The Boyfriend

by Abigail Barnette

  “They’re busy, too,” I argued, though something funny happened in the pit of my stomach. I hadn’t even called Holli since before the holidays. “But you’re right, I could make more of an effort. El-Mudad isn’t the reason I haven’t seen them, though.”

  Yes, he is. The truth wasn’t pretty, but there it was. I hadn’t bothered to call or visit my friends because I’d been so tied up in my new love. Holli and I had been through that with each other before. The last time, though, it had lined up pretty handily; she’d been lost in Deja while I’ll been losing myself in Neil.

  “I’m just worried that now you’re living this new lifestyle with all this money and cars and houses and jewelry...and El-Mudad fits into that world.” Mom lifted her hands as though washing them of the whole subject. “I just don’t want you to replace your true friends with rich friends.”

  “Mom, that’s not it. It really isn’t. Have I abandoned anyone else in my life because I’m rich now?” Maybe some of my relationships had changed, but I hadn’t ditched anybody.

  “You haven’t abandoned anyone. But you seem to think that money and time are interchangeable.” She carried the bowl of noodles to the dining room and I followed her.

  “That’s ridiculous.” I didn’t laugh at it, though.

  “You threw a lavish party for Christmas at your estate,” Mom pointed out. “And you had your staff take care of us the entire time.”

  “I wanted everyone to have a good time and be comfortable and get to see some stuff.” I hadn’t arranged everything the way I had because I’d wanted to avoid my family. “I thought it would help to stay organized.”

  “You bought your grandma a trip to Ireland, but you sent me with her,” Mom added to the list of sins I’d apparently committed.

  “And did you have a great time?” I demanded.

  “She would have had a better time with you. You barely visit her anymore—“

  “I visited last year!”

  I’d raised my voice a little too much on that one. Neil entered the dining room and asked, “Is everything all right?”

  “Everything is fine,” I said with a forced smile.

  “Just getting food on the table,” Mom added. “Why don’t you let Tony and El-Mudad know that it’s ready.”

  “Of course.” He gave me one last, wary glance before leaving again.

  “Look,” Mom began, and when she started a sentence out that way, I knew it was going to be her final word on the subject. “I don’t think you’re a bad person, Sophie. And I know it has to be awfully hard to adapt to an entirely different world. I haven’t adapted to this big house and the fancy grounds and the frickin’ helicopter...it’s like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, and I was never cut out for that. I certainly didn’t prepare you for it. And I can’t give you advice on it, now. But I don’t want to see you throw everyone from your old life away.”

  If I could have just told my mother why El-Mudad wasn’t an equal-or-lesser-value substitution for Holli, maybe she would look at the situation differently. That was impossible, though. It was one thing for her to think I was trading my family and friends for money, but I suspected she would not be so gentle if she thought I was making over my social circle for the benefit of more kinky sex.

  I’d have to do what I could with what I had. “Mom. I am not throwing anyone away. You’re still important to me. Holli is still important to me. There is room in my heart to love everybody. You rejecting El-Mudad isn’t going to make my schedule gel with Holli’s any better than it does now. All I’m asking is that you get to know him without blaming him for...whatever it is you’re blaming him for.”

  She pursed her lips and considered. Then, her shoulders sagged in defeat, and she let out a sigh. “All right. Maybe it’s been unfair of me to blame him for the distance between you and Holli. But I’m serious, Sophie. You can’t pretend that everyone is out there waiting for you, content to have money thrown at them when what they want is your attention and love.”

  I didn’t think that’s what I’d been doing, but I nodded in agreement and said, “All right. Truce, then?”

  “Truce.” She nodded toward the kitchen. “We need serving spoons. And the salad from the refrigerator.”

  Once we were all seated at the table, our plates mounded with food, the mood lifted considerably. Olivia was a hell beast, announcing that peppers were yucky and she wouldn’t eat them. Mom just shrugged and told her, “You know where I keep the peanut butter, little missy,” and once Olivia realized no one would be catering an entirely new meal for her, she begrudgingly filled up on garlic bread and plain, buttered penne. Neil was more relaxed than I’d ever seen him in my mother’s house, and Tony was warm and excited to host us.

  “I don’t know if we’ll have space to do this in our new place, unfortunately,” he told us.

  “We can always have Sunday dinner at our house,” Neil promised.

  Mom and Tony exchanged a look, and I latched onto it.

  “You guys have already picked out a place,” I accused, my fork paused halfway to my mouth.

  “We did,” Tony confirmed. “It’s in Brooklyn. Still a haul to get here, but not as bad as the one we looked at in Jersey City.”

  “You never told me you were looking at houses.” My voice sounded a little higher than it normally would have.

  Mom blinked. “I told you we were probably going to move before the wedding.”

  “And the wedding is coming up,” Tony reminded me. “We’ve only got five months to go.”

  “So, you’ve already bought it?” Neil asked, taking a sip from his water glass.

  Tony nodded and tore a piece of bread in half to soak up some of the sauce from the peppers. “We should be closing here in a few weeks. Then it’s just a matter of actually moving.”

  “Congratulations.” Neil raised his glass as if in a toast. “I don’t envy the experience. If I never go through all that paperwork again, it will be too soon.”

  “I think you have enough houses,” El-Mudad quipped.

  Mom and Tony moving would provide excellent cover for El-Mudad living with us. I knew that. It had been the plan all along. I’d even thought, I can’t wait for Mom to move, on a few occasions.

  Now, she was moving. And I couldn’t imagine her being so far away. Which was ridiculous. I’d relocated from home to New York. Hell, I’d planned to run away to Tokyo. That hadn’t bothered me because I’d been starting a new life.

  And that was the problem. This wasn’t me staring a new life, it was my Mom. I wanted her to always be available to me. I wanted to be the center of her world.

  Suddenly, I understood why Neil had struggled to accept Emma’s marriage to Michael.

  And I’d been applying those same feelings to Holli and Deja without realizing it.

  “Hey, can you guys excuse me for a minute?” I asked, rising from the table.

  Mom looked at me like I was bananas for even asking. “What is this, Buckingham Palace? Do you need a bathroom pass?”

  “I don’t think they have to ask for bathroom passes at Buckingham Palace,” Tony said with a wink.

  As I left the room, I overheard Neil begin a sentence with, “The last time I was there, they escorted us—“ as I closed the door behind me and took my phone from the back pocket of my jeans. I didn’t necessarily have to hear my already impressive husband talk about “the last time” he’d been to the Queen of England’s house.

  “I’m so glad you recovered from your amnesia, laryngitis, and broken fingers,” Holli said in lieu of a hello.

  “I’m sorry. There’s no excuse.” There wasn’t. I’d just been callously overlooking her the way I’d done whenever I’d gotten a boyfriend.

  “I can think of one. El-Mudad moved in with you,” she said.

  I frowned. “How did you know?”

  “Your Mom. She came into the city for brunch with me and Deja last Sunday,” Holli said easily. “Your plane wasn’t getting back until the evening, otherwise we woul
d have invited you.”

  “I missed brunch?” Not that brunch was a huge deal for me. We had it in our kitchen every damn afternoon. But the thought of missing something while everyone was having a good time really, really bummed me out.

  You were on a private jet over the Atlantic, getting eaten out by your hot boyfriend.

  Okay, myself had a point.

  “We can do it again on Sunday,” Holli said quickly. “That amazing nurse you hired for us, remember?”

  “Right. Well, consider that your Christmas present so you can’t turn it down,” I ordered. “I’m not going to listen to any arguments. And if she ever quits, let me know. We’ll hire someone else and put her on the payroll.”

  “You’re a fucking saint, you know that?” She fell quiet for a second. “I really miss you, Soph.”

  “I miss you, too.” I took a shaky breath. “I really never thought we’d have our lives changed by kids. We always said that wasn’t going to happen.”

  “Okay, but also, I’d planned to be a single mom,” she reminded me. “I was going to clone myself and have another little me wandering around at my side. I still might, when they figure out the ethical dilemma of whether or not to clone people.”

  I’d heard way, way too many long-winded and weird complaints about the speed of cloning science to let that line of reasoning continue. “Well, I’m glad you’re not a single clone mom. Because Deja makes you so happy.”

  Holli sighed dreamily. “I’m so glad I locked that down.”

  We made arrangements to meet for brunch on Sunday. I left Holli to make the reservations, though not without reservations of my own. She didn’t always have great follow through on things she had to remember once a phone call ended. She promised me she’d written it down.

  The moment we hung up, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my chest. Mom was right. I couldn’t let someone as important as Holli fall by the wayside. Incorporating my new world with my old one continued to be a frustrating challenge, but that was my problem.

  I was finished making it everyone else’s.

  Chapter Ten

  Sunday morning, I set out for brunch with the girls–just me, Holli, and Deja, because Mom “didn’t want to miss church.” I knew that was a lie; Tony went to church with his mother and Mom had since become a little indifferent to mass as a result. I knew she wanted me to have time alone with my girls.

  I emerged from the master bathroom as quietly as I could. I’d gotten up at eight to do my hair and makeup, but by the way El-Mudad had groaned when my alarm had gone off, anyone would have thought I’d risen at the asscrack of dawn.

  “I thought the point of brunch was to indulge in sleep and eat breakfast late,” he mumbled as he rolled over, blinking in the sunlight as the shades rolled up automatically. He slapped for the switch on the wall before they could make it all the way. Beside him, Neil snored, totally immune to the noise of my early-riser morning beauty routine.

  “Hey,” I said, indicating the loose curls cascading down my shoulders and the frankly epic contour job I’d done. “It takes a lot of time to look this good.”

  He flipped onto his stomach and buried his face into the pillow, grumbling.

  I fought the urge to drop my snuggly microfiber robe and climb back into the big, warm bed beside him. “You should get up, anyway. Olivia is going to come looking for Afi any moment.”

  That was an inconvenient part of our arrangement. Though I had dropped some delicate hints to the nanny about giving us some warning before Olivia barged into our room in the morning—and there was no doubt Mariposa understood what we were up to—the kid had a mind of her own. Sometimes that mind...didn’t mind.

  El-Mudad sat up and put his feet on the floor before rubbing his eyes and leaning his elbows on his knees, head down. After a moment in which he seemed to steel himself against waking up, he stood. “All right. Come give me a kiss then.”

  “Ugh, closed mouth,” I said, covering his lips with my hand as he took me into his arms.

  He gave me a chaste peck. “Of course. Anything else, and I risk making you late.”

  “Do you and Neil have anything fun planned for today?” I asked as El-Mudad pulled on his lounge pants.

  “We had planned to take Olivia to the race track and let her drive around a bit,” he joked.

  I raised an eyebrow and headed to the closet. He followed me.

  “I’m kidding, of course. I’m planning to stay here with Olivia. I promised her we would swim today.” He scratched the back of his neck and yawned.

  My heart melted. Olivia did love the indoor pool—so much so that we’d been careful to install a mechanical lock as well as one with a code. I loved the idea of her spending the day bonding with El-Mudad, even if she couldn’t understand the significance of him in our lives.

  He went on. “Neil did mention going to the track, but I don’t think I’m in the mood today. I just want to be lazy.”

  “He’ll go without you,” I warned.

  “Oh, believe me, I know.” He gave me another quick kiss. “I’m off, then. There is a guest bed that needs convincing rumpling. I’ll do that, and maybe head down to the gym for a morning run.”

  He was such a liar. He was going to climb into that bed and sleep until eleven.

  * * * *

  “Mmm. This is so much better than mimosas,” I said with a happy sigh, setting my Hemingway Daiquiri back on the table.

  “To being able to drink,” Deja said, lifting her glass of champagne. “And may I never breastfeed again.”

  Holli had gotten us a reservation at Victor’s Café, a Cuban restaurant with the most amazing ceviche. The decor was incredible; a tall, airy ceiling crossed by wooden beams and gold-tinted light bulbs in glass jars flooded the dining room along with natural light from skylights. Ceiling fans with large paddles lazily churned the air around drapes of ivy and tall potted plants. The clink of silverware on plates and the low hum of conversation around us were oddly relaxing.

  Or, maybe that was the daiquiri.

  “So, what’s going on with your Mom?” Holli asked. “Where’s she?”

  “She claims to be at church, but I don’t believe her,” I said, lifting a bit of salmon carnavale to my mouth. “I think she just wanted me to be able to spend time with you guys on my own.”

  “Well, we hardly ever see you anymore,” Deja said. Then she quickly added, “Not that I don’t understand. You’ve got your stuff going on, just like we do.”

  “Yeah, but you guys have way more going on. How are things at Mode?” I asked, taking another bite.

  “Really good. We actually have Rihanna lined up for our May issue.” She did a little dance in her chair. “She came in on Monday and brought us all Fenty.”

  “No!” I slapped my hand down on the table then ducked my head as other diners looked our way in alarm. “Why didn’t you lead with that the moment we sat down? And why didn’t you call me?”

  “Because she doesn’t want to share the free Fenty,” Holli said with a laugh.

  “You never told us how things went at Christmas,” Deja reminded me. “You survived the house of horror?”

  “Yes. Barely.” I shivered. “I really, really hate that place.”

  “I can’t believe you,” Holli complained. “You’re the one who always obsesses over Pride and Prejudice and shit.”

  “This place is not like Pemberley, okay?” I was so misunderstood. “You guys have to come over there sometime and see it. It’s like the haunted mansion.”

  “Wow, you’re really selling it,” Holli said around a mouthful of ropa vieja. “How can we resist?”

  “Jesus, scarf that down, huh?” Deja said, only half-kidding in her admonishment.

  Holli shook her head. “Sorry! I can’t get out of mom mode. I don’t usually get more than three uninterrupted minutes to finish a meal.”

  Deja looked to me again. “Speaking of kids, you met El-Mudad’s?”

  I wiped my mouth with my nap
kin, careful not to smear my lipstick. “We did. And it did not go as well as I would have liked.”

  Holli looked crestfallen. “What happened?”

  What hadn’t happened? “The worst thing imaginable. They totally figured out their dad’s relationship with us.”

  Holli’s eyes widened in horror. Deja’s jaw dropped, and she uttered a tiny, extended, “No.”

  “They’re teenagers. They’re more observant than he gave them credit for. And they knew what was up with their mom and dad and the woman her mom left him for.” That sounded so fucked up to me, but I couldn’t really know their family situation, and it was none of my business how they raised their kids. Especially when we had a very similar arrangement in the same house as Olivia. “They’re going to be discreet, though. They’re not vindictive or anything.”

  “Thank God for that.” Holli reached for her water. “Loose lips fuck everything up.”

  “I don’t think that’s how that adage goes,” I said doubtfully.

  “How is that going to work with Olivia?” Deja asked, her brow crumpling in concern. “She’s not exactly fit for a top security clearance.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it.” I rolled my eyes. I could get into the whole Valerie and Laurence and Neil thing later. Much later. “We’re being cautious. El-Mudad is our good friend who is living with us for a while. He has a room, and he gets up in the morning and goes to it, so she thinks he sleeps there.”

  “She’s perceptive, though,” Holli warned. “I’m kind of convinced she’s a sixty-year-old, thrice divorced New Jersey real estate agent under all that youth.”

  That was a pretty on-the-nose description of Olivia.

  “If it did come out...how would Valerie react?” Deja asked.

  I picked up my drink and considered. “How would Valerie react? She probably wouldn’t think anything of it. She knows all about Neil’s whole deal, so this wouldn’t shock her. Laurence, on the other hand...but I don’t want to get into that now. I don’t want to bring the whole brunch down. What are you working on, Holli?”

  “Finding a job.” She sighed heavily. “I don’t know if Mitchell is sleeping at his desk every day or what, but I haven’t been able to book anything.”