I sighed before I made the call.
It rang so long it didn’t seem like she would answer.
But she did. “Cleo.” She wasn’t warm to me at all, but she wasn’t cold either. It seemed like she just wanted to take care of business then return to forgetting I existed. Now that she thought I was no threat to her, she’d stopped thinking about me altogether—which was a good thing.
“Hey, Valerie. How are you?”
“Fine. Is there something you needed?” She didn’t care about being polite…since I was just the help.
“I wanted to talk to you about something…if you have time.”
“Sure. Is Deacon alright?”
“He’s fine. It’s not about him.”
“Alright then, what is it?”
She hadn’t seemed to have had that great of a time in Manhattan, so I wasn’t sure if she’d been at all enticed. And Deacon made it clear there was no chance they could work out their problems. She really had no reason to come here at all. “Well, there’s a grammar school just down the street from Deacon, and it’s the best school in the country. It’s the alma mater of a lot of successful people that you see in the news. Their waiting list is three years long…but I got Derek in.”
“So?” she asked. “Unless this is online, I don’t see your point.”
“Well, I thought he could move here…”
Silence.
“Both of you,” I added, making it clear we weren’t trying to take her son from her.
She was quiet again.
“There’re a lot of opportunities for him here. And Deacon would love to see his son more often. It would be a great way for the two of you to be parents together, in the same place, at the same time.”
She sighed into the phone. “You expect me to move all the way across the country?”
“Yes. But it’s the greatest city on earth.”
“It’s still a lot to ask. It’s not like Deacon and I are getting back together.”
“No, but it would be a great opportunity to make amends for the past…”
She was quiet.
“And it’s the best for Derek. I understand your not wanting to leave California, but Deacon is the best tutor, teacher, adviser that Derek could ever have. He could really help Derek in ways you can’t.”
“Yes, I’m not a brainiac. You got me there.”
“The beach on Long Island is just a few hours away. The mountains are too. And Manhattan is the best place to be as a single woman. There are rich bachelors everywhere.”
She sighed again.
“I think you’d be happy here. And Deacon’s family is here…so you’ll have them for support.” I wasn’t sure what her family situation was. Deacon never talked about it.
“I like it here in LA. It’s always sunny without it being humid. I can actually drive places. But there is something I can get in Manhattan that I can’t anywhere else, so I’ll do it…if you give me something in return.”
She better not ask me never to see Deacon again or something stupid.
“You get me a residence in the Trinity Building.”
I was frozen on the spot. Did she just ask that?
“I want you to wait on me the way you wait on Deacon. I want someone to do everything for me. That’s something I can’t get here. I mean, I can, but they are all idiots and don’t know what they’re doing. You, on the other hand, know exactly what you’re doing.”
I wanted her in Manhattan, not in Deacon’s building. “The residences are hard to come by. People almost never leave.”
“And that’s why I want to move in. You make that happen…and I’ll do it.”
“Valerie, I could find you another beautiful place—”
“That’s my price. Take it or leave it.”