Chapter 10 #2
She had almost finished her reading assignment when she heard his key in the lock.
It was late Sunday afternoon, and normally, he didn’t show up on weekends, unless he went to a party he hated and left and came to the apartment.
Whether or not he spent the night depended on whether or not his wife was in town.
Occasionally, he showed up on a Sunday night, but very rarely.
But these days, she was being very careful not to ruffle his feathers.
She had the impression that he was watching her closely and didn’t trust her.
There had been no friendly texts, warm messages, or surprise, loving phone calls.
He showed up or he didn’t, with no warning.
And he didn’t stay long. They had only made love a few times, and it was perfunctory and mechanical.
He seemed to have lost interest in her. It was a slow deterioration over the last two months, ever since she had signed up for the class at Columbia, and had spent a weekend at the farm with her sisters.
He had questioned her several times about whether she had met with Scott Freeman.
Anson didn’t trust him either. He was treating Veronica like an enemy agent, or a woman he no longer had faith in.
She didn’t know how to stop the freefall their relationship seemed to be in, making it impossible to tell him anything about what she had discovered about her mother and the inheritance she had left.
Veronica slipped her textbook into the drawer and locked it when she heard his key in the door. She was wearing jeans and a Columbia sweatshirt since she didn’t expect him.
“You look like a college student,” he said with a smile when he walked in, and seemed in a better mood than she had seen him lately. She smiled too and walked over to put her arms around him to kiss him.
“Are you hungry, do you want something to eat?” He hadn’t stayed for a meal with her for a month. He was always rushed and busy. They sat down in the living room after he helped himself to a drink.
“I’m having dinner with Anne and the kids at a restaurant.
I had a spare hour so I thought I’d come by and see how you are.
What’s been happening to you lately?” he asked her.
“You seem different, and I think you’re keeping things from me.
” She hadn’t expected him to confront her and she didn’t know what to say.
She didn’t feel ready to make confessions that might upset him.
“Not really,” she said in a gentle voice. “It’s been a rough time since my mother, and we’ve had some things to sort out for her estate.”
“What about this farmhouse she left you? What’s with that?”
There was no avoiding his direct questions, so she answered him.
“It turns out that she had done some writing none of us knew about, under a pseudonym, and she had saved some money, and left it to us. She’d bought a farmhouse in Connecticut.
It’s very old and a nice place. We didn’t know about that either. ”
“And you want to spend time there?” he asked her, and she hesitated.
“Not necessarily. I want to be here for you.”
“But you haven’t been here much lately, have you, between school and the mysterious farmhouse. It sounds like your mother was a very secretive woman. You must have gotten that from her,” he said, watching her closely, to see her reactions to what he said.
“Not really secretive. She was modest and very discreet. Humble, really. She didn’t want any recognition for her writing.” Veronica was grateful that he didn’t ask the pseudonym Felicia wrote under. He didn’t care.
“You’ve been different since the farmhouse came into your life.”
“Maybe different since she died. It’s been hard for all of us.”
“I’m sorry about that. You seem more independent lately, as though you don’t need me as much.”
“Of course I need you. What I got from my mother has nothing to do with us. It doesn’t change anything,” she said soothingly, and moved a little closer to him on the couch, but he didn’t respond, which scared her.
It was Anson who was different and seemed very cold.
She wondered why he had come to see her.
He didn’t kiss her, or seem interested in making love to her.
Previously, he had wanted to have sex with her as soon as he saw her, now he didn’t.
“How big is the inheritance?” he asked her bluntly, and Veronica didn’t want to answer him. She was afraid it would change things between them.
“I don’t know. They haven’t figured it out yet,” she said vaguely.
“Why don’t you want to tell me, Veronica? Are you afraid I won’t want to spend as much on you anymore?”
“Of course not. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Really? Isn’t it? The lifestyle I give you is part of our arrangement.
You had no income when you came to me, nothing, and I was happy to take care of everything.
If your mother left you some money, I’m happy for you.
It means you don’t really need me anymore, do you, Veronica?
You want to go back to law school, and spend weekends with your sisters.
You inherited a home from your mother. That’s all very nice for you.
I don’t want to just be your sugar daddy, and I do want you here, available for me all the time, and lately you haven’t been.
I think you’re ready to move on, don’t you?
” He said it in a silky voice and she stared at him, shocked.
He wanted her at his beck and call night and day, whenever he wanted.
For sex, for an hour, for however long he wanted, at any time of his choosing.
Veronica had never seen it that way, but he treated her like a hooker, a high-end call girl.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Anson, when you wanted me. It only happened one time.”
“You were late another time,” he corrected, “and you haven’t told me how much you inherited.” Seeing the steely look in his eyes, she wasn’t going to tell him.
“I don’t think that’s an appropriate question. I don’t know how much it is.”
“I think you do. And I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to expect me to support your lifestyle when you have money of your own.”
“I’m sorry, I should have offered to pay for rent or something, it’s all been very new. I’m not used to it yet.”
“And clothes and jewelry. I know every penny I’ve spent on you for the past ten years.
It’s a lot of money. I think you were worth every bit of it.
So I don’t want what I spent back from you, Veronica.
You don’t want to lead this life anymore.
It’s written all over you, so it’s time for you to go, before it turns nasty and I start charging you for being here.
” He stood up with an icy look in his eyes as he looked down at her, sitting frozen on the couch, shocked by what he had said.
“You’re not suited to this life anymore, Veronica.
It’s over. You can keep the clothes, but leave the jewelry.
The artwork and decorating stays. Be out by six p.m. tomorrow.
My lawyer will pick the keys up from you at five.
And that’s it, I guess.” She stared at him as ten years of her life evaporated in a puff of smoke.
He had spelled it all out, and the way he did it suggested that he had made the same speech before.
She had lasted longer than most of the women in his life, except his wife.
He had told her that before. “You signed a confidentiality in the beginning, so you know the rules on that.”
“Yes, I do,” Veronica said, as she stood to face him.
“I’m an attorney,” she reminded him, “so I made a copy of what I signed. Most of it isn’t legal, but I’ll respect it anyway.
I wasn’t planning to take the art or furniture.
And my lawyer will bring the keys to you, you don’t have to send yours to me.
Thank you for everything you did for me, Anson.
I’ve loved you, and I’m sorry if you feel I’ve fallen short recently.
” She didn’t complain about the cold, merciless way he was ending it with her, or try to change his mind.
No one had ever treated her as coldly, and she was shaking, but it didn’t show.
It was over. He had become her jailer, and she was glad she hadn’t told him the amount of her inheritance.
It was none of his business now. Her mind was racing as she thought of what she had to pack.
She only had a few suitcases, and she’d have to get more, and be out by six the next day.
She realized now that she was just a commodity to him.
He didn’t love her and never had, and if he did, he wouldn’t let it show now.
He felt betrayed by her because she had a strong bond to her sisters, wanted to expand her education, and had a brain.
He just wanted a willing body and pretty face available to him when it suited him, and she had been just that to him for ten years.
He strode to the door then, put his coat on, and looked at her, as she stood tall and straight facing him.
“You were a good girl, Veronica,” he said in a demeaning tone. “One of the best I’ve had,” and he walked out, leaving ten years of her life in ashes behind him.
“Goodbye, Senator,” she said, as the door closed behind him.