After All - Romancing Manhattan
“We are with our family.” The headache is pulsing in my forehead now. “And that woman was my wife.”
“Oh, I’m well aware. I sat through that horrible wedding and held my tongue.”
“You did not hold your tongue.”
No, my mother stood up in front of two hundred people and announced that she didn’t support my marrying a poor woman from New York, and that I was making the biggest mistake of my life.
“Certain things were expected of you.”
“I’m sorry I was an only child,” I reply firmly. “I feel bad for you and Dad, that you didn’t have a child who wanted to live the life you wanted them to. But I’m forty years old, Mother, and I think it’s time for you to come to terms with the fact that I’m living the life I want to. The life I’ve worked hard for.
“I will not have you speak badly of my dead wife when she’s not here to defend herself against you.”
“Well, I always say, what goes around comes around, and she—”
“If you say Darcy died because of karma, I will never speak to you again and make sure you never see Gabby, either.”
“I don’t see her anyway.” Her voice begins to tremble now, marking the manipulation portion of our program. “I don’t ever see my only grandchild. You’ve stripped us of the opportunity to know her at all.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“I don’t know why you call. If you want to upset me on my birthday, you achieve that goal every year.”
“I call because it’s your birthday, and because I’ll always wish things were different. But this will be my last phone call, Mother.”
She hangs up without saying good-bye, and I sigh deeply. I press the heels of my hands into my eyes.
Of course I’m not going to expose my daughter to that. Why on earth would I?
When I glance up, I notice it’s dark outside, and I frown.
How did the day slip away from me?
Is Nora still here?
I open my office door, and sure enough, there she is, typing away on her keyboard.
“Why didn’t you go home?” I ask.
She frowns up at me. “Because I have work to do.”
“It’s a damn blizzard outside, Nora.”
“It is?” She stands and walks into my office, staring out at the flurry of snow, whipping violently in the air. “Wow. It’s a mess out there. There are no cars driving below. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that happen since I moved to the city.”
“I should have sent you home hours ago. I’m sorry, I got caught up in here, and well, it’s not a good excuse.”
“I don’t have any windows out there,” she reminds me. “But I’m sure I’ll get home okay.”
I shove my hands in my pockets so I don’t do something stupid like brush my fingers through her hair. “I don’t think either of us is leaving tonight.”
“That’s crazy.”
“No, crazy is leaving in this mess. No one’s on the street for a reason. Look at those snowdrifts.”
“Well, damn it.” She presses her forehead to the glass, watching the snow explode around us. “It’s like a snow globe on steroids.”
“Yeah, it kind of is.”
“I guess I can go back to work, then.”
“Why don’t you shut it down for the night?”
“Because I’m stuck at work, so I might as well work?”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
She stops to think about it. “Actually, I’m starving. I don’t think I’ve eaten anything since the tea and muffin you brought me this morning.”
I plant my hand on the small of her back—big mistake—and lead her out of my office, toward the kitchen.
“We’ll find something. I would order in, but no one will deliver in this mess.”
Once in the employee kitchen, Nora opens the fridge and I start opening cabinets.
“Dave the junior attorney has a science experiment in here,” she says, wrinkling her nose. “Ew.”
“There’s got to be fresh stuff around here somewhere.”
“I see a few freezer meals. Mostly Lean Cuisine.”
“I think this bag of chips is from Cinco de Mayo,” I reply, holding up a half-eaten bag of tortilla chips.
“It’s November,” she reminds me. “So those are probably stale.”
We’re both tossing spoiled food into the garbage, looks of disgust on our faces.
“This used to be soup. I think.” She’s examining a plastic container. “But I’m not hungry enough to open it.”
“Toss it.”
“Well, the fridge is clean now. I found some oranges and a leftover taco that looks fresh.”
“I found packets of mustard, some ramen noodles, and a can of tomato soup.”
“Didn’t Quinn have a lunch brought in earlier today for clients?”
“Let’s go see if there’s anything left in the conference room.”
We hurry down the hall and open the door.
“Cookies,” Nora says with happiness. “And it looks like warm sandwiches. I don’t want to get sick.”
“We’ll eat the cookies. There are bags of chips over here, too.”
“My diet is ruined, but we won’t starve,” she says as she sits in one of the plush leather chairs and munches on a chocolate chip cookie.