Chương 11
That did surprise him.
“She organized meals when my ex-husband had surgery even though they hated each other.”
Adrian said nothing.
“She can be generous.”
“Yes.”
“And cruel.”
“Yes.”
“And I’m tired of pretending one cancels out the other.”
Adrian leaned back.
“What do you want from me?”
“Permission.”
“No.”
“Adrian.”
“You don’t need my permission.”
“It happened to you.”
“It happened in front of your salon.”
“That isn’t the same.”
“No. It isn’t.”
They sat in silence across the phone line.
Finally Adrian said, “If she comes back, I don’t want to be there.”
“Why?”
“Because this part isn’t about me.”
Madison returned to Luxe on a Tuesday evening after closing.
Exactly one week after the incident.
She wore black trousers, a cream coat, and flat shoes.
Evelyn almost did not recognize her without the polished armor of an event wardrobe.
Brooke had not come.
Ashley had not come.
Madison looked around the empty salon.
“You changed the flowers.”
“They died.”
“I liked the old ones.”
“Most dead things have admirers after the fact.”
Madison gave her a tired look.
“Are you going to be like this all night?”
“Probably.”
They sat near the shampoo stations.
Madison did not remove her coat.
For a while neither spoke.
A cleaning machine moved somewhere in the hallway outside.
Its low mechanical hum filled the pauses.
Madison looked at the mirrors.
“Are you renewing?”
“Yes.”
Her head turned.
“He renewed you?”
“We’re still negotiating terms. But yes.”
Madison looked away.
“Of course.”
“What does that mean?”
“He gets to look generous.”
Evelyn’s face tightened.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“You came here because you said you wanted to talk.”
“I do.”
“Then stop turning every fact into evidence against him.”
Madison rubbed her thumb against the seam of her coat.
“He’s enjoying this.”
“You said that to him too.”
“He told you?”
“No. You just did.”
Madison looked annoyed.
Evelyn waited.
Eventually Madison said, “Charles moved out.”
Evelyn’s expression changed.
“When?”
“Sunday.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“Are you?”
Madison laughed softly.
“No.”
“Then I won’t.”
“He says this isn’t about the video.”
“Is it?”
“He says the video made him tired of defending things he’s been defending for years.”
Evelyn looked at her.
Madison stared at the floor.
“He always hated Brooke.”
“That seems unrelated.”
“He says I keep people around who make me worse.”
“Do you?”
Madison’s eyes lifted.
“Whose side are you on?”
Evelyn sighed.
“That question is why everyone is exhausted.”
Madison stood.
“I shouldn’t have come.”
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Then stand. But stay.”
Madison looked toward the door.
Evelyn waited.
After several seconds, Madison sat again.
“I’m being destroyed over a cup of water.”
“No.”
Madison’s face hardened.
“There it is.”
“You’re being judged over what the cup showed.”
“You sound like him.”
“I’ve sounded like me for fifty-eight years.”
“It was one mistake.”
“Yes.”
“Then why is nobody treating it like one?”
“Because you keep explaining why it made sense.”
Madison stared.
“I apologized.”
“You said you misunderstood the situation.”
“I did.”
“You misunderstood who he was.”
Madison’s mouth tightened.
Evelyn continued.
“You still haven’t said what you thought he had done.”
“He was sitting there.”
“That’s not something he did to you.”
“He made me uncomfortable.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Madison stood again.
“Stop doing that.”
Evelyn almost smiled.
“He hates it too.”
“What?”
“When I say that.”
Madison looked toward the window.
The salon’s lights reflected her back at herself.
“I thought he wanted money.”
“Why?”
“He looked like he did.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He looked poor.”
The words stayed in the room.
Madison closed her eyes.
Evelyn said nothing.
“He looked poor,” Madison repeated, quieter. “He was wet. His clothes were ripped. He was sitting outside.”
“In a wheelchair.”
“Yes.”
“And poor people bother you?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Madison’s shoulders rose and fell.
“I thought he was going to ask me for something.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“And that made you angry?”
Madison sat again.
“I had been dealing with my mother all day.”
Evelyn frowned.
“What does your mother have to do with it?”
“Nothing.”
“Then don’t use her.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Madison looked suddenly exhausted.
“She called me that morning because she needed me to transfer money.”
“So?”
“She always needs money.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn had met Madison’s mother twice and remembered an elegant woman who wore old jewelry and spoke with the careful confidence of someone accustomed to hiding financial trouble.
Madison rubbed her forehead.
“My father left debt. More than anyone knew. She still lives like he didn’t. Every month there’s something. Taxes. Repairs. A credit card. She refuses to sell the house.”
Evelyn waited.
Madison’s voice became bitter.
“I spend my life around people who want things.”
“That includes your friends?”
“Sometimes.”
“Your husband?”
“Sometimes.”
“You?”
Madison looked at her.
“Obviously.”
Evelyn leaned back.
“Still doesn’t explain the water.”
“No.”
“Good.”
Madison almost laughed.
“I was angry.”
“At him?”
“At everyone.”
“That isn’t his problem.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Madison looked at the empty salon.
“I thought he was somebody I could be rude to.”
There it was.
No speech.
No excuse.
Just a sentence.
Evelyn’s face changed.
Madison continued before she could respond.
“I know how that sounds.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“I thought he couldn’t do anything.”
Evelyn remained still.
“I thought if he complained, nobody would care.”
She swallowed.
“And then you came running out.”
Evelyn looked down at her hands.
“You looked terrified.”
“I was.”
“Because he owned the building.”
“Yes.”
Madison laughed once, softly.
“That’s the worst part.”
“What is?”
“You did exactly what I did.”
Evelyn looked up.
Madison’s eyes were wet, but she was not crying.
“You saw who he was and suddenly he mattered more.”
Evelyn opened her mouth.
Stopped.
Madison leaned back.
“If he had been some random homeless man, would you have run outside like that?”
The salon seemed to hold its breath.
Evelyn thought of the delivery driver.
May you like
The apology sent to his company.
The complaints she had dismissed as the irritating side effects of running a luxury business in a city.
