I don’t hear Anderson’s answer, but I don’t have to. The adorable hand-flapping, hip-shaking dance of joy she does around her desk says it all.
Though she’s smiling wide enough to pull a cheek muscle, she composes her voice. “That sounds perfect. I’ll have the papers overnighted to you. Excellent. Yes, to you as well—I think this will be a very happy New Year.”
She ends the call, and her dancing turns to jumping. Laughing.
And I laugh with her.
She picks up the phone and dials a new number. “Hi, Christopher. Oh . . . yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. It sounds like you’re having quite the party there.”
She pauses as Christopher responds.
I ask Dee sharply, “Who’s Christopher?”
“Relax, Hulk—he’s her boss. Nothing more. In fact, she has a less-than-zero social life.”
I consider that for a moment. “She doesn’t date? No boyfriend? No random hookups, no no-strings-attached fuck-buddy waiting in the wings?”
Delores shakes her head. “Kate was never a one-night-stand kind of girl. After Billy, she gave up on relationships altogether. Too much effort, very little payoff.”
I smile.
And Dee inquires, “That makes you happy, doesn’t it?”
I cannot tell a lie. “Yeah, it really does.”
She throws a pillow at my head.
Kate’s voice brings my eyes back to her. “I wanted to let you know that I just signed Saul Anderson. That’s right! Merry Christmas indeedy.”
Christopher responds, and a look of pure pride and joy washes over her face. “I’m thrilled to accept the vice president position. Yes. Absolutely—you can count on me, Chris. Okay, I will. Have a pleasant evening, as well.”
She hangs up and more dancing commences. Her boobs bounce in time with her hips, and the only thing that would make this show better is popcorn.
Well . . . and if her clothes spontaneously fell off.
Kate picks up the phone and tells her mother all about the big promotion. They only talk for a few minutes—Kate promises to come home soon to visit. Then she hangs up.
She takes a bottle of champagne out of her minifridge and pours a single glass. Then she kicks off her shoes and walks to the window, gazing out over the lights of the city.
I stand up so my view is unobstructed.
As Kate stands there, her joyous expression slowly falters. Turns . . . sad . . . awash with yearning. Lonely.
I think about all the different faces of Kate that I’ve seen. Passionate, hot and horny, sweet and tender, silly and smart-assy . . . nurturing, loving . . . motherly.
She’s a perfect wife. And she’s the most amazing mother.
But here, now, she didn’t get to be any of those things.
And that’s so fucking wrong.
Kate glances at her glass of champagne and whispers, “Merry Christmas, Kate.” Then she takes a sip.
“Hey, Dee?”
“Yeah?”
“Remember when I said I was happy that Kate wasn’t involved with anyone?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not happy about it anymore.”
Delores walks to me and takes my arm. “Then it’s time to go.”
We’re back in my office—my real office. The family portrait of me, Kate, and James sitting on my desk proves that this is my time, my reality—where Kate and I met, fell in love, spawned, and married.
And I sigh with blessed fucking relief.
I’m at my desk while Delores sits cross-legged in one of the chairs across from me.
“You were thinking about soul mates before. Remember? The truth is, soul mates are real: halves of the same coin. They can live without each other, go on to have successful, content existences. But they’ll never be as perfectly happy as they would’ve been, and could be, if they find their other half. That’s what you and Kate are like.”
I smile. “That sounds just about right to me.” I rub a hand down my face. “I want to go home, Dee. I want to hug my kid and kiss my wife and just . . . be with them. I want to look back and remember having this awesome night—with them.”
Delores grins and she almost looks proud of me. “First you have to wake up, Drew.”
And she snaps her fingers.
chapter 6
I jolt violently awake at my desk, nailing my shin on the drawer in the process. “Goddamn it!”
I rub my leg and check the time. Seven thirty. Though it feels like a lot longer, only an hour and a half has passed since I arrived at the office.
I still have time.
I rattle off a quick email, canceling my conference with Media Solutions and attaching a PDF of my proposal. I tell them, in a professional sounding way, that they can take it or leave it, and if they leave it—it’s their loss.
Then I grab my stuff and sprint through the city.
I walk through my sister’s apartment door twenty minutes later, brushing snowflakes off my shoulders from the storm that just started. I head right for the family room—and see everyone there, just like I knew they would be.
A dark-haired little blur runs toward me. “Daddy!”
Laughing, I scoop him up and hug James until he squeaks. He leans back and gifts me with a faultless smile. “I knew you’d come.”