Chapter 90 Reed
REED
Not surprisingly, given that CeeCee’s husband is a multi-billionaire, CeeCee’s penthouse at the Bellagio is the biggest, most luxurious hotel suite I’ve ever beheld. Which is saying a lot, considering how much I like to treat myself to the finer things in life.
At first, CeeCee, Francois, and I chat as a threesome while gazing at the neon view of The Strip below. But, after a while, Francois heads downstairs to meet some friends in the casino, leaving CeeCee and me to booze it up as a dynamic duo.
“Okay, darling,” CeeCee says when her husband is gone. “Tell me what’s going on with you. You’re not yourself tonight.”
“Yeah, I’ve got some blood in my boozestream.”
She laughs. “No, I’ve seen you drunk, plenty of times. There’s something bothering you. What’s wrong?”
I sigh. “I can’t stand being away from Georgina. She’s my disease and there’s no cure. I’m lovesick.”
CeeCee pats my arm. “What a glorious reason to be miserable.”
“How the hell do you and Francois live on different continents? Are you not in love with him? I won’t tell, if you’re not. Just tell me the truth.”
She bats my shoulder. “Don’t insult me. Of course, I’m in love with my darling Francois! I hate being away from him, every bit as much as you hate being away from Georgina. But I’ve got no choice, at least for now. I’m not ready to retire yet. Not even close. So, we make it work.”
I shove my empty glass at her. “Another one, bartendress. Help me numb the pain of my acute lovesickness.”
Chuckling, CeeCee gets up to refill my glass.
“I don’t blame you for falling head over feet for Georgie.
So have I. I knew she was going to knock my socks off this summer, the minute I met her.
But she’s blown away even my highest expectations with everything she’s submitted to me.
Especially that piece she wrote on Gates!
Have you read it, Reed? It’s incredible. ”
My chest swells with pride. “Yeah, I read every draft along the way. It’s amazing, isn’t it? I’m so proud of her.”
She hands me a drink and resumes her seat. “I made it a double.”
“Bless you, Saint CeeCee.”
“Did Georgina tell you? If she’s able to incorporate my final edits and turn in her final draft by tomorrow, we’ll be able to sneak it into the next issue of Dig a Little Deeper, just under the wire.”
“She told me. She’s beyond elated about it. Georgie’s been dreaming of getting published in Dig a Little Deeper for a long time.”
“Well, cheers to dreams coming true.”
We clink and drink.
“Does this mean you’re going to hire Georgina full-time at Dig a Little Deeper?”
“Of course, I am. But don’t you dare steal my thunder and tell her. When her internship is officially over in two weeks, I’m going to throw her a little surprise party at the office to tell her. I already told Margot to order a cake.”
I feel euphoric, like this victory for Georgie is my own. “She’ll love a party. She doesn’t have a mom, CeeCee. Little things like a party with a cake... the way you’ve taken her under your wing. That stuff means the world to her. More than you could possibly realize.”
“Aw, Reed. You look so smitten right now. Like you’re bursting with pride.”
“I am. This Gates article... It’s been so inspiring to watch her journey. When Georgina told her dad about Gates six weeks ago, she was so nervous and timid. And look at her now. She’s unstoppable. That article doesn’t pull any punches. It’s incredible.”
“That, it is.” She raises her glass. “Everyone drink to Georginaaaa!”
“Heeeey!”
Again, we clink and drink.
“Can I ask you a kind of weird question?” I ask. “Why did you marry Francois?”
CeeCee looks highly offended. “Because I love him more than life itself. And he asked.”
“Yes, I know all that. Don’t get your designer panties in a twist.”
She giggles.
“What I mean is, you’ve both been married twice before. His main residence is in France. Yours is in LA. And you’re both at an age where you’re not going to have any babies.”
“Francois and I aren’t going to have babies? Oh, crap. Don’t tell Francois! He only married me for my fertile womb!”
We laugh and laugh.
“But, seriously,” I say. “I don’t get it. Okay, you both fell head over heels. Woohoo. Congratulations. But why not be ‘jet-setting lovers’? Wouldn’t that be far more romantic than trying to make a trans-continental marriage work?”
CeeCee looks at me like I’m trying to glue false eyelashes onto a pig.
“You think being ‘jet-setting lovers’ is more romantic than exchanging vows of forever with the person you’re head over heels in love with?
And doing it in front of family and friends, in a ceremony that dates back hundreds of years and is legally binding?
And, in my case, getting to exchange those vows of forever, and thereafter partying with said family and friends, in a seven-hundred-year-old castle in the South of France?
Pfuff. I mean, to each their own. But I, personally, think there’s nothing more romantic than any of that.
Especially considering Francois’s wealth.
He owns half the world, and yet, he told me his life wouldn’t be complete if he didn’t spend the rest of it with me. ”
“But, see, that’s my point. Spend the rest of your lives together. Great. Wonderful. Why get married? You and Francois both know, for a fact, marriage isn’t necessarily forever, no matter what you say in your vows. CeeCee, Francois is your third husband.”
“He is? Oh, shit! Please, don’t tell him that!
He thought I was a virgin when he married me.
” She flashes me a snarky look. “Yes, I’m fully aware marriage might not last forever, but the thrill is that it could.
Did you not hear a word I just said? Marriage isn’t about logic. It’s a leap of faith, you fool.”
I bring my drink to my lips as my drunken brain feverishly tries to ignore the crazy shit my lovesick heart is saying to me.
CeeCee arches an eyebrow. “You’re planning to propose to Georgina?”
My heart shouts, Yes! But I ignore it, as best I can.
Because, obviously, that would be a ridiculous thing to do.
Georgina is too young for that. And I don’t even believe in the institution of marriage, as a matter of principle.
“No,” I manage to say in a calm voice. “I don’t believe in marriage.
But even if I did, Georgina is twelve years younger than me.
She’s got a lot of life to live before she’d be ready to commit to ‘forever’ with me. ”
“I’m fifteen years younger than Francois, and I was ready to commit to him forever.”
“Yes, but you’re twenty-five, darling. Not twenty-two. That’s a big difference.”
We both laugh at my silly, drunken joke.
“I was twenty-two the first time I got married,” CeeCee says wistfully. “And it was so much fun.”
“CeeCee, you got divorced!”
“Yes, but it was fun while it lasted. And the wedding was a damned good party.”
I can’t help laughing.
“Have you asked Georgina what she thinks about all this ‘forever’ business? She’s been through a lot at such a young age, you know.
Losing her mother. Taking care of her father through his cancer battle.
And let’s not forget what she went through with Gates.
I think maturity has more to do with what’s happened to a person in their years of life, rather than how many years of life a person has had. ”
I swirl my drink. “I’m not going to ask Georgina’s permission to ask her to marry me. That’d take all the fun out of it.”
CeeCee chuckles. “Oh, so you are a romantic, underneath it all.”
I shrug. “Maybe I am. I decided tonight I hate the word ‘girlfriend.’ It isn’t even close to enough to describe what Georgina means to me. In fact, the word feels like an insult, at this point. A hideous slur.”
CeeCee laughs. “Well, I think that’s a tad bit dramatic. But okay.”
I look out at the neon-lit view, gathering my thoughts.
There’s something on my mind... something I didn’t realize I thought about, until this very moment.
But now, suddenly, it’s crystal clear. “I think my parents’ marriage, and bitter divorce, has messed me up in the romance department.
My father was thirty-two when he knocked up my nineteen-year-old mother and married her.
I was too young during my parents’ marriage to understand the dynamics of their age gap, but looking back, as an adult, I can plainly see my father steamrolled my mother at every turn.
He lorded over her, controlled her, squeezed the life out of her.
In fact, I’d even venture to say he gaslighted her.
Finally, my mother discovered his mistresses—one of whom was nineteen, by the way.
Oh, and then he divorced her when she found him out, as if she’d done something wrong because he had mistresses.
I was only nine when they divorced, so I didn’t fully grasp everything, but Georgina recently showed me some legal documents that shed some light on my parents’ divorce and custody battle, and I got to see how nasty it was.
How scorched earth my father was. And I guess, if I’m being honest, I’m terrified of history repeating itself with me and Georgina.
Either with me as the controlling older husband who squeezes the life out of his young wife.
Or with me as my mother, who falls apart, completely, when the fairytale doesn’t work out. ”
“Oh, Reed. Who says the fairytale wouldn’t work out?
” She grabs my hand, her face awash in sympathy and love.
“Not every love story ends the way your parents’ did.
You’re not your father, and you’re not your mother.
You’re you. A beautiful, brilliant man with a huge heart and a whole lot of love to give.
You’ve kept the best of your love bottled up for thirty-four years, like the finest wine.
It’s time for you to finally pour that delicious wine into someone’s goblet, without holding back.
Whether that will translate to marriage for you, I have no idea.
Just, please, don’t let your parents, and your childhood, keep you from doing whatever is truly in your heart. Whatever that might be.”
My eyes feel as though they’re on the cusp of tearing up. So, I take a deep breath, and then another, to ward off my threatening emotion.
“Forever is a beautiful thing to promise to someone you love,” CeeCee says. “If you’re feeling the urge to propose to Georgina, then get yourself a prenup and roll the dice.”
Yes! my heart screams at me. But, again, my brain tells me, No, it’s a non-starter. She’s too young. And marriage only ends in pain.
I wipe my eyes. “I’ve actually got a better idea than making Georgina sign a fucking prenup.”
“Marriage without a prenup?” CeeCee gasps. “Reed, being romantic is one thing. Being stupid is another.”
“Cool your jets, woman. I’m not proposing to her.
Why give her a ring to symbolize forever when she could take it off?
” I drain my glass and put it on a side table.
“Come on, Ceece. I’m a man on a mission.
I’m going to get something for Georgina that symbolizes forever—that she can’t take off.
Something far better than a stupid ring. ”