Chapter 3
With the time difference, Sabrina got to New York at five p.m., and after collecting her bags, arrived at the Carlyle at seven p.m. after rush hour traffic on the way into the city.
They gave her a very pretty suite that she and Malcolm had had before, and she called Lizzie immediately.
She had just gotten home from the library and sounded stressed.
“Are you okay?” Sabrina asked her.
“Yes, just annoyed. We started back today, and I had two classes that assigned us papers on the first day back, due on Friday. And a third one where they’re giving us an exam next week.
They do it all the time to see how prepared we are.
I have a feeling they’re going to pile the work on right to the last day. ”
“Do you still want to do dinner tonight? If you have too much work, I understand.” Sabrina was tired herself from the trip.
She hadn’t traveled in months, and it was harder without Malcolm.
He always took care of the details, now she had to.
Lizzie insisted she could make time for dinner, and she’d work on her papers afterward.
Sabrina took a cab to Lizzie’s apartment near Columbia.
The building was awful, and the neighborhood too far uptown, but the apartment was decent, and Lizzie had fixed it up nicely.
It was a comfortable place to study. She never entertained friends, so she had never done much with it, and her time at Columbia was almost over now.
She had five months before graduation, and they were going to wring every drop of work out of her before she finished.
She had earned her law degree with blood, sweat, and tears, and could hardly wait for it to end.
Sabrina offered to pick up food on the way uptown and arrived laden with packages from Zabar’s.
It was fancy deli food, and Lizzie was ravenous.
They had dinner in her kitchen, and then Sabrina left her to get started on the first paper she had to do.
An hour later, Sabrina was in bed and happy to be there.
She woke up at eight o’clock the next morning, walked down Madison Avenue after breakfast, did some shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, and then went back to the hotel, waiting to hear from Lizzie after her classes.
Lizzie called at four on the way to the library to do some research for her paper, and didn’t call again until after nine, sounding exhausted, and offered to come by the hotel to see her mother.
Sabrina felt sorry for her and let her off the hook.
They managed to have dinner the following night, and Lizzie had been given another paper to do for another class.
Sabrina realized that her presence in New York was more of a burden for Lizzie than a pleasure and decided to leave the next day for Milan.
She felt terrible about all the work Lizzie had to do, and her worry about entertaining her mother on top of it.
Lizzie sounded relieved when Sabrina said she was leaving early.
Sabrina called the airline to change her flight, went uptown to see Lizzie one last time, and left on a midnight flight to Milan.
She slept on the plane. She was traveling in first class, and the Four Seasons had arranged for a car and driver to take her to the hotel when she arrived in Milan.
She had texted Coco to say she was coming early, and Coco worked until midnight that night and they had breakfast together the next day.
Prada’s staff were up to their ears doing fittings and picking models for their show for Fashion Week with the fall/winter collection.
Milan was bustling with press and models and editors arriving for the show.
Coco was working until midnight every night, and one night till two a.m., and had to be back at work at eight o’clock every morning.
She looked exhausted but it was exciting for her to be there, helping to prepare the collection.
It took Sabrina two days to realize that the timing of her visit was terrible for Coco.
She spent a day shopping on the via Montenapoleone, and decided to leave for London earlier than planned.
Her children were so busy with their jobs and school that she felt like a burden to them just being there.
It was more stressful than enjoyable for her daughters to have her hovering, waiting for a chance to see them, which defeated the purpose of spending some time together.
With final papers due and exams before graduation from law school for Lizzie, and the madness of Fashion Week for Coco, these were exceptional circumstances, and real life for both of them.
It reminded Sabrina yet again that they were adults with heavy responsibilities and demands on their time.
Lizzie couldn’t have predicted the new assignments she’d be given, and Coco was an intern who was expected to work incredible hours right before a show.
Coco was sorry that she was leaving, but grateful that her mother understood the demands she had to meet for her job.
—
Sabrina arrived at Claridge’s in London and texted Justin.
He was struggling with papers and exams too.
Her children were hardworking, conscientious, and responsible, and she spent two days shopping in London before Justin had time to see her.
He met her at a trendy little restaurant and brought Arabella to meet her.
She was a lovely, polite, well-brought-up, intelligent young woman who captured Sabrina’s heart immediately.
Sabrina was happy to meet her at last, and at dinner it was obvious from the way they held hands and looked at each other that they were deeply in love.
Justin was besotted with her, and she had a good job and was working hard.
And it wasn’t lost on Sabrina that Arabella looked a little bit like her and was tall and blond.
They had a very pleasant time at dinner, and then Justin had to go home and study for an exam the next day.
None of them could have predicted how much work their bosses and professors would give them, especially Lizzie and Justin in the final stretch before their graduations in May and June.
Sabrina was planning to come back for their graduation ceremonies, but she doubted that either of them would have time to see her until then.
And then they’d be off and running in their first jobs.
Justin was interviewing now at American firms with London offices, where he could get a visa more easily.
Sabrina marveled at how hard her children were working, and knew that Malcolm would have been proud of them too.
The idea of visiting them had been a good one, but the timing didn’t work for them, although they did their best to see her whenever they had free time.
She felt guilty for interrupting their work, and taking up time they didn’t have.
She hated to go home early having barely seen them, and at the last minute decided to go to Paris after all.
It was such a short trip from London. She flew instead of taking the train.
She called the Ritz and they had a suite for her, and suddenly the prospect of sinking into the luxurious comforts of the Ritz was immensely appealing.
She booked a flight and that afternoon she checked into the Ritz, after racing by Justin’s apartment to give him a quick hug and kiss before she left.
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” he apologized. “I didn’t think I’d be this slammed.” He felt terrible about it.
“It’s my fault. I should have guessed.” But she was glad she’d come anyway, even for a glimpse of them as they rushed past her like express trains, flying through their busy lives.
It was comforting that they were happy, doing what they loved.
She knew they loved her, and worried about her, but there was understandably no room for her in their daily lives right now.
She was only a burden to them, but it felt good to be out in the world again.
She realized now how secluded and disconnected and isolated she had been in the last seven months.
This trip made it clear to her that she needed to make her own life.
She couldn’t depend on them to keep her company or fill the giant void that Malcolm had left when he died.
It wasn’t their fault, any more than it was hers or Malcolm’s.
They were adults, living in other cities with overfull lives, appropriate to their age and stage in life.
—
It was a cold, crisp day in Paris, and she took a walk around the Place Vend?me and to the Tuileries Gardens before ordering room service for a delicious dinner.
She’d spent a busy ten days going to all three cities and seeing very little of her children, but it was the best they could do.
They were one busier than the next, entirely appropriately, given the final days of their studies and Coco’s new internship.