“Okay. Thanks, Monica. Goodnight.”
I was still staring out the window at two in the morning. My head was foggy, so I decided to take a walk. Before I knew it, I was drifting toward Grace’s street. It was totally quiet as I stood staring up at four brownstones. I didn’t know which one was hers—they were completely identical.
“Grace!” I called out. I could have phoned her, “Gracie! Grace, please, I need to talk to you!” but if you’re going to insist on talking to someone at two in the morning, you might as well pay them a visit. “Grace, please!”
A man across the street opened a window and yelled, “Get out of here or I’m gonna call the police.”
“Do it!” I yelled back.
“He’s fine, Charlie!” It was Grace’s voice. I turned back to see her standing in the doorway of one of the brownstones. I ran up the five steps to the door, my chest heaving. I was inches away from her face as she looked up at me. She was wearing a pink flannel pajama set with Christmas trees on it. It was May. I smiled.
“What are doing here?” she asked.
I took her hands in mine and stared down at them between us. “I wanted to kiss you earlier but I was too chicken.” I leaned in and kissed her slowly, tenderly. Her lips were soft but her movements were eager. She kissed the way she always kissed, with passion. She threw her arms around my neck, pressing our bodies together as we deepened the kiss. She moved her hands to my sides, then to my waist, and under my T-shirt. Her fingers traced the designs on my belt.
She pulled away and whispered near my ear. “You still have this?”
“You were always with me, Grace. I never found a way to let you go.”
She dropped her head to rest on my shoulder. “What are we going to do?”
“Date?”
She laughed. “You want to date me?”
I’d marry you right now if you’d let me.
“Yeah, I want to date you. You’re my favorite ex-wife.” She lifted her head and I searched her eyes. I was relieved to find amusement in them.
“I’m free on Tuesday after class.”
“Want to meet in front of Senior House around three?”
She laughed again but her tears shone in the moonlight. I had made Grace cry too much for one night. “Yeah. I’ll see you there.”
I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Sorry I woke you up. Go back to sleep, young lady.” I kissed her nose, turned, and jogged down the steps. “Tuesday at three,” I called back. “I’ll see you.”
“Keep it down,” Charlie shouted from the window.
“Go to bed, Charlie!” Grace yelled.
22. Why Not Now?
Matt
My entire weekend was devoted to buying things for my apartment and making it feel lived in, just in case Grace came over.
When I woke up Monday morning, I could already feel the anger boiling over in me as I prepared to see Elizabeth at work. I went for a run to blow off some steam, took a shower, and headed to the office. I saw Scott in the hallway as I headed to my cubicle.
“Hey, can I talk to you?” I asked.
“What’s up, man?”
“Can we go into your office?”
“Sure.”
We sat across from each other at his desk. “I can’t be in this office anymore. Can I work from home?”
Scott leaned back in his hair. “Bro, you’ve hit me with a lot of requests in the last couple of years.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but I can’t handle this office bullshit.”
“You and Elizabeth made the decision to leave the field and settle down here.” He arched his eyebrows, as if to say, Remember?
“Scott, I’m going to be frank with you. It’s not about working in an office. I think it would be in everyone’s best interest that I not work in the same building as her.”
“Really? I thought you handled the divorce surprisingly well. And it’s been over a year already. Are you really that hung up on her?”
“New information has surfaced. I can’t work with that psychopath anymore.” I smiled, which probably made me look like the psychopath.
“Come on, Matt, let’s be reasonable.”
“I’ll go freelance, Scott. I did it before, and I won a goddamn Pulitzer.”
Scott narrowed his eyes. “Don’t fucking threaten me, Matt.”
“I’m not threatening you, and I’m not going to go into detail about what she did. Suffice it to say, she ruined my life and I can’t work with her anymore, okay? And I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to not want to work with my pregnant ex-wife and her new husband. I put in a fucking request months ago and I’m still here. It’s either her or me.”
He signed heavily. “We want you on our team, but you know Elizabeth’s not going anywhere. She’s pregnant; she’d sue our asses off if we tried to get rid of her.”
I threw my hands up. “I don’t care, man. I’ll walk.”
Scott swiveled around in his seat while I stared him down. He ran his hand over his shiny bald head and then crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back. “Okay, you can work from home. We never do this, by the way—I need you to know that you’re getting special treatment here. But it’s only until we get you going on something else. You’ll need an assistant to be your proxy at the production meetings if you really can’t stand to drag your ass back into this building. Maybe Kitty?” He grinned.