When Spencer got to the office, she rounded up Marcy, Beau, and Paul, and had them come to her office. She explained the new arrangement with Mike, that she was retaining majority control, but that at some later date, if she chose to, she and Mike would become equal partners, at her discretion. And then she told them about the mansion Mike’s father was going to rent to her. She showed them the photos she’d taken on her phone, and they were as astonished as she had been. They loved the location, and the interiors. They were going to put the restaurant at ground level this time, and use the garden for outdoor dining in summer. Spencer had a million ideas about where to put each department, in all the rooms that had been previously used as bedrooms or sitting rooms, the main dining room, the elegant living room, with space for all their offices upstairs. It was going to be the most beautiful specialty store in New York.
And Paul and Mike got to work deciding if Brooke’s should stay open downtown for the summer, or close until they opened uptown. There were a million decisions to be made.
Spencer called the realtor and put the store in Chelsea on the market. They would have to disclose the shootout that had occurred there. Spencer couldn’t guess who would buy it, or how they would use it, and even though Brooke’s had an elegant new home to go to, she knew she would be sad when it sold. It would mean leaving a big part of her history behind.
On Saturday night Mike took Spencer to Le Bernardin, one of the best restaurants in the city. He ordered champagne, and when he took her home they tiptoed upstairs to her bedroom and locked the door to her suite. He smiled when he saw the chair where he had spent the night watching her after the shootout. They marveled at how life could change in an instant. Everything was different now. When they made love for the first time, with the moonlight streaming into her bedroom, she felt as though she had been waiting for him all her life, and her past faded behind her like so much mist as she lay in his arms afterwards. She didn’t let him spend the night because Axel and Ben were home, and he had Zack staying at his apartment.
“We have to go somewhere for a weekend,” he said, sad to leave her.
“The boys go on sleepovers,” she reminded him, and he laughed. They were refugees from their children. He wanted her to meet his parents, and so did she. She had a great deal to thank his father for, and she was interested to meet his mother and learn about her online fashion business that was a worldwide success, and his sister Stephanie who worked for her. She warned him about her mother, who found fault with everything and disapproved of everything Spencer did. They had much to learn about each other, and new worlds to discover.
On Sunday, she took Axel and Ben to meet Mike and Zack at the Chelsea Piers. The twins loved it, and ran alongside Zack’s wheelchair trying to make him guess which one was which, and were delighted when he got it wrong. They ate ice cream, and went out for pizza afterwards, and Zack promised to take them to the batting cages at the Pier when he got his casts off. They were very impressed that he’d been hit by a bus.
“I think that went very smoothly,” Mike said after dinner, as he and Spencer left the restaurant to join the boys waiting for them outside.
“The boys think Zack is a hero. He let them both sign his cast,” Spencer said. The twins had been starving for male companionship for so long that they basked in the warmth of Zack and Mike’s attention. Ben was the more outgoing of the two and had an affinity for Zack. Axel was quieter, talked to Mike all afternoon and stayed close to him, telling him all about his special reading classes at school. And Mike guessed correctly twice which twin was which, which impressed Spencer. Usually, no one could tell them apart except her.
“Ben’s smile is just a tiny bit bigger, and he has laughing eyes,” he said to her.
“You pay attention.”
“Yes, I do,” he said quietly, and gently touched her cheek. “I can’t wait for you to meet Jennifer too, she’ll be home in a few weeks. She’s already obsessed with you.”
“I haven’t forgotten her discount,” Spencer said, and he laughed. “Wait till she sees the new store.” There was going to be an open house for realtors at the old store the following Sunday. Their realtor was going to list it with international brokers all over the world.
There was so much to look forward to now. And so much to do.
The following week Mike rented a house in the Hamptons for two weeks in August, so they could all spend time together. He had checked it out with Maureen, who was going to Europe to meet friends in Capri, so the timing worked for her. He suspected there was a new man involved but didn’t ask her. They had almost settled the financial part of their divorce. It had been costly but well worth it. They were both happier and getting along better than they had in years, and he had been generous with her. She got the house in Connecticut, which she was going to sell, and the apartment in the city, most of the art, but not all, and a handsome settlement, and he was paying all the kids’ expenses, including college and apartments when they graduated. The divorce would be final at the end of the year.
Mike and Spencer went to the lawyer to sign their agreement together. It was a serious moment and Spencer almost cried when she signed it.
Spencer, Beau, and Marcy went to the house on Fifth Avenue almost daily, with the architect, the construction crew, a decorator, and a lighting specialist. Spencer was taking all the art from the old location and had already removed it and put it in storage so it didn’t get stolen, and they were building new cabinetry to show the merchandise to its best advantage. There were no windows on the street this time, but lots of display cases inside, and having the store in a mansion made it seem even more exclusive. She thought her grandparents would have loved it.
The following Sunday, they had dinner at Mike’s parents’ spectacular apartment. Beverly and Max invited Spencer to bring the twins with her, and Mike brought Zack to see his grandparents. They had a home theater, and Max put on a movie for the kids, and they loved it. And Beverly made popcorn for them. Overnight, Spencer and the twins had inherited a family, with older siblings and grandparents, and Max gave his son a thumbs-up of approval while Beverly was explaining to Spencer about her internet business, and how it had started, small at first, and mammoth now. Some of her best markets were in Asia.
It came as a shock to Spencer in July when the realtor emailed her and said they had a serious prospect for the store. He was willing to pay their full asking price. The prospective buyer was from Singapore and wanted to turn the building into an exclusive boutique hotel. He intended to add a large security staff and set up a night patrol, which would benefit the neighborhood and make it safer. And so far his financial references had checked out, and he had agreed to their terms and was going to buy all the fixtures they were willing to leave behind. Spencer wanted to keep the iconic, historical ones. She had mixed feelings about the sale as soon as she read the email. On the one hand, she wanted to sell it, and needed to, but on the other hand, it would be bittersweet when it sold.