All That Glitters

by Danielle Steel

  The flight to London seemed like an affront after the comforts of the boat, and it was raining when they arrived. Nigel had spoken to the contractor, and he had said everything was ready for them. Even the new furniture they had ordered was in place, where the decorator had told them to put it. They went straight to their new house from the airport, and she and Nigel were both thrilled when they saw it. It was beautiful, and even the art they had purchased had been hung. Coco had spent a fortune, and it showed, which was Nigel’s intention. But it was worth it. They would have the house for years, and as Nigel said, their children would grow up in it. This made a lot more sense to her than two weeks on someone else’s boat with nothing to show for it except memories, and with people who weren’t even her friends. They were his. Nigel was surrounding himself with people who took full advantage of the benefits he offered, at Coco’s expense.

  They were planning to move out of her rented mews house the next day. They spent an hour walking around the new house with the architect and contractor, inspecting things before they went home. They were both in great spirits after seeing the house, and they had congratulated the contractor on his fine work, and for completing the job on time.

  Their daily cleaning lady had left them some cheese and salad and a roast chicken in the fridge at Coco’s house. It was depressing serving themselves the haphazard meal after the opulence of the yacht. Everything was packed in cartons.

  “I can’t wait to move in tomorrow.” Nigel looked at her lovingly and she smiled. She was admittedly more relaxed after the boat trip, they were on better terms, and excited to be moving into their new home, whatever the cost. The money was spent now and the house was exquisite.

  She spent the next morning finishing packing a few last things and by noon they were moved in. Nigel had packed his clothes and nothing else. He had no other possessions. He had given up his apartment and thrown everything away. He had no family souvenirs and nothing of value.

  They had a sandwich in their new kitchen, and then she drove over to Leslie’s house. They were meeting a new client at three o’clock. They had gotten several clients from a corporation where Leslie had connections, and two Americans who had heard about them from a friend. Their relocation business was taking off.

  Leslie smiled when she saw Coco with her deep tan. She looked relaxed and said the move had gone well. They were all moved in, and were going to sleep there that night. To make up for being away for two weeks, Coco stayed to help Leslie until eight o’clock that night. Nigel was out when she got back, and hadn’t left her a note.

  For the next two days, Nigel and Coco hardly saw each other, after having been constantly together on the boat. Leslie had set up a slew of appointments with new clients. Right before their noon meeting on Thursday, Coco realized she had left their color wheel at home.

  “Damn, I’ll run home and get it. I’ll be back in ten minutes,” she said and sped out the door, as Leslie thanked her. She let herself into the house, looked in her office on the main floor, which Nigel had designed for her, couldn’t find the color wheel, and then remembered that she had left it in their bedroom and sped up the stairs. The door was open, and the cleaning staff they had hired to come in every day hadn’t started yet, so she flew through the door and found herself looking at her husband, with his head deep between a woman’s legs. The woman started to scream just as Coco saw them. She stood rooted to the floor, unable to believe what she was seeing, or run away. As soon as the woman came, Nigel entered her and they both came again as Coco stood there too horrified to move and whispered, “Oh my God.” From somewhere in the distance, Nigel heard her and glanced over his shoulder and the next thing she knew the woman was screaming again. Nigel leapt out of bed, and tried to take the sheet with him to cover his erect penis, while Coco looked him in the eye, shaking from head to foot.

  “For God’s sake, Coco, why did you come back here?” As though she was the one at fault. She glanced at the bed, and recognized the blond girl from marketing at the magazine. She ran from the bed into Coco’s new bathroom, slammed the door shut, and locked it.

  “I forgot my color wheel,” Coco said, “and you forgot that you’re married. For chrissake, we’ve lived here for three days, and this is what you do?”

  “It was an accident…I didn’t mean it…I can explain…” He looked pathetic, as he clutched their new sheets around him.

  “I want you both out of my house by the time I come home,” was all she said, and then she grabbed the color wheel she saw on the desk, ran back down the stairs, and out the door. She was back in Leslie’s office after twenty minutes, not ten, and she was deathly pale under her tan, but the client hadn’t arrived yet.

  “Are you okay?” Leslie asked her, concerned. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

  “Yes, something like that. I saw an accident on the way back.” She didn’t know what else to say to explain her disarray. All she could think of was what she’d seen Nigel doing to the girl on the bed. She had a sleazy reputation at the magazine, which was apparently well deserved. But Nigel was no better. She couldn’t let herself think about it now. She had to get through the meeting first.

  The client arrived two minutes later and stayed until two while they discussed the apartment Leslie had found them. It was perfect for their needs, and they had to decide what color to paint the rooms. Coco sat back in her chair, and let out a breath as soon as they left, as Leslie watched her. She had made sense in the meeting, but she looked sick.

  “Coco, what’s wrong?” she asked her gently. Coco shook her head, trying not to cry, and then looked at her.

  “I found Nigel in bed with another woman when I went home. The slut secretary from marketing that everyone says is a whore. I guess they’re right. They were in my bed, going at it when I walked in.” It felt better to tell her and get it off her chest.

  “Oh my God,” Leslie said, horrified.

  “Yeah, I think that’s what I said too. I had to leave to get back here.”

  “I’m so, so sorry. What are you going to do?”

  “I told him he had to leave before I get back. And I just gave up the mews house yesterday.”

  “Do you want to stay here?”

  “No, I want him to get out,” she said fiercely. “I’m not going to let him do this to me.” Leslie made her a cup of tea. Coco stayed at the office to avoid Nigel, and she left at six o’clock. Leslie was worried about her.

  The house seemed empty when she got home, and then she saw him in her office, waiting for her when she went upstairs. “I told you to be out of here when I got home. If you don’t go, I’m calling the police.” She stood with her phone poised in her hand, ready to call them, and he stood up. He didn’t look menacing, he looked broken, and she didn’t care. He was trying to bankrupt her with what he spent, and now he was cheating on her too, in her own bed. He was the biggest mistake she could ever have made. She was clear about it now. There was no doubt in her mind.

  “Coco, we have to talk,” he said in a pleading tone.

  “No, we don’t. The only person I’m going to talk to is my attorney. Get out of my house, Nigel.” He couldn’t get to her in time, and she called the police. They answered right away. She told them there was an intruder trying to break in, and gave them the address and her name. They said they would be there immediately.

  “For fuck’s sake, why did you do that?” he shouted at her and headed toward the stairs.

  “Why did you have to do that in my bed?” she shouted after him, as he ran toward the front door. “I’ll have you put in jail if you come near here again.” He didn’t stop to talk to her and left seconds before the police arrived. When they questioned her, she told them that her estranged husband had tried to break in, and gave them his name and description, and asked for passing calls to drive by the house and watch for him outside. They assured her they would, and when they left,
she called Nigel on his cell. “Don’t come back here, Nigel. I gave them your name and your description, and told them you were trying to break in.”

  “Into my own home?” He was shocked. He didn’t want a police report against him. Coco had changed. He had finally pushed her over the edge.

  “It’s not your home, it’s mine. And you don’t live here anymore.” Her voice was hard. She was done.

  “Coco, please. It was a stupid thing to do. I’m sorry. Things have been so rough between us for a while, I just slept with her to let off steam. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  “It means a lot to me. And how rough were things for you on the boat? You had to screw her now? Three days after we move into this house you forced me to buy?”

  “I made a date with her a long time ago, and forgot about it.”

  “So you figured that as long as she was here, you would screw her in my bed? Like, why waste an opportunity to get laid?” It was sounding worse and worse as he explained. There was nothing he could say to make it right or better. He had gone one giant step too far. Money was bad enough, but cheating on her was a whole different category of offense. She knew she would never trust him again. “Text me where to send your things,” she said in a voice of pure fury.

  “I don’t have anyplace to stay,” he whined.

  “You should have thought of that this morning.”

  The girl he’d had sex with was pure trash, and so was he, whatever his fancy lineage. He was no better than the girl was. He was a fortune-hunter of the worst sort, a user, and a cheat.

  “Coco, can we get together and talk about this?”

  “There’s nothing to say. I saw it all.”

  “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I swear I’ll never do it again…”

  “You can do whatever you want,” she said, her voice shaking, “I’m finished with you, Nigel. Done.” And with that she hung up and burst into tears. She didn’t even call Sam that night. She was too upset.

  Nigel called her thirty or forty times that night, and she didn’t answer. He was afraid to come to the house and get picked up by the police. She lay awake all night, and then finally in the morning she called Sam and told him what had happened. He was horrified at the meanness and bad taste of it. But at least now she knew who she was dealing with. She was furious and hurt all at the same time.

  “He charged that enormous yacht to me, and then came home and screwed that sleazy whore in my bed.”

  “What are you going to do now?”

  “Divorce him. I never should have married him. I can’t afford him anyway, emotionally or financially. He was so sweet and so charming and seemed so boyish and innocent when I met him. I never should have married him. You were right. I was an idiot.” They had been married for eight months. He had cost her millions, and cheated on her in their bed.

  “At least you’ve figured it out. You’ll get over it,” he said gently. “You’ve been through a lot worse,” he said, thinking of her parents, and she started to cry when she thought about them too.

  “This never would have happened if my father were still alive. I wouldn’t have married him. I wanted the kind of relationship my parents had. Dad wouldn’t have let me marry him.” Sam had tried to stop or at least slow her down, but he didn’t have the power, and Coco had been dazzled by Nigel. He was so charming at first.

  “He’s not a good guy. Neither was Ed. You need a good one now,” Sam said quietly.

  “I just want him out of my life.” She called a lawyer she knew that afternoon. He hadn’t called her back yet when Nigel showed up on her front doorstep, begging to come in. Her housekeeper was there, so she wasn’t afraid, and she went outside to talk to him.

  “What do you want?”

  “To talk to my wife.” He got down on both knees and begged her forgiveness. He looked so ridiculous, but all she could think of was how he looked when he was having sex with the girl from marketing. It was an image she knew she would never get out of her head.

  “I’m divorcing you. Go away,” she said, walked back into the house, and slammed the door in his face. He stood ringing the doorbell for half an hour. She went upstairs so she didn’t have to hear him, and he finally left.

  She went to work every day after that, and when the lawyer called back, she made an appointment with him for the following week. She was going to call Ed, but not until after she’d seen the lawyer. She hated admitting to him that her marriage was a disaster.

  Nigel sent her flowers, emails, voicemails, and texts. She didn’t respond to any of it. When she finally listened to one of his messages, he swore he would never do it again. He kept bombarding her for days that turned into weeks. She had seen the lawyer. He was poised to file for divorce in January. She wasn’t eligible to do so before that. They had to be married for a year to divorce. Finally after two months, she took a call from Nigel. She was trying to decide if she should sell the house, or live in it herself. She didn’t need a house that size. But she was enjoying working with Leslie, and didn’t want to go back to New York.

  “Why are you still calling me?” she said when she took Nigel’s call. It was mid-November, and it had been six weeks since she’d spoken to him. She missed him, but she missed who she’d thought he was, not who he turned out to be.

  “I’m calling you because I love you, and I’m sorry. We’re married. Can’t you please give it another chance?”

  “I don’t trust you anymore, Nigel. I never will again. This wasn’t a marriage, it was a prison sentence for both of us.” And a very expensive one for her.

  “The house in Sussex is beautiful. Won’t you come and see it with me?”

  “No. Is that where you’re living?” He didn’t answer her, afraid that she would throw him out if he admitted it. He’d been living at the house in Sussex since he’d left. It had never occurred to her that he was there. “You have no business being there. I own that house too.” He had no shame. He was still using her, even now.

  “You own everything, Coco, including me, heart and soul.”

  “Apparently, your dick was never part of that deal,” she said coldly and he winced. “I can’t live with a man I don’t trust.”

  “I swear to you, on my life, I will never cheat on you again.”

  “I don’t believe you,” she said sadly. She had made a terrible mistake with him, and she knew that now. She had two houses she didn’t want, and would be divorced, because of him.

  “What do you have to lose by giving me another chance? If I do something bad again, you won’t have to throw me out. I’ll go. Please, Coco, can’t you be merciful this one time?”

  “Did you find a job?” she asked coldly.

  “I’ve been too upset about us to look for work.”

  “I’m upset too, and I go to work every day.”

  “You’re stronger than I am,” he said, sounding lame. “I’m broken over this. I’ll never get over it.” He was trying everything. “Have mercy on me, Coco, please…” He was crying at his end and she actually felt sorry for him, in spite of how angry she still was. “Will you have lunch with me?” She knew she shouldn’t, but thought that maybe they could end it on a kinder note. She didn’t want to be angry and hate him for the rest of her life. She had been so in love with him, they could at least say goodbye, she reasoned with herself, and finally agreed to have lunch with him at the pub nearby. He sounded deeply grateful and humble when she agreed.

  She met him the next day, and he looked terrible. He had lost at least ten pounds, had dark circles under his eyes, and the handsome face looked ravaged. She was the injured party here and she looked better than he did. She could see how sorry he was from the look in his eyes.

  She tried to keep the conversation as neutral as she could, and at the end of lunch, he asked if he could come to the house to pick up some of his things. She hadn’t known where to
send them, and hadn’t thrown them away. His computer was still on his desk and he said he needed it for his job search. His CV was on it, and a list of all the people he needed to call for work.

  “Fine. Why don’t we go now. I don’t have to be back at work for half an hour.” He followed her back in his car, the green Jaguar, after he paid for lunch. He followed her meekly up the steps, and went straight to his office, while she went to hers and gathered up some things she needed for a meeting that afternoon. He was taking a long time, and when she walked into his office to remind him that she had to leave, he was crying with his head on the desk. It was embarrassing to see him that way, and she went over and patted his shoulder. When she did, he put his arms around her waist and held her as he used to, and something stirred in her that she had hoped was dead. But it wasn’t yet. The last embers of their love were dying, but were not completely out. He pulled her onto his lap then, and kissed her, and she let him, and the next thing she knew, he was gently taking her clothes off, and she was aching for him, as she had before. They ended up on the couch in his office, making love, he cried through most of it, and begged her forgiveness, and told her how much he loved her, and afterward, she held him like a child to her breast.

  “Swear to me you’ll never do anything like it again,” she said in a choked voice.

  “I swear,” he said, and appeared to be sincere. She knew she was taking a terrible chance, but she told him he could come home. She had held out for almost two months, and filled out the papers for a divorce, but she agreed to give him one more chance. He knew she meant it, and he swore again that he would never betray her. He had learned his lesson. She didn’t tell Leslie that he was back. When she got home from work that night, he was waiting for her, and still afraid of what he would do now, they made love again.