by Alexa Davis
I looked at it and then told Alicia, “I don’t know about you, but I’m in the mood for a real celebration tonight.”
She readily agreed, and I ordered a bottle of the restaurant’s best champagne. The waiter returned promptly with a bottle and two flutes. He filled Alicia’s and then mine and then handed us both a menu before setting the bottle back in the brass ice bucket and leaving us to make our choices. I picked up my champagne glass, and holding it up in Alicia’s direction, I said, “To us.” She picked hers up and clinked it to mine and said,
“To us.”
We sipped our champagne and after ordering our meals, we talked about Alicia’s parents’ upcoming visit to the States. It was so nice to be out in public with her and talking about things that had nothing to do with work at all. When our food came, we indulged in rich, homemade bread and the fabulous pasta and steaks that Marco had made just for us. Afterwards, even though we were both so bloated we could hardly move, we shared a piece of cheesecake.
Once we were both uncomfortably stuffed, we decided we needed to walk some of it off. Marco let us out the side door and we took a stroll around the pond in the moonlight. Alicia was as excited as a child as she pointed out the multi-colored Koi and the beautiful white swans. I smiled as I watched her pretty hazel eyes dance. I wanted to make her happy like that forever. She made me feel young again, and she was everything that I had always wanted in a woman.
I knew now that Marjorie had been a terrible mistake, and often wondered what had taken me so long to realize it. Marjorie is, was, and always will be a social climber whose name and position on the social registry was more important to her than anything else. Standing here next to Alicia, watching her revel in the beauty and wonder of something as simple as a bunch of fish and some ducks, made me love her more than I had ever thought possible. Surprising even myself, I asked her,
“How do you feel about ice skating?”
“Really?” Alicia almost squealed. “I love to ice skate. I haven’t been for years!”
“Let’s go then,” I told her with a smile.
We went back inside to get our coats and thank Marco. I tried to pay our bill, but Marco said he would be insulted at the very thought of accepting my money. After helping Alicia on with her coat, I dropped a hundred-dollar bill on the table for the waiter and we stepped outside into the frigid cold November night. The driver had the seats of the car warmed and the heater on before we got in, so the ride to Rockefeller Center was warm and cozy. Alicia rode snuggled in the crook of my arm until the huge lighted tree came into view. She sat up and like a child at Christmastime, pressed her face to the window to look at it.
“I love the tree!” she exclaimed with pure delight. “When I was a girl, I used to watch the lighting of the tree on television with my mother. I just knew I’d live here someday when I grew up. Mother cringed every time I would mention it.”
“I’ll bet they miss you.”
Alicia turned to look at me. “They do, and I miss them so badly sometimes. But this place, New York, it’s in my blood now. I don’t think I could ever live anywhere else. I can’t wait to see my parents when they come to visit, though, and introduce them to you!”
“I hope they’re more pleased with your choice in men than they were with your choice of cities to live in.”
Alicia laughed and said playfully, “Me, too.”
The driver stopped near the ropes that framed the entrance to the frozen pond sitting in the shadow of the gigantic Christmas tree. Alicia and I made our way to the kiosk where we could rent our skates. On the way, I bought us a cup of hot chocolate from a vendor. “Are you warm enough?” I asked her.
“I’m freezing,” she said with a smile, “but I don’t care.”
I laughed and said, “Come on, let’s go stand by the bonfire while we drink this, maybe you’ll defrost a bit.” We stood near the roaring outdoor fire, sipping our chocolate and listening to the sounds of the live band that played near the Christmas tree and the people having fun all around us. I pulled Alicia up on her tip-toes and kissed her softly on the lips. “You ready?” I asked her.
“In a minute,” she said. She went back up on her toes and kissed me again. This one was longer, and deeper. “Okay,” she said, pulling back and leaving me breathless after a minute, “I’m warm now.”
I was just plain hot. She made my blood boil with desire every time she touched me. I tried to will my rising erection down as I took her by the hand and led her to a bench where we sat so we could put on our skates. There was a little stand nearby and I ran over to it quickly and bought her a pair of furry gloves and a scarf.
“Thank you,” she told me. “But what about you? You don’t have any gloves.”
“You’ll just have to keep me warm,” I told her. We finished putting on our skates, and I led her out on the ice. I hadn’t been skating in a long while, but it came back quickly. Alicia was doing well, too. We held hands and skated around the oval rink, watching the young children all bundled in their colorful parkas, falling down and getting right back up with a smile on their faces.
“This reminds me of a pond near the royal property back home. My father had permission from the crown to fish there. He took me skating there a few times when I was little.”
“Did you ever meet any of the royal family?”
“No. My mother is distant cousins with the queen, but too far removed for us to be considered ‘royals.’ Mum and Daddy still cling to the titles, though. It’s kind of embarrassing for me.”
“I wouldn’t be embarrassed by it. We have a right to be proud of our heritage, don’t you think?”
“I do, I just don’t like all the snobbery that comes along with it.”
It was amazing to me. A woman like Marjorie who came from practically nothing with an entitled and superior attitude and a woman like Alicia who had every reason to be a snob and wasn’t in the least.
We skated until we both had to finally admit our legs had probably had enough for one day. It was getting late, and we had both worked a long day. It was the best time I’d had in a long time, though, and as much as I wanted to get her home and make love to her, I was still reluctant to see it end.
When we were back in the cozy warmth of the car, she said, “I can’t even begin to thank you for tonight. I had such a good time.”
“I should be thanking you,” I told her.
“For what?”
“For being so patient with me this long and sticking around, and for giving the things I grew up looking at every day a fresh new look for me through your pretty eyes. Thank you, Alicia, I mean it. Tonight was great and we are going to have a lot more great times to come. I want to experience everything I’ve never done and even things I have with you. You see the wonder in everything like a child, but yet here you are, a sexy, beautiful, intelligent woman. You’re an enigma.”
She laughed and said, “I’ve been called a few things in my time…” and then added, more seriously, “I want to see everything with you; I want us to see everything together.”
I pulled her to me and we kissed passionately, finally coming up for air as the car pulled up in front of my building. The doorman opened the car door and helped Alicia out and held the door open for me as he greeted us both. He called the elevator down for us and said goodnight as he pushed the button for the top floor. Alicia and I kissed again in the elevator, and we were still kissing when the doors slid open. I walked us out backwards to the penthouse door and held her against it while I slid the key into the lock. I tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t turn. What the hell? I tried it again, it was like I had the wrong key, but I knew this was the right one.
“Is something wrong?” Alicia asked.
“I’m not sure. My key isn’t…” The door flew open, and Marjorie stood there in a silk robe and a diamond necklace that I’d bought her for our fifth anniversary.
“Can I help you?” she asked, smugly.
“Marjorie, what the hell is going on?�
� I felt the anger surging through my veins. I hated this woman with a passion. I despised myself for marrying her in the first place. The tight-faced bitch looked at Alicia, running her eyes down her disdainfully…how dare she? Marjorie looked back at me and in a nasty tone she said,
“I’m sorry, sweetie, but you’ll have to take your call girl to a hotel until you find a permanent place to live.”
“Damn it, Marjorie, get the hell out of my house, now.”
“Oh no, dear, you’re mistaken. It’s my home. I never actually moved my things out, remember? My lawyer tells me that gives me every right to be here now. So, the way I see it is, you can go to a hotel, stay with your whore, or you can live here with me until this is all decided in a court of law.” With that last insult, she swung the door closed in our faces. Alicia was pale as a ghost, and I was so angry it’s amazing the veins in my temples didn’t pop. Alicia put her hand on my arm and said,
“Come on, baby. We can stay at my place tonight and figure this out in the morning.”
I wasn’t thinking rationally, I was just so pissed off. I jerked my arm out of her grasp and said, “No!” too harshly. She looked shocked, and I instantly felt bad. Marjorie had just called her a whore, and I was the one acting wounded. “I’m sorry, baby. It just makes me crazy. I can’t just walk away and leave her to claim my home.”
Alicia looked even more shocked. “You intend to stay here…with her?”
I took her face in my hands and said, “I need you to trust me, please.” She didn’t answer me and I knew I would play hell getting her to speak to me tomorrow. I couldn’t let Marjorie do this to me, though. I had earned this money. I had worked for it, not her. I took a deep breath and said, “The car will still be outside. Have him take you home. I’ll see you at the office tomorrow.” She turned around slowly like a zombie and headed for the elevator. I reached to push the button for her and she batted my arm away. She wouldn’t look at me and I knew I was probably crying. I felt like shit, but what was I supposed to do?
Chapter Five
ALICIA
Somehow, I made it upstairs to my apartment in a zombie-like fog after I left Adam. I stripped off my dress, hose, and shoes on the way to my bedroom. I didn’t even wash my face. I just crawled underneath the covers and slipped into a sleep filled with nightmares of attending Adam and Marjorie’s reunion party. I was dressed all in black, with what looked like an old woman’s hand-knit shawl draped carelessly over my shoulders. The Adam in my dream only took his eyes off of his impeccably-dressed wife once. That was to glance in my direction with disdain and something that resembled pity.
I woke to the alarm screaming loudly with the pillow over my face and the dream still playing in my head. I knew it wasn’t real, but I couldn’t help but remind myself the reason I’d dreamt it in the first place was because Adam had spent the night before with Marjorie.
I finally reached over and stopped the incessantly screaming alarm and forced my weary limbs out of the bed. I had to be in Judge Nolan’s courtroom promptly at nine a.m., and from the feel of the left-over make-up crusted to my eyelid, it was going to take me a little more time than usual to get ready. I put on my morning coffee to brew and headed for the shower. As I passed my purse in the floor where I left it the night before, I realized it was ringing. I thought about just walking on by when I realized it was Adam’s ringtone. Deciding I may as well get it over with before I saw him at work, I fished it out and answered it with a curt,
“Hello?”
“Good morning, baby,” he said, like nothing had ever happened. When I didn’t say anything back right away, he asked, “How are you?”
I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry as I asked, “How would you imagine I am, Adam?”
I heard him sigh, and knowing him so well, I pictured him rubbing his hand over his face and then dragging his fingers through his hair as he often did when he was anxious or upset.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am that Marjorie ruined our evening. I had a horrendous night, if it makes you feel any better.” He gave a small laugh and then added, much more seriously, “Nothing would have made me happier than to have woke up next to you this morning.” Again, I didn’t say anything. “Baby, we will talk later, I promise. I just need you to keep in mind that she is trying to take everything from me that I have worked for my entire adult life. I cannot…no, I will not just sit back and allow that to happen. I’m sorry you are always caught in the middle of all of this. Truly, I am. I love you.”
“I will try to keep it in mind. Now, however, I have to get dressed. I’m due in court in an hour, and I can’t be late.”
“Okay,” he said. I could tell he was disappointed. He had probably hoped that his words alone would be enough to send my anger running, as usual. He was very good at talking. It was actually what he did best. He earned his living by phrasing things in just the right way. I wasn’t buying it that easily this time.
“We’ll talk later.” Without saying anything further, I hung up.
I was good, as most lawyers are, at compartmentalizing things. I put my anger towards Adam in a box in the corner of my mind. The lid wasn’t shut tightly, and I knew the thoughts would seep out throughout the day, but I didn’t have time to let it consume me today. I had a client and two colleagues that were depending on me to give one hundred percent of myself today, and that is what I intended to do.
********
An hour later, I was rushing up the steps to the courthouse and nearly collided head-on with a man who was on his way down. He put out his arm to stop me from falling backwards, and when I looked up to thank him, I realized that I was looking into the emerald green eyes of my former lover, Jack Grant. “Oh my God, Jack?”
“Alicia! What an amazing coincidence bumping into you…literally. I actually left a message for you yesterday at your office.”
I smoothed down the edges of my skirt with my free hand and looking back up at Jack I said, “I know. I’m so sorry I hadn’t had a moment to get back with you yet.” I glanced at my watch and realized I didn’t have a moment now. “I have to apologize once more, I’m afraid. I’m due in court, now, as a matter of fact. Is there a chance you might be free for lunch? We can catch up then.”
Jack smiled. I had almost forgotten how good looking he was. “Of course,” he said. “The sandwich shop across the street okay?”
“Perfect,” I told him. “I’ll see you around noon.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” he said with another dazzling smile. I swallowed the lump that had involuntarily formed in my throat and headed in to the courthouse. I rushed in to find that Kyla had already started. Nico and Nelson were seated at the defendant’s table, and Dawson and his assistant DA sat at the table opposite. Jury selection was in process, and I tried to slip into the chair next to Nico quietly so as not to alert Judge Nolan to my tardiness. He was a tough judge who was known for his lack of tolerance for things that slowed business down in any way in his court.
Nico handed me a list of potential jurors as I sat. He and his paralegal assistant had already done the hard work of putting them in groups by age, profession, and even race. When picking a jury, it was essential that everything that could possibly work for or against our client be taken into consideration. I smiled at him and mouthed, “Thank you.” I made eye contact with Nelson and smiled and mouthed, “I’m sorry I’m late.”
He nodded, and I turned my attention back to Kyla who was questioning juror number one. She was doing an excellent job, and I allowed myself to take that time to try and pull myself together. I had to keep slamming the lid shut on the box in my brain that was supposed to be keeping the thoughts of Adam from consuming me all day. I consciously slowed my breathing and glanced at Nelson again. I reminded myself once again that his life, if not literally, was at least figuratively in our hands.
Kyla finished with the juror and took her seat on the other side of me as Dawson approached the bench. I also mouthed a “Thank you” in Kyla�
��s direction, and then added an “I’m sorry.” She gestured with her palm to show me it was not a huge deal and things were under control.
The rest of the morning was spent picking or contesting jurors. By lunchtime, both sides had agreed on only six jurors. The judge excused us, instructing everyone to be back at one-thirty. I couldn’t be positive, but thought that Judge Nolan may have looked in my direction as he added, “sharp” to the instructions. It was probably just my guilty conscience.
After I formally apologized to Nelson for being late and assured him it wouldn’t happen again, I told Nico and Kyla I was meeting an old friend for lunch. At Kyla’s quizzical look, I told her that we would talk later. I hurried across the street and found Jack waiting for me at a table near the door. He stood up when he saw me. I greeted him properly this time with a hug and a peck on the cheek.
He held me back with his arms and said, “You still look amazing,”
“And, you’re still a sweet-talker, but thank you. You look pretty amazing yourself.” Jack pulled out my chair and after I was seated, he took a seat himself.
“So,” I asked after the waitress had taken our order. “What in the world are you doing in New York?”
“Well, my father’s business dealings have made it across the pond, so I was assigned to follow them here. We’re currently in the midst of trying to get all of the legal aspects, such as patents and licenses. I guess Dad decided to take full advantage of having a lawyer in the family.”
I smiled. I recalled that Jack and his father’s relationship had always been tenuous at best. The Grants owned one of the largest and most lucrative textile companies in Europe. All of the Grant men before Jack had gone straight from college to the boardroom. Jack had decided instead to go to law school, which had greatly disappointed his father. It looked like maybe family guilt had won out, after all. Here sat Jack, thousands of miles from home, working for his family at last.
