Page 89 of Fractured (Not Quite a Billionaire)
“Of course he won’t.” I knew that for sure. He’d want Karen, if only to hold onto me. I touched the pendant at my throat again.When you need to remember that I’ve got you, and I’m holding on.
Hemi loved me, I knew he did, even if he didn’t always know how to do it right, even if he was confused about how to show it. And he loved Karen, too. He always had. We just had to find our way, that was all.
Surely.
Inez came in, holding a tall glass frosted from the freezer, full of lemonade poured over ice cubes and garnished with a sprig of mint. She set it onto a coaster in front of me and said, “Drink.” An announcement, or an order. Probably an order.
“Thank you,” I said. “This is the best thing I’ve seen all day.”
She smiled her closed-off little smile, then told Karen, “Listen to your sister. She knows how to be a lady,” and I about fell off the couch.
“Nice,” Karen said, but not until Inez was out of earshot, I noticed. “If I wanted to be alady,I’d be all set. It’s, like, the nineteenth century in here.”
“So come with me.”
She hesitated, studying me through the thick eyeliner that I still couldn’t get used to. “Do you really need me to?” she finally asked. “I know you’ve always taken care of me, especially when I was sick, and that’s great and all, but…wouldn’t it be easier if you didn’t have to do it anymore?”
Just like that, I was losing my bearings, the vertigo taking hold again. I clutched the icy glass for support, took a sip, and hauled myself back. “No,” I managed to say. “It wouldn’t. I love you so much, baby.” I put my hand to my forehead again. I was choking up. I was losing it. “You know I do. I’d…I’d miss you so much.”
I couldn’t help it. I put the glass down, reached for her, grabbed hold, and held on, not caring if I were messing up her carefully mussed short hair or smudging her horrible pale lipstick.
“I love you too,” she said after a minute, her voice coming out muffled against my shoulder. “But I don’t want to go if I don’t have to. Couldn’t you, like, take a little vacation? Not do all the drama? And call me if you really need me to come?”
No,I wanted to say.Don’t leave me alone.I’d never been alone. Never ever. It wouldn’t be a vacation. It would just bealone.The very thought panicked me.
But…if she were here, she had Hemi, and Inez, too, and Charles.
Charles?Giving her driving lessons? How hadthathappened? In any case, though—she had supervision here, and she needed supervision. What would happen when I was out looking for a job? What would happen if Igota job? What aboutherjob, Friday and Saturday nights, riding the subway to Brooklyn after midnight, walking home? I didn’t know how long any of this would take, and I didn’t want her to be alone.
It was just for a little while. It had to be.
Just to show Hemi? No. Surely not. It was more than that. Just to showmethat I had a choice. Just to get back on track.
“Right,” I finally said, pulling back from her and grabbing for my lemonade again. “I’ll go by myself for now. It’s probably just for a week or two. But if Hemi’s not OK with that, if he seems not OK atall,or if you aren’t OK, you call me, right?”
“Sure,” she said.
“And I’ll call you every night. You can come see me, too.”
“Hope.It’s not like you’re going toEurope.You’re going toBrooklyn.”
I stood up, taking my lemonade with me like a life preserver. “Right, then. I’m going to take a shower, and then I’m going to pack my suitcase and go.” Which sounded horrible. “And Inez is right,” I added. “Your skirt’s too short, and that top’s not all right. If you’re going—where?”
Just like that, her mood had flipped, and she’d folded her arms across her no-longer-small breasts. “To the Y. Do you want to see my permission slip?”
“No,” I said. “I want to see youroutfit.”
Hemi
The meeting didn’t end for an hour after Hope had left. When it was finally over, Blake hung back, looked me over, and said, “You’re sweating this too much. Not like you. What’s up with that?”
I didn’t show vulnerability. That was a sure way to get taken down. If he’d noticed…I said, “I’m all good.”
“Hmm,” he said. “Not so much.” At my sharp look, he added, “Sorry, man. Body language is my life. Or it used to be, anyway. It’s the girl, huh? You think she’s going to walk if you lose?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Yeah. Thought that was what you were worried about, because I knew it wasn’t the business, not all of it. That’s the nice thing about money. If you lose some, there’s always more of it out there, and it’s always the same. Nice and green. Women, now…not so much. Well, I guess you know her, right? If she’d walk, she’s the wrong one anyway. You get that big rock back and move on. And if she wouldn’t—she just passed the acid test. Nothing like getting the ‘for worse’ out of the way up front before you start making babies. The woman who sticks with you after you blow out your knee? That’s the one you want. Ask the expert.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “I’d say let’s go to dinner and catch up while I’m in town, but I’m guessing you’ve got your hands full with somebody else right now, so I’ll just say good luck, man. Give me a call if you want to run something by me, talk it out. Media and all that.”
