She offered to sing one of the songs she’d been working on, but he said he didn’t have time, and had to leave. Blaise was so angry that when he handed her a check at the end of the visit, as she walked him to the door, she handed it back to him.
“Buy her something nice, Blaisie. I never know what to get her.” The gift of his time would have been better, and Blaise was furious that he hadn’t bothered to listen to her sing.
“I’m not going to this year,” Blaise said to him with a grim expression. She was tired from her trip to the Middle East, and she hated the way he treated their daughter, as though she were a total stranger to him, which she was, since he spent no time with her. He wanted no responsibility for her, and was afraid to take her anywhere. And Blaise was tired of covering for him, and trying to make him look better than he was to Salima. “Buy her something yourself. She knows the difference.”
“I don’t know what she likes, what size she wears. How can I pick something for her, if she can’t see it?” It was the same excuse he used every year to have Blaise do it.
“She loves music. Hell, Harry, buy her CDs. Buy her anything, a piece of jewelry, a fur jacket. She’s not an invalid. She’s a nineteen-year-old girl who loves clothes and perfume and jewelry, just like every other girl her age. She’s no different. And her passion is music. And she’s good, really good. She has a teacher from Juilliard who’s here four times a week now. She’s going to have a recital in May. Not that you care.” She hated his disappointing Salima year after year. It upset her even more than it did Salima, who was used to it after years of his indifference and always bounced back quickly. But she always looked sad when her father left after his infrequent brief visits. He was in town for a day on his way to St. Bart’s to meet friends on a yacht. And Salima was the duty call he made between meetings.
As Harry was leaving, Simon walked in, and Blaise introduced them. Harry observed him with interest, and then Simon went to find Salima, who had gone to her room. He said goodbye to Harry and disappeared.
“Wow, nice-looking young guy, Blaise. Your new boyfriend?” He smiled at her with a lascivious grin, and she was even more annoyed.
“No, Salima’s monitor from school.”
“You can have some fun with him,” he commented. “I can really see you with a younger guy. You look great for your age, and you have more energy than anyone I know.”
“He’s here for Salima,” she said drily. It was none of his business.
“When is she going back to school?” he asked as they waited for the elevator.
“When they reopen, probably sometime in January.” She didn’t like thinking about it. She didn’t want Simon or Salima to leave, and wished they never would.
“That’ll be a lot easier for you,” he said sympathetically. “It must be hard having her home.”
“It’s wonderful. It’s not hard at all,” she said, as the elevator came and he disappeared into it with a wave, and wished her merry Christmas. And as she watched the doors close, she wondered how she could have been married to him. He was such a lousy father and a total zero as a human being, no matter how intelligent he was. She was still looking unhappy about it when she went back to her office to do some work. Simon stopped by to see her after he left Salima in her room, talking to friends on Facebook, as usual.
Blaise looked up and smiled at him when he walked in. “Nice-looking man,” Simon said about Harry. But he hadn’t liked him. He knew how little attention he paid to Salima and how sad she was about it. He was successful, handsome, and charming, but to Simon, that wasn’t enough. And Simon thought it unforgivable that Harry had detached from Salima at three, when they diagnosed her with diabetes. He had heard it from both her and Blaise.
“He said the same thing about you. He asked if you were my new boyfriend.”
“Well, that’s direct anyway. Maybe he should talk to my mother. He’s so cold, Blaise. I can’t see you with a guy like him.” He had been puzzled by him, and couldn’t imagine him connected to Blaise, or anyone. He was all about himself, and it showed.
“Neither can I. I was impressed by him. He’s brilliant. And I was very young. I was twenty-five when we met. And he was the same age I am now. I married him a year later, and a year after that the network moved me to New York, so we only lived together for a year. Our time together was pretty irregular after I moved. We were both married to our careers. We weren’t even planning to have kids. Salima was a slip. A fortuitous one, it turns out.” She smiled at him. “Harry has no idea what a gift she is.” Simon had seen that, and he nodded. “He wouldn’t even let her sing for him. Sometimes he really is a shit.” She shook her head and went back to work, and she was relieved to see at dinner that Salima didn’t look upset. Her father always disappointed her, so she was used to it. She had recovered very quickly. Disappointment was the only relationship she’d ever had with him.