FOR THE LOVE OF ISTANBUL

- Chapter 1 -

Friday, August 28th...

The day seemed to drag itself in a painful, unspoken vow against all logic. Deb was sure that the last ten minutes of the workday had dragged on for the better part of an hour. Looking at the watch on her wrist every chance she got did not help either. On the contrary, it only made her more irritated. The fact that her birthday was three days away proved to be both a blessing and a thorn in her side. Though, she was glad it would fall on a Monday.

She had scheduled that day off, aware of how happy Mondays off work could feel. They felt blissfully happy. Not that she needed to work. Not that she needed to get away from work. Not that she needed to ask for a day off in any case. As a business owner of her own company, she could have taken a month off, confident that her assistant Margaret would be capable of running the office like a fine-tuned machine. Deb liked to work, loved what she did, and she did it well. But the way things stood at the moment, she could not wait to take the day off. Especially because in this case, the next day fell on a day she would have liked to forget. A day as bittersweet as it was gratifying. It was the 10-year anniversary of her divorce...

The clock kept ticking away, and it finally struck 5:00 pm. She was done for the day and done for the week. Since she would be out of the office on Monday, she made sure to check the schedule for the coming week. Margaret, her witty assistant, sarcastic best friend, and blunt soul sister at heart, advised Deb that if she considered asking about anything even remotely related to Monday's workload one more time, she would be the one taking the day off and Deb would have no other option than to come into work. Deb smiled and thanked her lucky stars she had been given a true angel of an assistant and a best friend in the same person. She told Margaret that she intended to sleep until noon on Monday. A quarter past noon if she felt like it. They both laughed, fully aware that Deb would be up no later than 8:15 am at the latest. 

Suddenly Margaret left the room and returned with a bottle of wine. Deb smiled at the sight of the bottle. Then she chuckled because the bottle had a couple of golden ribbons and a single Turkish blue evil eye charm tied around its bottleneck. Margaret grinned and advised Deb that even though she would prefer for the both of them to fly off to some tropical beach resort far, far away tomorrow so she would not have to think of bitter memories on her divorce anniversary, she could only offer a bottle of wine for now. Since they were the only ones still in the office by then, Deb let out a deep breath. She finally released the tension building up in the back of her neck throughout the day. No one on earth understood her better than Margaret. Not even her four daughters, and especially not her ex-husband.

When Deb arrived home, she opened the door and hung her light jacket on the coat rack. She laid her laptop case on the little quaint dresser in the hallway and promised to herself that she would not open her laptop until Tuesday morning at work. She just would not. Going straight into the kitchen to brew çay, a Turkish version of a pungent and strongly aromatic tea, Deb set her phone to the tune of her favorite music and turned the volume on low.  She smiled to herself and wished for a peaceful evening where she could just unwind. This lasted for about two minutes. While passing by the hallway mirror, she paused and turned to face the reflection of the woman she had become. Her long hair of fiery red still had rays of sun beaming brightly within its strands, but they had seen brighter days. She had a slim physique, but life added to it over the years. 

She remembered the days when she enjoyed dressing up for herself, rather than dressing for the office. She used to enjoy colorful and bright clothes, but now always opted for black dresses and a comfy pair of stilettos. Always stilettos though, she thought, smiling to herself. That never changed, no matter how hard life treated her. 

Suddenly, she noticed something in her eyes. A spark lit up. She narrowed her eyes and tried to recall the last time she saw that spark and the smile that usually accompanied it. She closed her eyes, recalled her 21st birthday, and how happy she was to celebrate it with a road trip with Margaret. She laughed at the memories that flooded her mind. She opened her eyes and looked at herself again. The smile that used to reach her eyes reached them again now. Seeing it made her smile wider. She realized that her favorite song was playing in the background. She ran a hand through her long hair. Her divorce was painful. It took years for her to realize that it was her ex-husband's loss, and only her gain when he left her behind. Though the memories of her past still burned painfully whenever she remembered them, now every day that passed since her ex-husband set himself free made her stronger. Irreversibly stronger and more free.  She blinked and looked straight into the mirror. She let out a laugh that was so happy and cheerful that it made her dance a little. She whispered to herself, "What are you waiting for?", and ran into her bedroom.