Chapter 82 - Darkness Fades, He's The Prince Of His City

 

 

 

She knows he’s not being truthful, she knows, thanks to Dani, that he’s in Philly doing a ground breaking ceremony – why would he lie to her about that? 

Why would he not tell her he was going to do that, she would have been fine with it.  She stands there for a moment and gathers her composure.  When she’s collected herself and her thoughts, she heads to the back yard where she left her friend.  “Let’s go shopping!”  she says with enthusiasm and gusto.

Dani looks at her and says, “I can’t afford to go shopping, plus I need to be to work by 7:00.”

Beth looks at her watch, “That’s plenty of time, come on, it’s on me.”

“Beth, I can’t do that.”

“Come on, I insist.” Beth says as she grabs Dani’s arm and gently pulls, “It’ll be fun.  Let’s go see what kind of trouble we can get in.”

“Where are we going?” Dani questions.

“To the city.” Beth says as they walk through the house.  “Want a bottle of water or something?”

“Water, please.”  They stop in the kitchen to grab drinks for the road.  Maria is in there preparing dinner for two, Jon and Beth.

“Miss Beth, what time do you want dinner ready?” Maria asks Beth as she pulls bottled water from the fridge.

She turns around and faces Maria, “Um, I’ll be home by 7:00.  So how about 8:00?”

“I can do that.”  Maria says as Beth walks away.

“That’s why I love you.”  Beth says back to her, “Can you lock up, no one will be here today.”

“Of course.” Maria assures her and the women leave for their shopping trip in the city. 

Beth drives in, parking her car in the garage of her building.  As they get out, she tells Dani where they are, “Jon and I own apartments in here.  Both are for sale.  Interested?”  And she lets out a little chuckle.

“Why do you own two in here?”  Dani asks, thinking it was odd – but they’re rich and he’s famous; maybe there is no logical explanation.

“I had mine before I met him, with an office here I often traveled back and forth between here and L.A.  And then he bought his when he was renovating the house in New Jersey.”

“Why did he buy a place if you had this one already?”  Dani wonders, “Why not just use your place?”

They reach the doorman of the building and Beth asks him, “Could you hail us a cab please.”  And the young doorman did just that. 

As they got into the back of the cab, Beth says to the driver, “Times Square, please.”  And they are off on their little shopping adventure.  As they sat and waited through NYC mid-afternoon traffic, Beth tells Dani, “When Jon bought his apartment, we weren’t together.”

Dani looks at her funny, “So you were neighbors and met in L.A.  That’s funny.   Talk about a coincidence.”

“Jon bought his after we lost the girls.” Dani looks for an expression, but Beth has none.  She was very dry with that piece of information.

“Oh no shit, I’m sorry.”  Dani felt bad, taking Beth back to that terrible place in her life.  But she had no idea. 

“It was a long time ago.”

“Not that long ago, Beth.” Dani can tell that Beth doesn’t want to talk about it, so she lets it go. 

The girls spent the beautiful afternoon shopping in Times Square, with an early dinner at the Hard Rock Café.  Dani had to see the Bon Jovi memorabilia that was there, dragging Beth with her.  Beth has never seen it, but why would she want to at this point?  She lives with it.

It’s getting late and Dani notices the time.  Hating to leave, she tells Beth, “I have to get back to my car.  I need to get to work.”  Beth hears that and her heart kind of breaks, she doesn’t want her friend having to do that.  “Why don’t you come to work for me?”  Beth asks her as they walk through Times Square, to get a cab back to Beth’s apartment.

“Doing what?” Dani asks her, “I’ve only been a teacher and a dancer with a few odd jobs here and there”

“I need someone to answer phones at my office when it opens next week.” Beth explains, “I thought that Stephanie was going to do it, but I don’t want to take her summer like that.  So, I need someone to do that and maybe a few clerical duties.”

“Where is your office?”  Dani asks, only knowing that she owns an investment firm.

“On Wall Street.”

“Really?  You got an office on Wall St?” Dani was impressed, but she forgets who she’s talking to.  She’s walking with the woman that lives with Jon Bon Jovi.

“I have an office on Wall St.”

“How did you get Jon to do that?  I’d think real estate would be cheaper off of Wall St.” here Beth is again faced with someone thinking that she has no worth as a woman, as an investor – but she’s wealthy in her own right.

Beth stops walking and looks at Dani, “I bought my office on Wall St.  I own a home in California and the apartment here in the city, all bought with my money.  I have no need for Jon’s money.” Beth is adamant; she wants people to know that she is/was successful long before she laid eyes on Jon. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I get sick of people thinking that my endeavors are financed by Jon.  I have plenty of money in the bank, I need nothing from him.” She turns and starts to walk away, “So, do you want the job or not?  I can start you at about 70 a year.”

Catching up to Beth, Dani had to ask, “What did you say?”

“I can start you off at 70 thousand a year, do you want the job?”

“Of course.  Thank you, Beth.  Thank you!” Dani smiles at her friend.

“Now let’s go to my house and have a real dinner.”

Back in New Jersey, the two women sit at the grand dining room table and have dinner.  Maria had thrown some ribs in a slow cooker and all Beth had to do was whip up a salad.   There was red velvet cake for desert, Beth was in heaven.  As they ate, they talked and learned that they were a lot alike in many ways.  They were forming a friendship that they both needed; suffering a loss is the common thing that binds them together.

“Where did you meet your ex at?”  Beth asks Dani.

“That’s a funny story, actually.  I was teaching a class at NYU and he was a student of mine.”

“What did you teach?”

“Well, that class was Indian Music.”

“Great subject.  So you guys hit it off right away?” Beth asks, wondering if Dani was a jumper or a wader. 

Dani laughs, “He was putty in my hands.  He was a lonely guy that was looking for his forever friend.  And when he told me that, I told him he was looking for a puppy, not a woman and the rest is a very dark history.”

“What do you mean?” Beth can’t imagine what she could mean, a dark history could mean so many things, "was there trouble before McKenna?”

“In the beginning we kept our relationship a secret, with him being a student and I was after tenor at NYU, but once everyone knew, it got tough.  Part of me thinks that he was embarrassed or maybe ashamed?  I don’t know.”  Dani takes a deep breath and continues, “When I found out I was pregnant, it was almost like a switch was flipped in him.  He ‘worked’ all the time and was never home. I hardly saw him.  When she was born, he was away on business and when she died, I had no idea where he was.  I would call him on his cell and he’d never answer and never return my calls.  I got so desperate that I would try to get to him through the people that he works with, pissing him off.”

“OMG really?  Do you still see him?” Beth is amazed at how a woman would let a man treat her that way, never would she tolerate it, never in a million years.

“Since she died, I’ve seen him a handful of times.”

“I’m so sorry.  Not all men are like that.” Beth gives her a warm smile.  Dani knows that Beth truly cares, and she can see that she is floored by her story.

Dani responds with, “I know they’re not.  You managed to get a great one.”

Beth laughs, “It’s all butterflies and rainbows to the outsider.  We have our issues, past and present – but I agree, I got lucky.”

“He adores you.”

“And I him.”

“Are you ever going to get married?” Dani lays that one out there, really having no idea what their relationship is like.  “I know you have to wait for the divorce to be final, but will you marry right after that?”

“We talk about it, from time to time.  But have no definite plans.”

“I hope you can work it out, I think you two belong together.”

“Thanks.  We do too; it just seems to be one upset after the other.”

Dani looks at her watch, “Damn, I didn’t know it was so late.  I should get going.” 

Beth looks at hers, “Wow, where did the time go?”  She gets up from her seat and grabs her phone from her purse.  I wonder what lie he has for me now. She thinks to herself as she opens his text message.  With Paul.  I love you. Was all she got. 

Dani sees the happiness drain from Beth’s face, “What’s he doing?  I thought he’d be home by now.”

“He’s with friends.” She tells her, setting her phone on the table.  Dani gets up to clear her dishes and Beth tells her, “Don’t, I’ll get that.”

“Are you sure?” Dani replies.

Nodding her head, Beth says, “Yeah, I’ll get it.  Let me walk you out.”  Beth walks her out and Dani can’t thank her enough for the new job and for the gifts she bought her today, “Well, if you’re going to be the face that people see when they walk in, you need to look your best – consider it uniforms.”

Beth tells Dani good night and goes back in the house.  It’s after midnight, and she’s tired.  Going through her normal routine she gets ready for and gets into bed.  But before she does, she sends Jon a text:  How was your afternoon with Dot?  She laid in bed and cried.  Baby Girl Bongiovi was kicking up a storm, while Beth's heart was breaking.  She can't believe that he left without saying goodbye.  She can't believe that he kept the ground breaking ceremony from her and that he flat out lied to her.