Beyond the end

In and out

Valerie had returned from the funeral and had rushed into the shower. She hoped that the water would take away both the dust she had taken to the cemetery, and the accumulated sadness of seeing Clare crying for a death that was not even in the air, at a particularly delicate moment in her life. She had recently returned to California, with precariousness that can characterize the early days after a move. The conditions for planting solid roots on the spot were all there. Your family, a job, friends, a love story. But within a few hours everything had been wiped out. And much of the responsibility she felt on her. Of course, she had not killed Arnold, whom she had not seen for several years. But she had certainly hurt Clare, perhaps irretrievably, by throwing herself into her boyfriend's arms. Steve; she could have taken him many times since he knew him. A gesture, a nod, a winking look would have been enough and he would fall at her feet. But god Valerie.. Right under the same roof? Right in the next room? Perhaps the art of seduce men was her raison d'être. How many lovers had she had during her life? She didn't even remember it. She felt weak, more than before. And she kept rubbing herself with a rough sponge, but that feeling didn't go away. She came out of the shower and still in a bathrobe she put herself in the patio and lit a cigarette. In New York she had started smoking, she believed it helped dampen stress, until she realized that the only thing she could dampen was the money in her wallet. But it was now more than a habit and she thought, "Let's add this to the list of my failures." She picked up the phone and called the site manager to find out how the work had gone today, since she had not been able to go to the club. She hooked up and looked at the column. Steve.
"What do you want?"
"Why do you answer me like that?"
"Because saying I'm in a bad mood doesn't give the idea; and you're the greatest architect of this feeling"
"Ah yes? Listen, did I force you to betray your girlfriend? I don't think so"
Steve came back more sweet "Yes, you're probably right"
'Probably'
"We practically didn't say goodbye at the funeral"
"I noticed. Have you tried talking to Clare?"
"I've been trying for days; she doesn't answer me at the phone, I went to the funeral home in the hospital, but Andrea prevented me from seeing her, on her clear indication. At the funeral, after the function, I approached while she was in tears"
"She was always in tears"
"Yeah, I feel the same way. And it hurts me more to know her alone"
"Donna is with her; she left the baby to Felice and went to Arnold's house straight from the funeral. Believe me, I don't know what to do"
"I would tell you that time helps, but I'm too sick too and I'm not able to cheer anyone up. Let's wait, let's see what happens"
"Yeah..."
Valerie looked at the time, it was just 3 p.m. SHe hadn't had lunch, but she wasn't hungry. SHe decided to go to the club, even though she had reassurance about the works.
She arrived at the club in the middle of the afternoon, it was quite hot.
"Dust, still dust," she said to herself, when she heard the works proceed within the walls of the Peach Pit. But by now she was there and started at the entrance. The workers were busy, not least because the girl had promised a production prize if they had finished the work within the established deadlines. On the edge of the interior, in the dust, Valerie saw an acquaintance figure. Although from the back, the silhouette was unequivocal for her.
"David, what are you doing here?"
"I imagine how it could be; my office, for example, I imagine it this way" and pointed to the area to his right. Valerie smiled, "Ah, right next to mine; we'll be side by side."
"Job Val, only and exclusively job"
"Absolutely David; and then, believe me, right now I wouldn't be able to think of anything other than work. By the way, Does Donna know?"
"Not yet"
"I understand" Val was disheartened by that admission and began to look around with the air of those who had just received a negative response to a proposal
"I'll take care of Donna, you're worried that the venue will be ready by the set date. What would it be?"
"Twenty days from today"
"What!? But it's practically tomorrow! How do we inaugurate in twenty days if you don't even have any idea whether to make burgers or serve drinks?"
"Apart from the idea I have, but then you asked me when the place will be ready, not when I intend to inaugurate"
"Why do you want me to make me believe you're going to keep the Peach Pit ready and closed?"
Val looked away "Actually no; but I didn't have time to organize. I needed a partner" she looked at him smiling
"Don't run, for the moment I'll give you a hand, behind the self-compentment,
"Yes of course" smiled sarcastically Valerie
"If things go as I think, maybe within 6-8 months I could join society"
"Too easy Silver - the girl suddenly got serious - if things go well you enter society, otherwise you remain an employee with zero responsibility. And the risk remains mine, only mine."
David also got serious: "You're right, but put yourself in my shoes, I have to leave a job for an adventure, to follow a woman who has already endangered my relationship as a couple in the past. How do I tell my wife? – Valerie listened – it's one thing to tell her that I have to give you a hand, another that I take society shares"
"So would the motivation be personal, human?"
"Precisely"
"It's your problem Silver, it doesn't concern me. This is business, it is not a charitable mission. If you want, there is a job here for you. But you have to risk how much I risk, otherwise nothing is done about it."
David didn't answer right away, but he knew that Valerie's speech had sense. He took the jacket he had placed on a chair, shook the dust and turned to the girl: "Give me 48 hours"
"Okay, but remember; inside or outside"
"Inside or outside" and shook hands.
David quickly entered the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and recovered a beer. Donna was preparing food for little Ethan, who in the high chair was angrily beating a plastic dog against the tray. The boy opened the bottle and took a long sip, hoping that it would instill in him courage.
"How is Clare, did you hear her this morning?"
"She's still very tried, I even proposed to sleep with her a couple of nights, but she refused"
David wasn't even listening to her; Donna took the bowl into which she had poured the contents of the pan and sat down in front of the little one, starting to take it.
"Mommy has prepared you some nice vegetable; there are carrots, potatoes – the little one smiled and opened his mouth – and so many delicious things that will make you grow strong and happy; aahm"
"Donna, I'm thinking of changing jobs."
Donna kept looking at her son, non-stop so as not to lose the rhythm "Did you feel mom's sweety? Dad would like to change jobs; but what will this liar have in mind?" And threw a dubious look at him
"I would like to start managing the Peach Pit again"
"Oh well, do you want to be a bricklayer? But do you have the skills?"
"Come on Donna, don't joke, I'm trying to tell you that my current job has tired me, I have no stimulus and I have to look for new motivations"
Ethan had finished the meal, Donna got up and went to get a jar of fruit.
"Don't we motivate you enough?"
"You know what I mean, you have nothing to do with you. But it's not enough for me to be David the husband and David the father. I want more. You have your own business. It's not that you stopped to follow the family."
"And in fact no one asks you to stop. Here you are the one who want to change your profession, to make one that you have already done and that was leading you to failure. By the way, not to resound the past, but I remind you that the debts of the Peach Pit were the fuse that broke our story, last time"
"Yes, I remember, but that time the problem was personal, not professional. I betrayed your trust by deceiding you because – he remarked the word – of the Peach Pit. But it wasn't the place that made us leave, but my attitude. Which has never been repeated and will never be repeated."
"I understand. And how would you manage this place? Didn't Valerie buy it? Would he give it to you under management or what?"
David drained what was left of the beer "No, I would enter into company with her; we would work together."
Donna didn't even look at him "Forget it".
"How would it be to say FORGET IT?"
"In what sense? It seems very clear to me. You don't even have to think about it"
David felt the blood boil. With one word, his wife believed she had closed the subject without even wanting to discuss it. She didn't care that he felt inadequate, she didn't care to listen to his reasons, she only cared about her. That's what Silver thought.
"And instead you have to listen to me, because I have already made my decision." David watched himself from the outside, as the words came out of his mouth like a declaration of war. Which as such was read by Donna.
"David Silver, do you know why Clare and Steve don't hang out anymore?"
"It's not My business"
"And instead it should, since your little friend can't keep his pants up; and even if he could, Valerie would think about lowering them to him. And not just to him"
"I repeat to you that it's none of my business and we're talking about anything else, about job"
"No, we're talking about you that you'd like to spend 12 or even 16 hours a day with Valerie. And I should stay at home looking after your son while you enjoy organizing concerts"
"Donna, you're making a big mistake, that's not the Scenery"
"Maybe, but that's how I see it. So my answer is a categorical NO!"
Now the two were shouting, so much so that Ethan began to cry, ignored by his parents.
"But I'm not asking you"
"Then listen to me well, if you're going to carry on this stupid thing, you can forget about me, your son, your family."
In a few seconds David re-eveiled the last months facts of reproaches, recriminations, sideral distances, big doubts about the choice made. Not to mention the absence of sex. He had waited years before accessing Donna's inviolable body and now he could feel motivations such as fatigue, headache, sore breasts and other classic clichés. His wife's threat seemed to him an unmissable escape route.
"If that's what you want" and went to the other room, hearing her scream behind "Be very careful David, don't do things you may regret."
After a few minutes he came back to the kitchen with her jacket in her hand, Donna was rocking Ethan, who had managed to calm down.
Donna was left alone when she heard the door slammed. And he began to cry in silence.
Andrea was driving tiredly towards the car in the hospital parking lot, when she heard herself called "Doctor Zuckerman!". She turned around, it was Philipe, who was locking his car. She smiled at him.
"How are you Philippe?"
"I'm good. I have the night shift today, you?
"No, I just finished and I was on my way home. I am devastated."
"We haven't seen or heard from each other since the last time. The evening, until that call, I think was going pretty well"
"Yes, very well. Then that trauma ruined It . But I couldn't hope for a better dinner than that. At least until the phone trill."
"So why didn't we see each other again?"
"Well, you didn't invite me anymore"
"Ah is that so?" The doctor smiled
"I'm a good old-fashioned girl, what do you think?"
Philipe was taken by a goliardic impetus
"So, such an attitude certainly doesn't suit a good old-fashioned girl"
"What do you do..." Andrea couldn't finish the question, that Philipe drew her to herself and kissed her ardently.
"Philipe, but they see us"
"So what? We don't do anything wrong, nor are we cheating on anyone. Which is quite rare in this structure"
"Ah yes - Andrea was smiling, still in the man's arms - and what do you know?"
"The coffee machine"
"What?" She was more and more amused
"The stories that are heard in front of the coffee machine...you have no idea"
"I think I have to start having coffee again"
"Now I'm going, I have to start. I'll call you in the morning as soon as I finish my shift. Ah, but do you work tomorrow?"
"No, I'm off"
"We could go out then!"
"After a night of work?"
"That wouldn't be the first time. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning at 9.30"
"Okay, see you tomorrow," she gave him a soft kiss on the lips and got into the car, as happy as she had not been in a long time.
please rewiew, to be continued