Remember the Time

Chapter 19

February 6th, 1997

Michael was unpacking his things at his condo in New York. There had been tension between him and Mariah since her phone call from Tommy, but she wouldn't tell him what the conversation was about. He didn't push the issue, knowing it would probably cause her to have another one of her episodes. He didn't have the strength to argue with her; he hadn't been sleeping and he was recovering from his lupus flare up. He was still having minor aches and pains, but he could move around well enough to do minor things.

Mariah came in from the living room with another suitcase. "It's so much cleaner here than at home."

"What do you mean? There's dust everywhere." He said.

Mariah looked around. "Clean might not be the word. Less cluttered, yeah that's what it is."

"Neverland's not cluttered." He protested.

She laughed. "Have you not seen our bedroom? You've got all that junk-"

"It's not junk, it's important." Michael said, folding his arms.

Mariah nodded. "Okay, if it's not junk then why do you keep it in boxes?"

"So it doesn't clutter up everything." He nudged her. "Duh."

"But you have boxes everywhere and that's cluttering everything." She pointed out. Then her face lit up. "Can we redecorate?"

"Um, no." He said, shaking his head.

She wrapped her arms around his waist. "Please?"

"Nope, you're not moving any of my stuff." He said, sticking his tongue out.

She folded her arms. "That's not fair, it's my house too you know."

"Yeah, you got most of the closet. You got your space." He said, shrugging.

Mariah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but it still feels like I'm living in your house, instead of our home?"

"Well it is my house. I pay the bills on it." Michael pointed out.

His wife sighed. "Mike, I told you I had half on the bills this month. It's not just yours anymore."

Michael knew that Mariah wanted to add her own personal touches to Neverland, but he was really attached to everything there. "I don't see anything wrong with how things are now."

She sighed. "Can we at least move that statue in front of the bedroom door? It creeps me out."

"I like it."

"Well I don't."

He shrugged. "Then don't look at it."

"So you want me to stay out of our bedroom?" She said, tilting her head to the side.

"You know what I mean."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I get it. Neverland is yours."

She got up and he pulled her back down. "I'm not trying to fight with you."

"I know you're not, but it just bothers me that everything is 'you' and 'I' instead of 'we' or 'us'. I thought we were a team." She huffed.

Michael thought for a moment. "How about this: you can decorate the condo anyway you want and we leave Neverland the way I want it."

"Which condo?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Whichever one you want."

"I want both of them." She said.