29. You Can’t Teach an Old Narcisist New Tricks…
29
You Can’t Teach an Old Narcisist New Tricks…
Paige
“Ms. Chadwick,” the flight attendant says, tapping me on the arm.
I open my eyes to see her standing over me with an apologetic look. “Mr. Prescott has asked for you to please call him immediately.”
“Oh, okay,” I answer, sitting up and blinking. I pull my phone out of my handbag and turn it on, then wait while it powers up.
We’re on the last leg of the flight, having dropped my family off in Philadelphia. As soon as we took off again, I realized how exhausted I was and went straight to sleep. Although if I’m honest with myself, I might admit that it was heartache more than exhaustion that overtook me.
Since the moment the Coast Guard showed up, it felt like we were swept away by a flood that we couldn’t resist. The momentum of my family, my boss, my real life. We didn’t even say a proper goodbye. The last thing he said to me was that he knew I could do it, and the last thing I said directly to him was to mouth ‘we did it.’ And somehow that’s where we left it. It’s all just hanging in the air. After everything we went through together, everything we did and said, we just dropped out of each other’s lives without a word about what we were doing.
Sighing, I look down at my cell phone, preparing myself to cross over completely to my real life again. The phone rings before I can call him, and Guy’s name appears. Of course he’s calling me. He’s not one to wait for anything.
“Hello, Guy,” I answer.
“Paige! Paigey, I am so happy you’re alive. You have no idea how thrilled I am. Honestly. I put the brakes on everything to try to get the word out about you. It was a full-on celebrity-fest. The biggest thing I’ve ever pulled together in my career, and it was sheer hell to have to do it without you. Honestly. Hell,” he says. “How’re you feeling?”
“I—”
“The doctor said you’re fine. Do you feel fine? Well rested and all that? Ready to get back to work?”
My stomach churns at the thought of going back. “Yes, of course.”
“Excellent. That’s what I wanted to hear. I need you back up to full strength because we’ve got a ton of shit to do. Big clients coming in from all the publicity. Huge accounts. And we’re way behind on what we were already working on because of stopping everything to find you.” His words come out fast and loud, which is his M.O. If you don’t let anyone get a word in, they can’t disagree with you. “Totally worth it though to have you back. Listen, I loved what you did with that bridesmaid’s dress, and the flags. The news chopper got footage around the entire island. Great use of whitespace. A real guerrilla campaign. Edgy stuff with the hanging people, and all the blood on them? Perfect for grabbing attention. We’re going to spin it to bring Prescott to the next level. Honestly, world domination is our next stop.”
“Wow, that’s great,” I tell him, trying to muster up some enthusiasm.
“Yeah, it is. It’s more than great. Amazing. We could not have planned this better,” he answers. “Well, maybe I could’ve. But the point is, we’re going to take the ball and run with it.”
I chew my lip while I listen to him. This is it. It’s now or never. If I’m going to get a promotion, this is the best time to fight for it. “So, Guy, I think we need to talk about my future with the agency.”
“Absolutely. I was thinking the same thing,” he says. “But not on the phone. That’s an in-person convo. I’m assuming you’re not keen to come into the office tonight?”
Tonight? Seriously? It’s almost ten p.m. “Uh, no. I’m going to need to go home and sleep. I also don’t have anything appropriate to wear.”
“Gotcha. Bummer,” he answers, clearly wanting me to know I’ve disappointed him with my decision. “Can you be in by seven?”
“Let’s say eight. By the time I land and get home, it’ll be after midnight.”
He pauses for a second, then says, “Sure, yeah. Eight o’clock it is.” He’s putting on a cheerful tone but I can tell he’s a little pissed. Maybe he expected that, by arranging for the jet and the medical team, I’d be forced to say yes to anything he asks. Probably for the next ten years, and instead, he just got a no. A reasonable no, but still not the answer he wants.
“Okay, see you tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for everything, Guy, really. You went above and beyond what any other boss would have done. I’m touched that you would do all of this for me.”
“Well, I know you. You’re the type to pay me back. You’re loyal, and that’s hard to find these days.”
“Sure is,” I answer vaguely.
“All right. I’ll let you go. Sleep fast. I’ll be in the office by six, just in case you wake up early.”
“Good to know.” But only because it’s a sign that he’s going to push me every bit as hard as he always has. Worse even, because now I owe him.
I spend the rest of the flight reading all the texts I missed, most of them from Vivian. Tears roll down my cheeks as it sinks in for me—her faith in me and the incredible lengths she went to to find me. Talk about loyal. Vivian is the queen in that regard. A true friend and one I don’t want to live without.
I send her a quick text.
Me: About to land at LaGuardia. I should be home in about an hour. Can’t wait to see you, my friend.
Vivian: You’ll see me a lot sooner than that! I’m waiting at the private terminal. Look for the girl with the huge smile.
“Paige!!!!!” Vivian squeals, running across the arrivals area with a bunch of balloons bobbing up and down behind her.
We both screech loudly as we rush toward each other, and I drop all my stuff so we can give each other the biggest hug of all time. She holds me tightly and says, “You’re here. You’re really here!”
“I am! I made it!” I say, fresh tears pricking my eyes. “Thanks to you! ”
We pull back and laugh and cry, then hug again. I swallow the lump in my throat. “I can’t believe you did all of that. It must have cost you a fortune to fly there and back and for the hotel.”
“No, it was nothing. Literally. I used points,” she says, squeezing me again. “And even if it cost me every cent I have, I’d have done it anyway. I couldn’t leave my bestie stranded in the wild forever!”
“Thank you,” I whisper, overcome by gratitude.
“I knew you were alive. I just knew it.” She lets go of me, then puts her hands on my cheeks. “Let me look at you. I need to make sure you’re real.”
She glances up and down, and says, “You look amazing.”
“I have a real tan and I’m sure I lost a little weight.”
“No, who cares about that. You look … different. In a good way,” Vivian says, smiling at me. “Like super relaxed and breezy or something.”
“It’s the tan,” I tell her, and we both laugh.
“I think it’s the man,” she says, grabbing my suitcase. “Now, let’s get you home and eat chocolate cake and talk all night about Mr. Sexy Pilot Man, because your texts came through about three hours ago and I have so many thoughts and questions.”
“You bought cake?”
“Of course I bought cake. The fact that you’re alive is the biggest thing I’ll ever celebrate in my entire life.”
We catch a cab back to our apartment, and soon, we’re snuggled up on the velvet sofa under soft chenille throw blankets with plates of chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream.
Vivian takes a huge bite then says, “So, tell me everything. Don’t leave out any details. I need to know it all. ”
I smile at the thought of Mac, my heart squeezing with equal parts love and fear. I start to talk and talk and talk, telling her everything about him and how our relationship grew so quickly into something so amazingly wonderful. I tell her about the toe-curling sex and the late-night poker games, and how he cared for me and the way he would look at me—as if I was the only woman in the world (which I get could be due to the fact that I was literally the only woman on the island). I tell her about his family and how his crappy dad left when he found out his mom was pregnant and how he lost his mom when he was six, and how his grandpa raised him to think like an old man, and how it’s equally annoying and endearing at the same time.
I only stop talking when my phone pings. I pick it up, my heart speeding up in case it’s Mac trying to reach me. It’s a notification from Venmo.
You have received a refund of $800 from Gamble Air Inc.
Message from Vendor: As promised. I hope you made it home okay. Mac.
I stare at the message, reading it over a few times, while my heart pounds. “He just refunded me my money,” I say, showing my phone to Vivian.
She tilts her head and says, “Huh. A man of few words.”
“I think they cap the number of characters on these messages, but yeah, I guess you could say he’s the strong and silent type,” I answer, taking my phone back and looking at his message again. “But once he gets to know you, he’ll talk for hours.” I smile to myself, a vision playing in my head of laying in the hammock with him while he told me about his first ever flight .
“So? Are you going to write him back?” she asks.
“Yeah, of course. I just … need to think of what to say,” I answer.
“Tell him you love him.”
“I absolutely cannot do that.”
“Listen, as your best friend and a certified expert in Paigeology, I have reached the conclusion that you’ve got it bad, and you need to do something about it, which is to tell him the truth.”
I close my eyes for a second and shake my head. “There’s nothing I can do. He was very clear about the terms and conditions of our relationship. I knew it going in. I can’t turn around now and try to make it something it’s not.”
“But what if it is?”
“But it’s not,” I tell her.
“But what. If. It. Is?” she says, poking me on the last three words.
“It’s too complicated,” I answer, knowing it’s the truth. “I’m here and my career is finally about to take off and he’s all the way down near the equator, living his best life.”
Shaking her head, Vivian says, “I don’t think he is.”
“That’s because you’ve never met him,” I tell her. “The man knows who he is. It’s one of the things I find most attractive about him. Unfortunately, who he is means he’s never going to want the full meal deal.”
“That was before he met you,” she says. “I guarantee you right now he’s lying in bed, unable to sleep because he misses you so much.”
God, if only that were true. “I don’t think so.”
“He was certainly thinking about you a few minutes ago when he sent that money back.”
I chew the inside of my lip for a second, wishing she was right. Then his words about marriage pop into my head. Looking at her, I shake my head. “No, Vivian. No matter how much I wish it could be different, he meant what he said. One and done.”