Now that I am officially a jobless millionairess, I need to break the news to my friends and family. I’ve decided to start with the girls, so I’ve invited them out today for an early drink. We’re at the Elle on the River, a posh bar on the riverwalk. If I have to announce to the world my newfound wealthy status, I might as well do it with style! The weather is perfect for this place; it’s a warm Saturday afternoon, we’re sitting outside in the sun, and there is a gentle breeze coming in from the lake that makes it cool enough to sit outdoors.
A model-looking hostess with impossibly long legs showed us to our table two minutes ago, and everybody is already busy checking out the cocktail menu to decide what to order. I scroll the menu; not that I really need to. I always order the same, but I like to browse the list anyway. I’ve invited Amy as well; she’s not really a close friend, but she’s part of the gang, so it would have been awkward not to involve her.
Arthur, to his utter disappointment, had to sit this one out, as for once I wanted to be truly alone with the girls. He didn’t want to stay home, so we came downtown together and did some errands. When the time came for me to meet the girls, I left him to wander around the city alone, but not without equipping him with a conspicuous wad of cash for emergencies first. I hope nothing bad happens to him. How motherly of me to worry.
“So what is it this big announcement?”
Meg’s voice brings me back to here and now. Ah, Megan, ever the impatient. We are barely seated and she’s already asking questions.
I wait until the waiter has gone away with our orders before replying. “Girls, this may come as a bit of a shock, but recently something big has happened in my life. I—”
“I knew it,” Brooke blurts, interrupting me.
“You knew what?” I ask, taken aback. She can’t possibly know.
“Oh, just say it, we’ve all been suspecting it!”
“You have?” I ask, looking around the table, even more crestfallen as they all nod. “How?”
“Oh Ally, we’re so happy for you, and he’s such a nice guy,” Amy chimes in.
“Who?” I’m getting more confused by the minute. “Who’s such a nice guy?”
“Um, your new boyfriend?” Amy offers tentatively.
“My what? Am I missing something?”
“So you’re not about to announce you have a boyfriend?” Brooke asks, blushing visibly.
I laugh loudly. “And who would this new boyfriend be, in your opinion?”
They stay silent, so I try to pick up their mental vibes, and I am surprised to find that they are perfectly tuned, all three of them.
“We thought you had a thing going with Arthur,” Megan announces, the only one with the guts to say it.
I bite my lip, inwardly thankful that I’ve banned him from this meeting.
“Oh please, he’s just a friend,” I protest, and before I can help it I voice the next thought that comes into my mind. “I could never have a thing with him. I’m still in love with…” And there I catch myself, as it has been a while since I discussed James so openly with the group.
“With we-know-who.” Amy finishes the phrase for me.
“You can say his name out loud, Amy. It’s James!” I snap. “He’s not freaking Voldemort!”
After my little outburst there’s an awkward moment of silence, during which they exchange preoccupied gazes. So far this get-together isn’t going too well. I wanted this to be the perfect afternoon with my friends. I’ve planned everything to the last detail, and now somehow Amy has managed to upset me. It must show on my face, because Brooke speaks next.
“We’re sorry, babe. We didn’t mean to upset you,” she says softly. “It’s just that in the last month you’ve practically disappeared, and we thought…”
“I’ve been busy,” I defend myself, which is absolutely true. Buying a bank is a demanding business!
“So there’s nothing going on between you and Arthur?” she insists.
“Nope.”
“You haven’t thought about it, even in the slightest?” This time the interrogation comes from Megan.
“No.”
“But why? He’s such a nice guy, and so good looking.” Brooke again.
Because he doesn’t really exist, and I know him only because a witch cursed him a thousand years ago… and we’re not really friends. In fact, he’s my own personal slave who I’ve summoned from an enchanted coffer to fulfill all my wishes. And I’ve been lying to all of you for all this time because if I utter a single word of truth he will vanish immediately and all my powers with him. Ah yes, and if I as much as tried to touch him when we’re alone, I’d freeze to death.
Of course, I can’t say any of this, so I go for: “He’s really nice, I agree, but we are just friends. I love James. There, I’ve said it,” I say, half upset, half exasperated by all their questions.
“You do realize he’s getting married in two weeks.” Megan is never one to hide behind pretense, but her voice is soft and understanding without any trace of pity or condescension, so I forgive her.
“Speaking of which,” I say, “did you already RSVP?”
“No, John has been nagging me to change my mind nonstop. Why?”
“I want you to go,” I declare.
“What? Why?” she asks, astonished.
“I want somebody on the inside.”
Brooke doesn’t say anything; she simply raises an eyebrow inquisitively.
“What do you mean?” Megan asks.
“If he goes through with it, I simply want to know in real time.”
“You think he might not?” Amy asks sheepishly.
“You never know,” I reply mysteriously.
I want to change the subject before they start bombarding me with a lot of questions I can’t possibly answer, so I deliver a little speech to stop the boy talk.
“Listen girls, one way or another we’ll know in two weeks, and I’d rather know as soon as possible. So if you,” I say, waving my hands toward Meg, “are there, I’ll know the moment he says I do.” My logic is impregnable. “If he marries her I will have all the answers I need, and I’ll move on. Which—” I pause for suspense. “—in my new situation could be a lot easier,” I add, steering the conversation in the direction I want it to take.
“What new situation?” Megan follows my lead immediately.
“If you three sillies had let me talk, you’d already know.” By now, I have their undivided attention. “I know it will sound crazy, but it’s true… I. Won. The. Lottery.”
After my announcement they all speak at the same time.
“Seriously?” Brooke.
“How much?” Meg.
“This explains the clothes.” Amy.
“Yeah seriously. Just above fifteen million.” I answer the questions.
They’re still too excited to speak one at the time, so after some exclamations of surprise they keep doing it simultaneously.
“What will you do now?” Brooke.
“How will you spend it?” Meg.
“And the car, and the watch…” Amy.
I tell them about quitting my job and taking the career survey, that I’m thinking about going back to school next year. In the meantime I’ll take a sabbatical, travelling the world and preparing my applications.
We spend the rest of the afternoon discussing the best ways to spend my money, the must-haves of fashion that I can’t lack as a rich woman, and all the places I will travel to in the near future. Luckily, James could not be any further from their minds at this moment.
We’re discussing jewelry when I decide this is the perfect moment to have my surprise brought out. I catch the eye of a waiter and nod imperceptibly. Minutes later, he comes toward our table with three huge, impeccably wrapped packages in his hands. He distributes them among my three stunned and finally silent friends according to color as I had instructed him before.
I did a little bit of shopping earlier today and bought a few presents for the girls, then came here ahead of time to set this up with the staff. Now that I can openly display my wealth, I’m not going to be stingy.
“You shouldn’t have,” says Brooke.
“Oi, she so should have,” says Megan.
“How nice,” says Amy.
“Come on, open them,” I encourage, and as soon as the words leave my lips it’s as if I’ve said ready, set, go!
They start racing one another in ripping the expensive paper, exclaiming in unison once they find the treasure within—three identical top-handle Prada bags in saffiano leather. Red for Brooke, black for Megan, and baby-pink for Amy. A chorus of thanks and wows goes round the table.
“Ally, thank you! This is too much,” Brooke gushes.
“Oh, wait until you see inside before you say it’s too much.” I beam at their dazed faces as they dig inside the bags to find three tiny light blue boxes.
I’ve bought us Tiffany key pendants. They’re platinum with some diamonds here and there, but in different shapes: a vintage oval for me, a crown for Brooke, a knot for Megan, and a heart for Amy. I take mine from my bag and open the little box together with them. Again, it is ooohs and aaaahs all around. We all put them on and clink our glasses soundly in celebration of my luck, because, after all, it was good fortune that lead me to the coffer. Like winning the lottery, only better.
“Rich girl,” Brooke teases me just as we’re about to leave. “Would you mind giving me a lift home?”
I nod. She smiles.
She seems a bit nervous; actually, she’s been slightly off all afternoon. Nothing too obvious, but I know her too well. I hope this is not an excuse to give me a pep talk about my being helplessly-romantic-detached-from-reality-desperately-in-love-with-the-wrong-man.
The beginning of the ride home passes in utter silence. I don’t dare say anything, just in case of an upcoming lecture, and she seems very busy looking outside the window. When I’m about to make a turn for her street, she stops me and says, “Can we go to your place instead?”
“Mmm-hmm,” I mumble, eyeing her sideways and waiting for the rest. Once it’s clear she’s not going to say anything else, I prompt her. “Why?”
“David is probably there.”
David? What happened to Dave? Ouch, maybe this one is not about me after all.
“And why don’t we want him around?” I could read her mind, but as good as I am at multitasking, I prefer not to try to look at her, concentrate on her thoughts, and drive all at the same time.
“Can we wait until we are at your house?”
“Sure.”
In the elevator, I text Arthur not to come home too early, or to come back invisible because of Brooke. I don’t want her to get any more weird ideas in her head. Him showing up here as if he lived here is definitely the last thing I need. In the meantime, I try to remember how many of his things are scattered around my apartment, and how to hide them as quickly as possible before Brooke notices them.
Arthur: Unsetstood.
I am retrieving my keys from my bag when his answer pops up on the screen. I mentally translate it to understood. He’s not too familiar with touch screens yet. Inside my apartment, Sugar is loyally waiting behind the door. Brooke picks him up and sits at the dining table, holding him close and cuddling him. He is the picture of animal bliss; she is the image of human misery.
I quickly scan the living room for any Arthur-presence-giveaway things, breathing a sigh of relief when I can’t spot anything too obvious, and then join them at the table.
“What’s going on?” I ask Brooke.
“I think I might be pregnant.”
I’m going to be an aunt, is my first thought.
“Are you sure?” I ask instead.
“No, that’s why I’m here. I bought a test earlier, but I don’t want to do it at home with Dave there.” She sounds in between mournful and hysterical.
“Mmm, okay,” I say, encouraging. “Do you want to talk about it or do the test first?”
“Talk,” she says. “But you ask the questions. I’m not very mentally organized right now.”
“A drink first?” I ask, opening the freezer.
“I don’t think…know, if…”
“Argh, you’re right, sorry!” Did I just offer vodka to a presumed mother to be? “I thought that pink blob you were drinking today was suspicious,” I add jokingly.
“Yep, it was a virgin flamingo,” she confirms.
“Milk and cookies then.” It was our favorite childhood treat, which admittedly is a bit more possible-pregnancy friendly.
I fill two big glasses of milk and put heaps of organic chocolate bear cookies in a plate. Halfway through my second bear, I ask my first question. “How did it, if… I mean, I thought you were on the pill.” Not so smooth, Ally—keep it together. You are not the almost pregnant one.
“I skipped one, but you know I basically forget one in every pack since I’ve started.”
“How many days late?”
“A week.”
“Has it ever happened before?”
“Twice.”
“And?”
“It was nothing.”
“So why are you so worried this time?”
“It feels different.”
“Mmm.” I have to phrase the next question right. “And would you be happy if…”
“I would.” She answers with a tone that’s the opposite of joy.
“But?” I offer.
“Dave.”
“You think he wouldn’t be happy?” I ask, shocked. He strikes me as the daddy type.
“No, he would be thrilled.”
“So?”
“So, that way I will never know.” She starts to pour it all out without any need of further questioning on my part. “He would do the right thing—ask me to marry him right away, and be the perfect father and husband. But if he does, I will never know if he did it only because of the baby, or because it’s what he really wants. We’ve been together for what? Nine years now. We have lived together for almost five, and he hasn’t proposed yet. What if he doesn’t want to…ever? We’ve barely discussed the whole marriage thing, and he wasn’t the most enthusiastic of men. So I don’t know…I’m worried this whole thing could be bigger than me, bigger than us.”
Ah! What do you say to that? Mmm…
“Oh baby!” Really? Did my useless brain just choose this of all pet names? “Um, honey.” I start again. “You know men. Sometimes if they don’t do something right away, it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t intend to. Dave is just a guy being a guy. He probably hasn’t realized he’s thirty yet—he must think of himself as a twenty-two-year-old who just graduated from college and started working. Plus, he adores you. Totally, completely adores you. I’m sure he wants to marry you, maybe not next month, but eventually…I’m sure.” I try to be as positive as I can, and I will most certainly do a complete scan of Dave’s mind to make sure everything I just said is actually true.
“You think?” Hope is rising in her voice.
“I’m positive.”
A shy smile appears on her lips.
“Should we find out then?” I ask.
She nods and we head for the bathroom together.