Roger
OK, this is good! I mean, I’m shocked she said yes to the arrangement. I seriously assumed I’d make the offer and she’d slap me again. After all, didn’t she make a big deal about me paying off Weasel? Letting her live rent-free is an even bigger bail out.
I was sure someone as adamantly pull-herself-up-by-her-expensive-pumps as Natalie would recoil at the idea of accepting help on that level. Maybe her saying ‘yes’ to the arrangement is a sign of…
Of what, Roger?
Of her feelings for you?
Holy shit. Maybe she’s falling for me. Wouldn’t that be something?
I think of us lying in bed together last night. I remember how she shifted into me as she slept; how natural it felt; how comfortable.
By the time I get to the office, I’m feeling giddy; like how all the pop songs describe… well…you know.
Even the sight of my lawyer, Gerald Harris, greeting me with a scowl isn’t enough to dampen my mood at first. He stands up the second I enter my office. I can guess why he’s here. Come to lecture me about walking out on the deal with that jack-off, Jared.
“Roger…” he begins.
“Save it, Gerald,” I tell him. I hang up my jacket and check the messages and mail sitting on my desk.
“I willnotsave it!” he shouts at me. His anger takes me aback. Gerald is usually cool as a cucumber. “What’s going on with the girl?”
OK. He’s officially dampening my mood. I slap my mail back on the desk. “Nothing.”
“That’s not what it looks like.”
“Well, I can’t help what it looks like.”
“We were about to sign the deal!” he cries out. Seeing the anger beginning to flush my face, Gerald backs off, pacing my office. He’s about twenty years older than me, tall and lanky. His hair is full and white, but he’s never looked old. This deal falling apart, however, appears to have aged him. He fills the room with his anxiety.
I try to get him to see it from my point of view. “Jared Barron’s a piece of shit.”
“I don’t disagree.”
“We don’t need to be in business with a piece of shit.”
“All you had to do was sign a contract.”
Why is he coming at me like this? “If I want to walk away from a negotiation,” I insist, “then I’ll walk away. It’s my deal.”
“It’s not justyourdeal.” He stops pacing and marches over to my desk. “You know how many people were involved in making this happen? Not just you, and me, and my team. Consultants. Architects. Electricians and specialists who helped us with the estimates. A lot of people put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into helping you make this deal happen. A lot of people had hopes and money riding on it. And you had the nerve to walk away from all that because of some… some…”
“Somewhat?”
My tone lets him know he’s treading on thin ice. He takes a breath and gets ahold of himself. Lucky for him, or I might be looking for a new law firm in addition to a new piece of real estate.
“Roger,” he says more calmly, “you know my feelings about your personal life. If it doesn’t affect business, then it’s none ofmybusiness. We both know sometimes your escapades add to your mystique, whichisgood for business.”
He takes another breath and I brace myself for his closing argument. “But,thistime.Whateveris going on with this Natalie, you need to get it under control, so it doesn’t interfere with your work any more than it already has.”
“I’m telling you one last time, Gerald, there’snothing‘going on’ with Natalie,” I say.
“Well, Christ, Roger, don’t tell me, tell it to the fuckingworld.” He gestures behind me, out the window.“Because it’sall anyone in this office is talking about. It’s all I hear at the club, at the restaurants. Hell, it seems like it’s all the entire real estate world of New York City is talking about!”
“Considering the real estate world here is only one step up from the sewers, I wouldn’t put too much stock in that.”
“It’s allyou’rethinking about.” His words hit me like one of Natalie’s slaps. He’s not wrong. I hate it when a lawyer isn’t wrong about something. “I’ve never seen you sloppy, not in the middle of a deal.”