Significant Others

by Baron, Marilyn

“And tell my super-successful, high-powered wife and her dynamic family that her husband is a failure? You’d just be ashamed of me.”

  “What?” I said, completely baffled.

  “You won’t even use my name. Honey Palladino. That’s what you call yourself. But you’re Honey Palladino Bronstein.”

  “I didn’t know that bothered you,” I said sincerely. “Now let’s get back to your problems at work.”

  “I thought about changing firms, maybe moving out of Atlanta, but I know you’re tied to Palladino Properties and you can’t leave. I’ve tried to tell you a million times, but then the phone would always ring and it would be the office or a client or the bank or something about the funeral or your mother. You never have any time for me, for us. And you never listen.”

  Was he right? I hated to admit it, but some of what he was saying made sense. Was that why he was encouraging my mother to sell Palladino Properties? Because then I’d have more time for him? Or was the reason more sinister? Even I could put two and two together. And the more I thought about it, the more his actions added up. I was starting to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  “Marc, why did you really encourage my mother to sell the company?”

  Marc didn’t hesitate.

  “Because she doesn’t want to run the business anymore.”

  “She’s not running it,” I said, and I could feel the resentment creeping into my voice. Had it been there all along? “Why didn’t she tell me that herself? Why did she have to come to you?”

  “Because she’s told you a hundred different times in a hundred different ways, but you weren’t listening. Didn’t have time to listen.”

  I took a deep breath. I didn’t like what I was about to accuse my husband of, but I had to know.

  “I have a question for you, and I want an honest answer. Did promoting the sale have anything to do with your problems at work? A nice fat, juicy deal would go a long way toward cementing your position at the firm.”

  Marc’s eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped. I think he was truly blindsided.

  “Honey, I would never do that. I can’t even believe you’d think that I would take advantage of you and your family that way. I was just trying to help your mother.”

  I blew out a breath. Okay, I was way out of line. But I was still mad.

  “Then tell me why you lied about your business trip to New York. Did it have something to do with the sale?”

  “How did you know about that?”

  “I’m asking the questions here.”

  “I went there for a job interview,” Marc admitted. “And I got an offer, a good one. I wouldn’t be a partner. I’d have to work my way back up. I’d be what they call Of Counsel until I could prove myself, again.”

  “A job offer?”

  “That’s one of the reasons I was encouraging your mother to sell the company. I figured if it was a done deal, you’d have no choice but to go to New York with me.”

  “So you lied when you told me you were going to your firm retreat?”

  “Yeah. I couldn’t tell you the real reason.”

  “Did you take Trisha?”

  “On a job interview?”

  “Well, I thought, I mean, when I called the office they said Trisha was out too.”

  “You were checking up on me?”

  “Well, after I saw this,” I said defensively, handing him the 4X6 of Naked Trisha I had just taken out of my purse.

  “Christ, Honey. Where did you get this?”

  “It was mixed in with our family Thanksgiving pictures. Look familiar?”

  Marc looked truly surprised. “I loaned Trisha my camera so her boyfriend could take pictures of her. Then I forgot about it.”

  “If there’s nothing going on between you and Trisha, then why was she at our house, prancing around half naked?”

  “She was typing my resume and cover letters to send out to prospective employers. I didn’t want her doing it at work.”

  “Hannah said she was topless at our pool. There’s no computer out there.”

  “She said she wanted to work on her tan. I didn’t even notice. Honey, I went to New York alone, I promise you. Since I was going to be gone, I gave Trisha the day off.”

  “Are you telling me the truth? There’s nothing going on between you and Trisha?”

  “I’ll be honest. She did come on to me, but I set her straight.”

  I blew out a long breath. You can get a lot of exercise jumping to conclusions. So my husband didn’t go to New York with another woman. If I could take him at his word.

  “Marc, I’m sorry about your job, really,” I said and meant it. “But I wish you had come to me. We could have worked something out. You’re an adult. You need to act like one. I was drowning, I still am, and your answer is to slap me in the face by bringing your temp home in the middle of the day? And why were you wearing your bathrobe?”

  “Honey, I didn’t even go into the office that day. I was so depressed, I just stayed home. I didn’t think you would find out.”

  “Oh, now there’s an original answer. That’s right up there with the ever-popular, ‘Everybody does it.’ ”

  “I have to admit, having someone her age interested in me made me feel good, young again. For God’s sake, I’m almost sixty.”

  “You’re not almost sixty. You’re fifty-five, and I’m right there behind you. I know getting old is the pits. But it’s much worse for a woman, and I really believed you were sleeping with her. Vicky and Grant and who knows how many other people at the firm knew about your little luncheon rendezvous, but I didn’t. It’s humiliating. And you let them think you were sleeping with her, didn’t you? Why? Because it was good for your reputation?”

  Marc hung his head. Apparently he had no answers. At least not the right ones.

  “I’m supposed to be able to depend on you and trust you. You’re my husband. How can I ever do that again? I don’t even know what I ever saw in you.”

  “You said you were attracted to my big brain,” Marc teased.

  “I was. Until you stopped thinking with it.”

  “Honey,” he said, reaching out to stroke my hand. I shivered involuntarily. He could still get to me, and that’s because I was still in love with the bastard, but I wasn’t going to let him know that, so I pulled my hand away.

  “I told you nothing was going on between Trisha and me.”

  “I work hard to lose weight and then you hook up with some lard ass,” I whined indignantly.

  “She does have a big butt,” Marc admitted, looking at the photo again. “And a pretty small brain. I mean, how smart can she be if she’s hanging out with an old loser like me? She probably doesn’t even know I’m on the way out of the firm. I guess the gossip hasn’t reached her yet. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be wasting her time.”

  “And what does that say about me? I married you.”

  “I’m glad you did, and I prefer your butt,” Marc said, smoothing his hands around my ass, trying to get on my good side.

  “Cut it out,” I spit, pushing him away. “And we’re not done here. Are you telling me that with the least bit of encouragement you would have jumped on the opportunity—or her?”

  “She made herself available,” Marc admitted, “but I wasn’t biting.”

  “Sounds like a fish story, the one that got away.”

  “Honey, you can’t see it, but you’re totally stressed out,” Marc said. “You’ve got to stop internalizing everybody’s angst. You have enough angst of your own.”

  “I think I have a right to my angst, after what you did. And in case you don’t know, selling a house is one of the most stressful situations that exist. I admit it. I worry about my listings. I care. It bothers me if a deal falls through. I worry about my people.”

  “You see, there, you worry more about your people than you do about your own family. Sometimes you stress out about things in the business you have no control over. You’ve paid your dues. And you’re still tak
ing calls at midnight. You’ve got to draw the line. Your mother doesn’t let the job run her life.”

  “Right now my mother isn’t doing the job. And my mother has her own style of doing things. I feel I need to be accessible at all times.”

  “Maybe you need a bigger team,” Marc suggested. “Hire another personal assistant. You certainly have the volume to support that expansion.”

  “We’re getting squeezed out by all the mega-firms,” I said.

  “A merger could change all that,” Marc sulked.

  “But there isn’t going to be any merger, thanks to you. My mother is just going to sell the business and Donny and I will be out of a job. And there will be no more Palladino Properties. All my father’s hard work—gone.”

  “I told you I thought if she sold you’d be free to come to New York with me. It was selfish, I know. I’m sorry. I was only thinking of us, of myself.”

  Marc grabbed my hands.

  “Come on, baby,” he coaxed. “Give me another chance.”

  “I’ve already moved on,” I said stubbornly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “While you were off meeting your temp, I met my significant other.”

  “Your what?”

  “I met someone. We’re going on a Christmas cruise.”

  “Unbelievable. Honey, you can’t be serious. You just got here. What’s his name?”

  “Max,” I said stubbornly.

  Marc rubbed his hand over his face. “He lives in Boca?”

  “Right here in Millennium Gardens, down the hall, as a matter of fact. It’s very convenient.”

  “Oh, so he’s an old geezer.”

  “He has all his working parts,” I argued, trying to keep a straight face. “And he thinks my butt is perfect.”

  “Okay, that’s it. We’re going home, right now. Pack your bags. I’m getting you and Hannah out of here. We need some alone time to work things out.”

  “You can’t give me orders any more. Barbara said—”

  “Barbara is a barracuda. She thrives on other people’s misery. I don’t give a damn what she said. The only lawyer you need to listen to is me. You and Hannah are coming home with me. You’re my wife, dammit.”

  “I don’t know if I still want to be,” I whispered, and suddenly it was all too much and I broke down.

  “Oh, Honey, sweetheart, please don’t cry,” he said, and took me into his arms, kissing the tears away from my face. “I’ll do anything, anything you say, if you’ll just forgive me and take me back. I know I lied to you, but I didn’t do anything wrong. I know what it looks like, and it’s unforgivable what I put you through. But I’ll make it up to you, somehow, I swear.”

  “Words, Marc,” I sniffled. “They’re just words.”

  “I won’t give up,” Marc insisted. “A wise man once said, ‘persistence pays.’ ”

  I squared my shoulders at that reference to my father and continued, “I have something else in mind. I want you to transfer half of your portfolio to me, now. Barbara will handle the transaction. Think of it as a trial separation—of assets.”

  “I never heard of that.”

  “I just made it up.”

  “You’re just about to sell your family business for millions. What about that?”

  “That’s mine,” I asserted. “What’s mine is mine. And half of what’s yours is mine. I hope Trisha was worth it. Maybe when I’m completely financially and emotionally independent, I can think about whether to forgive you and judge your sincerity. And, there’s one more thing. I was serious about wanting temporary custody of the Gold Wing.”

  “But you don’t even know how to ride a motorcycle,” Marc sputtered.

  “Well, then I’ll have to learn or you’ll have to teach me.”

  Marc exhaled and then looked resigned.

  “Agreed, to everything you say. Honey, I said I love you, and I mean that. I never stopped loving you. You know that, don’t you? We just got off track. I am going to get rid of Trisha, find her another job with another firm, something. I don’t ever want to see her again. God, when Hannah walked in, I felt so low that she had to see me that way. What a loser I am. You should have seen the way she looked at me. She hates me.”

  “She doesn’t hate you,” I said. One thing I did trust about Marc was his fitness as a father, and I knew neither of us wanted our problems to impact Hannah. I was mad at him, but I didn’t want to put our daughter in the middle. “She’s upset now, but she’ll get over it. She wants to see us back together.”

  “That’s what I want too, more than anything,” Marc said, “if you would just give me another chance. I was your first, Honey. I want to be your only.”

  I was still locked in his arms, but I couldn’t look at him. Tears were streaming down my face. He wiped them away.

  “Marc, since I’ve been here at Millennium Gardens, I’ve seen how sweet it is to be in love. Age doesn’t matter with people here. What they have together is so special. That’s what I want. Someone to grow old with.”

  “Growing old sucks,” Marc muttered.

  “Well, yes, it does. But it’s going to happen, is happening. Don’t you want someone to grow old together with?”

  “I guess if I have to, you’re the one I want to grow old with,” Marc said. “It’s true. I won’t mind it as much if we’re together. Whatever you want me to do. I can change. I’ll be whatever you want me to be.”

  “I want you to be the man I thought you were,” I said stubbornly. I fidgeted with the comforter and tried to shift out of his arms. “I just want you to love me, again, like I’m the only woman in the world who matters to you,” I continued, my bottom lip quivering. “That’s all, Marc. I just want you to love me.”

  “Oh, God, I do love you.” Marc was close to tears. He was kissing me, first gently, then desperately like he couldn’t get enough of me. “Forgive me, please forgive me.”

  I bit my lip. My body was responding to his, he was saying all the right words, touching me in all the right places. It had been a long time since the two of us had wanted each other like that, desperately, passionately—at least at the same time.

  “Marc,” I said softly. “We can’t do this. Everyone’s right out there. I don’t want to do this right now.” But I was lying to myself and to him.

  “I know, Honey, it’s just that I want you so much.” And I could feel how much he wanted me. I was shaking.

  “Honey, I’m sorry. So sorry.” We were both breathing heavily. “Tell me what I can do to make this right.”

  “Sssh,” I said. “It’s okay. I want to believe you mean that.”

  “I do,” he said, kissing my lips and holding me.

  “Do you really think I have a puny pecker?” he said, trying to make me laugh.

  “Well, the evidence indicates otherwise,” I smiled and got a devilish twinkle in my eyes. “Will you take me for a ride on my new Gold Wing?”

  “As soon as we get home,” he promised. “Now you’ve got to get me out of here in one piece. Maybe stand between me and your brother.”

  I laughed. “I should let him take you apart. He’s dying to. And you deserve it.”

  “I know,” he said. “Donny never really liked me.”

  “He has good instincts about people,” I replied. “I guess I should be grateful you didn’t go after my personal assistant.”

  “Your personal assistant is a guy.”

  “Exactly.”

  “That’s very funny,” Marc said dryly. “And talking about guys, do I have to be worried about this Max guy?”

  “No, actually he’s interested in my mother. Oh, Marc, there’s so much going on you don’t know about. I think Donny’s found his father, his real father. It’s that big bulk of a man in the living room. I don’t really understand it yet. My mother will have to explain it to us. And I know you’re against it, but I could really use your help negotiating this merger. I don’t want my mother to sell the company. It’s the wrong thing to do. And we have
to give Mr. Reddekker our answer tomorrow.”

  “Whatever I can do, I want to help,” Marc said sincerely, folding me into his arms. “I want to be there for you, to make it up to you.”

  “I haven’t said I’m forgiving you.”

  “I know. I have to win back your trust and I’m prepared to do that. To grovel if I have to.”

  “Groveling is a good first step. What about your job offer in New York?”

  “We can talk about that later, at dinner.”

  “You know I can’t go with you, to New York, I mean.”

  “I know,” he said, looking disappointed but resigned.

  “And knowing that, you’ll still help me negotiate a merger?”

  “Yes,” Marc agreed.

  Trying to meet him halfway, I said, “We’ll make it work somehow. I’ll visit often. You can fly home. I’ll find the time. I promise.”

  “I need you now, Honey, I need you with me.”

  “I know, and I haven’t been there. But all that will change.”

  “How can it change if we’re living apart?” he sulked.

  “I will find a way,” I promised. “I’m very persistent.”

  We strode out of the bedroom hand in hand. A big smile lit up Hannah’s face. Donny looked disgusted and disappointed that he wasn’t going to be able to rearrange Marc’s face.

  “You caved,” he mouthed. I shrugged.

  Right now, Donny had a lot to deal with, and I thought it would be best to leave my brother alone with Daniel, and with my mother, to work things out. Donny was sprawled in a chair and Daniel was sitting on the couch opposite him. Both were brooding and agitated, facing each other warily like sullen bookends. There was still no sign of my mother.

  “How about if I steal my two best girls for a fancy dinner?” Marc said, reaching for Hannah’s hand, trying to break the tension.

  Hannah looked at me and then back at Marc.

  “It’s okay, honey,” I assured her. “It’s all okay.”

  I waited for the inevitable round of negotiations. Hannah and Marc love Mexican food, and when the three of us go out together they always insist on Mexican even though they know how much I hate it.

  “How about Italian?” Marc suggested.

  “Sounds great, Daddy,” Hannah replied sweetly, as if they had already rehearsed the conversation.