By DocPaul
Chapter
Two: Only seeing horizontal…
“So,
what did she say exactly?”
Michael
looked at Alex with blurry eyes. “What do you mean, what did she say? This is
my fucking life you want a blow by
blow account of, Whitman!”
“Can
it, Michael. You’ll tell us anyway.” Alex looked over at Max, who, at two in
the morning, was still pressed and coiffed. Impressive. Fucking sad. The man had
had three martinis and he didn’t seem phased. “Work with me, Evans. Get this
poor toad to tell us all the juicy details of how she kicked his ass to the
curbside.”
Michael
rolled his eyes. “She cried, okay? Are you happy? I made another fiancée cry.
Which, as you know, only lasts a good week or so, then she begins to imagine
ways to make me pay. To annihilate me. To have my balls cut off. Great, now I
have five….damn, six of them gunning
for me! I don’t get it. I never break up with them. All they had to do was
sign the damn paper, and we’d be married and pushing out small Guerins.”
“This
is just tragic. You’re more broken up over the loss of potential Guerins than
the loss of any of these women.”
“That’s
not true, Alex. I have feelings. I’m not a complete emotional retard.”
“Name
them. All of them. It’s only been a period of two years and five fiancées.
You can do it, can’t you?”
“It
isn’t five, it’s six if you count Daphne. Does Daphne count?” Alex and Max
both nodded. Sighing, Michael resigned himself to having six ex-fiancées.
“Course I can name them! First was…Lisa, daughter to Mark Granger, Head of
the Planning Commission. Second was, um…” Michael scratched his brow. He saw
Alex about to help him out. “Don’t tell me! I know….Bambi! Her father was
the partner I took on for the Bridge project.” Michael frowned. “Courtney
was the daughter to James Colton, of Industrial Steel Company. Too bad about him
being indicted for kickbacks, but that Courtney was a skank. I count myself
lucky to be free of her...” Michael paused for a moment. “Didn’t you sleep
with her?”
Alex
held up a peace sign. “That was before I knew who she was and that you were
engaged to her. I didn’t connect
the dots until after the wedding was cancelled.”
“Forget
it. It was a slim getaway either way. Fourth was Bunny Pixler? Her father was
the distributor giant that provides all my raw materials. Nice man, that Matt
Pixler.”
“Dammit,
Michael. Look at their names and who they are. Are you marrying a woman, or her
father’s business? I mean, damn! Bunny and Bambi….Are you even listening
to yourself?”
“They
weren’t all that bad. There was Lisa and Courtney. Those are normal names.”
“And
the fifth?”
Michael’s
face screwed up as he tried to recall his fifth fiancée. Damn. He couldn’t
even picture her face. That was okay, she was the one he was engaged to for the
shortest period of time. “I can’t remember her name, but her father is the
contractor for waste removal. His skips are the largest and have the best pickup
schedule.”
“Pathetic,”
said Alex. “And Daphne’s mother is the chair on the City’s Zoning
Commission. Are you seeing a disturbing trend here, Michael?” Alex sighed when
Michael stared at him blankly. Shaking his head, he buried it in his hands.
“You’re ordering yourself to be in love with women based on their family
connections. It’s business. All business.”
“That’s
not true. I dated these women. Got to know them….”
“Name
one thing about each of them. Name something personal.” Michael was strangely
silent. He couldn’t even name anything intimate about them. Shouldn’t he
even know their favorite fragrance? Hell, why did he think about fragrances?
Frowning, he refused to believe that they were so low on his radar that they
didn’t even make an impression. “You know, you’re a fine one to talk,
Alex. You have a different woman on your arm every time I see you. Tell me, what
attracts them? You, or the fact that you can get them into private parties with
rock stars, sold out concerts, and can introduce them to celebrities?”
“Granted.
But, I realize what my charms are, and as much as they use me, I can’t say
I’m not getting anything out of my following of groupies. Unlike you, I
don’t think sex is hyped,” Alex said. He looked at Max who was reading the
papers that Michael had tossed back at him.
“I
don’t get it.” Max said. “I wrote this agreement myself. It’s perfect.
Totally equitable. In the event of a divorce, she knows exactly what she’s
entitled to, and there is no room for doubt.” Typical. Max wasn’t even
contributing to the conversation. He was obsessing over his work.
“Comforting,”
said Alex dryly. Ignoring Max, a man who had ice water in his veins, he turned
to his totally clueless friend and ex-roommate. “Michael, you’ve got to
ditch this ten year plan shit. Trust me. It’s going to get you hurt.”
“You
don’t understand, Alex. The plan is working. I’ve still got a year to get
married.” There was no sense in scrapping a perfectly good plan.
Alex
shook his head and got up to go get them more drinks. Max watched him go.
“It’s better this way, Mike. You’ve got too many assets to take a chance.
You’ve worked too hard to get there to take a chance on marriage without
protection.”
“Great.
A marriage condom. Thanks, Maxwell.” Michael rested his forehead on his
crossed arms on the table. “At least this time, I wasn’t left at the
altar.”
“I
appreciate that too.” Alex said placing three beers in front of each of them.
“It was getting hard to stand in front of a congregation of friends and family
and tell them the bride changed her mind, but stay and eat the damn food.”
“A
person has a right to protect their interest, Alex,” Max observed, eating the
olive from his martini.
“Why
am I not surprised to hear you say that, Evans?” Alex looked at Michael.
“Really, buddy, I’m telling you, this ten year plan sucks.”
“I’m
close. I said when we were eighteen that I wanted a business, success, and have
a wife and children. I can deal with the waiting for the children thing, if I
was at least married.” Ten years. He gave himself ten years. It was close. So
close.
“What
if you don’t make it, Michael? What then? Does your idea of the world
collapse?”
Michael
made a face. “Of course not! You wouldn’t understand.”
Alex
peeled the label from his beer. “Sure I do. I’ve known you all my life.
I’ve known your family, how you were raised. I can understand what’s going
on in your head, but it doesn’t make it right.”
Max
waved his martini glass at a passing waitress. “Alex might be right, Michael.
You’re not your father, or even your mother.”
“I’m
not doing this because of them.” Michael frowned into his bottle. He wasn’t.
“It’s not easy being me, some days. I just want a real home. Stability. Not
for me, but for my kids.” Michael put the beer down. “It’s been better
since Serena married Jim, but that came with problems too.”
Alex
and Max both nodded. Kyle Valenti. Michael’s stepbrother. His mother, Serena
married Jim Valenti when Michael had turned seventeen, and things improved for
him. He got a stable father figure and a brother, and his mother stopped moving
him around from one part of the town to the next with a new man as his uncle or
stepfather every month.
“Michael,
look, maybe you should approach this marriage thing differently.” Alex said,
trying to be reasonable. “Instead of picking a woman that you have a slight
interest in, one that runs in your circles or goes to your clubs, try maybe
meeting a woman that actually holds your attention, one that you can actually
talk to and want to listen to, and most importantly, find one you can love.”
“What
makes you think I didn’t love…Daphne?”
Alex
shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe because you can barely remember her name,
because you didn’t sleep with her for almost a month and that was okay with
you, and how you can’t even tell me anything about her. Nothing really
personal.”
Michael
grimaced. “Sex is overrated. I do know her name. And I can’t forget those
eyes. Green. Brilliant. Alive. Like living gems of emerald. Expressive.
Passionate. I could almost taste the…”
Alex
looked at Max and shrugged. Max frowned. “Michael, Daphne has blue eyes.”
“What?”
Michael looked at Alex for confirmation.
Alex
nodded. “Blue. Her eyes are blue.” Alex smiled, slightly liking his
friend’s reaction to a pair of green eyes. That was the first real passionate
response he had seen from him in a long time. “I think you should try finding
something in your life…something passionate and honest. You can’t just fall
in love by a plan.”
“That
would mean rethinking my plan…”
“Scrap
the plan. If you really ever fall in love, you won’t need or want an
prenuptial agreement, because you won’t be planning to ever get divorced.”
Max
had to disagree. “He needs one regardless, Alex. Don’t be stupid, Michael.
You’ve worked too hard to take chances. I told you that two years ago when you
suddenly decided it was time to get serious about finding a wife.”
Alex
looked at Max with disbelief. “Don’t tell me you had Liz sign a prenuptial
agreement!”
Max
looked embarrassed. “Well, actually…”
Alex
shook his head in amazement. “No fucking shit! The woman put you through law
school. She’s been with you since high school, worked two jobs to put you
through law school, only going to college part-time herself so you could go
full-time. Man, you are one ungrateful dog!”
“Hey!
Liz and I understand each other. She’s a journalist now. It’s what she
wanted to be. I proposed to her, and…”
“You
proposed to her because she got pregnant, Max. I saw you dating that intern from
your office on the side.”
“That
was business.”
Alex
made a sound of disbelief. Michael looked at Max, shaking his head. “I have to
agree with Alex, Maxwell. Liz deserves half of everything you make. She put you
through law school and herself through college. And you’re wrong, she’s not
a journalist. Not yet. She’s a late night researcher for a news service.
That’s not the same thing.”
Max
made a face. “Now my world has altered. Michael, you don’t even like Liz.
Why are you defending her?”
Michael
shrugged. “Maybe because she’s pregnant with your kid. I might not care for
her personally, but that doesn’t mean I can’t admire her work ethic or her
loyalty to you. She puts up with a lot, and she sticks. That’s better than I
can say for any of my fiancées.”
“Jesus,
Michael. Don’t compare Liz with your fiancées. You were planning on marrying
a nameless woman, give her a few kids, and then disappear into your work while
she dealt with raising your children and running your home. Liz is not the
same.”
Michael
shook his head. “Okay, Maxwell, then tell me…who’s going to raise your
child? Are you going to alter your schedule to help raise the baby or is Liz
going to have to cut back her work or even quit her job to do it?”
“Hey,
Liz agrees that her job is less important than mine. She’s only going to stop
working for a few years until the baby is old enough to go to day care.”
Alex
rolled his eyes. “Right. That’s until she gets pregnant again, and suddenly
ten years and three kids later, she’s too afraid to try to make a life for
herself. All those years stuck in your shadow as the little woman, she’ll wake
up even lacking what little personality she has, where her only phrase is,
‘Max says…’ or worse, ‘What do we do now, Max?’. At least love her
enough to want more for her.”
Alex
waved for another round. As the waitress deposited more beer on the table and
took away the empties, Alex raised his fresh beer to his two lifetime friends,
“Here’s to us. Shining examples of selfish males, and failures at real
relationships.” Alex clicked his beer to the others. “Drink up boys, let’s
drown ourselves in our pathetic lives. Aren’t we the perfect catches?”
~~~
“Maria?”
Maria
looked up from her work and smiled at her roommate, Tess. “Hey! So you decided
to come home.”
“Probably
shouldn’t have. I was nowhere near finished with studying. This test block is
going to be brutal. This section of Physiology is kicking my ass. No matter how
many times I study it, it doesn’t seem to want to stick.”
Maria
smiled kindly. “You’ll get it. You always do.”
Tess
smiled and picked up a few pieces Maria had finished. “This is incredibly
beautiful.” She turned the glass bowl over in her hands, the color streaking
through the glass reminding her of a sunset. The oranges and reds were streaked
with wisps of blue and purples.
“It’s
for floating candles. I made some special candles that look like water
lilies.” Maria was slowly cleaning up her work space.
“Maria,
this work and the shop, I know it’s your life now, but don’t you miss…”
Maria
interrupted her. “No. I’m happy here. I feel good.”
“But
you’re helping the Coalition. Doesn’t that work bring back a desire to
return to work as a…” Maria shook her head and Tess sighed. “You used to
love it. The fast pace. The action. Being in the middle of it all.”
“Used
to. True. Now I want a life
that’s quiet. I need the calmness.” Maria smiled at her best friend and
roommate, Tess Hardy. Smiling at her unruly blonde curls messed up by Tess’s
frustrated hands running through them. Her petite friend was a beauty. A small
pocket Venus with a startling pair of blue eyes. She was the strongest person
Maria knew. Tess had nothing if not a strong desire to succeed. She didn’t
know how to quit. Unfortunately, Maria did.
"Well,
now that I know how your day went, let me tell you about mine! I had the most
incredibly rude male beast in my store today..."
~~~
Max
let himself into his apartment that he shared with Liz Parker. It was late. Real
late. After four in the morning. Sighing, he noticed the light was on in the
den. Standing in the door, he watched Liz for a moment, as she typed into the
computer. Her long brunette hair was pulled back in an untidy ponytail, she had
a pencil behind her ear, and one in her mouth. Her face was devoid of makeup,
and she looked tired.
“Hi.”
Liz
looked up at Max, but quickly looked at her screen again, so he couldn’t see
her face. “Hi, Max.” Too late. Max saw the look in her soulful brown eyes.
She was hurt.
“You’re
up late.”
“Yeah.”
Liz said. Sighing, she looked at him again. “I got home and you weren’t
here, so I decided to do some work.”
“You
should be resting.” Max entered the room and came to sit on the edge of the
desk. “Sorry, I should have left you a note. I went out with Michael and
Alex.” Liz raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. “Michael presented
Daphne with the prenuptial agreement tonight. She tossed it back in his face and
created a huge scene at the restaurant.”
“And
of course, the Boy’s Club had to commiserate with Michael, seeing how
victimized he was by his evil now ex-fiancée?” Liz asked, not without a
little bite to her voice.
“It
wasn’t like that, Liz. Alex spent the night trying to convince Michael to give
up on this insanity of finding a wife by schedule, and let it happen
naturally.”
“What?
Scrap his wonderful plan of a happy life?” Max winced at the bitterness in her
voice. It hurt, but he was beginning to suspect that Liz didn’t believe in
happily ever after any longer. It was hard to say who made her this way, him or
Michael with his ten year plan.
“Give
him a break, Liz. You know how he was raised, pulled between Hank and Serena. He
doesn’t believe in love, but he does believe that there can be a normal life
for at least his own children.”
“Then
he should consider that they might need two parents who love each other, and not
two strangers who are indifferent to each other. His stupid plan is going to be
nothing less than what his parents gave him.”
“Is
that what you’re afraid of what will happen to us? To our children?” Max was
asking a question he never considered. Maybe it explained why Liz was so
offended and upset with Michael’s ten year plan.
“I
love you,” said Liz simply. Max couldn’t help but notice she hadn’t said
that they loved each other.
“Liz…”
She
quickly stood up, moving past him. “I need to get some sleep. I’ve got a
doctor’s appointment in the morning. Ultrasound.”
Ultrasound?
“Do I need to be there?”
Liz
sighed. “I don’t know. It’s not like you’ve made it to any other
appointments. I told you the time and date two weeks ago. It’s at
ten-thirty.”
Max
frowned. “I’ve got a meeting at…”
“Fine.”
Liz walked around him and headed for bed. She had been stupid to wait up for
him. Max sighed and followed her.
“My
job is important.”
“I
know.”
“Liz,
I can’t afford to take off with you going on maternity leave, and with the
baby coming, add in the cost of the wedding…”
“It’s
fine, Max. It’s always fine. Whatever you want.”
~~~
Michael
rolled over and groaned at the clock. It was only just after five in the
morning. What the hell was wrong with people? He’d only been in bed for the
last hour, and he was definitely hung. The damn ringing wouldn’t stop. Not in
his head, and not from the damn phone.
“Yeah!”
he barked into the receiver.
“Someone
got up on the wrong side of the bed!” Michael rolled his eyes at his
father’s voice.
“Hank.
That’s because it isn’t morning here yet. What do you want?”
“Mikey,
is that any way to talk to the old man?” Hank laughed, and Michael rolled his
eyes again when he heard a woman’s voice in the background laughing and
telling his father that the water was getting cold. Rolling out of the bed,
Michael took the cordless phone with him to take a leak. His bladder was
screaming in pain.
“Is
there any other way?” Michael almost groaned in relief as the pressure in his
bladder released. Somehow it said everything to him to take a piss while talking
to his father.
“Listen,
Mikey. I’m in
“Don’t
worry about it. The wedding’s off.”
“Again?
Did I miss it? She didn’t leave you at the altar like the other ones?”
Michael
quickly washed his hands and took his father’s voice to the kitchen to scout
out aspirin and orange juice. Starting the coffee, he stared at the clock. Hell,
he could’ve gotten another three hours of sleep. “Never got that far.”
“Oh,
damn son, what the hell is wrong with you? Five, sorry, make that six cancelled
weddings! You should be more of a chip off the old block.”
“No,
thanks, Hank. I think I’d rather have six attempted marriages instead of six
failed ones like you.”
Hank
was silent for a moment as the woman’s voice whined to him that she was
getting lonely. “Yeah, baby. Give me a moment. I’m talking to my boy.”
“That
doesn’t sound like Michelle, Hank.”
“Oh,
it’s not. It’s my secretary Carla. We just finished a brutal contract, and I
decided we needed to recoup our energies, so I took us to
Michael
made a face at the phone. “Bet Michelle, your wife…your current wife isn’t
too happy about that.”
“Oh,
I was going to tell you. Michelle and I, well…that didn’t work out. It’s
been going bad for a while, so we finally called it quits.”
Michael
shook his head. In other words, Hank got tired of Michelle and playing husband
and took off with another secretary. “Is Michelle taking it well?” asked
Michael, but he already knew the answer to that. He was seven when his dad left,
taking his personal secretary with him. He never came back.
“Well,
she needs a little time to adjust, but after a while she’ll be happier, free
of me.”
“No
doubt,” said Michael dryly. “What about the kids?”
“Kids?”
Michael rolled his eyes at his father’s voice devoid of emotion.
“Yeah,
there are two of them, Hank. Your children with Michelle. Jason is seven, and
William is six.”
“Oh,
I told Jason and Will that I’d be home to visit and take them places. I was
thinking of taking them camping next month.”
“Uh
huh.” Michael rubbed his pounding head. Great. His half brothers could forget
that promise. Hank Guerin never followed through on anything in his life. Not
marriage and not any promises to his many children. To date, Michael had two
half brothers and a sister courtesy of his father, and two sisters from his
mother, and one stepbrother. Of all of them, he only really knew his
stepbrother, Kyle Valenti. The others were either years younger or with bitter
ex-wives of his father. He grew up with his two sisters for a few years before
the divorce from his stepfather, Pierce. Currently they were in a private
school. He met them a few times after his mother divorced their father, during a
few vacations. The private school was part of the divorce settlement.
“Well,
son, I have to go. Since you aren’t getting married again, I think we’ve
covered everything.”
“Sure
we did.” Michael waited to say goodbye, but the dial tone was goodbye enough.
“It was nice talking to you, Dad.
Yeah, I’m doing fine,” he said to the dial tone. Michael hung up the phone.
Grabbing a cup of black coffee, he went to soak his head and tired body in a hot
shower.
Breeding
and environment were terrible things. If love and happiness was a world with
vertical lines, then he was living in a world with only horizontals. He
wouldn’t recognize love if it bit him on the ass.