Searching for Moore (22 page)

“Yeah, but in the meantime, I want to protect you. I want to make sure you are protected, Mia. I spoke to my lawyer today about ways in which I can do that.”

“Schooner, look around,” her hand swept around her office, “I’m fine.”

He shook his head no. “No Baby Girl, I need to do a better job protecting you and I need to make sure all the legal aspects are in place.” He put his hand on her stomach and she looked down at his hand and then he looked into her eyes, “I need to protect what is mine. Do you understand what I am saying.”

She nodded.

“You’re mine now,” he whispered in her ear in a gruff, emotion-filled voice. She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.

Mia reached for her buzzing phone to read the incoming text.

Schooner: Damn I am missing you!

Mia: How’s Rhode Island?

Schooner: Even colder than NY.

Mia: How is it going with Holly?

Schooner: She’s taking it really well. I told her everything.

Mia: Everything?

Schooner: Yes

Mia: Holy crap. That’s pretty heavy.

Schooner: She needed to understand

Mia: Does she?

Schooner: Yes, she told me that growing up she knew that CJ and I didn’t act like parents of her friends. I feel terrible that she wasn’t shown a more loving relationship

Mia: :-(

Schooner: I know. Am taking her and her boyfriend out to dinner

Mia: Have you met him before?

Schooner: No

Mia: Don’t scare him!

Schooner: LOL. Call you from the hotel later

Mia: Have fun.

Schooner: Love u

Mia: It’s smoochal

Schooner: :-) ear 2 ear

Mia: smoochal 2 :-)

Mia was sitting in bed working when Schooner called, “Did I wake you?”

“Nah, I’ve got this new client. Lots of work to do to onboard them. How’s Holly?”

Schooner’s voice sounded relaxed, “Today went surprisingly well. I laid a lot on her and I kind of feel bad. She wasn’t surprised about me and CJ, she was very surprised to learn about you.”

Mia sighed, “I’ll bet she was. That can’t be easy.”

“After she told me about how she grew up knowing that CJ and I didn’t have the same kind of relationship that she saw in other families around her, I just had to have a really honest conversation with her. It was a good chance for me to talk to her about mistakes and doing things for the wrong reasons and hopefully impart good advice about being true to herself and not settling.” He paused, “She wants to meet you.”

Mia scooched under the covers, “That really makes me happy to hear that. I know it won’t be easy, her loyalty is to her mother.”

“I don’t think she sees it that way. She wants me to be happy. She said the difference in me from 10 days ago, at the party, to now was… how did she put it… a transmutational shift.”

Mia laughed, “Wow! Transmutational shift, huh?” They both laughed. “What’s her boyfriend like?”

“Really nice kid. His name is Jared Goldman. He’s pre-med. Totally smitten with Holly and from what I can tell treats her really well. I’d say they are in love.”

“Oh Schooner…” Mia was smiling.

“It’s weird to see. But I’m glad I had a chance to meet him. That’s who she was Facebooking and texting all last weekend. Hey, how do you feel about the two of them coming to spend the weekend with us?”

“I’d love it. When do they want to come?”

“Friday.”

Mia laughed, “Sounds like we’re going to have a fun weekend.” Mia heard an odd sound, “What is that?”

“I’m punching my pillows, trying to fluff them. Crappy pillows here in this hotel. Not like we have at home.” Mia smiled at his home reference. “Are you in bed?”

“I am.”

“Remind me not to sleep without you in the future,” he sounded lost.

“It’s so weird that you say that. How many years did I sleep in this bed without you and tonight it just feels empty and lonely and cold. And I hate it,” she paused, “remind me not to sleep without you in the future.”

Schooner paced the apartment like a caged animal on Friday afternoon awaiting Holly and Jared’s arrival. He was wound tight when Mia came home from work and the apartment felt smaller than usual as he stalked around with long-legged strides. She could feel the tension radiating off of him and see the stress in his eyes.

“Hey,” she wrapped her arms around his waist, trying to get him to stop moving, “I know this makes it real.”

“Yeah,” his voice sounded choked.

“Don’t worry. We’re going to have the best time. I have a couple of big surprises planned for you guys,” she looked up at Schooner, her devil smile at full luminosity, immediately brightening his mood and allaying his fears.

“What do you have up your sleeve, Baby Girl?” He took her face by the chin and kissed her.

“I’m only going to tell you part one, because you are going to be soooo excited. I’m so excited.” He searched her face and she went on, “Ok, so, I was talking to a dear old friend of mine today. We’ve been good friends and business associates since the 90’s. He owns an event security firm and is very familiar with a lot of spaces around the city — really, really cool properties, the kind that lend themselves to photo shoots and events. I told him that we were looking for a Level 9 Flagship location in New York and he told me about a space that just became vacant that sounds like the perfect amount of square footage, great neighborhood and has mass amounts of charm, history and quirkiness to it. He got the keys from the owners and is going to meet us this evening, after the kids get in, to show it to us.” Mia’s excitement was contagious, “Schooner, if Charles says it’s good, it’s going to be good. He and I have done enough events together over the years that I totally trust his opinion and he is really, really high on this space.”

Schooner pulled Mia in for a tight hug. “You’re amazing.”

“Here’s what I was thinking,” she began, “after they get here, let’s go meet Charles and view the property first before we even go out to dinner. I think it will be an amazing ice breaker, give us all a lot to talk about. And if it’s amazing and you love it, then we’ll all be pumped up out of our minds and there will be no awkwardness in the conversation.”

As Schooner ran his thumb down Mia’s cheek and bent down to kiss her, the doorman call button rang. Mia told the doorman to send Holly and Jared up. Mia and Schooner walked to the apartment door and turned to one another and simultaneously said, “Showtime”. When they opened the door they were both laughing, evoking immediate smiles from both Holly and Jared.

“Hey there, Beautiful,” a happy and now relaxed Schooner wrapped his arms around his daughter.

Mia couldn’t help but smile looking at the two of them, though in the very first moment she had to consciously remind herself that this was Holly and not CJ. The resemblance was staggering.

Schooner let Holly go and she looked at Mia. Mia immediately embraced her warmly and enthusiastically greeted, “Hi Holly, I’m Mia,” and then embraced Jared with the same warmth.

Any fear that had gripped Schooner, immediately dissipated as Mia set the tone with her warmth, openness and positive energy. “Come on in, guys and drop your stuff. Oh, it is so good to meet you.” Mia’s smile could’ve melted an icecap.

“What a great apartment. Wow, you can see the river,” Jared commented, “I love Manhattan. My dream is to do my internship and residency here after med school and live here.” Holly joined Jared at the window, admiring the view of the Hudson River.

Mia looked up at Schooner and smiled, he held his arms out to her and enveloped her in a hug. Holly turned to her Dad who met her gaze, the happiness in his eyes vastly evident at the immediate harmony between the two women he loved.

“How would you guys like a glass of wine,” Mia offered, grabbing a bottle and a corkscrew. “We’re going to head out in a little bit to do something that should be really fun.”

“A friend of Mia’s found a space that sounds amazing for L9 and we’re going to go check it out.” The love in Holly’s eyes was evident as she looked at her Dad. Mia thought she saw something else there and wondered if this was the first time she had seen her father this happy and connected to someone.

Charles Sloan stood very tall and still in his dark wool overcoat and navy scarf, observing everything and everyone with barely a movement of his eyes. He always reminded Mia of Jason Statham in The Transporter movies. While he appeared detached, he was anything but.

Charles broke into a wide grin as Mia and her group came into view.

“Meezie!” He enveloped her in a big hug.

“Chazicle!” She returned affectionately, kissing his cheek.

“Only you can call me that and not get killed,” they smiled at one another with the genuine affection of old friends.

“Charles Sloan, I’d like you to meet Schooner Moore, Holly Moore and Jared Goldman.”

Ever the gentleman, Charles shook Holly’s hand first, then Jared’s and then turned to Schooner and, much to Mia’s surprise, said, “Nice to see you again, we’ve met before.”

Schooner smiled, taking his hand, “Yes, we have. It was the Studio City event, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was.” Charles concurred.

A surprised Mia looked at Schooner and said, “One degree of separation this whole time. Who knew?”

Charles began to work on a series of door locks and opened a massive door. They followed him in as he began to flip a bank of light switches that elicited a collective gasp from the group.

The entranceway they stood in opened to a massive rotunda whose ceiling was lit with cove lighting spotlighting immense frescos of mythological creatures, gods and beasts. On one end was a sweeping marble staircase with an elaborate wrought iron railing that led to a mezzanine level and a third level mezzanine above that.

“This building has housed churches, private clubs, theatres and is a space most New Yorker’s don’t even know exists.” Charles explained, “Meezie, do you remember that gang that had the club in the church? They even owned it for a while. They were supposed to fully renovate it, but never completed it.”

Mia started to wander around the space. She felt Schooner’s arm drape protectively over her shoulder. “Meezie?” He whispered in her ear.

“Stop that. We go back a long way,” she backhanded him in the stomach.

“I know. It just reminds me that I missed a big portion of your life.”

“Excuse me? Your daughter is here. Talk about feeling the gap,” he smiled down at her, a sad look in his eyes and bent down to kiss her.

Mia put her arm around Schooner’s waist, “C’mon let’s check this place out. It’s gorgeous and so interesting. Funky vibe, right?”

Holly and Jared caught up to them, “Dad, this place is amazing. That third floor could be a track. Imagine running under those frescos!”

“Schooner, let me show you the offices.” Charles offered and Schooner left with Charles.

“So what is it that you call him?” Holly asked.

Mia laughed, “Chazicle?” and Holly nodded. “Oh, that nickname goes way back. Charles hates to be called anything but Charles and when he’s working, he’s like an ice man, he’s so focused and unflappable. So, the Chaz was just me being obnoxious with him because he hates being called that and putting Chaz and icicle together and calling him Chazicle.”

“Was he Secret Service?” Jared asked. “He looks like he was a Covert Ops guy.”

Mia laughed, “If I told you, he’d probably have to kill me.” She smiled at them, “Let’s go check out upstairs.”

The three wandered around upstairs, finding a variety of rooms off the second floor mezzanine. The place was massive and many of the original details from intricate wainscoting to wood and stone carvings still existed.

Schooner and Charles caught up with them and they continued to explore the space, looking for practical things like plumbing for bathrooms and showers.

“Do you think the renovation will make it cost prohibitive?” Mia asked Schooner.

“Hard to tell, but it actually appears to be in pretty good shape because previous owners have done a lot of renovations on it already.”

“I can help hook you up with some inspectors to take a look at this, if you’re interested.” Charles offered. Schooner nodded. The two appeared to have bonded during their time alone.

“Am definitely interested. It’s worth at least an initial discussion with the principals. And if that progresses, I’d want to get Yoli in here and an architect. It’s a really interesting space,” he was looking around, taking it all in.

Mia turned to Charles, “Imagine an opening here. Could be spectacular.”

“There would be nothing else like it in New York. Really be an amazing extension of what’s already a unique concept in California, but housed in an amazing space.”

“So exciting.” Schooner, Holly and Jared had wandered off. Mia watched Schooner looking around with a critical eye. She knew he was envisioning his unique concept.

“Oh, before I forget.” Charles took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Mia. “All instructions are inside.”