Blaise managed to look serious and dignified the next day at work, although she was laughing inside. Susie appeared briefly to pack up her things and disappeared without saying goodbye. The whole station talked of nothing else, and Charlie looked like he had survived electric shock therapy. He met with Zack for an hour, who now understood that live interviews of sensitive major subjects, like presidents or their wives, were not a good idea, and why.
Blaise went quietly about her work throughout the day, doing research in her office, and offering no comment about Susie. Blaise had dodged a bullet yet again.
She was in great spirits that night, telling Simon everything that had happened that day at the network, when the phone rang. She could tell by the way Simon spoke that it was work related, and it sounded important. It took her a few minutes to figure out that it was Eric, the head of the school.
“What did Eric say?” Blaise asked, looking relaxed, after a great day at work. It had been a total victory for her, and her first stress-free day in months. The heat would be on her again sooner or later, but for now she had a major reprieve that would last a while, until the next Susie Quentin came along.
Simon’s face was pale when he answered her question. “They’re reopening next Monday. I have to go back this weekend.” He looked devastated.
“So soon?” She felt like she’d been punched in the stomach and was suddenly panicked. Her joy over Susie Q’s demise was short-lived. “You’re going back?” She had been hoping he’d stay in New York with her and Salima. It was what Salima wanted too. Blaise knew he had a contract he had to honor, but she hadn’t wanted to think about his leaving, and hoped they could figure out something so he could stay, or come back very quickly.
“I have to,” he said simply. “My contract doesn’t end till May. What about Salima?”
“She wants to stay here. And she was hoping you’d stay with us.”
“I can’t,” he said, looking miserable, and Blaise was thinking it would be a long time till he returned in May. And now Salima wouldn’t be at the school, so she had no excuse to go up there to see him. She wished there was some way for Simon to stay, but knew there wasn’t.
“I’m going to miss you,” she said sadly, as his eyes met hers.
“It’s more complicated than that,” Simon said slowly.
“How’s that?” She could see something more in his eyes, but she didn’t know what it was.
“I didn’t want to tell you and ruin Christmas.” He swallowed before he spoke again. He could hardly get the words out. “Megan left her husband on Christmas Day. She finally did it.” Blaise nearly felt her heart stop at his words.
“What does that mean for us?” Blaise held her breath as she waited for his answer.
“I don’t know yet,” he said honestly. “I want to see her when I go back, and talk about it. I have to finish it cleanly and figure out what I’m doing.”
“I thought we knew what we were doing,” she said with a devastated expression. She had trusted him and given him her heart, and now he no longer sounded sure.
“I love you, Blaise. But I spent three years waiting for her to do this. She did it for me. I have a responsibility here, to her and her children.” He looked agonized as he said it, and Blaise as if he’d hit her.
“And she wants to have your baby, of course,” Blaise said with sudden irony in her voice. It was a tone he’d never heard her use, of defeat and bitterness. She could already see what was going to happen. He would go back to Meg, marry her, and have kids. She knew it was what she should have expected him to do at his age. But neither of them had believed that Meg would finally get free, after three years of empty promises. Her husband had finally crossed the line once too often, and her fear of losing Simon forever had given her the courage she’d never had before. “Do you love her?” Blaise asked him in a pained tone. She had expected better than this from him, or hoped for it at least. He had been so sure that he wanted a life with Blaise, no matter how unusual, and he had convinced her. But there was no fighting the fact that he still had feelings for Megan. He had waited three years for her, and she had been everything he wanted then. Now, torn between two women, he was confused.
“I just need to figure this out,” he said with a look of desperation. “I don’t want to lose you. I love you.” She could see that he meant it, but as he had said, it was complicated. She could see now that he didn’t want to lose Meg either. He wasn’t ready. He had waited so long for this, and she had finally left her husband.
“And what am I supposed to do here in the meantime?” He was going back to school, and now possibly to Megan. Blaise felt as though her life had just fallen apart. Her situation at the network was secure. And now her love life was disintegrating. Again. It had come apart in an instant.