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

“Well, if it gets out, you can support me, say it’s not true. People will want to talk to you, to know how we know each other. Just say good things about me.”

“I only have good things to say about you,” he said. “Everything wasn’t your fault.”

The word everything held so much weight between them. There was so much that had been left unsaid since the time they broke up. Even the night of Othello they never spoke about how things had ended between them. There really was no ending, if Madeline looked back on it. It wasn’t like a book whose pages ran out and everything was settled before the last word. Rather, it was like the last chapter was ripped out and she was left not knowing what happened after Hunter left her apartment that night. They hadn’t spoken, neither had reached out to the other, both too stubborn to be the one to initiate anything. Madeline had waited. After a few days, she was angry. A week, she was annoyed. Two weeks, she was single.

Madeline nodded. “We were young,” she commented. It seemed like the only logical explanation for everything.

“Yup,” he responded. “What do you think of the coffee?” He motioned to her untouched mug in front of her. Madeline smiled and lifted the mug to take a sip. It was…coffee, completely average in every way.

“It’s delicious,” she said with a big smile.

“So, tell me what else is going on,” Hunter said. “As long as you’re here. How’s life? It’s been a while.”

Madeline looked at her watch. She still had about 30 minutes until she had to leave to meet her driver who would be picking her up outside Columbia’s campus to take her to her DAR luncheon. She had planned to spend any extra time she had wandering around the old library where she used to study, but talking to Hunter seemed like a viable alternative, even with the average coffee that she would have happily replaced from one of the stands on campus. The rhythm of conversation began, Madeline began telling Hunter about the boys, how Noah had been suspended for bullying, when it turned out he was being bullied. Hunter commiserated, telling her about his daughter Felicia who was in the middle of hitting phase that had started a couple years ago and they hadn’t figured out how to end it. Madeline talked about the SAVER Bill she was working on and Hunter responded that he had heard about it on the news.

“It’s a very long term solution,” he commented. “If it lasts long enough, it may have an effect on our grandchildren’s generation, but we need a more immediate solution.” She asked if he had any ideas and he promised he would think about it. She wanted to ask about Rhonda, about the divorce he mentioned, but she figured it was better not to bring it up. Time was running out anyway and she needed to wrap things up.

Madeline finished her mug of coffee and stood up. “It’s been wonderful catching up, but I have to go,” she said. She lifted her hand to shake Hunter’s, but her move felt unnatural and foreign. She had never shaken Hunter’s hand. He came around from the table and grasped her hand in both of his. The touch of his fingers sent electricity through her, travelling from her hand, up her arm and down her torso where the electricity sparked. She gently pulled her hand away. “It was good to see you,” she said.

“And you,” he responded. “Enjoy the rest of your trip in New York and I hope everything turns out OK. Keep me posted.”

She nodded and then left his office, walking as fast as she could back to Columbia to meet the driver. She didn’t want him seeing her walking from Harlem. She wanted him to see her coming out of the university, as though that had been where she had spent her time. To her dismay, the driver was already waiting for her when she arrived. Damn him for always being early, she thought. She got in the car and sat quietly as they returned to the Langham to pick up Jane. Then they headed to lunch at the DAR where Madeline shook hands, smiled and listened to all the women’s concerns. From there, she attended a happy hour event with women from The WISH List and commiserated with all of them about how difficult it was being a woman. Then she was whisked away between several charity events where she shook more hands, gave speeches about how important each charity was, swapping in their different names, and when the day and night were almost over, Madeline and Jane sat quietly as a car took them back to the Langham.

When the car dropped them off, Madeline and Jane went inside past the hotel bar where Madeline noticed a dark figure sitting with a beer in front of him. Their eyes caught quickly, but Madeline shifted hers away, careful not to let them stick. Madeline and Jane continued to the elevator, still conducting small talk about the day they just finished. Jane was commenting on the shrimp cocktail at the last charity event when the doors of the elevator were about to close. A hand stopped them and they swung back open, letting Hunter walk in. He was in the same suit he was wearing earlier in the day, although the shirt was a little wrinkled and the tie had been loosened. He pressed the button for the top floor and stood quietly facing the doors, letting them close in front of him. Silence held the elevator as it traveled up, first stopping on Jane’s floor. When the doors opened, Jane hesitated before getting out. She looked at Madeline for direction with fear in her eyes. “Goodnight Jane,” Madeline said, freeing