Даниэла Стил - All That Glitters

“We haven’t exactly been speaking to each other much. She asked me the day after you told me about Sussex.”

“Well, I think I’ll wait to look for a job until September. There’s no point job-hunting in the summer, anyway. There’s no one around,” he said, as he poured himself another scotch.

“I think you should get your CV out there now,” she said, wondering how long he would be out of work, with the excuse of the two houses they were remodeling, and how hard he would look for a new job. It worried her. She didn’t want him viewing her as the supplier of all benefits, and to become totally dependent on her. She wanted him to work too, on principle. Their situation seemed to have degenerated rapidly since they’d gotten married five months before. He stayed downstairs drinking that night after she went to bed, and he was dead to the world when she left for work the next morning. They had let him go on the spot the day before. He had cleared his desk and been escorted out of the building. That was company policy when you got fired. She knew it must have been humiliating and felt sorry for him.

Coco gave notice herself that day, and they were very nice about it. They were grateful she had stayed that long in a minor job and had been diligent.

Sam texted her that night. As he had promised, he wanted to come over. He could take some time off in the last week of June. His father was back at work, and in good shape again. Sam wanted to see her, he hadn’t been to London in nine months, which seemed like a long time to both of them.

So much had happened since then. She had married Nigel. They had bought two houses. She was changing jobs. Sam’s life was moving more slowly. He had run his father’s business on his own for the past six months. He said he had learned a lot from it. But now his father was back, doing things his way again. Sam sounded discouraged about it. He had been dating Tamar for just over a year now.

Coco picked him up at the airport when he arrived, as she had before. They hugged each other so hard, she was afraid they would break something. He looked thinner, tired, and pale, but he was thrilled to see her. She had had her last day at Time the day before, so she was free to be with him the whole time, and didn’t have to go to work.

She drove him to the city house they had bought on the way to her place. The contractor and his men were working at full speed when they got there. They had a large crew working on it to meet the deadline. Sam was amazed when he saw it.

“This place is huge. Why do you need this much space? Are you having quadruplets?”

“Apparently Nigel thinks we are.” She didn’t look happy about it. She was still uneasy about how much they had taken on, and how many people it would take to maintain it. By her calculation, at least three, and Nigel thought one of them should be a butler, which made her even more uncomfortable.

There was no question, the house was beautiful, but they didn’t need it, and it had been expensive, especially with the remodel. She hardly saw Nigel now that he wasn’t working. He was going to the pub a lot at night to meet up with friends.

“I’ll drive you out to see the country house in Sussex tomorrow.” She’d only been to see it once herself. It was beautiful and peaceful, but she feared that Nigel’s remodel to modernize it would be extensive, and provide another excuse for him not to work.

“Why all these houses?” Sam looked baffled. He knew she had inherited a large fortune from her parents, but she wasn’t given to showing off like this. It was obviously all Nigel. He took their social life very seriously, although it had slowed down recently after he was fired, and she quit her job.

“I think he wants to impress his friends. He wants us to entertain, and give house parties in the country. That’s a little grand for me, and a huge amount of work to entertain fifteen or twenty or thirty people for a weekend. And it costs a fortune. He just lost his job, by the way. He wants to take the summer off, and start looking in September.”

“How do you feel about that?” Sam asked, concerned.

“I don’t like it,” she said honestly. “He pressured me into buying this house, and made a commitment to a friend to buy the place in Sussex without even telling me till after he did it. Things are a little rocky. I told him that if he makes another purchase like that without consulting me, I’d leave him. He spends a hell of a lot of money.” She looked worried and Sam wasn’t surprised.

“It sounds like he’s gotten very grand since you two got married. He wasn’t like that before, was he?”

“He likes the good life, and we certainly went to some very fancy homes on our weekends away together, but now he wants to give parties like that, not just go to them. He likes to live a glamorous life, and he has a very good idea of what I’ve inherited from my parents from the declaration of assets in our prenup, and he did some research before.”

Sam was disturbed to hear it, but not surprised. “And you didn’t,” he reminded her. “He sounds very entitled. He didn’t strike me that way last year.” He had been respectful of Coco then, but his ideas had been somewhat grandiose even before they married.

“He promised me he wouldn’t do it again. I hope he means it. I want him to get a job. It’s embarrassing to have to push him about it. He said something about how pointless it is for him to work, given what I have. But I’m working. I think he should too.” He had some savings, but he would be totally dependent on her when that ran out, which would be soon.

They both knew she had married him too quickly and didn’t know him well enough. It had been obvious even then that Nigel liked living in the fast lane, and wanted a Great Gatsby kind of life, which Coco didn’t. She’d let him pull her into it, but she didn’t want to buy houses left and right to keep him happy. That kind of spending frightened her, no matter how much money she had. With her parents’ example, she wasn’t irresponsible about her money.

“Ed says I’m okay, but I won’t be forever if Nigel keeps spending this way.”

Sam was worried for her as they drove back to her mews house, which was a far cry from the mansion she had just bought.

“When are you moving in?”

“Supposedly in August. The country house will be finished in September, and I’ll have to hire people to run it.” It was a very luxurious lifestyle for a twenty-three-year-old girl with a brand-new husband without a penny to his name, or a job. But he had always told her that he had no money. She just didn’t know that he was going to spend hers like a drunken sailor, and then get fired on top of it.

Nigel was out when they got home, which didn’t surprise her. Sam had a glass of wine, and they sat on the couch and talked with his arm around her. They talked about his family, working with his father, and Tamar, who was devoted and loyal, and even willing to help with his father’s business on the weekends. She was helping them with the billing. It made Sam feel even guiltier that he didn’t want to marry her.

“I’m twenty-four. I’m not ready to settle down yet. She’s a year younger than you are, and she wants to get married and have babies. I can hear my youth flying out the window every time she says it, along with my freedom.”

“Why don’t you date someone else for a while? Give yourself a breather?” He liked the idea but felt guilty about that too.

“It would probably kill her. And my mother would kill me.” He smiled ruefully at Coco and she laughed. His mother was fierce when she wanted to be, and she ruled her family with an iron fist. “My mother is crazy about her. She’s more like my mother than either of my sisters. Sabra is marrying Liam. Rebecca told my father she wants to convert and become a Catholic. And not even for a guy, she said it’s more in keeping with her personal beliefs. Last year she was considering becoming a Buddhist. And Jacob still wants to be a rabbi. They’re all driving me crazy. I miss you, Coco. It’s not the same without you. I have no one sane to talk to except when I call you.”