The Longer The Fall by Aviva Gat (best new books to read txt) 📗

would be huge for the firm. Having this banking company on their recent client list would surely bring in other projects and lead to more revenues, which in turn, would find their way to Madeline’s end of the year bonus. They needed her and she could not let them down.

And so she flew to New York, telling her campaign team to keep her updated and saying goodbye to Brandon who promised he would take the boys to the zoo on his own. Don’t worry, he said, he’d send pictures and videos so she wouldn’t feel like she missed out. The first thing she felt when she arrived in New York was relief. Yes, relief. It was like she was getting her much-needed vacation, a few days away from the business of her normal life. She had a few meetings planned with the banking company and her colleagues in the New York office, but aside from that, she had time for herself. She checked into the Langham, which was on the same street as the consulting firm’s New York Office and then she switched on her running clothes and jogged over to Central Park. She did a quick loop around the park before buying a bottle of water from one of the street vendors. With the bottle, she walked around and took a seat near the Olmstead Flower Bed, where yellow and white tulips stood almost knee high. She sat watching the flowers as a gardener came by. The gardener started snipping a few dried leaves and added mulch at the base of the flowers. Madeline wasn’t paying much attention until her eyes drifted to the back of the gardener’s shirt, which said Smith and Sons Landscaping. From there, her eyes drifted to the gardener’s head and a wave of familiarity rolled over her. It was like she had never left New York, like the last seven years hadn’t happened.

“Hunter?” she said, still sitting on the bench. The gardener looked around and caught her eyes.

“Maddy? What are you doing here?”

“Admiring the flowers. Your handy-work?”

He nodded. Small talk commenced and the two easily slipped into conversation about how wonderful Central Park was in the summer. Was Madeline interested in seeing Shakespeare in the park? Attendance was free, but patrons had to come hours before to wait in line to get in. Working at the park, Hunter could get them in that evening if she were interested. This year they were doing Othello. Madeline agreed, thinking an evening out watching Shakespeare could be fun and a completely harmless activity. She and Hunter agreed to meet that evening, after she attended her meetings.

When the afternoon started to fade, Madeline turned down happy hour invitations from her colleagues and went to meet Hunter. He was already in their meeting spot, carrying a large bag over his shoulder. He led her past the long line of people waiting and into the grass seating area for the play. Then he opened his bag and lay out a blanket, on top of which, he spread out wine, cheese and a Tupperware full of hush puppies that his mom had made. They tasted exactly like how Madeline remembered them. Suddenly she was back in Harlem, at her apartment with a broken air conditioning and faulty lock. She was 22 and carelessly fun, the way she always believed she truly was until life came pounding down on her shoulders. They still had time before the play, but they quickly got to drinking the wine. Conversation flowed easily as they updated each other on their lives. Madeline told him about her husband and her boys, smiling as she described them to Hunter. But as she talked, she felt like she was describing a movie. Not her own life, for in her mind she was 22 and still lacking any real responsibilities in life. For his part, Hunter told Madeline about his wife, Rhonda. She was a TSA agent and they had a seven-year-old daughter. They’d been together almost since Madeline had left, and had gotten married after Rhonda found out she was pregnant. Hunter loved her, the pregnancy wasn’t why they got married, he assured Madeline, it just got them to that milestone a little sooner than expected. Hunter also told her that he was now managing Smith and Sons landscaping. He was hoping to buy the business eventually from Bill Smith, who was still holding on hope that one of his sons would take on the business. Hunter was also still volunteering at the community center and had finished his bachelor’s degree in citizenship and civic engagement. It was sort of like political science, he told her, but on a more local level. Madeline listened, her smile never leaving her face, but she didn’t really hear what he was saying. She didn’t absorb it, because how could she? Her mind had transgressed to the time that she and Hunter were still each other’s.

When the play started, they had trouble staying quiet to watch the show. Others around hushed them and asked them to keep it down, but they couldn’t help themselves. They had seven years to catch up on and it felt like they couldn’t do it fast enough. Hunter had come prepared with multiple bottles of wine. They had finished three bottles by the end of the play, and had been so engrossed in conversation that the entire plot had eluded Madeline. Hunter offered her the last hush puppy, which she couldn’t refuse. (Her 31-year-old would have because her waistline just wasn’t the same anymore after two children.) Still talking, they folded up the blanket and Hunter walked her back to the hotel.

It should have ended there, with a hug and a sincere “Good to see you.” But it didn’t. Maybe it was the wine, or the feeling of relief that Madeline had since she had arrived in New York. Maybe it was that Hunter reminded her of a less complicated