Mid Life Love: At Last (7 page)

If you’re busy and have a life (Yes, James Klein, we all know you’re a huge golf star now and your schedule is hectic), just send me your travel/lodging preferences (up to two tickets per person) and the assistants will mail you your official tickets a week before the reunion.

Looking forward to seeing you in a few months!

Harrison Woods

I clicked through the attendees that had signed up and noticed that next to Claire’s name was a “no response” checkmark.

I called Corey again. “Corey, I need something else...I need you to intercept any emails regarding a Schenley High School class reunion from a Harrison Woods. He’s the CFO of Disney.”

“
Disney
? Are you serious?”

“Can you do it?”

He sighed. “Their firewall might be a bit challenging to get through...Give me a few seconds...”

“If you can bypass any emails about insignificant party details that’d be great. I just want the finalized RSVP list.”

“Got you something even better...Do you see it?”

I looked at my screen and saw a spreadsheet detailing each member of her high school class and every California reunion they’d attended throughout the years.

Claire hadn’t attended any. Ever.

“Were all of these reunions in California, Corey?”

“It looks that way, which is crazy because the high school is in
Pittsburgh
. Looks like it all started with their ten year reunion and then it became an annual one. That Harrison guy literally pays for each and every one of these things. It must be a pretty good tax write off.”

“Hmmm...Okay, thanks.” I hung up and called Ashley.

“Hey, Jonathan.” She picked up on the first ring.

“Hello. Are you busy right now?”

“Not at all. I actually just opened the care package you sent me. Are you calling because you meant to send
five hundred dollars
and not three hundred? Don’t worry. I knew that was a mistake. You can wire me the rest.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s more than enough to get you through the week. I’m calling to ask you something: When’s the last time you talked to your dad?”

“Um, two days ago. Why?”

“Just wondering...Has he mentioned moving out of Pittsburgh?”

“No. He did mention taking me and Caroline to a hockey game this winter since his firm gave him free season tickets—which is odd because we both
hate
hockey.”

“So, he still lives in Pittsburgh?”

“To my knowledge, yeah. I’m sure he would’ve told me and Caroline if he was planning on moving. He tells us everything.”

“Right. Well, thank you for letting me know.”

“You were serious about only giving me three hundred dollars? Don’t you think that’s an
odd
amount to give someone every week? The first few times were okay, but it’s getting out of hand now.”

“Goodbye, Ashley.” I hung up.

I was about to call Claire, but I heard my doorknob twisting and—there she was.

She was dressed in a short white dress and high heeled grey pumps, with a one of a kind triple pearl strand necklace I’d bought for her last weekend.

“Are you familiar with the phrase ‘
knock first
’?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Am I interrupting a private session? Is there a woman sucking you off under your desk?”

“Not today.” I stood up and walked over to her. “She only does that when she’s really happy with me.”

“She
is
really happy with you.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. “I know our meeting isn’t scheduled until later, but can we cancel it? I want a different wedding planner.”

“You came here just to tell me that?”

“I came here because I’m on my lunch break. Speaking of which, if you’re going to continue sending my staff a catered lunch
every day
, they prefer sweet tea and lemonade over Coke.”

I smiled and kissed her neck. “I’ll have it changed by tomorrow. How many minutes do you have left on your break?”

“Ten.” She rolled her eyes and stepped back. “Is that a
no
to changing wedding planners?”

“It’s a maybe because this is your
third
wedding planner...Are you trying to
stall
marrying me?”

“What? Of course not... I just want our wedding to be perfect. And actually, I’ve been reading a few in-depth articles about huge weddings and most of them agree that the ideal planning period is six months to a year.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is that I think you should re-consider the time limit you gave me because that’s not enough to even scrape the surface of everything I want to do...Since you claim you want nothing more than to make me happy, I think you should be a bit more generous when it comes to this—especially since this day is so important.”

“Claire...” I looked directly into her eyes. “I’m going to say this one last time and I’m never going to say it again. You have three months to plan this wedding. Three. Months.
Period
. I do want nothing more than to make you happy, and by the way you scream my name every night, I’m pretty sure I’m doing a damn good job. That said, I’m not waiting any longer than
ninety days
. And trust me, I’m being
more
than generous.”

“Jonathan—”

“If it had been up to me, I would’ve married you the day after I proposed. But since you insist on having a
wedding
, you need to figure out a way to plan it within that timeframe. If you have a problem with twelve weeks and an
unlimited
budget, or if you even
try
to push this wedding back by one fucking second, we’re getting married in a courthouse and you’ll be planning an after party.”

She narrowed her eyes at me and I pulled her back into my arms. “Why didn’t you tell me about your high school reunion being in California? Don’t you think that’s why Ryan would be in town?”

“I guess I wasn’t thinking about that...” She shook her head. “The reunion is
always
in California and he’s never bothered me before so...”

“You don’t want to go?”

“
No
. I never go.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to see him or
her
...I can’t handle being in the same room with either of them—ever.” She gave me one last kiss and untangled herself from my embrace. “I have to get back to work so I’ll see you at home. And before you ask—
Yes
, I’m redesigning the living room
again
this week. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“At six?”

“At
six
.” She smiled as she left my office, and I knew damn well she wasn’t going to be home by six. She never was.

After she left my office, I went back to examining Ryan’s files. Even though he was in San Francisco two weeks before the reunion, he wasn’t one of the “planning assistants” and he still hadn’t responded to the actual invitation—which meant he definitely wasn’t here for that.

He was here for something else...

––––––––

“O
kay. Jonathan, Denise, we’re in the closing minutes of this session.” Miss Tate looked over at my mother. “In all honesty, how do you think today went?”

I think we’re really making progress,” she said as she tied a scarf around her neck. “I feel like we’re getting somewhere.”

“We are.” I sighed. “If you keep behaving, I might invite you to the wedding.”

“Excuse me? What
wedding
?”

“My wedding.”

“You’re
engaged
?” Her eyes widened. “To
Claire
?”

“Is that a problem?”

Miss Tate tapped her notebook. “We can discuss that next time. No new conversation topics within the last ten minutes, remember?”

“Let me get this straight.” My mother ignored her. “You’re about to get
married
and you didn’t think to tell me?”

“I didn’t think you would care.”

“It’s been over eight months, Jonathan.” She sighed. “I’ve apologized to you, I’ve sent Claire god-knows how-many letters in the mail, and I would really like to have a functioning relationship with at least
one
of my children. I shouldn’t have to beg for that.” She looked over at Miss Tate. “Should I?”

There was silence. I didn’t feel like going into a deep conversation with her today. I was fine with the molasses-speed progress we were making and I had no desire to fully integrate her back into my life.

I stood up and shook Miss Tate’s hand. “As always, thank you for mediating these sessions, Miss Tate. Mother, Greg is downstairs waiting to take you home.”

“Is twice a week too much to ask?” My mother looked hurt. “Can we at least
try
it?”

“I’ll ask Claire about it and get back to you next week.”

“
Claire
? You have to ask
Claire
?” She narrowed her eyes at me. “I know my opinion doesn’t matter much.”

“It doesn’t matter
at all
.”

“Let me finish, Jonathan. I can at least—”

“No, you
can’t
. You don’t need to say anything about what I’m doing with my life or anything that relates to Claire because it’s none of your business. What you
can
do is be happy for me, stay on your best behavior, and show up to the wedding
if
I decide to invite you.” I kept my eyes locked on hers. “If you pull what you pulled last year—if you even
attempt
to say anything to her without my permission, I’ll never speak to you again.”

“Jonathan, Denise...” Miss Tate stood up. “I think it’s best if we end the meeting without saying another word to each other. You’re both doing so well. You don’t want to lose all the ground we’ve made so far do you?”

“You’re still holding that bullshit from last year against me?” My mother scoffed. “
Seriously
? That’s what this is about? You’re over our past, but you just want to throw in the Claire drama to keep me out of your life?”

“My keeping you at a distance doesn’t have shit to do with Claire. It never has.”

“Then why are you still treating me like this?” She stood up, hissing. “Why are you acting like a goddamn child? I said I was sorry. And just in case you didn’t catch what I said earlier, I’ve apologized every damn day and I’ve even apologized to your girlfriend—
excuse me
, your
fiancée
, telling her how much I wish I could take it all back. What more do you want?”

I felt like I was going to vomit. She was literally making me sick. “I treat you like this because it’s never been about
me
.” I stood up and narrowed my eyes at her. “I could’ve handled myself. I
did
handle myself. It’s always been about
Hayley
and how you left her in my care—a
child’s
care. Why can’t you see that?”

“Hayley has nothing to do with what happened between me and you, Jonathan. It’s her fault if she doesn’t want to reconcile with me because you know damn well I’ve tried. You’re just coming up with another hoop I have to jump through, and you know what?”

“
Go to hell
.”

Her face paled as soon as I said those words, and for half a second I regretted saying them, but not enough to stay.

“Mother, Miss Tate, I’ll see you two next week. I can’t deal with this right now.” I stormed out of my office and headed towards Angela’s desk.

“Mr. Statham? Is everything alright?” She looked up.

“No...Can you call my fiancée and tell her I’m on my way to pick her up for dinner please? Tell her it’s non-negotiable.”

“Yes sir.”

I hit the down button on the elevator and stepped inside as soon as the doors opened. I wasn’t sure why I still put up with my mother—why I even tried, because she honestly didn’t deserve anything from me after what she did last year.

Maybe deep down it was pity—shame, but I promised myself I would never forgive her until she completely acknowledged and understood how she’d almost wrecked my little sister for life, how she’d singlehandedly damaged her, leaving me to repair what little I could.

J
onathan

Summer 1995

I sighed as I twisted the door handle to our trailer, slowly stepping inside.

“Where the fuck have you been?” My mom sat up and took a long drag of her cigar. “It’s three in the afternoon and you’ve been gone all day.”

“I was at school.”

“Oh,
right
. Well, could you go back there and shut your sister up? She’s been screaming all day and I can’t get any sleep. All she ever fucking does is
cry
.”

I looked down the hallway and noticed that once again, the door to me and Hayley’s room was locked so she couldn’t get out.

“Can you sign this?” I pulled a paper out of my backpack and handed it to her. “Pre-K starts next week. You have to bring that form next Monday so she can go.”

“Ugh, god, Jonathan! One thing at a damn time! Can you do what I asked you to do first? Can you shut that girl up please?” She threw the paper onto the floor and curled into a ball. “How can you expect me to sign paperwork when she’s back there screaming her lungs out? Get the hell out of my face.”

I realized that I was going to have to pull out one of her old checkbooks again and forge her signature. I was also going to have to come up with one hell of an excuse because I knew she wouldn’t show up for Hayley’s first day of school.

She never did anything for Hayley.

Before I could make it down the hall, a beer can hit me square in the back. I turned around and saw my father taking a seat on the couch next to my mom.

“There’s more of that in the fridge boy,” he said. “If you can’t get her to shut up, just give her some of that and she’ll be out in twenty minutes. It worked like a charm yesterday.”

I stared at the two of them for half a second, wishing that I would wake up from this nightmare any second, that they would go back to being who they used to be; but I knew it wouldn’t happen. They’d been this way for the past couple years and there was no going back.