“I don’t get upset, but I’m a perfectionist too.”
“We will work well together. I am sure of it.” They both stood up, and he shook her hand and beamed. He had a strong handshake. “When do we start?”
“Now. Next week, as soon as you can.”
“I could work with you every day, making lists of suppliers and planning our email campaign. I can answer the phones when they start to ring. And I can be with you full-time in two weeks. I’ve booked a few parties until then.” It was perfect, and just what she needed. He sounded flexible, willing, and creative.
“I hope the phones do ring.” She gave him her address, and he promised to be there the following day. He had a small studio apartment, he said, not far from her. They shook hands on it again, and as he drove away she noticed that he drove an old Fiat. And she had an idea on the way home.
When she got home, she called the agency and said she had hired him. And when Pennie came home from school, Eileen shared her idea with her. Pennie had been looking for a summer job that didn’t eat up all her time, for her last summer before college.
“I have a job for you,” her mother said cautiously. “How would you like to answer phones for me, for my catering business, before you leave for Boston? That’s if someone calls, of course.”
“That sounds like fun, Mom.” Pennie smiled at her.
“And you could help with small jobs if we get any events.” It reminded her that she needed to get a phone line dedicated to the business, an email address, and had to start working on their email blast, set up a website and eventually a brochure, and they needed a name.
“I’d love to do it.” Pennie was excited at the idea. And after that, Eileen went upstairs to her office to start making lists. She had an email from Max that afternoon, thanking her for the opportunity to work with her. She had told Jane about him, who wanted to know if he was cute, and Eileen laughed at her.
They were off and running. She had an assistant, and a receptionist to take calls. Now all they needed were clients, and some weddings and events. And a name. She played around with some words and names on a pad on her desk, and the simplest, most direct sounded best. Eileen Jackson Events. Simple and clear. She smiled as she stared at the name. It was happening. She had a dream. And it was coming true.
Chapter 14
Olivia spent three weeks in New York, tending to her business, getting organized to leave again, and she had dinner with her mother and grandmother and saw a few friends she hadn’t seen for a while. Having an affair with a married man had driven her underground for the past year, first so no one would discover it, and then with Paul, to seize whatever stolen moments they had. She was relieved to be out of the shadows now, and no longer waiting for him to have a free hour on his way to Greenwich so she could fall into bed with him. The relationship had degenerated severely once Eileen left for Paris and Paul moved back home. Now she was free again. She missed him at first, but she was glad she had ended it before the situation got any worse, or she got in any deeper. It had been a difficult year, even though it had been exciting in the beginning. The thrill of forbidden fruit, and an older man. Now she was ready for real life again.
She heard from Jean-Pierre every day, mostly to talk about her business, and he was careful not to make romantic overtures over the phone or by text. He wanted a real relationship, not a virtual one. Too many of his friends led their emotional lives by text with people they scarcely got to know. And he thought Olivia was a fascinating woman. She thought the same about him and at times she thought she had fantasized his interest in her, because he didn’t mention it on the phone.
She set the date for her return to Paris, three weeks after she’d left, and was planning to stay at the Ritz again. She wanted to spend three or four weeks there, although he explained to her that May was a difficult month to do business in France. There were four long weekends for national and religious holidays, and people tended to give up and take vacations then. But he said it was a perfect time for them to set up their office and get organized. And he had “stolen” one of his father’s young female employees at the gallery as their secretary/assistant, a young French girl who spoke good English, since her mother was American. Her name was Suzanne, and Olivia had already spoken to her several times on the phone. Jean-Pierre assured her that the girl was competent.
By mid-April, Olivia was ready to go back to Paris and she didn’t have to return to New York until late May for her grandmother’s show at the MoMA. She had promised to be back for that, which gave her five weeks in Paris if she wanted to stay that long. She liked the idea of getting out of New York for a while. She wanted to get away from anything that reminded her of Paul. She hadn’t heard from him since they’d broken up. She knew that Eileen must have been back by then, and she wondered if they had gotten back together. She had a feeling they might, once she and Paul had broken up. She didn’t think he wanted to leave his children and house in Greenwich again, and she suspected that Eileen would probably take him back. Why wouldn’t she? They were her kids too. It made sense to Olivia. She didn’t miss him after a while. But she was lonely in her apartment at times.
* * *
—
Paul had received the copy of the divorce papers Eileen had filed by then. He still couldn’t believe she had rejected him and done it. He was angry at first, and then hurt, and upset with Olivia. It had been a terrible month. He missed the house in Greenwich and the children, and both women who had left him. He had played a double game for a year and lost both. It was a heavy blow. And he didn’t want to believe that it wouldn’t have worked with Olivia. She could have gotten used to the children and come to love them if she’d tried. Their first meeting had been unfortunate, but they would have come around. She had turned out to be flighty and young, in his opinion, and selfish. She couldn’t even stick it out long enough for Eileen to come home, even though they were almost there. And from his perspective, Eileen was punishing him for the affair.
He had gone out to Greenwich a few times on the weekends to go to the boys’ baseball games, and was glad Eileen wasn’t there. Pennie said she was busy setting up her business and had hired an assistant. They were all moving on, and he’d been left high and dry, feeling sorry for himself. He blamed Olivia for not sticking with it, and Eileen for not forgiving him. They were both tougher than he had estimated. And in six months he’d be divorced, which he thought would never happen to him, after he’d married Eileen in the first place, and sacrificed a more exciting career for her. And now she was leaving him. He only saw his side of it, and had no one to discuss it with. Even his daughter was sympathetic to her mother.
He took Seth and Mark to several Yankees games, which cheered him up, and he drove them back to Greenwich afterwards. He stopped to buy groceries at the store in Greenwich after he dropped them off, so he didn’t have to shop in New York. His apartment depressed him, and his kids never wanted to come to the city, so he was always there alone. He had taken it to be close to Olivia, which made no sense anymore. He was thinking about giving it up, and renting a house or apartment in Greenwich so he could be close to the boys, since Pennie would be gone anyway. The boys would be in Greenwich for six more years, and he didn’t mind the commute. He was used to it. He was thinking about looking for something in the summer. He might even buy a house, since he was giving Eileen theirs as part of their divorce settlement. He didn’t want to make her and the children move, and she couldn’t afford to buy out his share, so he had done the magnanimous thing to atone for his sins, and given it to her. She’d been very appreciative, and wrote him a nice email about what the gesture meant to her and the kids, not to be forced to move to a lesser house, and to know they were secure. And he was giving her a handsome sum of money too, and child support for the kids. He had put aside the money for college for all three of them. He didn’t want a war with her, and preferred to be generous. He could afford it. His career had been good to him, even if it wasn’t the one he had originally planned to pursue.