Даниэла Стил - All That Glitters

“Maybe not. My parents aren’t exciting and they’ve been together for twenty-five years. That’s solid.”

“Your mother is a little bit exciting,” Coco said, thinking about it. She had lots of personality and opinions.

“No, she’s not. She just screams a lot. My father ignores it. I hope my sister has the guts to defy them. I really like Liam. My mother will have a coronary if she marries him, but Sabra’s pretty stubborn. She might just do it. You need to go back to school in the fall, by the way. Your father would want you to. He’d be upset that you’ve been out of school for a year now.” She nodded. She’d been considering it too, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to go back, or needed to, although she knew her father would have wanted her to graduate. But school seemed boring to her now.

Instead, she called her boss at Time from the summer before, and asked if he had any internships available. She could at least do that for the rest of the summer. She was tired of sitting around the apartment, especially now that Ed was out of the picture. He had eaten up a lot of her time, which had kept her from doing anything else, including seeing her friends, except for Sam, who showed up faithfully almost every night, and had for a year.

“Funny you should ask,” John Campbell, her old boss, said when she called him at Time . “We do have an opening. I don’t know if it would appeal to you. It’s in the London office. We can take care of the visa from here. We don’t pay living expenses for interns, so no one from here has wanted it. I don’t know if that works for you or not.” He knew enough about her and her late father to suspect that money wouldn’t be a problem. “They want an American, and we haven’t been able to find one. Would that screw up your plans for school?”

“I don’t have plans for school right now. I’ve been debating it. This internship might be just what I need.” Her life in New York seemed flat at the moment. She had been mourning her parents for the last year, and hiding with Ed. She hadn’t seen anyone, and she didn’t want to go back to school yet. “How long is it for?”

“As long as you want. It’s open-ended.”

“When does it start?”

“As soon as you can get there.”

“What would I do?”

“More or less the same as you were going to do here. It’s kind of a jack-of-all-trades/girl Friday position, pitching in where needed.”

“It sounds perfect,” she said, excited about it.

“The salary is ridiculous, which, as I said, is why we haven’t found anyone.” But she could afford it. She didn’t need the money. She needed to get busy and do something useful with her time. “Give it some thought and call me.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” she promised. She wanted to sleep on it, but it sounded like exactly what she needed. And London would be a nice change from living with the ghosts in her apartment.

She talked to Sam about it that night, and he reluctantly agreed with her. His preference was that she go back to school, but if she wasn’t going to, then getting out of town might be good for her, in case Ed showed up again. A year after her parents’ death, she was in better shape now and could take a job for a while until she went back to school.

“Just promise me one thing, that you’ll go back to college at some point. You’ve only got two semesters left to do. You should finish and get your diploma,” Sam said, in his older brother role.

“I will, at some point,” was all she would commit to.

She called John Campbell the next day, and told him she wanted the internship in London. He was delighted.

“Give us a few weeks to get your visa in order. Why don’t you plan on starting mid-August.” That gave her a month to get organized and pack. She’d have to find a place to live when she got to London. It sounded exciting, and she called Sam at work and told him she had accepted, and would be leaving in a month.

Much to her surprise, a week later, she got a call from Ed. She didn’t dare not take it, since he was still her trustee, and the call might be about the estate. She took the call cautiously, and sounded cool when she answered. It had been five weeks since their unpleasant scene when they ended their affair. He sounded surprisingly friendly in the circumstances, and as though nothing had happened.

“How are you, Coco?”

“Fine, thank you. What’s up?” She cut to the chase and didn’t want to chat with him or play games.

“Nothing, I just wanted to check in and see how you’re feeling. Things got a little out of hand the last time we saw each other. I’m sorry about that.” He made it sound like she’d been drunk or in a bad mood.

“It’s fine. We needed to clear things up.” She didn’t tell him that she still felt like an idiot and thought he was a bastard. She was just grateful that no one knew about them, except Sam.

“I hope you’re feeling better. I was wondering if we could get together. Marielle is in Greece, and I’m leaving for Italy in two weeks. I’d love to see you.” He was incredible. He wanted to start where they’d left off, with nothing different in his situation, except that his wife was on vacation so he was free.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m leaving too. I’m going to London.”

“How about dinner tonight?” He sounded faintly desperate. He didn’t like rejection. And she didn’t like liars and cheaters. She remembered everything Sam had said while she hadn’t listened to him.

“Sorry, Ed. I can’t make it.” Then she couldn’t help adding, “You’re still married.” Even if he weren’t now, she wouldn’t have gone to dinner with him. He had used her to add spice to his life. He was a bad guy. Sam was right.

“Well, maybe when you get back,” he said hopefully.

“I don’t think so. And when I get back, let’s talk about a successor trustee. I think that would be a good idea.”

“If you think so,” he said, sounding vaguely annoyed. He wasn’t going to argue the point with her. He knew she was right to ask for a new trustee, given what had happened between them. She hung up after that, and didn’t hear from him again.

She spent the rest of her time in New York packing. She closed the house in Southampton, and left the apartment in the city as it was. She didn’t know when she’d be back, a few months, longer, maybe even a year. It all depended on what would happen in London. John Campbell was giving her a new lease on life. After a year of deep mourning, she needed it, and couldn’t wait to start the job. Sam needed to pursue his own life too, and not just babysit for her, although he never complained, and loved seeing her almost every night.

He drove her to the airport when she left. They clung to each other for a long time before she had to go through security.

“Take care of yourself,” he admonished her. “Don’t do anything crazy, and watch out for the exciting ones!” he teased her.

“You too. Watch out for the boring ones.” They smiled at each other with all the love they’d shared since they were children, and then she went through security, and waved at him. After she disappeared into the crowd, he felt sad to see her go. She was so much a part of his daily life. He walked to the garage to get his car, and drove back to the city. He hoped everything would go well for her in London, and that she would remember the lesson she had learned with Ed. He hoped she’d meet a good man now, and he was going to see where things went with Tamar. He was convinced she wasn’t as boring as Coco said.

Chapter 4

Coco had given herself a few days’ leeway to find a place to live before she started work. She was lucky because with the money she had inherited from her parents, she could afford to live in a good neighborhood, rent a cheerful, safe apartment, and have a place she truly liked. For others, it wasn’t as easy, which was one reason why no one had leapt at the internship in London. It was an expensive city. With the help of a realtor, she rented an adorable mews house that was nicely furnished and would be a lovely home for her in London. It wasn’t showy, but had everything she wanted. And it was available immediately.