The Affair: Week 2 - Soon
Emma’s hopes plummeted back to earth with a crash. Did she honestly think Michael Montand would show up at her front door?
God, you’re stupid sometimes.
Toby Martin was the name of their apartment maintenance man. He was the only maintenance man for more than two hundred apartments spread out over Evanston, Skokie, and northern Chicago. Their cheap-wad landlord refused to hire an adequate number of employees to service his units.
“He’s here to do our repairs,” Amanda hissed disbelievingly. “All of them.”
“Well miracles do happen,” Emma said after a stunned moment.
* * *
Colin had left at least a dozen messages on her phone since Thursday night along with another half-dozen texts.
I know you’re pissed, and you have every right to be, but please let me explain.
I know what it looked like, but it wasn’t that . . . or it was, but not as bad as whatever you’re probably thinking. Please just call me so we can meet and I can explain in person. Emma? PLEASE?
Look, I know things are over between us. But would you at least call and let me know you’re okay? I’m getting worried.
Emma knew she couldn’t keep putting him off. She had to get this over with. Besides, she felt a little guilty after hearing the desperate quality of his tone and messages. He imagined her betrayed, furious, and depressed. She was set off balance and angry, but it was strange to realize what had happened with Colin and Amanda was only a small part of her odd state. Colin had been part of the fabric of her life for years now, as much a part of her existence as Amanda. The fact that Colin and Amanda were interested in each other sexually and romantically definitely changed things, adding to that sense of shifting ground and a precarious future.
Their relationship needed to officially end. Colin needed to see she wasn’t suicidal or something. She wasn’t feeling sexually rejected by him, that much was certain. She’d been turned to quivering mush the other night in the backseat of a car by a gorgeous billionaire whom she couldn’t stop thinking about despite all the drama surrounding her.
Not that she planned to confess that part to anyone. She was having trouble enough coming to terms with it herself.
What if you really are upset and don’t realize it, and are acting out in a self-defeating way with Montand because you’re feeling rejected by Colin?
One look at Colin’s face when he answered his apartment door on Saturday evening, and she knew that wasn’t the situation at all. She was ready to end it with him.
More than ready.
When he saw the carton she brought with all of the things he’d left at her place over the years, he looked sad and resigned. Even if it hadn’t been for her unexpected experience with Montand, Emma knew she would have eventually realized this breakup was long overdue. Amanda and Colin making out had just hastened the inevitable.
Now all she had to do was deal with the poison fallout in regard to Amanda.
On Sunday, Emma decided impulsively to go shopping in downtown Chicago. When Emma returned home at around four thirty, she saw Colin and Amanda standing next to Colin’s dark green sedan in the parking lot. They both stepped apart guiltily when they noticed her car. Feeling uncomfortable, Emma gathered her bags and headed toward her apartment.
She entered the still, empty apartment, closed the door, and pressed her back against it, her bags still clutched in her hands. What was she feeling? She tried to be honest with herself. Was it jealousy for seeing Amanda and Colin together?
No. That wasn’t it. What she experienced was a gaping sense of uncertainty about her future. What she experienced, she realized with a sudden sense of clarity, was the precise reason she’d clung onto Colin for so long, even when she knew they weren’t right for each other.
The recognition fortified her. At least she’d put a name to what she’d been afraid of. She marched down the hallway, suddenly eager to look at her new purchases again.
Chapter Eight
The following Tuesday when she went to work, the skies were gray and brooding. Maureen Sanderson, the nurse on the day shift, greeted her wearily when she entered the suite.
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked.
“Cristina had a bad night,” Maureen explained in a hushed tone, glancing toward the bedroom. “I thought she was gone at least half a dozen times. But she seems to
be holding on for some reason. Her stepson is out of town. I know they have a rocky relationship, but maybe she’s waiting to see him once more?”
“Montand is away?” Emma asked. No one had mentioned it during her shift yesterday, but she really hadn’t conversed a lot with anyone but Cristina, and that only briefly.
Maureen nodded. “When she was doing so poorly earlier, I asked the maid to make sure he was aware that Cristina’s time was probably soon, just in case he wanted to say good-bye. Alice told me he’d gone to France.”
“When?” Emma asked, regretting her sharpness when she saw Maureen’s bemused glance.