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Authors: Priscilla West
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why.
She
continued. “Any time he wasn’t working he was saying he was going to take care
of me and of us. To a twenty year old it’s pretty weird to have your surfer
brother tell you that he’s going to take care of the family. It sounds like
wishful thinking from a guy who’s just grieving for his parents, but Vincent
really changed. He became this very intense person who found success everywhere
he looked because he wouldn’t accept failure. He was selling that camera in
three months and had it with retailers soon after, and he just built and built.
Everyone underestimates him because of his appearance and his hobbies, but he
just keeps plowing forward.”
I had
researched the story of Vincent’s company from a financial perspective, but I
hadn’t given thought to what it meant on a personal level to grind out so much
success. Giselle had seen it first hand. In a way, I was almost jealous.
“It
sounds like you admire him,” I said, simply because I hadn’t spoken in a while.
We had both stopped with our frosting duties.
She
nodded. “Then he changed again when Brady was born. Before that, he was on a
path where it was nothing but business and intensity, but you can’t be intense
with a newborn. Vincent makes sure my son has the best of everything. Vincent
set up Brady’s college fund the day after Brady was born, and has done so much
research on camps and things to send him to.”
She
shrugged, laughing. “I’ll get these emails at two a.m. saying ‘it’s your kid
but I just want to tell you I’m happy to pay to send him to this camp when he’s
old enough’ or ‘do you think Brady would like this? I can get it delivered this
weekend.’ Never mind my son, it’s a full-time job keeping up with Vincent!”
Before
today, I would’ve had a hard time imagining Vincent being so focused on a child.
He was always so busy either with his business or doing crazy recreational
activities. Having a kid was a lot of responsibility. It was almost in complete
opposition to his lifestyle. “It sounds like he practically treats Brady as his
own kid.”
She
shook her head. “He knows the limit. The way he gives me options is always a
one-off. He doesn’t argue with me or nag me or anything like that. He cares
tremendously about his nephew and has an unusual capacity for helping out, so
he’s taking advantage of that. Plus as you’ve seen, his gifts for Brady aren’t
outrageous. I think Brady will become conscious of how much money his uncle has
very slowly.” She took a taste of the frosting. “Put it this way: it’s a good
parenting challenge to have.”
“What
does Rob think?”
“He’s
supportive. Vincent and him get along well. My brother takes the protective
older sibling thing very seriously.”
I knew
more about how protective Vincent could be than I wanted to. “I bet.”
Giselle
turned and looked at me intently. I did my best to keep a poker face and
concentrate on spreading the frosting, though I could see her out of the corner
of my eye. To my relief, she finally went back to her own frosting job.
“Anyway,”
she said, “Vincent’s wonderful with Brady. Like another child. I hope he can
have children of his own soon.”
I
dropped the frosting spreader on the counter and it tumbled to the floor.
Embarrassed, I scrambled and picked it up. Was she suggesting what I thought
she was?
She
stopped whisking again and squinted, smiling quizzically. “I didn’t say he’s in
a rush!”
I
washed it off in the sink before wiping up the frosting on the floor. “Sorry,
I’m just a little clumsy.”
She
stood with her arms crossed, watching me again. “That’s okay, accidents
happen.”
Her
sleeves were rolled up, and as I was looking at her trying to judge her
expression my eyes fell to some peculiar scars on her forearms. Were those
cigarette burns? Nothing in the house smelled like cigarette smoke, so I was
guessing she wasn’t a smoker. Maybe she had been one in the past, before
She
continued. “Any time he wasn’t working he was saying he was going to take care
of me and of us. To a twenty year old it’s pretty weird to have your surfer
brother tell you that he’s going to take care of the family. It sounds like
wishful thinking from a guy who’s just grieving for his parents, but Vincent
really changed. He became this very intense person who found success everywhere
he looked because he wouldn’t accept failure. He was selling that camera in
three months and had it with retailers soon after, and he just built and built.
Everyone underestimates him because of his appearance and his hobbies, but he
just keeps plowing forward.”
I had
researched the story of Vincent’s company from a financial perspective, but I
hadn’t given thought to what it meant on a personal level to grind out so much
success. Giselle had seen it first hand. In a way, I was almost jealous.
“It
sounds like you admire him,” I said, simply because I hadn’t spoken in a while.
We had both stopped with our frosting duties.
She
nodded. “Then he changed again when Brady was born. Before that, he was on a
path where it was nothing but business and intensity, but you can’t be intense
with a newborn. Vincent makes sure my son has the best of everything. Vincent
set up Brady’s college fund the day after Brady was born, and has done so much
research on camps and things to send him to.”
She
shrugged, laughing. “I’ll get these emails at two a.m. saying ‘it’s your kid
but I just want to tell you I’m happy to pay to send him to this camp when he’s
old enough’ or ‘do you think Brady would like this? I can get it delivered this
weekend.’ Never mind my son, it’s a full-time job keeping up with Vincent!”
Before
today, I would’ve had a hard time imagining Vincent being so focused on a child.
He was always so busy either with his business or doing crazy recreational
activities. Having a kid was a lot of responsibility. It was almost in complete
opposition to his lifestyle. “It sounds like he practically treats Brady as his
own kid.”
She
shook her head. “He knows the limit. The way he gives me options is always a
one-off. He doesn’t argue with me or nag me or anything like that. He cares
tremendously about his nephew and has an unusual capacity for helping out, so
he’s taking advantage of that. Plus as you’ve seen, his gifts for Brady aren’t
outrageous. I think Brady will become conscious of how much money his uncle has
very slowly.” She took a taste of the frosting. “Put it this way: it’s a good
parenting challenge to have.”
“What
does Rob think?”
“He’s
supportive. Vincent and him get along well. My brother takes the protective
older sibling thing very seriously.”
I knew
more about how protective Vincent could be than I wanted to. “I bet.”
Giselle
turned and looked at me intently. I did my best to keep a poker face and
concentrate on spreading the frosting, though I could see her out of the corner
of my eye. To my relief, she finally went back to her own frosting job.
“Anyway,”
she said, “Vincent’s wonderful with Brady. Like another child. I hope he can
have children of his own soon.”
I
dropped the frosting spreader on the counter and it tumbled to the floor.
Embarrassed, I scrambled and picked it up. Was she suggesting what I thought
she was?
She
stopped whisking again and squinted, smiling quizzically. “I didn’t say he’s in
a rush!”
I
washed it off in the sink before wiping up the frosting on the floor. “Sorry,
I’m just a little clumsy.”
She
stood with her arms crossed, watching me again. “That’s okay, accidents
happen.”
Her
sleeves were rolled up, and as I was looking at her trying to judge her
expression my eyes fell to some peculiar scars on her forearms. Were those
cigarette burns? Nothing in the house smelled like cigarette smoke, so I was
guessing she wasn’t a smoker. Maybe she had been one in the past, before