by Diana Scott
“Did they kick you out of work?”
“No, to be exact, all the doors in the world of archaeology were closed to me. Bruce banished me from the world of art. With his opposition I am dead.”
“That seems serious," she says while drinking his coffee quietly. It’s obvious that it's not her who will have her electricity cut off next month.
“My savings are non-existent and my future is at its darkest moment, but I'm not going to burden you with my problems. I thank you for your hospitality, but now I'm leaving.”
“And why shouldn't I give it to you? Reed is a childhood friend and anything I can do for him I will do it,” and this woman keeps talking and doesn't understand the hints, I want to go!
“Solange, I'm nothing of Reed, I'm not with him. You don't owe me anything. We are at peace.” I look for my bag with my eyes but nothing, she won't stop talking.
“We'll see about that, but now I need you to repeat it once more, I want to be absolutely sure, do you still love him?”
“You are a woman with too much experience to know it on your own without me confirming anything," I say tired.
This woman doesn't stop pushing me, can you tell me why the hell she's so attached to me?
“Yes, you are. And are you willing to take the right attitude?”
And again with the same story. I try to be polite, I swear I try but they don't make it easy for me.
“Sorry for my ignorance, but what attitude is that exactly?”
The woman leaves her big chair behind her desk for the first time and faces me with an overwhelming force in her gaze.
“The attitude of fighting. You must fight for what you want. He needs you and his friends need you, you can't give up. Reed needs all your strength and both Suraj and I know that only you are able to make him rise from his own ashes.”
Let's see if I can make her understand things because I think she don’t know the situation very well. It's he who doesn't want to see me!
“Solange, he no longer wants me by his side. As I told you before, and you don't seem to listen, Reed has refused to see me. He hates me. He accuses me of abandoning him, the same thing you did not so long ago...” That's where I'll kick her.
“Don't be silly. I don't think that at all, I just said it to wake you up. I know Reed too well to know that he will use any kind of low blow to get you away from his side. He loves you and I don't need proof of that. The doctor said that he has a chance to walk again, but the more days pass by without him exercising his muscles, the worse the results will be. Are you willing to be by his side? Anne, he will only try if he has the right incentive and that only incentive is you.”
“Solange, I really don't want to offend you but I think you don't think clearly. You see, I've told you a few times I don't pass the portal. He can't stand my presence.”
“Anne, Reed has endured a lot since he was little. He built himself one of those shells that none of us have ever been able to break, except you. When you left, he locked himself in again. The past haunts him and the present haunts him too.”
“What about the past that I still don't know? Do you know about it?”
“Yes, I experienced it too.”
“What happened to you two?”
“I can only tell you about myself. We were both exposed to a world of excesses when we were just children and neither of us took the right path. Then we regretted and changed our paths, but those memories are never forgotten.”
“You're saying that you participated in...in...”
“S&M sessions? Oh, yes, among other things.”
“But you were very small...”
“Some people didn't think so.”
“And Reed?”
“He'll tell you all his experiences when he's ready to do it, now we have to help him get out of this. No matter how strong he wants to show himself, this is too much even for the though Reed Blackman's. A past full of pain and abandonment doesn't make you the most enthusiastic person in the world, not to mention the fact that the woman you love leaves and comes back to see you prostrate in a wheelchair. Then hate and resentment are the only things you can cling to. Anne, men often need a frying pan on their heads to show them how stupid they are, and believe me if I tell you that Reed needs the whole set of dishes.”
I laugh without answering. I am still unable to digest Solange's information. Could his father have been so cruel as not only to show him but also to make him share in his excesses? For heaven's sake, can such wretched human beings exist?
“I'll help him,” my commitment comes up high and without thinking.
“And that is the problem...”
“What? How?”
“Reed knows no comfort, much less selfless affection. Where you see love, he sees only compassion or sorrow. You can't look at him with those little eyes.”
“I just want to be by his side and show him that life is worth living. I have suffered a lot and I learned that if you don't fight you don't smile.”
“And that's why you're the one. See Anne Foster? That's the attitude! But your eyes must reflect courage and a fighter, with Reed there's no other way,” she says with a big smile on her mouth.
“Tomorrow I will send you a message telling you exactly when you must go to see him. He will have no choice but to see you.”
“Suraj tried but couldn't convince him to accept me. What makes you think you can?”
“Leave that to me.”
Solange smiles at me and her joy is contagious. Maybe I still have a chance, and if I have a chance I'm not going to let it pass, I want that man in my life. Bad-tempered, dry and stubborn, but mine.
“Anne, have you ever thought that he’d never be able to walk again?
“Yes.”
“And yet, are you willing to stand by his side?”
“Yes, I fell in love with him and not with his look,” Solange grimaces and I smile mischievously at her.
“Well, at first I may have been crazy about his bones, but after all this time together, all that we've been through, he's much more. Reed is the perfect stranger that when you go inside him and discover him, you can't forget him. I have him so rooted within me, that forgetting his caresses is not a possibility. My heart goes out and lights up when he looks at me. I have no choice but to fight to win him back.”
“That's the attitude...” She whispers to me as he pouts with his mouth. Did she just shed a tear? And now what does she write?
“Put it in your bag, it's the Tina Collection card.”
“Tina Collection? The exclusive private art gallery?”
“I see that you know her.”
“Of course I know her, who doesn't know her! Everyone in the art world knows her.”
“It's good to hear it. Introduce yourself tomorrow at ten o'clock. Saimon will show you around.”
“I don't understand...”
“Aren't you looking for a job?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know about jewelry?”
“Yes.”
“And you know about ancient art.”
“Of course.”
“Perfect. From now on, you are the new director of Tina Collection.”
“I don't... but how?”
“Tina Collection belongs to me one hundred percent. I need a general manager and you're the right person, I don't think more explanations are needed.”
“I... I... A hundred percent? Tina collection is the most famous art and jewellery shop in London!”
“What do you say? Would you like to be its new general manager?”
“Eh... I... I... Did you say Tina Collection?” My throat dries up with emotion.
“I understand, we haven't talked about money. Do you think fifteen thousand pounds a month and a three percent variable on a closed operation is all right?”
“Three?” The sweat falls from my forehead.
I have never held that much money in my hands. I don't think I can even count it.
“It's all righ
t that it's four. I'm not going to let you go. You're the perfect director for Tina Collection and I need you.”
“If I accept? If I accept? Of course, yes, I do!”
My arms lengthen and I hold it tightly against my body. I can't believe that luck is changing for me. Solange has become a wonderful fairy godmother.
“Thank you, thank you... I want you to know that I'm not going to disappoint you.”
“I know you won't. Now go away, you'll be up early tomorrow and I've been told that the owner is a witch.”
We both laughed out loud as I clung to my purse and flew away in a cloud of hope. Yes, yes, I'm going to work in the best art collection stores in the world and it turns out I'm going to get paid!
Yes, yes and yes, Reed Blackman get ready because I have the right attitude! I scream down the street like a crazy woman out of control while I laugh out loud. Self-esteem leaps excitedly. The winds have started to change and I have the sails raised and in the right position to let myself go.
Confessions
“Have you always moved so much or is it the effect of drugs?”
Jane walks through my living room with a vase of flowers in her hand.
“Sister, sometimes you're an idiot. As if I'm going to get high.”
“Jane, no matter how much you move or how much you snap your fingers, you know me perfectly and I'm not going to stop until you tell me what the hell is going on with you.”
“Anne, I'm not sure I can.”
My sister continues to rearrange my plants like its life were depended on it and I'm really worrying.
“How about starting from the beginning?” I try to hold the little calm I have and that lately leaves me too quickly.
“I'm ashamed and I'm not sure if you can understand me. Well I think you will understand me because after all you are my sister, and sisters are supposed to be for that but what I did is wrong and I'm not like that, you know I'm not like that, and by that I don't mean I regret it because I don't regret it, I don't care if you judge me....”
“Jane...”
“Know that it wasn't planned, that I tried to avoid it. I swear I tried.”
“Jane, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Don't call them horns because they're not. Or are they but at the same time they are not?
“Jane, leave those damn plants alone!” I ask her by holding her hands to look me in the eye. “I don't understand anything you're saying, please explain yourself better.”
The poor woman began to tear in silence. Her words choke on her like when she was a child and she was caught eating a sweet without permission.
“Honey, you can tell me anything, I'll always be by your side.”
“Anne, I don't know how I could do it but I did it.”
“Jane, you're worrying me. What have you done?”
“I slept with him, Anne...”
Jane lies on my chest in grief and shame as I try to understand something she has said. I imagine she's not talking about Oscar, her husband, then who?
The sound of the doorbell startles both of us as Jane bounces on her frightened feet.
“Don't open the door.”
“Please Jane, I don't think serial killers ring the doorbell.”
“No one needs to know, please...”
I raise my eyebrows amazed with the demand. My sister has definitely lost her way, what can I say if I can't understand anything? Yes, it is clear that she slept with a man who is not her husband, but from there to understand something...
“You're sitting here, the conversation between us is not over. I open the street door and my jaw falls to the ground without being able to believe what I see.
“Darling, you're back. What a joy to see you.”
“Hello... Aunt Elsa?”
I turn to look back at Jane who is as frightened as I am. The almost octogenarian woman removes a motorcycle helmet from her head as she shakes her twenty grey hairs in the wind.
“You don't know how much I've missed you,” she squeezes me in a big hug and nails my helmet all the way down my back.
“But what's going...?”
I can't finish the sentence in front of the show. Aunt Elsa is wearing shiny black leggins and a red leather jacket. Red!
“Elsa, can you tell me what this means?”
“Hello, Jane.”
“He.... He... llo... Auntie?”
“Have you had dinner?”
I'm closing the door and I'm also trying to shut my mouth.
“Perfect, we'll order a couple of pizzas, I love pizzas.”
“Since when?”
“Since I tasted them, when did you think it would be? Come here and tell me all about that sudden trip.”
Elsa rests her helmet on the central table in the living room while Jane and I look at her in horror.
“Did you buy a motorcycle?”
“Yeah, it's great, isn't it?”
“Elsa, you're more than seventy years old...” Jane comments in horror.
“And that's why it’s not a Yamaha. The salesman and I decided that a moped would be better. You know, rheumatism and lifting your leg high are not compatible. Well that's what I thought, but it turns out that the other night after the dance, when I met...”
“No!” We shouted both at the same time.
We're well aware of my aunt's liberal thoughts, but from there to tell us about it, there's a long way to go.
“All right, all right, look, I've tried to take that puritanism away from you, but nothing, there's no point. So what? Do we order pizza and you tell me all about your mysterious trip I don't know anything about?
In Elsa's voice there is a certain reproach and I understand it. I left without saying goodbye and she is the closest thing I have to a mother.
“Forgive me, I had to leave.”
I sit next to her and rest my head on her chest like when I was little I ask her forgiveness.
“I'm sure that's how it was, and your sister always kept me informed. Did that boy have something to do with your sudden desire for tourism?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, then order pizza and ice cream because it's going to take a long time. What's the matter with you?”
Aunt Elsa looks at Jane by narrowing her eyes. Oh, no! When she does that, it’s because she notices the lies in the air and no one ever escapes her radar.
Elsa closes her eyes like a private detective in front of the evidence of a crime.
“I guess you'll tell me...” Jane takes a sigh of relief, her secrets are safe... for now.
“So two Margaritas with extra cheese?” I ask to distract Aunt Elsa's acute senses.
“Margaritas she says, it’s not like we were old. Let's make them two big barbecues with spicy sauce. Life goes in two days!” She answers, making us laugh out loud.
The three of us had a very relaxed dinner and when we picked up the plastic glasses I couldn't help but think about how much I loved them. They are the best that life could give me.
“So you're out of a job? Do you need me to help you? You know you can count on me.”
“No, there's no need,” I shout from the kitchen while I prepare the mugs for the coffee. “I received a great offer and I'll start on Monday.”
“You didn't say anything to me,” Jane answers confused.
“Among all the unexpected news, I must have missed it, don't you think?”
My irony makes Jane hide behind the mug and I regret my sarcasm, but my little sister sometimes puts it hard for me.
“And what's that wonderful offer?” asks Elsa as she pours her third tablespoon of sugar into the cup.
“Aren't you supposed to take care of yourself?”
“Not at all, I have phenomenal cholesterol.”
“Cholesterol measures fat, not sugar, I always tell you that.”
“And I'm perfect at that too, look at my waist. Now tell me, you're intriguing me.”
Elsa caresses her hips to make her excell
ent figure clear while Jane and I deny with our heads, with Elsa we are totally defeated.
“It's very simple, in Tina Collection they need a director and I am available.”
“No!”
“You mean Tina Collection? The important art room in London?” Jane was excited.
“Yes!” I can't help screaming in small jumps.
Until now, I haven't had time to enjoy my luck, but now, as a family, I manage to give free rein to my uncontrolled hullabaloo and jump like a little girl in front of a new dress.
“That's wonderful, darling. Tell us everything.”
“It turned out that Solange is the owner of the gallery,” Jane nods while Aunt Elsa looks at her and then at me.
“Who is Solange? Do I know her?”
Solange is the owner of the Temple of the Passions and the person who helped me with...
“The Temple of the Passions? You have been at the Temple of the Passions!”
“Eh, well, I...” Jane hides her face again behind her cup of coffee, leaving me alone with the explanations.
And how do I explain now to a lady in her seventies what the Temple of the Passions is?
“Well yes, you see... the Temple is a place where people relax and allow themselves to be...”
“Poof, cut the crap! I know perfectly well what the Temple of the Passions is.”
My sister and I are left with our faces unstuck at his answer.
“Do you know it?”
“My dear, in every age there has been a Temple of the Passions, of course I know it. Where do you think we ladies go after Friday bingo?”
“You go to the Temple?” I asked astonished.
“Well not the Temple. We never got tickets, but we know another one that fits... our forces," she says with a funny wink as she winked at us.
“Oh God, I feel like fainting.”
Jane rests her mug on the little table while she caresses her forehead. However, I am immutable, I am not able to say anything. My face is like stone.
“Darling, it's no big deal.” Aunt Elsa caresses Jane's hair as she smiles at me with mischief. The older ones also need a relief from time to time but nothing serious, do not worry, for the moment I do not intend to bring you an adoptive father.
“Elsa!” We both screamed at the same time as she laughed out loud.