CHAPTER 11
Cash
I burst through the door and find Mary on the sofa crying.
There’s an open envelope on the table in front of her. I already know what’s inside.
I run to the couch and sit down next to her putting my arms around her.
“Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“It’s not. They’re so…mad at me,” she says.
“They’re not mad at you. They just don’t know how to process everything that’s happening and they’re taking it out on us.”
“They’re taking it out on me!”
“I got the same kind of letter.”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”
“I do want you to feel better, but you know I wouldn’t do that. I’ll always tell you the truth.”
She stops sobbing momentarily. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m so hurt right now.”
“I’m hurt too, but remember this isn’t about us. This is about them. We just happen to be the unlucky ones on the receiving end of it.”
She throws her arms around me and I can feel her chest heaving against mine and her back moving against my hands. I hate that this is happening. I don’t like seeing her sad, and especially not sad like this.
But now the real work starts. I need to come up with a plan so we don’t lose Mikey. This isn’t right for any of us.
About a half an hour goes by and everything seems to be calming down a bit. I go for a run to get the blood flowing so I can get to work on solving this problem.
When I’m back I jump in the shower. I tell Mary I’ll only be three minutes tops and then we can go out for a dinner together.
When I get back out of the shower she’s nowhere to be found.
But what I do find is a new note in place of where the old note was. But this time it’s not a FedEx. It’s a handwritten note and the kind I never wanted to get.
Dear Cash,
I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused. It was never my intention.
I want to be with you so bad, but I don’t want my presence to be a problem in your life like it is now.
It hurts me so much to say this but I have to go. I can’t do this knowing the trouble I’m causing.
Mary
P.S. I waited to leave until I heard the bathroom door close letting me know you were finished. I’d never leave Mikey alone.
I run to the door and see her car pulling out of my driveway.
“Mary!” I yell, but all I see is the back of her driving off into the distance.
I want to go after her but I know it’s not the right thing to do. She’s emotional right now and I don’t want that to spill over onto the roadways. Let her get home safely and things cool down a bit and then I’ll approach. It pains me to think this way but I know it’s best for her safety. I’m not about to chase after her and cause her to speed or run a red light or something to get away from me and then have an even more tragic situation on my hands.
It hurts me to think this way, but it’s the way it has to be right now.
I go check on Mikey who’s still sound asleep.
Even when times are tough she still thinks of him first. Not that I need a reminder, but that’s the kind of woman I need in my life.
I go downstairs and find the letter Mary received in the bottom of the trashcan.
I read it and become immediately furious. They don’t know who “this girl” is who’s raising their grandchild. They say how it’s disgusting that she’s pulling some Ben Affleck or Jude Law rubbish, or course referring to two men who slept with their nannies. How deep has their “investigation” on the two of us gone?
And don’t they know I have a moral code I expect my clients to uphold. A moral code they must live by in addition to myself. I dismiss multiple clients every year simply on the condition of infidelity or other matters. I don’t play around when it comes to character flaws. Where there’s a crack there’s soon to be a break. And those kinds of character flaws aren’t cracks, they’re the breaks that let the entire lake through the dam.
I won’t tolerate nonsense when it comes to my clients and I won’t tolerate it when it comes to my own life. And I especially won’t tolerate someone calling me or those important to me out on it, especially when it’s not even true.
Yeah, we have something between us but it’s far more than a “tryst” as they refer to it. What we have is very, very real.
And I’m going to show them, and the world, just how real this is going to get.