Never Say Never

by Taylor Holloway

  Deborah Breyer didn’t reply, but whatever Eva saw on her face must have been satisfactory to her because she turned back around smiling. She leaned up to kiss me.

  “What do we do now?” Eva asked quietly as we started walking again. “We’re both now officially unemployed. It feels really strange. I don’t think I’ve been without a job of some kind since I was about sixteen years old.”

  “Me too. From the first table I waited in high school to this moment, I’ve been working some type of job now for almost seventeen years. It feels… well, actually it feels pretty damn good. I’m going to sleep so late tomorrow. I don’t even want to get out of bed until noon.”

  “Well that’s a start. I was asking about the more immediate future though. What about Thai food? We could order in.”

  “Yeah. Thai food sounds good to me too.”

  46

  Eva

  Alexander was sitting in the sunroom with his orange juice and his scrambled eggs when I came over the next day. He didn’t react when I walked in, but I was used to that. I sat next to him in one of the rocking chairs for a few minutes before speaking.

  “I’m not going to be working here anymore, Alexander.”

  He blinked at me, and beneath the pale, filmy layer of his cataracts, I saw a flicker of recognition in his blue-green eyes. I could always tell when he was having a good day. Today was definitely a good day. He grinned at me. I tensed and got ready to be told good riddance.

  “You know, you remind me of my daughter Edith,” he said instead, to my great surprise. “She’s my favorite, by the way. Don’t tell Richard, though, that baby thinks it’s him.”

  I sighed and bit back my disappointment. I guessed I wasn’t as perceptive as I thought I was. I really had thought it was a good day for Alexander. He usually had nothing nice to say about Edith, so he must be lost even farther back in time than usual if he thought she was still of sound mind and body.

  “Will you tell me about her? About your daughter Edith?” I couldn’t suppress my curiosity. The way Alexander had treated his youngest daughter was somewhat questionable, but mental illness had been so badly misunderstood during the majority of his life. It’s possible that he never understood that her illness wasn’t her fault, or his, or anyone’s. It was just cruel chance. I wondered what his real feelings were toward Edith.

  Alexander smiled a proud, fatherly smile when I asked about her.

  “Edith is the happiest little girl in the world, and the most stubborn. She’s got energy like you wouldn’t believe, and an imagination to match. She looks after Richard like he’s her baby, always bossing him around, coddling him, playing games with him. She’s going to be an amazing mother one day. Just like you, Eva.”

  I felt my jaw dropping open in shock. Alexander knew my name? Just that was enough to make tears start to burn my eyes and make my nose runny. Not once in the month I’d worked with him had Alexander ever said my name or indicated that he cared to learn it. Most of the time he addressed me as “hey you” or “girl”. It was a rare day when I even merited “nurse”. It meant more to me than I thought it would to know I’d gotten through to him enough for him to learn my name.

  “I really think I’m going to miss you Alexander. You’re a handful, but I’m going to miss you.”

  He reached out his hand and held mine for a long, miraculous moment. At least in that second, I felt like he was here and now.

  “I’ll miss you too. But you really don’t need to worry about me. I have a loving wife, four children, and five grandchildren. I have a business I built from nothing. I even have this ridiculous castle. I’ve done everything I set out to do and more. What other thing could a man ask for in his life?”

  His inventory of his family was somewhat off, but he looked proud of his accomplishments. I could have almost said that he was missing love but that wasn’t even true. His children did love him, although none of them seemed particularly skillful at showing it (probably a result of their own upbringings). No family was ever perfect. Money apparently couldn’t change that basic fact of life. The Durant family was just as dysfunctional as any other I’d met, and their wealth only amplified their problems. They were certainly the first family I’d encountered that produced and attracted so much mischief as to require the services of a full-time fixer. Charlie was done with that position, but I had no doubt that they would find another. They certainly had the money. And the need.

  But my answer to Alexander was simple.

  “You’re right. You have everything you need.”

  “And you do as well. I wish you all the best, Eva Martin.”

  There aren’t a lot of moments in my life that I’ve been tempted to really believe in angels or magic or anything like that, but this was one of them. What were the chances he’d have a truly lucid moment when I came to say goodbye? I decided to just enjoy the moment with him, holding hands in the sun.

  The moment couldn’t last. As soon as he pulled his hand away and took a breath, the look of recognition in his eyes began to fade. I could almost watch it drain away until there was nothing left, not even confusion. He blinked into the sunlight contentedly. At least he didn’t know he was losing his mind.

  “Can you go fetch Vivian for me? I’m not sure where she got off to.” Alexander asked as I got up to leave a little while later. I nodded, and he added, “Thank you, Edith.”

  It would have been nice to believe I’d made a lasting impression on Alexander, but I knew his disease was incurable. If nothing else killed him first, it would eventually be terminal. His body would forget its own instincts at the end. Breathing, moving, eating, all basic functionality would slowly disappear into the lockbox in Alexander’s mind. Every essential thing that dictated who and what he was would succumb to the attack of the disease. Even if his heart was still beating when it happened, Alexander would join his wife and daughter, only living on in the memory of the people who knew him. It wasn’t fair, but nothing ever is.

  After leaving the sunroom, I talked for a little while with Dr. Matthieu. He’d decided to make his first in-person visit to the mansion on the very day I was leaving. Although a bit eccentric, I thought Dr. Matthieu had Alexander’s best interests at heart and would do a great job arranging for replacements for Thomas and me (after his kidnapping attempt, Thomas naturally quit as well). It was good to know that my former patient was in good hands. I was satisfied that the remainder of his life would be comfortable and dignified, even if I wouldn’t be there to help.

  Saying goodbye to my pretty little apartment was surprisingly bittersweet. Charlie had offered to help me to pack up, but I’d declined. He needed the sleep and I had so few things that it was really unnecessary. All my things went right back into the same two suitcases they arrived in a month before. Half of my stuff hadn’t even been unpacked yet, which was handy, if a bit sad.

  Once I made my peace with the mansion, I hopped into my new car and headed off back towards the city, Charlie, and my future.

  47

  Charlie

  Eva had insisted that she could pack up her own things at the Durant mansion and that I needed to sleep in, but I found it impossible. I’d gotten so used to rising early, going to the gym, and being at my desk by six forty-five, that the routine refused to be broken. After tossing and turning in my empty bed for an hour, I threw on a t-shirt and jeans and decided to go clean out my stuff from Clark and Jeffries.

  I attracted a few funny looks from the other associates when I rolled up so casually on a Monday morning, but no one commented. I’d already emailed my resignation letter to the partners, but the word may not have made it down through the ranks yet. The one possible upside to the delay was that everyone thought I was still entitled to free breakfast pastries. I gnawed on a bagel while packing up my few personal possessions and thought I’d be in and out within about twenty minutes. Predictably, I was interrupted almost immediately by a call from our receptionist.

  “Mr. Townsend? There are two women he
re to see you. They aren’t on your calendar. Do you want me to send them away?”

  I frowned and swallowed a big bite of bagel to reply. Two women? I had no clue.

  “No, send them on in,” I said spontaneously. I had zero fucks left to give, but maybe I could give them a recommendation for a different attorney. There were lots of good ones at Clark and Jeffries.

  “Hello Mr. Townsend,” Officer Sheila Henkel said as she entered my office, taking in my openmouthed gape with a grin. Beside her was the clerk from Tiffany’s, Destiny.

  “Officer Henkel? Destiny?”

  “It’s Detective Henkel now, actually,” she said proudly, looking around my office distractedly. “I got promoted since Detective Flint just turned in his badge. He said he’d rather take early retirement over an early heart attack. Destiny here is my cousin. Are you moving offices?”

  I cleared my throat in order to try and clear my mind. That was a lot of information all at once. “Congratulations on your promotion. And no, not moving offices. I resigned yesterday as well. I’m officially out of the fixing business.”

  Sheila blinked at me in surprise. “Really?”

  “Really. I’m done with fixing problems for the Durants. Richard can find someone else to do it. My girlfriend almost got murdered yesterday. You probably heard from Flint.”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry, but I’m glad she’s ok. I’m glad you quit, too.”

  “Oh?”I raised an eyebrow.

  “It would have just irked me to thank somebody that worked for the Durants.”

  She grinned, and I couldn’t help my laugh.

  “I can certainly understand that last bit, but I’m not sure I understand why you would be thanking me for anything. I’ve been nothing but a pain in the ass.”

  “It’s because of me,” Destiny said, smiling and looking so much like Sheila that I can’t believe that I didn’t recognize the family resemblance immediately. They might be cousins, but they were practically twins. That was why Destiny had looked so familiar to me yesterday. I should have guessed.

  I’m sure I still looked extremely confused, because then she proceeded to explain.

  “You remember the nasty run-in we both had with that woman, Angelica Ellis, yesterday while you were at the store?”

  “Unfortunately, I do. Why? Did she come back and yell at you or something? Do I need to go talk to her father or your manager?” That woman was a real piece of work. Only someone truly immature would retaliate against Destiny. She was literally just doing her job.

  “No, she didn’t just come back to yell at me. She went and got her father to talk to my manager and really did try and get me fired. It was completely and totally insane. A US Senator showing up to get me fired? The whole store was staring. It would have worked too, except that I told them both I had your card and knew you. As soon as he saw the card, Senator Ellis totally backed down. It was like magic. Angelica was pissed. She told off her own father and threw a vase and stomped off. My manager made the Senator pay for the vase.”

  I felt my mouth drop open and stay open until I couldn’t control my laughter. Angelica’s sex tape had apparently come back to bite her, at least insofar as it had bought me her father’s respect enough not to be a petty asshole to Destiny.

  “God what a crazy woman,” was all I could choke out. “I’m so sorry she came after you like that.”

  Destiny shrugged. “It all worked out. But I wanted to come by and say thank you.”

  “And I didn’t want her alone with you,” Sheila added. I rolled my eyes at her but then she added, “but mostly I wanted to see if Eva was ok.”

  I couldn’t very well stay angry at Sheila. She was blunt, but she was honest.

  “Eva’s doing ok. She quit her job as well and is moving out the mansion this morning. We’re cutting ties with the Durant dynasty for good. It’s time.”

  Sheila’s face turned interested and her hazel eyes glittered dangerously while her cousin stood by with an expression of visible confusion. “Got any dirt you want to share on them? Anything illegal that would be in the public interest to disclose to me? On a purely anonymous basis, of course. I promise it won’t get back to you. Scout’s honor.”

  She looked so excited that I was almost disappointed to burst her bubble. I smirked at her. “I’m afraid that attorney-client privilege still very much applies. I’ll be taking the Durant secrets to the grave with me. You know that’s the rule.”

  “For you. How about Eva? She’s not an attorney. I bet she’s seen or heard a thing or two.”

  “No, she’s not an attorney, but she did sign an NDA about a mile long. It’s an airtight document. A real thing of beauty. I should know. I’m the one who wrote it. Plus, I think she just wants to forget about all of this as soon as she can.”

  “Oh fine. I guess that’s understandable. I might feel the same way if I was her. If you two change your minds though, let me know. Well, anyway, thanks for your help. See you around.” Sheila smiled, and Destiny thanked me again before both departed. I shook my head in shock. Who would have guessed?

  A moment later, Sheila popped her head back into my office.

  “Destiny went back to the car, but I had one more thing I wanted to ask you.”

  “Sure. What’s up?”

  “Who’s that?” She asked, pointing at the picture of me and Dylan on my desk.

  “Oh, that’s Dylan Martin. He’s Eva’s brother and a friend of mine. Why?”

  A blush spread over Sheila’s cheeks.

  “Well, um, I was just wondering… Is he single?”

  Epilogue - Eva

  “There are a lot fewer waffles here than I would have guessed,” Charlie said. He took another sip of his beer and pretended not to notice that I stole another French fry off his plate. “Belgium is pretty nice though. Great beer.”

  I smiled back at him and nodded. This had been a pretty much perfect day. I’d wondered what it would be like to come back to Belgium for a long time. It wasn’t at all like I remembered. It was much better.

  We’d spent the day in Brussels, just sort of messing around. There were so many things to see that we weren’t even trying to take it all in at once. After rushing around for so many years, Charlie was now a big believer in taking things slow.

  But not about everything. Charlie still liked to drive fast, and he was quick to suggest that we take a vacation after we’d worked out our immediate plans to move out of Philly. In a lot of ways, we were still getting to know one another, but like discovering a city, it couldn’t be done all at once.

  “I really love you, Eva,” Charlie said to me, pulling my hand across the table. I thought he was just trying to keep me out of his fries, but then he placed a box in my hand.

  “I love you, too. What’s this?” I asked. “A present?”

  “I bought this for you before the craziness at the Durant mansion. I know that giving it to you now, over beer and French fries at a snack bar might not be the most romantic setting, but I don’t want to wait any longer.”

  I opened the box with excited fingers. Inside were a pair of earrings. Each one had two enormous diamonds, one round and one pear shaped. They were set in yellow gold and sent little rainbows over my hands as they caught the late afternoon light. They were perfect. Simple. Elegant.

  “I love them!”

  I hustled to put them on and then pulled out my makeup compact to look at them glittering in my ears. I’d never owned any expensive jewelry before, and I felt incredibly fancy and sophisticated with so many diamonds in my ears. Take that Angelica Ellis.

  Charlie was still rambling. “Oh, thank god. I was afraid you wouldn’t like them. I kept waiting for the perfect moment to give them to you, but it never felt like the right time.”

  I pressed my index finger against his lips.

  “Never say never.”

  Epilogue - Charlie

  While we were in Belgium, Dylan and my mom were taking turns checking on Wallace. According to both of them, he was
a model feline, purring and cuddling whenever they stopped by to feed him and change out his litter situation. My mom said he even played fetch with her and then slept on her lap for an entire hour. He really must just hate me personally, but whatever. At least he liked them.

  It was because of Wallace that I had a brief moment of panic when I saw that Dylan was risking me incurring international roaming charges to call. He knew perfectly well that I’d bill it back to him.

  “What did Wallace do?” I answered abruptly. I was already dreading telling Eva, who was in the shower, that Wallace had peed on her lingerie collection or torn the heel off her favorite pair of shoes.

  “Huh? Wallace is best! No man, I’m not calling about my man Wally. He’s good.”

  I bit back a snide reply. Wally? Dylan had given my cat a cool nickname? If he wasn’t careful, he was going to acquire Wallace on a more permanent basis.

  “Oh. Glad to hear that. What’s up?”

  “I was just wondering if you saw the news this morning. I wasn’t sure if you had access to the US news over there. Do you have your laptop?”

  “Yeah. Hold on. I’ve got my laptop right here.” I reached over and opened it up.

  “Go to JuicyNews.”

  “The tabloid?”

  “Just do it.”

  I typed it in and waited as the slow WiFi churned through and loaded up. The first thing I saw was Angelica Ellis. She was blurred, but obviously naked and standing up in the shower, surrounded by three dudes whose naughty bits were all also blurred out.

  “Holy shit.”

  “Yeah dude, she released it herself.”

  I could barely contain my disbelief. After everything I went through to get that stupid tape and contain it, I couldn’t contain Angelica Ellis’ penchant for self-destruction.