Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
She was no longer on the phone.
He started to button his shirt.
“Do I wanna know what that was about?” he asked.
“No,” she answered, spritzing with perfume.
“Tell me anyway,” he ordered.
She moved to a section of the closet that had a rail, pulled out a long blue dress, lots of sequins, one shoulder bared, cutaway back, and she hung it on a valet rail.
“Emilie and Scott are moving in together. She has two roommates where she is now, they’re getting another one. But Scott’s place is too small, so they’re looking for something bigger. That means his old place on the Upper East Side will be open. Mom wants it.”
Christ, that woman.
“Does he rent or own?”
“He rents.”
“Can she afford it?” he asked.
“No.”
As she spoke, she was stepping into her gown. She pulled it up her shoulder then came to him, lifted her arm and angled her side his way.
“Zip, please.”
He finished tucking in his shirt and zipped her.
“And your sister was calling you about this because…” he prompted warily, because he could guess, and what he’d guess would piss him off.
“She wants to know if I’ll subsidize it for Mom. Me and Oskar, she asked him too. You will note the absence of Emilie contributing to that.”
That was what he would guess.
“Elsa,” he said low.
She waved at him in a dismissive gesture and went to go look at herself in the mirror. “I know. I know. I’m not going to. But I think that means it’s going to be me who has to have a talk with Mom about her expectations and her age and how she isn’t exactly ninety years old and infirm and has outlived her retirement so she needs to rely on her children to take care of her.”
“Maybe let her figure that out on her own,” Hale suggested.
She turned to him. “Actually, I’m going to sit down with her and suggest she move to Boston. Oskar was always her favorite anyway. It’s cheaper to live there, not super cheap, but not Manhattan expensive. She’ll be closer to her grandkids. And maybe he’ll be able to help her find a job somewhere. Or she can be their nanny or something.”
“I think that’s a good idea.”
She nodded, and in a rustle of sequins, she walked out of the closet and back to the bathroom.
He grabbed his suit jacket and tie and tossed the jacket on his bed on his way to the bathroom.
She was seated at the vanity there that had never been used. But now it had her makeup and skincare and hair stuff scattered all over it.
She was finishing her hair.
“You okay about this?” he asked.
“She’s my mom. We’re not close, but she’s my mom. I want her settled.” She stopped fiddling with her hair and turned on the little bench to face him. “She also isn’t like this. I mean, I don’t think she is. She’s never had to be before, so maybe I’m wrong. She’s not needy or grasping. She can be passive aggressive and manipulative, but not about things like this. I think she’s freaking out. I think she’s fifty-four years old and has to start a new life, and that’s daunting. I’d find it daunting, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“So I have to dig down and find some patience and help her find her way.”
“You’re a good daughter,” he said softly.
She gave him a gentle smile and turned back to the mirror.
He went to the basin and used the mirror there to put on his tie.
He was adjusting the knot when Elsa came up behind him and curved her arms around him.
“Just have to put on my shoes and jewelry and I’m ready,” she said.
“Okay, baby,” he replied.
She gave him a squeeze and walked away.
He located his phone and texted Paul and Hudson they were almost ready.
He then went to the closet, put on his own shoes, back to the bedroom, shrugged on his jacket, sorted his cuffs, then to his nightstand for his wallet and phone.
Elsa joined him and they walked down the stairs together.
At the top and bottom of the staircase, he’d had baby gates erected. Cheddar wasn’t big enough to attempt the stairs. Not yet. At night when they went to bed, they brought the cats up and pinned them in with the upper gate. Now they were downstairs, corralled by the lower gate.
This didn’t mean Cheddar couldn’t get into trouble. He could and did.
But in the time they had him, they kitten-safed the house so now the breakable stuff was out of reach.
Thinking this thought, Hale felt a tightness he had become accustomed to ignoring of late line the right side of his neck while he secured the lower gate when he and Elsa got through it.
Elsa cooed at both the cats and bent to stroke Frosty, while Hale walked carefully because Cheddar was attacking his shoes as he moved.