Brazen Bossman: A Hero Club Novel, стр. 64
My mom’s bed has always been the place I want to curl up in when I’m feeling sad, so I had the Lyft bring me to her place straight from East Hampton, and I haven’t been home at all.
She was notified, of course, that she had lost her building, and we’ve been given sixty days to make arrangements to vacate, at least according to the bank.
She didn’t know who it was, however, that bought it out from under her, and when I came to her door crying, I let it spill from my lips.
After begging her not to tell my brothers, because I can only deal with one thing at a time, even though I’d love to watch as they pummel him to the ground, it’s just not productive.
“Piper?” my mother calls softly from her bedroom doorway. “I made some coffee. Would you like some?”
“Is there biscotti?” I ask with my face still buried under the covers.
“Does a one-legged duck swim in a circle?”
“Well, I’m not sure,” I say, pushing myself to sit up and smile. “But I’m assuming yes.”
“You’d be right. Now, no more sulking. Come on.” She reaches for my hand and I take it, letting her help me stand.
When I’m seated at the kitchen table, coffee in front of me, I dip a biscotti into the black caffeinated magic then take a bite.
“Mmm. I needed this,” I tell her.
“Good.”
I watch her for a moment, and somehow she seems so calm. I don’t understand.
“You’re not as sad as I thought you’d be.”
“I think I’m at peace with it. Is it crushing me deep inside? Absolutely, but I was close to retiring, so I’m more upset we lost that piece of your father for you and the boys. Not for me.”
“I feel like a complete idiot, Mom. I’m so sorry I let this happen.”
“You didn’t let anything happen. How could you have known? He seemed like a wonderful man, and he looked at you like you hung the moon.”
“Until he decided to strip away the one thing that meant the world to my family.” I stare down at my hands hugging the mug. “He was and is full of shit.”
“Are you going to go back to work?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if I can while he’s there. It would be too hard, I think, and once he decides his final plans for Lennox, I’ll be out of a job anyway.” I try to shrug nonchalantly, but it’s impossible to hide the sting in my tone.
“But you love it there.”
“I do. I wanted to grow there and retire there. It was my dream, but sometimes dreams are bullshit.”
“I didn’t raise you to be so pessimistic, Piper.” She gives her head a shake before adding some sugar to her coffee.
“I’m not being a pessimist. I’m being truthful. I wanted something out of my time at Lennox and it’s just not going to happen, because of a man who I thought cared for me. He doesn’t. That’s obvious.” I chomp into the crunchy biscotti again. “I don’t want to talk about him anymore. We have more pressing matters at hand.”
My cell phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out, trying to fight the unwelcome surge of sadness that it’s not a message from Nathanial, even though I’d rather not hear from him, but a reply from Ida.
Piper,
I don’t normally do this, but I think we’ve reached a point where you are in need of some face-to-face guidance. This calls for it.
Meet me for a glass of wine or ten at Mister Paradise in East Village tomorrow?
Happy Hour?
Ida
I can safely say I wasn’t expecting that at all, but going out for drinks doesn’t sound half bad. Alcohol tends to be a decent, albeit, temporary salve on stinging wounds. I type out a reply.
Ida,
Actually, that sounds great.
But make it something stronger. We’ll need it.
I’ll meet you there at 6.
Piper
I slide my cell back into my hoodie pocket.
“Everything all right?” Mom asks, nodding toward my hoodie.
“Yes. Just a friend wanting to meet for drinks tomorrow. I said I would.”
“Good. You need to move forward, because no matter what it feels like right now… this too shall pass, sweetie.”
I’d give anything for a fourth of my mother’s ability to stay even and calm during an emotional hurricane.
Nathanial
Even though I know better, when I step out of my office at the end of the day, I hope to see her sitting there at her desk. She’d usually have her hair twisted up, using a pen to secure it in place, if she hadn’t already had it up to begin with. She’d be concentrating on her computer screen so intently there would be a small crease between her eyes.
But she’s not here. Her desk sits empty for the fourth day in a row.
I’ve been by her apartment more than once and either she is ignoring me, or she simply isn’t there. As each day passes, I stay sad, but anger starts to make a home right alongside it.
She should have come to me. She needs to give me a chance to explain, but she’d rather assume the worst of me. I am a bad guy to her, without the chance to set the record straight.
Nothing is more infuriating than that.
I pass by Kate’s desk every morning and every afternoon. Her willingness to at least tell me Piper is alive and safe is what is keeping me upright every day.
“Kate?”
“Yes, sir?” she answers, but doesn’t look up at me.
“I need you to tell me where she is,” I inform her, causing her fingers to still on the keyboard.
“She asked me not to, and with all due respect, I’m her best friend, not yours. She is where my loyalties lie.”
“Kate,” I lean against the