“Well, it can only get worse from here. Jameson is only going to keep
taking liberties with your body if he knows you won’t try and get out of this job.”
“I know, I know,” I said. I had to figure something out that didn’t mean I was pinning all my hopes on Charlie giving me the money. Things with Charlie at the moment were… questionable. One thing was for sure, contract or no contract, I could not blindly trust him.
19
Charles
I looked at the time on my phone. Almost seven. Where the hell was she? She was supposed to be home by now. I paced the floor of the living room. I thought I’d just wait in there for her with a book or something; maybe check the news but I couldn’t stay still. If I paced this room anymore, I’d wear a hole through the damn carpet.
Brenna wasn’t answering my texts and she never told me whether she had something after work. It wasn’t like I told her what she could and couldn’t do. That wasn’t it at all, I just wanted to know when she’d be late. She didn’t live alone anymore. It wasn’t like I was going to tell her not to do things on her own, I just wanted her to let me know when she did it.
The door opened, finally. I waited in the living room for her. She slowly emerged from the entryway.
“It’s about time,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying. She looked at me blankly.
“What?” she asked.
“Where the hell have you been?” Her face hardened.
“On the goddamn moon. Where do you think I’ve been?”
“I don’t fucking know. You wouldn’t reply to my messages,” I said.
“Sorry, I’ll make sure I check with you whenever I decide to head somewhere that isn’t your home after work.” I cringed a little bit. Never had I ever stopped her from going anywhere and she knew that. I never would. Was she trying to start a fight with me? I didn’t want to argue about that. I changed the subject.
“Why didn’t you take the limo?”
“Because it’s a limo. The most ostentatious car in the world. People notice. I can’t go from using the subway every day like a regular person to showing up in a limousine. People are going to talk and they’re going to have questions which your NDA won’t let me answer.”
“You took it today with no issues.”
“I ask Barry to stop a block away from my building so no one sees me coming out of it. Today was different anyway. I was running late so I had to. Under regular circumstances, I just organize myself around the MTA’s schedule, like a normal person.”
“I don’t like you using the subway.”
She huffed. “So, what am I supposed to do about that? There are rats and it’s gross but it’s the city’s main mode of transportation. I haven’t died yet.”
“It’s dangerous and it's dirty.”
“I’ll give you dirty but it’s much safer on the train than it is on the road.”
“No, you’re my child’s mother and I don’t want you in that environment.”
“I’m not riding around in your limo. I’ll look like a lunatic.”
“I’ll get another car if you don’t like the limo.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve been using the subway for five years. Driving in New York is unreasonable.”
“No,” I said again. “You’re carrying our baby. I don’t want you on that filthy, inefficient, germ incubator.”
“Jesus Christ, I can’t have this conversation with you,” she said, walking away from me. I followed her, grabbing her arm at the foot of the stairs.
“Why are you so determined to defy me?”
“Because you aren’t making any sense.”