crowds of tourists, and there was no turning back as she tugged on the front entrance and headed into the open air.
“Hey, it’s Vi. Still up for dinner tomorrow?”
• • •
Friday flew by in a haze for Ben. The pace, while he’d managed to keep up without getting overwhelmed, had kept him far too busy to have anything more than a yes/no conversation with Violet. And he knew he owed her more than that. A bridge had burned between them after he’d dominated her the day before, and it hadn’t taken more than an hour for him to realize that he messed up and would’ve given anything to take back what he’d done in the heat of the moment. In fact, he had spent the entire day waiting to hear from Wynne, who would certainly have a problem with her protégé wanting to transfer out of the company’s flagship location.
The call from Wynne never came, however. Had Violet changed her mind about leaving? On more than a couple of occasions, he caught himself watching her at the icer’s station from the registers, hoping he hadn’t destroyed any shot he had of building something good with the bakery by pissing off the one girl he’d been excited about working with from the moment he met her.
His entire commute home to his Upper West Side condo was spent thinking of her, wondering how he could possibly turn things around. Even after showering and heading back out to meet Tommy at Hiro Sushi, he couldn’t shake the thought of her upset or his own feelings of guilt that followed.
Ollie’s Hiro Sushi was a small, chic but casual Chinese/Japanese restaurant located less than a couple of blocks from Ben’s building, tucked away on the corner of Freedom Place and West Sixty-Eighth Street. As he followed the waitress to his table, he couldn’t help but acknowledge the irony. He and Elena had spent many nights huddled in a random booth around a bottle of wine, making out between courses like a couple of lovesick teenagers. Now he was here waiting for his attorney to arrive so that he could discuss the details of his divorce, along with a strategy to stop the woman he’d once loved from destroying his life.
He’d already drained one whiskey and had been swirling the second in its glass for what felt like a long time before his phone finally rang.
“Bro, it’s Tommy. Where are you?”
“Exactly where I told you I’d be,” Ben answered. “At Ollie’s, waiting for you.”
“Shit. I’m guessing you didn’t get my message, then.”
Ben fought off the frustrated sigh that threatened to escape. “That’d be a fair assumption.”
“I’ve got a pretty hefty emergency with another client,” Tommy said. “They pay by the hour and your case is pro bono, so … ”
“I get it. So why are you calling?”
“To check in. And to make sure you’re not pissed at me.”
“I wasn’t when I thought you were coming.”
Tommy groaned. “Come on, bro, I’m sorry. I have bills to pay, ya know? I followed up with my contact to make sure I’m not missing anything from Elena’s camp, and it’s cool. Nothing’s changed yet, at least not for the worse.”
“Elena’s
camp
,” Ben repeated. “What kind of assault is she building, anyway? And who’s your contact? Because I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention their name.”
“I can’t yet,” Tommy replied quickly. “The person I’ve been chatting with could destroy Elena’s case against you, and I’m still in the process of wearing them down. If it got back to her that I was working on someone so close, it’d destroy everything.”
“This is all way too
Mission Impossible
for me. What happened to the days when a guy and girl could just get divorced and call it a day?”
“No one told you to marry a delusional lunatic, pal.” Tommy chuckled, his voice hardened and reminiscent of a gangster film. “She’s built you up in her mind to be some sort of monster, and she’s made the act of divorcing you into some sort of conquest. I’ve read some
“Hey, it’s Vi. Still up for dinner tomorrow?”
• • •
Friday flew by in a haze for Ben. The pace, while he’d managed to keep up without getting overwhelmed, had kept him far too busy to have anything more than a yes/no conversation with Violet. And he knew he owed her more than that. A bridge had burned between them after he’d dominated her the day before, and it hadn’t taken more than an hour for him to realize that he messed up and would’ve given anything to take back what he’d done in the heat of the moment. In fact, he had spent the entire day waiting to hear from Wynne, who would certainly have a problem with her protégé wanting to transfer out of the company’s flagship location.
The call from Wynne never came, however. Had Violet changed her mind about leaving? On more than a couple of occasions, he caught himself watching her at the icer’s station from the registers, hoping he hadn’t destroyed any shot he had of building something good with the bakery by pissing off the one girl he’d been excited about working with from the moment he met her.
His entire commute home to his Upper West Side condo was spent thinking of her, wondering how he could possibly turn things around. Even after showering and heading back out to meet Tommy at Hiro Sushi, he couldn’t shake the thought of her upset or his own feelings of guilt that followed.
Ollie’s Hiro Sushi was a small, chic but casual Chinese/Japanese restaurant located less than a couple of blocks from Ben’s building, tucked away on the corner of Freedom Place and West Sixty-Eighth Street. As he followed the waitress to his table, he couldn’t help but acknowledge the irony. He and Elena had spent many nights huddled in a random booth around a bottle of wine, making out between courses like a couple of lovesick teenagers. Now he was here waiting for his attorney to arrive so that he could discuss the details of his divorce, along with a strategy to stop the woman he’d once loved from destroying his life.
He’d already drained one whiskey and had been swirling the second in its glass for what felt like a long time before his phone finally rang.
“Bro, it’s Tommy. Where are you?”
“Exactly where I told you I’d be,” Ben answered. “At Ollie’s, waiting for you.”
“Shit. I’m guessing you didn’t get my message, then.”
Ben fought off the frustrated sigh that threatened to escape. “That’d be a fair assumption.”
“I’ve got a pretty hefty emergency with another client,” Tommy said. “They pay by the hour and your case is pro bono, so … ”
“I get it. So why are you calling?”
“To check in. And to make sure you’re not pissed at me.”
“I wasn’t when I thought you were coming.”
Tommy groaned. “Come on, bro, I’m sorry. I have bills to pay, ya know? I followed up with my contact to make sure I’m not missing anything from Elena’s camp, and it’s cool. Nothing’s changed yet, at least not for the worse.”
“Elena’s
camp
,” Ben repeated. “What kind of assault is she building, anyway? And who’s your contact? Because I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention their name.”
“I can’t yet,” Tommy replied quickly. “The person I’ve been chatting with could destroy Elena’s case against you, and I’m still in the process of wearing them down. If it got back to her that I was working on someone so close, it’d destroy everything.”
“This is all way too
Mission Impossible
for me. What happened to the days when a guy and girl could just get divorced and call it a day?”
“No one told you to marry a delusional lunatic, pal.” Tommy chuckled, his voice hardened and reminiscent of a gangster film. “She’s built you up in her mind to be some sort of monster, and she’s made the act of divorcing you into some sort of conquest. I’ve read some
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