Charlie had a quiet meeting with Zack as soon as he heard about it, trying to explain that a live interview with a first lady was fraught with risk. It was traditional and much safer to have it taped, as Blaise always did. Zack was quick to brush him off.
“We’re through with traditions around here,” Zack said, looking irritated. “We need new blood, new people, new ideas. We’re going live. And Susie’s just the one to do it.” Charlie hoped he was right and broke the news to Blaise himself, before she heard it from someone else.
“Is he crazy? What if something goes wrong? If the first lady says something she shouldn’t?” They both knew that happened. “She’ll never do it live.” But much to everyone’s amazement, her press secretary agreed to it. Susie had won the plum of the year. And Blaise felt like she’d been left in the dust. She would never have dared to suggest a live interview with the wife of a sitting president, or anyone else of that magnitude. Her subjects were far more comfortable knowing they were being taped, in case anything went wrong. It was Zack’s idea, but Susie was unlivable, she was so full of herself, after it was announced. Zack had created a monster, and Blaise had to live with it every day.
Mark felt sorry for her, and she talked to Simon about it several times at night.
He was shocked at the abuse she had to take, and the stress she was under, and he admired her immensely for her grace and poise, and strength. Although to him she readily confessed that she had an overwhelming urge to strangle Susie every time she saw her. And he didn’t blame her a bit.
In the weeks he’d been in New York with them, Simon had somehow become her confidant. He was smart, interested, and there every night. Blaise was surprised at the things she told him, how much she trusted him, and valued his opinions and advice about her life. And he was equally open with her about his own. He confessed the secrets of his childhood, his fears about his life and if he’d ever make something of himself, his regrets about Megan and the unhappy relationship he’d fallen into with her. And they talked about Salima a lot, and Blaise’s dreams for her. She wanted her to find a career path that was meaningful to her. It was the same advice her father had given her at the same age. Blaise wanted her to have a job she loved, to give meaning to her life. The rest would fall into place after that.
Simon respected Blaise enormously for the things she said. And despite the times she knew she hadn’t been there for her, Simon admired the kind of mother she was. Her heart was in the right place. And living under one roof, Blaise’s relationship with Salima was flourishing.
Both Simon and Blaise were surprised by the multitude of subjects they discussed, sometimes until very late at night. And neither of them felt the difference in their ages. They were just two people who had become friends, and respected each other, and liked each other better every day.
Both of them took pride in Salima’s progress. Thanks to Simon, she was more independent than she ever had been. She had learned how to do countless new things, and she was much more willing to go out into the world. But she still refused to use a cane, or talk about a dog. She was perfectly happy being with him.
“But what if I’m not here one day? If you’re a famous singer on a concert tour? You think I’m going to do that with you?” He teased her to make the point.
“You’d better!” she shouted at him and gave him a playful shove. She was totally comfortable with him now too. He was like the big brother she’d never had. “That’s your job!” she reminded him.
“What? Follow some crazy rock star around, while you sign autographs and keep me up all night, fighting off your fans? Hell, no! I’m going back to Massachusetts to live out my life in peace.”
“You’d be bored to death now after New York,” Salima said to him, and what she said was truer than she knew. He had been thinking that himself. He was having a ball in New York. And he loved spending time with Salima and Blaise. It no longer felt like a job to him after he had been there for a while. It had begun to feel like home, and they had a lot of fun together. His time with them had turned out to be none of what he expected. And when Eric called to check on him again, he told him so.
“Well, don’t wind up staying there with them,” Eric said mournfully, well aware that Blaise could afford to pay him far more than the school, and might steal him from them. “I’m expecting you back when we reopen in January,” Eric reminded him, but it seemed like a long way off. And Simon knew he had a contract with them that he had to honor until May. But in the meantime, he was thoroughly enjoying New York and everything it offered. And their dinners together every night felt like family. He loved his long conversations with Blaise.
Blaise was helping him clear the table one night and loaded the dishwasher with him, while Salima had a lesson with Lucianna later than usual, and Blaise was complaining about the network again. She couldn’t stand Zack Austin as her boss, and the trouble and angst he created for her every chance he got. Susie’s upcoming live interview still stuck in her throat, and the unpleasant, supercilious way Zack spoke to her sometimes made her want to quit. With his propensity for firing people without warning, she was tired of living with a sword over her head all the time. The tension he created around him was palpable and not the way she wanted to work.
“Sometimes I feel like if I blink for a minute, someone will knife me in the back and I’ll be gone. I just don’t want to live like that anymore, no matter how much they pay me. I want to be treated like a human being.” As she said it, she reached past him to take a plate out of the sink, and brushed very close to him. She could feel his warmth, and without thinking, he gently touched her cheek with his hand. He had never wanted to do that before, and she felt a current of electricity run through her. She looked up at him, and as their eyes met, she completely forgot what she’d been saying and so did he. He had felt it too. He didn’t know if he should apologize or ignore it, and Blaise went back to loading the dishwasher as though nothing had happened, so he took his cue from her. But it had been an odd feeling wanting to touch her, and he couldn’t stop himself.
Blaise had noticed more and more recently, that the age difference between them didn’t seem to exist. She looked up to him as a man, and shared many of his values and opinions, and he thought of her as a woman his own age. It had been so long since she’d had a man to share her thoughts with, and it suddenly seemed normal to talk to him about everything. He made so much sense. And he loved the absence of drama in her life. For three years, every day had been a roller coaster with Megan, as they hid from her abusive alcoholic husband, which had begun to seem normal to Simon. With Blaise he felt sane again. The fifteen years between them didn’t matter anymore. It was an odd but endearing friendship for both of them, which crossed the boundaries of her being his employer and the difference in their age.
She never mentioned how much time they spent together to anyone, or how impressed she was with him. All she ever said was what a terrific job he was doing with Salima. And she had said it to Mark several times. She never said anything else about him, and all Mark knew was that Abby’s replacement was working out well.
Blaise was on an all-day trip to Washington to interview a freshman senator who was making noise about running for president when she realized she had forgotten some papers at the office that she would need when she got back that night, and she called Mark to have him drop them off at her apartment on his way home.
“I’m sorry to do that to you,” she apologized. “I was so tired when I left yesterday, that I didn’t even notice they weren’t in my briefcase till I got on the plane today.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take a cab and drop them off after work. Can I leave them with the doorman?”
“They’re a little sensitive. There’s a report on the senator who just got outed for having an affair with a fourteen-year-old. Do you mind leaving them with Simon?”
“Sure, no problem.” And it would give him a chance to see Salima, which he hadn’t done since she got home. He hadn’t see
n her in a year. They only talked on the phone, and he was one of her biggest fans.
Mark rang the doorbell when he got there, and he had the cab waiting downstairs. The papers Blaise wanted were in an envelope marked confidential. A man opened the door. Mark found himself looking at a tall handsome man with his shirtsleeves rolled up. He was wearing jeans and cowboy boots and had dark tousled hair. Simon looked at Mark and immediately guessed who he was. He matched Blaise’s description of him to perfection. Short, bald, and slight, he looked like a bundle of nerves, and he was wearing a blazer and an Hermès tie. He dressed for work every day. And Mark thought Simon looked like a movie star. He was tall, dark, and sexy, and suddenly Mark wondered if there was more going on with him and Blaise than what she said.
“I’m Simon,” he said, holding out a hand to Blaise’s assistant with a broad smile. “Come on in. I’m sure Salima would love to see you. She talks about you all the time.” Mark could hear her singing in the background. She was having her lesson with Lucianna.
“I don’t want to disturb her,” Mark said, looking nervous, just as Blaise had said he would. He handed Simon the envelope and quickly moved toward the elevator and rang. Simon looked disappointed and as though he were afraid he had said something to offend him. He hadn’t, but Mark had been so totally unprepared for his looks and the aura about him, and the ease Simon obviously felt in her home, that he was embarrassed to come in. The elevator was there in an instant, and with a wave and a smile he was gone. “Faster than the speed of sound,” Simon said to himself, closed the front door, and went to put the envelope on Blaise’s desk. She found it there when she got home. And she asked Simon about it when she had a cup of tea with him in the kitchen. Salima had already gone to bed, after a long, exhausting lesson. Lucianna was demanding a lot from her, but she loved it.
“Did you meet Mark today? He’s such a nice guy. He’s the best assistant I’ve ever had. I hope he stays forever.”
“I did meet him,” Simon confirmed with a puzzled look. “For about fourteen seconds. I was afraid I did something to upset him. I shook his hand, he looked panicked, and then he rang for the elevator and left.”
“He’s like a hummingbird,” she said, the perfect description of the man he had met. “He’s always in motion, and I told you, he’s very nervous. But he gets everything I need done.” Simon already knew how much she relied on him, and had been looking forward to meeting him. They had spoken many times on the phone.
“I hope I didn’t insult him in some way.”
“That’s just him,” she said, looking unconcerned, and then told Simon about the meeting in Washington that day. With her open, winning way, she had gotten the senator to admit he wanted to be president before he was thirty-nine years old, which was a major coup. It was going to shoot the ratings through the roof.
“Just as you always do,” Simon said, proud of her, as Blaise thought how nice it was to have someone to talk to about her day.
Mark mentioned the meeting with Simon the next day too, and he looked awkward when he spoke of it to Blaise. “You should have said something to me and warned me,” Mark chided her. “The door opened, and this hunk stood there smiling at me and held out his hand.”
“What was he supposed to do?” Blaise laughed at him. “Grab the envelope and slam the door in your face?”
“I had no idea he looked like that, Blaise. He looks like a movie star.” And then he couldn’t resist asking her the question that had been on his mind all night. They had a good relationship and she was always honest with him, unless it was something confidential she couldn’t tell him, or didn’t want him to know. He wondered if this might be one of those. “Are you in love with him?” She looked shocked when he asked the question, that he could have thought that, and she shook her head with a baffled look.
“Why would you think that? Did Simon say something inappropriate?” If so, she was going to talk to him about it, but it didn’t sound like Simon. He was polite and discreet and always very correct with her, even though they had become friends. Their developing friendship had been unexpected, but went no further than that. He had never been presumptuous or out of line with her. There had been that odd moment once at the kitchen sink, but they had both brushed it aside, and it hadn’t happened again.
“It wasn’t anything he said,” Mark corrected the impression immediately, to justifiably absolve Simon. “It’s what he looks like, and how comfortable he seems in your space. He’s right at home.”
“Obviously. He’s living there with us. You get pretty friendly when you see each other over breakfast and dinner every day, and run into each other in the kitchen at midnight over a cup of hot milk. If anything, we’re becoming friends. But I’m certainly not in love with him, and besides, he’s fifteen years younger than I am. He’s much more likely to fall for Salima than me. And there’s no sign of that either.” She sounded relieved.
“Well, if you’re not in love with him, you should be,” Mark said ruefully. “He’s the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen. And he doesn’t look his age. He looks older, and you seem like a kid. You two probably look good together. You don’t look a day older than he does.”
“Are you angling for a raise?” she teased him, but she was surprised by what he’d said. There had been no hint of romance between them, nor would there be. They would never be more than friends.
“I’m sorry. I just had to ask the question. Maybe it was wishful thinking. I was a little shocked at first. But when I think of the raw deal you got from Andrew Weyland, I wish you’d end up with a guy like Simon. You say he’s a great guy, and smart, and he’s fabulous looking. You deserve a prize after all the shit you’ve been through. And look at your ex-husband. Harry goes out with girls nearly fifty years younger than he is. What’s a mere fifteen?”
“That’s different. He’s a man. It’s acceptable when men go out with young girls. If women do it, people call them names.”
“They’re just jealous. If the opportunity arises, go for it. That’s all I have to say.” She was totally amazed by everything he’d said, and she said nothing about it to Simon that night. It would have been too embarrassing, and he probably would have thought she was crazy and trying to put a move on him. Besides, she could tell he was still suffering over Megan. For a thousand reasons, Mark’s fantasy was never going to happen, but it was interesting to hear.
In the avalanche of stresses and challenges she dealt with every day, thanks to Zack, Susie, and a host of others, she forgot all about Mark’s comments, until the following weekend, when Simon was helping her clean out a closet to make more room for Salima’s things. Blaise still had all the toys she used to play with, and she wanted to get rid of them now to give her more space. She was on top of a ladder and teetering dangerously when she stretched too far in one direction, and Simon reached out to grab her and steady her, with a firm grasp around her waist. And he kept it there until she stepped down. As she came down the ladder, she stopped when she was eye to eye with him, and the world seemed to stand still around them. Neither of them said a word, but Blaise felt the same electric current run through her that had happened once before at the sink. She tried to tell herself it was her imagination, but this time she knew it wasn’t. And Simon didn’t take his eyes off hers, nor his hands from around her waist. She could feel him there, and for an instant she felt herself moving closer to him, and then he shifted his gaze, and helped her the rest of the way down the ladder. She had no idea what had just happened, and she was afraid to ask him. Maybe nothing had, and as she put all the old toys in boxes, she told herself she had imagined it. It was nothing. But a little voice inside her said something different. And when she looked at Simon, his eyes were guarded and he was busy.
They both pretended not to notice. And everything was back to normal when he cooked dinner that night. Salima had requested homemade pizza, and the ones he made were delicious, with a huge salad. He had baked apple crumble for dessert, made with sugar substitutes for S
alima’s diet. He served it with homemade dietetic vanilla ice cream. He was a genius at making the foods she could eat and making them taste great. And as they chatted and joked after dinner, Blaise realized again how close they’d gotten, and how at ease they were with each other, and she remembered the moment in the closet that afternoon, and the question Mark had asked her earlier in the week, about being in love with him. She didn’t think she was, but maybe those two moments that felt like an electric current running through her had been some kind of fantasy of her own. And if that was true, it made her feel like an old fool, and maybe she was. Mark was right, he was very handsome. But she saw much more than that in Simon now. She saw the person he was, the kind heart, the good values, the honesty. It was his qualities she liked so much, not his looks. That was just icing on the cake. And it was a cake she didn’t plan to eat anyway.
As though to remind her of it, Megan called him when he was sitting in the kitchen with her that night, after Salima went to her room to use her computer and write to a friend from school. They communicated through Facebook, and Salima had a lot of fun with it. Thanks to the programs on her computer, she could do Facebook like anyone else, and she loved it.
Blaise could tell instantly from the look on Simon’s face who the call was from. He hadn’t been answering Megan’s e-mails, but he had told Blaise that once in a while he took her calls, usually late at night when he was in bed, and thinking about her anyway. He admitted that he missed her, and what he said about her sometimes reminded Blaise of how she had felt about Andrew Weyland at first, when she missed him so terribly, but knew she had done the right thing to break up with him. She had never doubted it, but she missed him anyway, and her illusions about him.
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