The Fifth Avenue Story Society

by Rachel Hauck

  “It’s time, Jett,” he heard Gilda say. “And I don’t mean the book.”

  He hooked his backpack on his shoulder. “Time? I don’t know what you mean.”

  “I think you do.” She nodded toward the manuscript. “Gordon couldn’t confess the truth. It would ruin his career, his life. But in doing so he defrauded Birdie.”

  “How do you know all of this?”

  “It’s my job to know.” She patted his arm. “Tell Lexa the whole story.”

  “She already knows about Gordon.”

  “I’m not talking about Gordon, am I?”

  “Aren’t you?” He followed her from the Bower. “Gilda? What are you talking about?”

  “Good night, Jett.” Once again, she disappeared behind the door marked Private.

  Chapter 31

  Lexa

  Her Skype interview with The Glass Fork owners, Jenn and Ki Lee, went long into the afternoon, the time flying by.

  When the call finally ended, the shadows of the short November day draped over MacDougal Street.

  Three thirty. Lexa glanced about her apartment, famished. Excited. Churning with ideas.

  “Tell us about yourself, your experience with Zane. We think he’s a genius.”

  She spoke of her former boss with enthusiasm, not glossing over his accomplishments but making no bones about her part in his success either.

  “I’ve actually separated from ZB to seek other opportunities.”

  No use hiding the truth. They’d find out sooner or later. They understood her reasons completely and were relieved not to steal her out from under Zane.

  The Lees shared their dream and vision, how they got started, thrilled with Lexa’s start-up experience.

  Through the power of the internet, they toured her through their offices and the bakery. Ki promised to overnight samples of their most popular products.

  A double-chocolate raspberry croissant with organic wheat and oats? She felt inspired just hearing about it.

  Midway through the conversation, Jenn’s assistant sent housing information and Ki walked Lexa through the best places to live.

  “We want you on our side of the city, so your salary will compensate for rent prices.”

  The high-rise in Belltown with a view of the water had her mouth watering more than the double-chocolate raspberry croissant.

  I’m in. I’m in.

  She met the admin and HR rep, as well as the director of production and head of sales.

  Conversation and ideas flowed. Lexa actually started taking notes, as did Ki and Jenn.

  When they finally wound down, Jenn looked at Ki. Lexa held her breath. Were they going to make an offer now? Should she fly out to see the place, or was the connection she felt enough?

  She was ready for this. She knew it.

  “Lexa, it’s been great talking to you. Never thought this call would last over three hours. We should talk here and give it a day or two. You think it through as well. Email if you have questions and let’s connect again at noon your time on Friday.”

  So here she stood in her eight-hundred-square-foot studio with a single-wide window looking down onto infamous MacDougal Street.

  She hated endings. But if things didn’t end, where would all the amazing beginnings be?

  While she’d loved her time in Greenwich Village, she was on the verge of a new decade—her thirties—and it was time to move on.

  Seattle would be a fresh start in a new city. With a cool new job, a chance to contribute again. She’d be a CEO, thank you very much.

  She’d make new friends on her own. Ones she wouldn’t lose in a divorce.

  She could take up hiking and eat more granola. Maybe even go on a date. The idea landed hard.

  She would miss Jett. No use lying to herself. He was her first real love. Her forever love. Or so she had thought.

  She didn’t resist the rush of tears. If there was no sadness about leaving New York, then her time here would’ve meant nothing.

  Slipping on her coat, she grabbed her wallet and keys, thinking of falafel from Mamoun’s.

  She paused at the window and stared out. Beyond the square glass pane, the shadows had brightened to a soft gray and shook a gentle snow over the village.

  Lexa leaned around her desk and peered into the street. A couple of kids raced down the sidewalk with a dog in tow, arms wide, tongues trying to catch a taste of winter.

  Her attention drifted toward the lamppost. Where did she ever get the idea she wanted to be serenaded from the street while it snowed?

  Probably one of Mom’s Golden Age of Hollywood movies. Singing in the Rain, maybe? Or My Fair Lady?

  Another dog walker paused by the lamppost, and his leashed beast hiked his leg and did his business.

  Lexa stepped back with a laugh. What a poignant metaphor. She took a twenty from her wallet, checked for her keys, and started for the door, then halted at the sound of the Skype call tone.

  It was Jenn.

  “Do you miss me already?” Lexa sat in her chair and smiled at the face on the screen, donning her CEO posture.

  Jenn laughed. “How’d you know? Lexa, we don’t need forty-eight hours to think about it. We know you’re the one. Ki just got off the phone with Zane Breas, who sang your praises.”

  “Great . . . Wow.” So now he knew. Now it was happening. She was really, truly, no-take-backs gone from ZB. And New York.

  “I know this might be quick for you, but we’re ready to close the deal. We’re offering you the job of chief executive officer at The Glass Fork. A big title for a small company but we think we’ll grow into it. Ki is emailing you the offer as we speak, and Lexa, I think you’ll be pleased.” Jenn cupped her hand around her mouth and leaned toward the screen. “Counteroffer. We’ll pay whatever you ask.” Then she glanced over her shoulder and spoke in her normal tone. “Our offer is more than fair.”

  Lexa could not hold down her smile. She was wanted. Appreciated. Sought after. Accepted.

  “I’ll read the offer but I’m pretty sure it’s a go from my end, too, Jenn.”

  The woman slapped her a cyber high-five. “Let’s make it official on Friday at noon. In case you haven’t figured it out, Ki is a huge Gary Cooper fan. In the meantime, look for flight times that will allow you to come out and apartment hunt. Send Suki the details. She’ll make the reservation and set you up at a hotel. Do you want a car? But Uber will be easier. Ki and I will go with you to find a place. It’ll give us a good chance to build a relationship.”

  A relationship. They didn’t just want to be her boss.

  After a few more details and a final “I’m so excited,” Jenn hung up.

  Lexa exhaled, then jumped and spun around her tiny apartment. But the jarring bothered her arm, so she settled for a subtle, “Yes!”

  Meanwhile, she was still hungry and still in the mood for a falafel. But she couldn’t resist checking her email.

  The offer was in her in-box. She opened the document and gasped, tumbling back to her chair. Triple her ZB salary, plus bonus.

  Hands shaking, she clicked the link Ki added. It opened to a penthouse in Belltown overlooking the bay. She could afford it as well as a new car.

  Reaching for her phone, she texted Skipper.

  Job. Seattle. Big money. CEO bakery. WAAAAA!

  What?

  Her door rattled with a solid single knock. “Abby? It’s open. Girl, you’re not going to believe what just—”

  “You shouldn’t leave your door unlocked.”

  “Jett.” She stood as he entered, shaking a small fluff of snow from his shoulders.

  “Can I come in?”

  “Yes, yes.” She pointed to her red chair. “What are you doing here?”

  He sat in the chair, then stood. “Look, I’m just going to say it. I’ve been thinking about us ever since Mom’s wedding, and I know you said we’re not right for each other, but I think we are, Lex. I mean, yeah, I was a jerk at Paul’s. Renée had just informed the faculty
of a rumor that Tenley Roth was going to out Gordon, but in the end she wasn’t. It just brought up all my doubts again. Anyway, I’m sorry.”

  “But you know about the manuscript, Jett. I think you want to doubt. You should doubt.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know. But it’s too late.” His sneakered feet made soft echoes on the hardwood as he paced. “But I’m not here to talk about GPR and his moral failings. I’m here to talk about us.”

  “I’m moving to Seattle, Jett.” She cauterized his brewing confession before it spilled into the room and made a mess.

  “What?”

  “I spent the afternoon interviewing with an up-and-coming organic bakery in Seattle. They just signed a deal with Whole Foods. They’ve been around ten years and just built a new plant. They’re growing faster than they can handle. They need a CEO. I’m it.”

  “Seattle? But that’s a six-hour plane ride.”

  “I know.” Her phone vibrated in her back pocket. She glanced at the screen. Skipper.

  OMG. You have to take it. Yes!

  “Five hours for Skipper.” Lexa held up her phone. “She’s excited. Said to take it.”

  “So that’s it? You’re leaving?” Jett sank into the red chair. “Congratulations, I guess. You’re a CEO.”

  “Thank you.” She perched on her desk chair. His posture, his tone, reminded her of who they used to be.

  “You know we could never return to who we were when we got married, Jett. I think you’re only remembering the good.”

  “I remember the bad, believe me. It’s just—” He stared toward the kitchen. “Being with you the past month and a half reminded me what an amazing woman you are.” He flipped his gaze to her. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I don’t know what to say, Jett. Can’t I be your amazing friend?” The afternoon interview and extremely generous offer was making her immune to his sentiment and overtures of love.

  She was Wonder Woman.

  “Watching your life from the sidelines? Getting a Christmas card where you announce you’re getting married?”

  “I don’t send Christmas cards.”

  “Well, you should.” Jett shot from the reading chair. “I want you to be my wife, Lex.”

  “Take that back, Jett Wilder.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “You should go.” Her heels thudded over the hardwood as she walked to the door.

  “You’re not going to even give me a chance to make my case?”

  “There’s no case. Weren’t you there last week, sitting at Paul’s, barely talking? I tried to break through your moody wall, but you knocked me back. I don’t want to live that way, Jett. I don’t want to come home every night and wonder if we’re going to laugh or walk past each other in silence. You weren’t like that before grad school, before Storm died.”

  “I know, I know. I’m working on it. But what about the times I reached out to you and you shut me down? The times I tried to explain the pressure I was under during grad school and you—”

  “Understood. Yes, and left you alone. Now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have. Instead of bringing you to our bed, I covered you up when you fell asleep with a book on your chest. I gave myself to my job, so you didn’t have to worry about money.”

  “And when I tried to make time for us, you were too wrapped up with ZB. I knew I’d lost you to him.”

  “You never lost me, Jett. But yeah, I stayed where I was wanted and needed, useful. Where I could carry on a conversation, for crying out loud. And when did you ever try to make time for us?”

  “Tickets to Broadway. Dinner at the faculty club. Oh, the night I finished exams and made a picnic for us in the living room. I called you six times and you never answered. Came home at midnight as I recall.”

  She grinned, then snickered. “You were so cute, lying on the living room floor, naked, a rose in your hand.”

  “Fat lot of good it did me.” His demeanor changed with his firm laugh.

  “If you recall, I woke you up.” She arched a brow.

  “Oh, I recall.”

  “But we cannot live in the past. I don’t know how our final two years were for you, but they were hell for me.”

  He gazed at her. “Look, can’t we just try? We’re still that couple who made love at midnight in the living room. Who laughed at the same jokes. Who scoured vintage record stores for a copy of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. Who hiked the Catskills and dreamed of a house with kids and a dog. We just have to figure out—”

  “I’m moving to Seattle, Jett.” Steady. Stay focused. She couldn’t be lured into the woods by Jett’s idyllic memories.

  “Just like that? No discussion?”

  “And what if I pass on the job and we don’t work out? Again?”

  He left without a word, the door closing softly behind him.

  Trembling, she collapsed in the red reading chair, a single sob multiplying to two, then three, filling her soul to overflowing. And while the snow twisted and twirled outside her window, she mourned her past and hoped for her future.

  Chapter 32

  Coral

  Friday afternoon, she closed her office door and messaged Matt: DND.

  Do not disturb.

  Today was the day.

  Wringing her hands, she sat on the couch, then stood, pacing. Her heel caught on the threads of the Italian rug and she moaned, stooping to pat her hand over the obvious loose thread.

  “This was Grandmother’s.”

  Was everything she touched going to stain, rip, tear, shred, fall apart?

  “Coral?” Matt peeked through the side office door. “I know you don’t want to be disturbed but—”

  “Here you stand.” She reached for the outstretched iPad, regretting the slice in her tone. Matt never interrupted unless it was an emergency.

  “I thought you’d want to see this. Especially going into the all-hands.” She’d brought him into her confidence this morning, so she trusted he had her back in some way.

  Coral stared at the headline on the screen. HRH Prince Augustus Carwyn George of the House of Blue was engaged to Lady Robbi De Smet, daughter of Lord and Lady Largess De Smet.

  The picture showed a smiling, very handsome, and happy Gus on the palace steps beaming at Robbi, holding her hand, presenting his new love to the world.

  He’d presented Coral to the press on those same steps.

  “He’s engaged.” She returned the iPad to Matt with no small number of tears bubbling in her eyes.

  “Was I wrong to show you?”

  “No, of course not. I’m happy for him.” She was, truly, but seeing the man she once loved and adored with another woman wasn’t easy. And on today of all days.

  Be blessed, Gus.

  She’d tried to make him understand her reasons for leaving, for needing God more than him, but hurt made him blind and dull of hearing.

  The God-size hole in her soul was too vast and deep for any one man to fill. Except her Savior.

  Had she let Him fill it? Not entirely. But she was sipping and drinking from His well.

  Matt entered again without a word, crossed to the paneled fridge hidden in the wall, and took out a Diet Coke. Filling a glass with ice, he set it on the coffee table.

  “Fortification,” he said with a wink and headed out.

  “By jacking me up on caffeine?”

  Nevertheless, she sat on the couch and took a long, cold, fizzy drink.

  In thirty minutes, she’d march downstairs to the four o’clock all-hands. At four-o-five, the FBI would enter to arrest her CEO and CFO.

  “Lord in heaven, give me wisdom.”

  She understood He was with her. Lived inside her, according to the writer Paul. He called it an age-old mystery. Christ in us.

  Yet Coral had never felt more alone. What if everyone turned on her? What if Blaire and Dak’s corruption ran deep throughout CCW?

  Dad offered to stand with her today, but she declined. This was her company and her mess.
<
br />   However, in hindsight, she wished she hadn’t been so independent. His presence, or someone’s, would be a comfort.

  Chuck.

  Coral’s hand chilled as she set down her soda glass. They’d cleared the air, but the titillating vibration between them died.

  The last two story societies ended with polite conversation. Nothing more. She’d pieced together that he feared their relationship would drive Trudy to file for the final restraining order.

  Another sip of soda. Coral warmed her chilled hand in her lap. The hand that had wrapped around Chuck’s thick arm. The hand that knew the pulse in his veins when he saw Jakey and Riley. The hand that ached to hang on to him for the rest of her life.

  Coral, Coral, Coral. Do not be distracted. At her desk, she reached for her handwritten notes.

  “I’m pleased to report . . . CCW . . . exceeded quarterly goals . . .”

  This was to be an epic all-hands. She’d called in the regional sales directors and senior reps. With Teddy’s help, she set up video conferencing for the European team.

  She silenced their complaints for the late hour by promising to keep the meeting short and to the point.

  Dad suggested the all-hands to put the fear of God—his words—in every employee and root out any co-conspirators.

  “Anyone on the fringe will talk, hoping for a deal.”

  Another gulp of caffeine and she circled the office again.

  “You helped me choose You over Gus, so please give me wisdom today.”

  Pouring out her heart to what seemed like air always felt awkward, but when the air spoke back in the form of peace or confidence, her faith grew.

  If confession was good for the soul, outing herself as a Believer Monday had cleansed some of her fears.

  She had no idea where Chuck stood on issues of faith. Was he like Gus? His own master and highest authority?

  Yet for the first time in over a year, she spoke out loud about her faith journey, pleased at her genuine tone.

  Setting aside her notes, Coral whispered prayers until her phone alarm announced it was time to go down.