Page 92 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

influence. He wanted to know what my plans were, where I
worked, what I was earning: basically, if I was good marriage
material. He never asked me whether I had the funds to back
Aisha, which was funny, because it was something I never
mentioned to my parents either. But that was because I knew they
were going to say ‘Where will you get the money from?’ and I still
didn’t have an answer. By now, the thought of letting Aisha down,
of being found out, was just awful. I had to find the money.
In fact, there wasn’t much I wouldn’t have done for Aisha. At
first, I wondered if I could borrow it from my dad, but I knew my
dad was going to think ‘Is he thinking with his heart or his head?’
and be reluctant to get involved. Besides, having left home to prove
I could do things on my own, I wasn’t minded to ask him for
money now. However, since making the flippant comment that I
would back her, I’d become more and more convinced that Aisha
was a good investment: she had passion, commitment, determin-
ation – all the qualities of a successful entrepreneur. Even if I
wasn’t dating her I would have invested in her, so I had to find the
money from somewhere.
I was definitely starting to think that we had a long-term future,
but I was still only twenty-one and didn’t feel ready for marriage.
For me, marriage meant having a family, and that meant having
enough money to give the kids a good home and a good education.
And while my income might have given me a great bachelor
lifestyle, I didn’t feel it was a good enough income for a family.
Ever since we had met, I had known that Aisha had assumed I
was older than her, and I wasn’t in any rush to shatter that
illusion. We’d been seeing each other for about six months when
we went to a party where, by chance, we bumped into a mutual
friend. Aisha asked him how he knew me.
‘He was in the same class as my brother.’
As soon as he said this, I could see Aisha’s face change. She
knew his brother, and she knew that he was no older than

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