Chapter 40 #2
“So, I understand, Jamie. We’re not in the same position, no, and maybe you’re judged harder than I am for stupid reasons I’ll never understand, but we are both judged wherever we go because we know what it’s like to sleep on a dirty floor and know – and accept – that’s where you’ll be sleeping the next night, too.
As nice as some of those people are, as welcoming and accommodating as they have tried to be to both me and you, they will never know what it’s like to go to bed hungry, knowing that the meals you get at school will probably be your only ones the next day if a friend doesn’t invite you over. ”
Jamie hadn’t heard this much disdain in her voice in a while.
Etta didn’t often talk about her upbringing.
Jamie never got the impression that she was ashamed of it, but when Etta did speak, she felt the bad memories and fears that came from being impoverished.
I was lucky my parents were never that poor…
unwillingly… Jamie didn’t know that level of living until before meeting Etta, when she couldn’t get a real job to save her life but was stuck in one of the most expensive cities in America.
I could never go back to that. More tears skirted the edges of her eyes.
Just the thought of taking her cat back to the hovel they once lived in was too heartbreaking to bear.
Even with Etta at her side, it would be hard.
But she was right. She knew what it was like to live a poor woman’s life. If Jamie had to choose someone to survive poverty with, it would be Etta.
“Listen to me.” Etta’s hand traveled up her arm.
“I’ve dated those women. The daughters, the ex-wives, the granddaughters of big men who either made their own money or their fathers and grandfathers made all the money.
So, I know what it’s like for a woman to be like that.
I see the way she judges, whether she knows it or not.
They can be beautiful, they have good manners and graces, but there’s always this air of…
I don’t know how to explain it. They’re not necessarily fake, but they’re so controlled.
They’re constantly aware of how others view them and what it means to be them.
Some with modest origins like me don’t have problems dating them.
They like the money those girls bring in, the prestige of knowing their families, the connections they make…
and well, some like that type of woman. I didn’t.
Do you know why I started fooling around with my assistants?
It was only a happy accident that it worked out so well to have my girlfriend working for me too. ”
Jamie tried not to laugh. “No. Do go on.”
“Because they were like me. They had seen every episode of Friends. They knew what a McDonald’s hamburger tasted like.
Going to Hawaii was the event of their lives, not something one did every year and barely thought about.
I know some criticized me for being the type who likes ‘poor’ girlfriends because then I can show off my money and things to them.
That’s a stereotype about new money blowhards like me.
That we’re overcompensating for our inadequacies from high school or whatever. ”
“I don’t think you’re overcompensating…”
“Thanks, but what I’m trying to say is that, barring some unforeseen miracle, I would have always married a woman with a background like yours.
I don’t want a wife I can’t relate to on a fundamental level.
That would put me on the path to a divorce.
Jamie, I’ve only proposed to two women in my life, and I didn’t do either one without a long, hard think. ”
Jamie thought back to meeting Adele in the boutique that day. “Adele is kinda like those women, though.”
Whether bringing this subject up annoyed Etta, she still continued.
“She didn’t always used to be. She hides that side of her now.
I realized I didn’t feel anything besides a mutual respect for her because she had changed so much.
Maybe I dodged a bullet when she turned down my proposal long ago.
I have no idea. That’s her prerogative. Mine is to marry a woman I get along with and trust. Isn’t that you? ”
“I hope so.” Jamie pushed the hair out of her face. “I know, Etta. I trust you, too. I never doubted that you thought I was good enough for you, and I know you don’t make any of your decisions easily. If you asked me to marry you… you must think I’m more than good enough to be called Mrs. Coleman.”
“So, you are changing your name?” That droll voice was going to get her ass kicked someday. Not today.
Jamie laughed. “I don’t know yet. Jamie Coleman does have a ring to it, doesn’t it?”
She nodded.
“Even so, none of this changes how those people treat me and make me feel. It can’t be helped. You hear enough nasty shit about you, and it’s going to get to you.”
She thought Etta would respond, but she took Jamie’s hand instead, studying the lines in her skin and the freckles dotting her body.
“As time goes by, they will see that you are perfect for me. They don’t have to like you, but I’m sure they’ll come to respect you enough.
Or at least enough to get bored with you.
Someone else will come along to stir up the gossip mill. ”
“I know.”
“Can you do that for me? Can you deal with all of that? Those people? The things they say? Although, if you tell me when it happens, I’ll help you. That’s part of my job as your wife.”
“I think I can…” Jamie mulled that over.
Could she handle it for years on end? Could she handle the judgment?
Not being invited to parties that could help her wife’s career?
Hosting parties that inevitably screwed something up because she didn’t know details?
She wasn’t an Adele or Monique, who could become chameleons in the world of the rich…
deceiving people, making them think they came from money because they lived it so effortlessly.
Jamie could only be herself. People would have to either take it or leave it.
If it bothered her too much? Bye bye. She was off to Rio, Paris, Oslo, some place where nobody cared who she was.
She would have the money for it. Asking Etta to give her some funds to go somewhere for a few days was as easy as…
well, asking Etta for money. That was something Jamie had gotten used to over the months.
Hey, when the woman has billions of dollars, why does she care?
“Life is supposed to be easy for you when you’re with me, my flower.” Hearing her say that was one of life’s greatest pleasures. “It’s the least I could do for you… having you in my life makes my life more enjoyable. I want to do anything I can to make sure you stay in it.”
“You can start by not springing shit like a prenup on me.” Jamie could be droll, too.
“Point taken. Are we good now?”
“What? No way. My lawyer called me an hour ago to say he finished going over the details of the prenup we ‘negotiated’ Sunday and found a few, shall we say, discrepancies. Did you know that I’m only worth 10% of your money if I lose a limb? That’s cold, man.”
“You’re right. It should be twenty.”
Adele probably didn’t get that smack in earlier, let alone on the head. Jamie made do by lightly punching Etta in the shoulder and getting up to put the wine bottle and glass away. She didn’t make it very far. Etta grabbed her, pulling her into her lap and planting a kiss on her cheek.
What a hard life Jamie Joy lived.