my future, my career." She swallows those words hard, future and carer being two subjects she'd always swore she would never give a thought to. But she's finally figured out what she wants to do with her life, to be a fashion designer, and this internship is the first step to getting there.

"That's pretty far away," Coby says, wrapping himself around her as though he can hold her in place, "How long will you be gone?"

"The internship is for a year," she says, "After that...I might stay, or go to New York..."

"All right, I gotcha," Coby sighs, "You're saying goodbye."

"I don't want to," she says, her lips trembling, "You could come with me."

"You know that won't work," he says, "I have to be where the surf is. How long do we have?"

"I leave next month."

"All right, we have one month for us. Then, it's goodbye."

"Daddy!" Portia spins around when she hears her father enter the kitchen, "Where were you last night? I was so worried about you."

She puts down her cup to lean in and kiss Bill on the cheek, "You didn't answer my calls, all night. Where were you? And where's Rainier?" He put her to bed last night and promised to wait for Bill. While she slept, her father had come in, and Rainier apparently left, but it just isn't like him to leave her hanging like hat, without even a note.

"Rainier left," Bill says gruffly, wishing he could avoid this whole conversation.

"He just left? Did he say anything? And you still haven't told me where you were or why you didn't pick up your phone."

"I was with a friend," Bill answers, dodging the question about Rainier. Kicking him out was not, in retrospect, the best idea. "I fell asleep. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to worry you."

"You were with a friend? What friend? And how did you just fall asleep? Where were you?"

"Portia..." Bill says, in that tone he uses when he's reprimanding her.

"Don't 'Portia' me!" she snaps. "I'm not a child, you can't just make up some lame story and expect me to swallow it. You were with a woman weren't you. I mean, Mom was running around on you, so it' no wonder you had your thing on the side!"

"Let me explain," Bill says, realizing as the words come out that there is no explanation, what Portia said was right on the money. She looks at him expectantly, waiting for the promised explanatiion, and he chokes.

She raises her hands and lets out an exasperated sigh, "I can't be here right now," she says, "In the houseof lies."

Rainier is just finished shaving when he hears a frantic knocking at his door. Portia must have had a talk with her father this morning, he thinks, as he rushes downstairs to answer the door.

"I'm sorry," Portia sobs, "I didn't know where else to go."

"Come inside," he says, pulling into the apartment, "Tell me what happened."

What happened is pretty much as he expected; Portia confronted her father and realized he'd been with a woman all night, and this new revelation about her father's secret life coming so suddenly after learning about her mother's is tearing her up inside.

"It's all right," he soothes her, holding her close to his chest, "I'll take the day off to stay with you."

Portia raises her head to look him in the eyes, "You've been taking too much time off work to be with me, since..." she drops the sentence before she has to speak the words, admitting out loud that her mother had died, "I can't ask you to take anymore."

"Shush," he says, touching her lips with his finger, "You're more important than my work. I always have time for you."

She smiles and her tears evaporate, "You're too good to me," she says, "Now it's my turn; I'm sending you to work. You know you can't take this much time off and not have it impact your company. I'll be fine, I promise."

"You're sure?" Rainier asks.

She nods, "If it's okay with you, I"ll hang out here until you get home. I'm not in the mood for classes, so I'll just stay here and work on my paper."

Rainier leans in to kiss her gently, just enough to taste her lips before he dresses for work, "I have a couple of friends coming over tonight. I can cancel, if you aren't up to company."

"Oh, don't cancel!" she enthuses, an excited gleam in her eye, "I want to entertain your friends."

Evening comes, and Coby and Stina arrive as expected.

It's not the kind of company Portia was raised to entertain, but she still shines as a hostess, riding on the high of being the lady of the house rather than the daughter.

"So, she's just going, just like that," Coby says when he gets a moment alone with Rainier. "I'm still in shock, it just doesn't seem real."

"I was surprised to see you handling it so well," Rainier says, "You were a mess before, when she..." Rainier just drops that one right there, not wanting to reopen old animosities. "I guess I should be surprised that you even talk to me," he laughs.

"No shit," Coby laughs, "But, you know, you're a better than you make yourself out to be."

"He's totally different with you," Stina remarks, "When he was with me...well, I just felt like a distraction to him, you know? But watching the two of you...I didn't think it was possible for Rainier to fall that hard for anyone. It's nice to see him so happy."

After a few more drinks and small talk, Coby and Stina make their goodbyes.

"You didn't tell me you were with Stina," Portia chides him gently once the guests are gone and they are alone in his room.

"I didn't think it was important," Rainier says, "It's long over. Did she say something to you?" Stina did have a habit of making inappropriate observations, and he's now a little concerned about what she might have said to Portia.

"Just that she was happy to see you really in love for a change," Portia answers.

"She could be a little dense sometimes, but she has this way of seeing right into the heart of things," Rainier says, turning Portia around to rest in his arms.

"It's only three days away," Portia says as they lay back on the bed, "We don't have to wait..."

"We do, chère," he whispers, "Not just for legal reasons. At this point, it's a matter of pride. I haven't been celibate for this long since I was your age. The fact that I've made it this far...well, I have the day marked on my calendar when it ends, and to break down before that day would feel like a failure."

Portia laughs, "Are you expecting to get an achievement for waiting?" she asks.

"I expect to be sainted, I think," he answers.

The pounding on his door comes early in the morning, much as he expected. Portia had turned off her phone early in the evening, knowing her father would try to call her. Rainier had try to convince it would be better to just answer it, but she was determined to give her father a taste of the worry she had felt waiting for him.

"Portia's car is parked in your driveway," Bill says, like he's accusing Rainier of something.

"That's because she spent the night here," Rainier answers flatly.

"I could have you arrested!" 

Rainier sighs. This is getting old. "You could, but the simplest medical exam would prove that nothing illegal happened here. I'm not some testosterone fueled frat boy who can't control himself. And you know, Bill, that that is exactly who your daughter would be with right now if it weren't for me. Knowing that, and knowing that Portia will never forgive you if you try to have me hauled off, do you really want to get the police involved?"

Bill continue to frown, but he doesn't have any real response, knowing how very right Rainier is. If he had caved, begged Bill for mercy, he would have lost respect for him, but, as much as he hates being confronted, Bill has to admit to himself that Rainier is the only guy Portia has ever dated that he felt was  even remotely worthy of her.

"You screwed up, BIll," Rainier continues when Bill gives no answer, "You can either be a man and own your mistake, or you can stick to it and let it take you down."

Waking to an empty bed, Portia comes down stairs to find her father at the door.

She makes a show of kissing Rainier affectionately on the cheek. "Good morning, sweetheart," she whispers.

Then she turns to her father, daring him to criticize her.

"Portia, I came to...to apologize to you. And to Rainier," Bill says, taking Rainier's advice.

_________________________________

Thanks to Zhippidy for Portia and Bill's cheek kiss pose. =D