Chapter 5 #2
“It’s Mabel to me.” I hang up before she can reply and sit back on the couch.
Monday night…. I smile, that went better than expected.
I turn the television on and flick through the programs on Netflix.
What did she mean that she didn’t want me to know who she was?
I type into Google:
Who is Madison Harrington?
It takes me to a list of Madison Harringtons and the links to their Instagram pages and I scroll through them…hmm, nope, nobody here is her.
Maybe she doesn’t have socials.
I keep watching the movie, but my mind is still on her doesn’t want me to know who she is comment.
Why…. Who is she?
I type into Google:
Who is the Madison who lives in Central Park Tower, New York.
A reply bounces straight back.
Madison Rothchild, CEO and Founder of Gemtec
Aged 44.
Forty-four…
She’s nine years older than me; I click on images and sure enough photos of my Mabel come up on display.
Charity events, keynote speaking, skiing, her on a superyacht. She really is very beautiful…. I would never have guessed she was forty-four, thirty-six at the oldest would have been my guess.
Another image pops up of her on another superyacht.
Fuck me dead…she knows people who own superyachts. I get a vision of her mixing with the rich and famous, being glamorous and going on luxury international vacations. Far, far away from the life I live.
I click onto the bio.
Madison Rothchild is the CEO and Founder of Jupiter Software.
I take a sip of my beer as my eyes skim the text, it goes on about the company and what it does, her successes and blah blah blah….
At 23 she was the youngest ever woman to make the Forbes 30 Under 30 list with a current estimated worth of 27 billion dollars.
I choke on my beer, “What…. The….”
I launch into a coughing fit and hit my chest to try and stop it.
What do you mean?
Twenty-seven billion fucking dollars?
No….
I keep reading, but the more I read, the more I cough, and the more I don’t want to know what she’s achieved. This woman is a fucking unicorn…. And me, well I’m….
Damn it.
Disappointed, I slam my computer shut.
Fuck.
I tip my head back and drain my bottle of beer, well there goes that idea. There’s no way someone like her could ever be interested in someone like me.
It was a nice thought while it lasted.
I stare at the television, but my mind is far away and unpacking things elsewhere.
No family, no living siblings…and all this time I thought she was divorced.
I get another beer and over the next hour bounce between the preconceived ideas I had of her. Was it something that she mentioned or was there something that I missed. Why did I get the impression that she was divorced?
I think back if there were any signs that would make me come to that conclusion but there aren’t any. Now I’m kind of disgusted in myself for assuming she had married into money when it was hers all along.
Ugh…. I gulp my beer this time.
That says more about me than it does about her.
But both parents are gone and no siblings.
I get an image of her being all alone in that apartment, high up above the city with no family to celebrate with her success.
Sad really….
Ha, who am I kidding? Her life is anything but sad, in fact she’d be fighting the men off with a stick. A woman as beautiful as her….
I hear the key in the door and Sally appears. “Hi,” she says.
“Hi.” I look her over; she’s wearing a pretty dress and is all done up. “You had a date tonight?”
“Yeah.” She sighs as she grabs a beer from the fridge, opens it and flops onto the couch beside me. “Don’t ask.”
I smile into my beer. “Not great?”
“Disastrous.”
“Why?”
“He spent the entire night talking about his ex.” She rolls her eyes as she gulps her beer. “Do I look like a therapist to you?”
“Kind of.” I smirk.
She picks up a cushion and hurls it at me.
“Joking.” I catch it midair before it connects.
“You know sometimes I just want to take off and move to London or Spain or something and forget all about dating loser men.”
“You should do it.”
“No.” She sighs, taking another sip of her beer. “I can’t leave.”
Because of me and the girls.
“You know.” I twist my lips, I need to give her an out of this arrangement, it isn’t fair to hold her here with us. “I’m thinking of moving out of the city and starting fresh somewhere else.”
“What?” Her face falls. “Why?”
“I don’t know, I just think that we need a new start, and you….” I shrug. “Need to be free to do anything you want. Move overseas, live with people your own age…go have fun.”
“Drew, I love watching the girls, that’s not what I meant.”
“I know you do.” I smile over at her. “You’ll always be their aunt, but I think it’s time, though. Don’t you?”
She shrugs and sips her beer again before looking over at me. “I thought you just met someone you liked?”
“Nah.” I scrunch my nose up. “That’s not going to work out.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know, it’s not a longtime kind of thing. She’s not someone I could see myself with going forward.”
“Oh.” We pretend to watch television for a while, but both of our minds are swirling with possibilities. “Where would you go?” she eventually asks.
“I applied for a job as a caretaker. It comes with its own house on a large property.”
“You’ve already started applying for jobs?” She frowns. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was waiting for the right time, and besides, I probably won’t get it, but at least it’s put the idea of a new start in my head.”
“If you don’t get this job, what then?”
“I’m going to look for a new little country town where rent is much cheaper. I guess I’ll get a nanny and go back to physiotherapy.”
She stares at me and I can almost hear her brain ticking.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep the place here for you until you decide what you’re doing.”
“Do you think the girls are going to handle that change?”
“As I see it—” I exhale deeply, “—the longer they depend on you, the harder it’s going to be when you finally move out to start your own life.” I smile sadly and take her hand in mine and squeeze it. “I can never thank you enough for all that you’ve done for us, Sal.”
She squeezes my hand back and her eyes fill with sadness. “I don’t know how I’ll cope not seeing them every day. They’ve been through so much.” Her eyes search mine. “And you.”
“We’re going to be fine.” I smile. “It won’t be easy, but I know in my heart that we must do something drastic. When Melissa died everything stopped and we went into protection and reaction mode.”
She nods as she listens.
“She would want this for me and the girls, and she would want this for you.”
She rests her head on my shoulder. “I hate dating.”
I smile. “Me too.” I tap her beer bottle with mine.
“Can my husband come and get me already?”
I chuckle. “He’s probably just stopped for gas.”
“Let’s hope it’s in a Lamborghini then.”
My heart sinks. “Money won’t make you happy, Sal.”
“No, but it sure would make life easier.”
“You say that now.”
She sits up and looks over at me. “Why do you hate money so much?”
“I don’t. I’m just saying. Love lives in your heart, not in a bank balance. No amount of money can suffice for waking up every day to someone you hate.”
She watches me for a moment. “Do you think you and Melissa would have made it if….”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “We had our problems, that’s for sure.”
“What was it like being with someone for only three months when they fell pregnant?”
“Terrifying.”
She puts her head back down on my shoulder. “And yet you both hunkered down and made it work.”
“Got married soon after we found out she was pregnant.” I smile wistfully. “We were both scared, but more than anything we were good friends and promised to be there for each other. Our babies were everything.” I smile as I remember the whirlwind of Melissa’s and my beginning.
“So…what happened to that girl you liked, last week you were all excited about it.”
“Meh.” I curl my lip. “I still like her, don’t get me wrong.”
“But….” She prompts me again.
“I don’t know. I found out she’s super successful in her line of work.” I shrug, feeling stupid. “It’s not really my jam.”
“You don’t want a successful woman?”
“I don’t know, I never met one before.” I exhale heavily. “I don’t know why it’s a turnoff, but somehow it just is.”
“Because she won’t be at your beck and call like Melissa was.”
“That’s not it.”
“Yeah, it is,” she tells me. “And maybe you won’t come first to her.”
“Doesn’t everyone want to come first?” I frown. “Is that a bad thing to want to come first to someone you love?”
“No.” She frowns. “I guess not.”
“Anyway, it’s not over yet, not that it’s even begun, I’m seeing her on Monday night.” I sip my beer. “I have to cancel five clients so I can see her.” I hold up my hand and show her my five fingers. “Five,” I mouth.
“She’s costing you money already,” she teases.
“She is actually.” I widen my eyes.
“What happens if you like her after Monday?”
“I won’t. I’ve already decided that I’m leaving New York and her life is firmly entrenched here.”
“Well, make sure you enjoy Monday then.”
“Oh, I intend to.” I smile.
We watch television for a while longer.
“Where do you think you’re going to move to?” she eventually asks.
“I don’t know, I’m going to go on a road trip one weekend and scope out some options. I have a checklist of things I want.”
“Such as?”
“I want pretty landscape and good schools and medical services. A community kind of feel, and nice people, you know.”
“Maybe you’ll fall for the nanny.”
I smile. “Like one of those dirty books you read.”
“Hey, don’t diss the book boyfriends, okay? Their nannies are as hot as fuck.”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
“I’ve got the weekend off in two weeks, I could mind the girls. That way you could really look, not just skim through the place.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Not at all. Go…and scope out options. Meet hot nannies, fuck farm animals, I don’t know.”
I chuckle. “Farm animals…. Really?”
“Not really, but you get the drift.”
“No. I don’t actually.” My eyebrows flick up. “Where do you come up with this shit?”
“Don’t ask.” She laughs. “So, are you going to go?”
“Yeah.” I smile, happy with how the discussion has gone. “Maybe I will.”