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I got back to my penthouse and settled in the theatre room, prepared to do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. Then my sister called.
“What do you want, Natalie?” I gruffed.
“Ugh,” she scoffed, “I can’t check on my kid brother?”
I sighed heavily, muting the action movie from blaring through the speakers.
“Sure, you can.”
“Whatever. I worry about you, you know? How are you doing?”
I winced. I know she meant well, but I don’t like talking about myself very much. I never have, and I probably never will. Yeah, she’s my big sister. She was family. But I didn’t like talking with them about it especially.
“I’m fine. Got a haircut today. How are you?” I tried to turn the conversation away from myself, but she wasn?
?t having it.
“So, you don’t look like a bum anymore? That’s good. How is the divorce going? Did that twat finally sign the papers?”
I cracked a smile. Natalie probably hated Vivian more than I did. Natalie was always like my protector anyway. She was only three years older than me, but she used to beat up the school yard bullies for me. Until junior high when I surpassed her in height and wasn’t the kid brother anymore. Still, she went to bat for me all the time. Especially with this Vivian situation.
“No, she hasn’t. Levi is hoping to get her on board by Monday though.”
“Good. So, you’ll be at the gala this weekend?” I reclined in my chair, settling in for what seemed to be a long conversation.
“What gala?”
“You know Sasha and Bryan always have their gala this time of year. It’s on Saturday.”
Sasha was arguably the city’s most influential woman. She had been at the head of numerous charities, scholarship funds, and boys’ and girls’ clubs. Her success came from her ability to dig deep into the pockets of the wealthy. Including mine.
“Can’t I just write a check?”
Natalie laughed aloud.
“No, asshole. You should come. Besides, it would look worse if you don’t show. You know the gossip in this circle, everyone knows about you and Vivian.” I let out a long sigh. As much as I hated to admit it, my sister was right. I was sick of everyone in town giving me a pitiful look, as if they understood everything I was going through.
“I know. I guess I’ll go. Just don’t really want to.”
There was silence on her end for a bit, she only got like that if she had to say something she would rather keep to herself.
“What is it, Nat?”
She sighed.
“Why don’t you just tell everyone the truth? People think you got divorced because you were running around on her.”
“Because, what good would that do? None.”
Yeah, once gossip hit the mill, Vivian was right on top of it. She made up elaborate stories of how I would go on fake business trips, come home smelling like other women late at night. She wanted to maintain her perfect girl image, and she was completely fine with throwing me under the bus to achieve that. I was never one to get wrapped up in all of that, I just hated how it messed up my parents’ image. They were respected in the city, big time real estate investors responsible for half of the state’s development. So, everyone knew about them, and after Vivian’s shit storm with the media, they quickly learned about their fuck-up son. I never said anything about it because I knew Vivian, she only wanted a rise out of me and she wasn’t going to get one.
“Yeah, but it would make things easier for you.”
“Not really.” I sighed.
“Well, you should bring a date. Not those tramps you pick up at clubs. You know, Penny is still single.” I rolled my eyes. She had been trying to hook me up with her receptionist for almost two years now.
Natalie was a board-certified psychologist and has published a bunch of research papers I kept promising her I was going to read. She was successful. And she kept trying to play matchmaker.
