didn’t love me. And yes, I know that makes me a hypocrite, but sometimes these things don’t become evident until they happen.”
“I guess I don’t have to ask why you divorced him.”
“I hung on as long as I could, because I felt I owed it to Eric to at least pretend to make it work, but two years in purgatory was all I could stand. In the end, I simply walked out. I didn’t even tell him first. If I had, I knew he would’ve talked me out of it.”
Ally stared into her glass, her chest growing tight. She’d steeled herself for the truth, but hadn’t realized how badly hearing it would hurt. “Thank you for being honest.”
“Look, I don’t want to leave you with the wrong impression. Eric’s not a callous or cruel man. He never mistreated me. However, he does have a tendency to become focused on his work to the exclusion of all else. It’s good that you have a job of your own, otherwise you’d be spending a lot of time alone.”
Lucky me. Then something that should have dawned on her weeks ago came crashing down like the proverbial anvil. “Those parties and galas and business soirées Eric dragged me to—that was all an audition, wasn’t it? He was testing me.”
Barbara laughed. “He did the same thing with me. Eric’s very particular about the people he lets into his life, but I’m sure you already know that.”
I suppose I should find that flattering. So why don’t I?
The silence crackled, until Barbara leaned across the table to grasp Ally’s hand. “Allison, obviously we don’t know each other well, but I get the impression we’re quite different. The first time I saw a picture of you with Eric in the paper, I was jealous. Eric never smiled at me like that when we were out in public together. He never put his arm around me or held my hand. And it’s evident to me how much you care about him. You two seem good for each other. There’s no reason to assume your marriage will end up like mine.” She reached for her glass of tea. “Providing you can accept his relationship with Nick, because that’s not going away, no matter who Eric’s married to.”
“Actually, it already has. Nick broke it off with Eric last September. He married a girl he works with at the Herald over the Christmas holidays.”
Barbara’s eyes popped wide. “Oh my fucking God.”
“That’s what I said.”
On that note, they both burst out laughing.
They chatted a few more minutes, until Ally had to get back to work. Barbara walked her to the elevator and handed her a business card with a different phone number on it. “That’s my cell. Feel free to call anytime. We Courtland wives have to stick together,” she added with a wink.
Ally smiled shakily. “I still haven’t made up my mind about that.”
“You’re probably thinking what a mistake it’d be to marry him. I think you’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t.”
“Do you regret it? Because if you don’t mind me saying, it sounds like you do.”
“I regret not giving it a real chance. Maybe if I’d waited until I was over all the pain from my previous relationship, I wouldn’t have been so afraid to commit. But I don’t blame Eric for that. He did the best he could. I was the one who wasn’t ready.”
Ally headed back upstairs and spent the rest of the afternoon staring at her computer screen, still mulling her conversation with Barbara. At last she finished some research she’d been doing for one of the segment producers, shut down her computer and bolted for the door.
She ended up strap-hanging all the way home on the subway, and stumbled through the door to find Holly heating up her dinner in the microwave—some low-fat frozen thing in a small plastic dish that smelled like meat…well, sort of. Ally entertained brief wistful memories of succulent chateaubriand and tried not to vomit.
She made herself a green salad out of some half-wilted iceberg lettuce, sprinkled it with vinegar and oil and sat down at
“I guess I don’t have to ask why you divorced him.”
“I hung on as long as I could, because I felt I owed it to Eric to at least pretend to make it work, but two years in purgatory was all I could stand. In the end, I simply walked out. I didn’t even tell him first. If I had, I knew he would’ve talked me out of it.”
Ally stared into her glass, her chest growing tight. She’d steeled herself for the truth, but hadn’t realized how badly hearing it would hurt. “Thank you for being honest.”
“Look, I don’t want to leave you with the wrong impression. Eric’s not a callous or cruel man. He never mistreated me. However, he does have a tendency to become focused on his work to the exclusion of all else. It’s good that you have a job of your own, otherwise you’d be spending a lot of time alone.”
Lucky me. Then something that should have dawned on her weeks ago came crashing down like the proverbial anvil. “Those parties and galas and business soirées Eric dragged me to—that was all an audition, wasn’t it? He was testing me.”
Barbara laughed. “He did the same thing with me. Eric’s very particular about the people he lets into his life, but I’m sure you already know that.”
I suppose I should find that flattering. So why don’t I?
The silence crackled, until Barbara leaned across the table to grasp Ally’s hand. “Allison, obviously we don’t know each other well, but I get the impression we’re quite different. The first time I saw a picture of you with Eric in the paper, I was jealous. Eric never smiled at me like that when we were out in public together. He never put his arm around me or held my hand. And it’s evident to me how much you care about him. You two seem good for each other. There’s no reason to assume your marriage will end up like mine.” She reached for her glass of tea. “Providing you can accept his relationship with Nick, because that’s not going away, no matter who Eric’s married to.”
“Actually, it already has. Nick broke it off with Eric last September. He married a girl he works with at the Herald over the Christmas holidays.”
Barbara’s eyes popped wide. “Oh my fucking God.”
“That’s what I said.”
On that note, they both burst out laughing.
They chatted a few more minutes, until Ally had to get back to work. Barbara walked her to the elevator and handed her a business card with a different phone number on it. “That’s my cell. Feel free to call anytime. We Courtland wives have to stick together,” she added with a wink.
Ally smiled shakily. “I still haven’t made up my mind about that.”
“You’re probably thinking what a mistake it’d be to marry him. I think you’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t.”
“Do you regret it? Because if you don’t mind me saying, it sounds like you do.”
“I regret not giving it a real chance. Maybe if I’d waited until I was over all the pain from my previous relationship, I wouldn’t have been so afraid to commit. But I don’t blame Eric for that. He did the best he could. I was the one who wasn’t ready.”
Ally headed back upstairs and spent the rest of the afternoon staring at her computer screen, still mulling her conversation with Barbara. At last she finished some research she’d been doing for one of the segment producers, shut down her computer and bolted for the door.
She ended up strap-hanging all the way home on the subway, and stumbled through the door to find Holly heating up her dinner in the microwave—some low-fat frozen thing in a small plastic dish that smelled like meat…well, sort of. Ally entertained brief wistful memories of succulent chateaubriand and tried not to vomit.
She made herself a green salad out of some half-wilted iceberg lettuce, sprinkled it with vinegar and oil and sat down at
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