I nodded to him and stepped into the elevators. As soon as the door closed one of the interns inside turned to me. “We have the same taste! Christian Louboutin makes the best purses. I have that exact—”
“Don’t do that,” I said as the doors opened to the ground floor. “Don’t make up a lie in order to get close to me. Especially one you aren’t confident in. This it isn’t a Louboutin. The shoes are, but the bag is Oscar. There are only three in the world and I have two.”
When I stepped out, I partially turned to her. “You aren’t the first intern who rode the elevator all day hoping to coincidently hand me their work. If your work is good, and you work hard here, it will eventually end up on my table. Don’t try to lie your way ahead with me…I hate that.”
I nodded to her before I turned and walked towards the exit where my town car was waiting. The wind swirled around me as I stepped through the revolving doors and, without a word, I slid into the backseat of the car. Putting my purse beside me, I pulled off my gloves and reached for my headphones. Taking a deep breath, I pressed play.
“Esther!” He laughed. “How I wish I could hear you scream ‘Grandpa!’ back at me, I apologize…I apologize that I’m not with you. I’m not there to tell you Happy Birthday, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. I wish I was. But sometimes wishing isn’t enough. Action is needed. So I acted. But sometimes acting isn’t enough. You need faith. You need to trust yourself. I knew when I sent you to Malachi that it would be the last time I saw you. But I wasn’t upset. I was happy because I knew you wouldn’t be alone. I knew you’d laugh. I knew you’d do what you always did and make everyone around you feel…joy.”
Pressing pause, I pressed my head against the window. Sorry, Grandpa…I had no more joy to give.
MALACHI
“Welcome to the Big Apple!” The flight attendant smiled at us as I, and the rest of the first-class passengers, exited the plane.
“I wish I could stay. I’m only connecting. Where do I find flight NW343?” an elderly man with a cane asked her.
“Sir,” I nodded to him and he looked at me. “I’m heading there. Would you like to follow me?”
“Ahh! Yes please.”
I took hold of his carry on.
“No, it’s alright.”
“Don’t worry, I got it.” Walking forward I waited for him to follow and when he did, he walked slowly.
“Did you know that over one hundred and fifty thousand people transit through JFK per day? That’s big enough to be its own city.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said as I tried to avoid the mass of people going in the opposite direction. “But I believe it.”
JFK was always busy. It was one of the busiest airports in the world and because of that, it was a gateway to the world. The last place I wanted to be was in the Big Apple. In fact, my flight was supposed to connect through Montreal, but because there was freak snowstorm covering the city we’d been redirected here.
Two more hours. Two more hours.
“Sorry.”
“Excuse me.”
A few people said as they bumped into me. Some didn’t even say a word they just kept staring at their cellphones.
“There are only three things that send a man to Italy,” the old man said in front of me.
I noticed that no one seemed to bump into him as we made our way through the airport. I guess people were more careful around the elderly. It seemed to be a good perk to being old.
“Art, food, and love. Which are you going for?”
My eyebrow rose at the thought of that, then looking down at the top of his balding head I asked, “Which are you going for? The art?”
“What’s life if you can’t have all three?”
“Then I too am chasing all three,” I lied though I knew he could tell. “The gate isn’t far.” I nodded up ahead at the gate number. But I paused when I saw my name on a stand with my novel, River of Velvet. I stared at the deep red cover with the Arabic-styled writing in gold for a moment.
“My daughters love his work; they tell me all about them. I didn’t realize he was so popular,” he said as he looked up at me.
“Apparently not. No one is buying a copy.”
The moment I said it, he took a copy, walked inside and handed it to the woman behind the counter. She smiled at him and gave him the book and his receipt.