This Life: A Novel (22 page)

Chapter Thirty-Four

August 20

New York
,
New York

The next day Blake made
it on the cover of the local
New York City
newspaper again. This time it was all about a secret she
wanted to keep. One that she had planned to hold near and dear until the time
was right, or at least until the dust had settled with her financial and legal
drama. “Blake A Flake? Secret Son.” She kept her eyes glued to the page as she
absorbed every icky, sticky line of lies.

Well, I’ll be damned
, Blake said to herself.
She slammed the paper down in her lap. She was in the car on her way to the airport
to catch a plane back to
Miami
. It took every bit of strength she had not to tell the
driver to turn back around. She couldn’t leave this mess behind in
New York
. She picked up the
phone.

“Vickie, what the hell
is going on? Why didn’t you call or even warn me about this hot-ass mess on the
cover of the
Daily News
!? I pay you good money to keep me informed and
keep shit like this off the radar—”

As Blake belted into
Vickie, she noticed Vickie didn’t have much to say at all.

“Vickie? You have no
right to be speechless right now. You can’t be more shocked than I am,” Blake
said, totally bewildered. Then her stomach sank. “Did you leak this? Did you
sell me out?”

“Blake,” Vickie finally
said with a sigh. “I did it for your own good. Your brand and name are going
down. I’m sorry. This gives you a chance to control the story, tell your side. You
can be the mom who makes it right, and repent for your sins. Tons of women will
support you. After all, you were raped, and a victim of domestic violence.”

Blake put the phone
down, took a deep breath, and brought it back to her ears. She still hadn’t
responded to Vickie. She had no idea how much Vickie knew, but she knew far
more than she had let on.
But how?
Blake wondered.

She picked the phone
back up. “You’re fired,” Blake said, coolly, and hung up.

Now, she was left to
pick up the pieces. “Driver, please go faster, I don’t want to miss my plane,”
Blake said as she slipped her shades back on. Then she thought about Lionel.

On the flight, it dawned
on her that maybe she did need to take control and leave her fate out of others’
hands. Everyone had made a decision or TRIED to make a decision for her, from
Vanessa to Vickie, and she wasn’t having it anymore. Let the shit hit the fan,
she thought. It was about time she shed any and all drama, and started again.

#

August 21

Miami
,
Florida

While in
Miami
, she made another major
decision. She let Suki and Antonio go. It wasn’t easy because she had grown
attached, especially to Suki, but there was always a danger in letting people
get so close you can’t do without them. Blake thought if she was going to be
open about her life and face it head on—the good and the bad—she had to do it
alone.  Blake was at a point where a growing fearlessness was taking over, and
she was starting to not give a toot. The only thing she cared about was Lionel
and getting back on top.

She also had some
business to clean up. Robin. The word in town was that Robin had moved in with
Thomas in a condo in
Miami Beach
. Her plan was to knock some sense into Robin, and hope she could
persuade her to leave Thomas. As much as Margot seemed sure to divorce him, she
just didn’t think it was right that Robin got away with the kit and kaboodle. As
long as Robin and Thomas were together, she could never get rid of the guilt
she’d carry around, even if Margot had forgiven her.

She sent Robin a text. meet.
2pm
today at Orchid?>

Orchid was a quaint
Thai restaurant, discreet and out of the way from prying eyes. Blake held her
breath waiting for Robin to respond. She felt a deep desperation to make this
work, and thought about even paying Robin. But no, she thought again.

alone?> Blake read the text.

talk,> Blake texted back.

Blake took that last
text as a yes, and she called Orchid to make the reservation, which was only
two hours away. It seemed like an eternity.

#

Blake waited for fifteen
minutes until Robin arrived. When she did, it looked like Thomas was sparing no
expense to keep her maintained. Prada bag, check. Gucci heels, check. Versace
shades and a fitted Chanel dress topped her confident look as she glided into
the room. Blake beckoned the waiter to get Robin’s attention. Within seconds,
Robin was walking toward the table.

“Hey,” Robin quipped as
she slipped off her shades.

“Hey,” Blake said
dryly.

“You look nice.” Robin
half-smiled at Blake. “
New York
seemed to do you some good. Beautiful Herrera dress. Is that
the new Birkin?”

Blake nodded, looking
bored. “You almost seemed surprised. You know I always take care of myself
despite what you’ve been hearing.”

Robin cleared her
throat. “Well, I don’t know how bad things really are.”

Blake signaled to the
waiter, a tall, slender man with short, wispy hair. “Are you ladies ready to
order?” he asked.

Blake eyed the menu
over once. “I’ll just have a glass of wine. Make that two.”

Robin held her hand up.
“I’ll pass on the wine, please. Sparkling water is fine.”

Blake gave Robin a
one-eyed look. “You pass up alcohol. Free alcohol?”

“Well, what can I say?
Thomas has made me into a honest woman.”

Blake clenched her
teeth. She knew his name was coming up somehow. But she’d wanted to be the one
to bring it up. She was the one who called the meeting. “Speaking of…” Blake
began. “When is that going to end? You know it will never work, Robin.”

Robin pressed her lips
together and hissed. “You’re just jealous, Blake. All that access, and the best
you can do is a bunch of old steel buildings that are worth nothing in this
market. You couldn’t even keep a man. So don’t tell me about what can’t work. You
obviously have no clue.”

Blake raised an
eyebrow. She was glad they were in public because she wanted to pummel her
fists into Robin with her pompous, arrogant attitude. Blake knew from years of
training in the boardroom how to deal with anxiety-ridden people who wanted to
project their feelings of inadequacy on her. So, in her steadiest, calmest
tone, she said, “I owe what I have to no one. I know tricks and secrets to
survival you can only imagine. I’m what you aspire to be on your best days. I always
have been. You took Thomas because you wanted some of this life. And now you
got it. Soon, he will leave you. If he can leave a wife after twenty years, you’re
nothing more than a weekend jaunt.” Blake looked at her watch. “And it’s
Sunday.”

Robin looked down at her
empty plate. The waiter came just in time with their drinks. Robin sipped hers
slowly as she seemingly battled with what to say next.

“So, Robin, why don’t
we make it easy for everyone. Leave Thomas. I’m sure he will give you a nice
allowance. And certainly he won’t fight to keep you. Find someone who will
actually want to do more than fuck you. You’re not his first stray while he’s
been with Margot, and that makes you anything but special.” Blake swirled the
wine in her glass as she studied Robin, whose confident swagger suddenly seemed
to fade.

“Are you just jealous
that if I take one of your most lucrative investors, you’ll have to start going
through me to get to him?” Robin smirked.

That caught Blake off
guard. She was surprised at Robin’s remark, but she had a point. Blake wasn’t
about to let her know it. “I’ve made Thomas more money in the last five years
than he’s made in twenty-five years in the business. So leave the big talk for
the players. Okay?”

Robin pressed her lips
together so hard Blake could see every line around her mouth.

“You can never be me,
even if you buy up all of the East Coast, start another charity, or stay with
Thomas…it’ll never happen.”

Robin’s shoulders
slumped. “I don’t know why I thought you’d be on my side.”

“
Your
side?”

“I was your best friend.
Now there’s this Margot woman. Thomas is my way of, yes, having the life I was
supposed to have. The one you got with
other
people’s money—you call
investors
.”

“Fuck you, Robin,” Blake
said in a slow, cool manner.

 Robin rolled her eyes. “Thomas
is handling that just fine. I’m pregnant.”

Blake nearly dropped
her drink.

“And it
is
Thomas’s,”
Robin quipped, sitting
up straight. “We’re moving in together. So much for weekend jaunts. I’ll be in
his life forever. No matter who likes it or not,” Robin said, with an almost
juvenile-little-girl tone in her snap back.

Blake stood up and shook
her head in pity. “You just have no idea how this life works. When you get to
this level nothing, not even a whore with your baby, is going to make you
choose her over millions. Thomas will never leave Margot. Even if he does, he
will never leave her. In time, you’ll know exactly what I mean.”

Blake dropped a fifty-dollar
bill on the table and adjusted her Birkin bag in the crux of her arm, and left
Robin behind.

Chapter Thirty-Five

August 30

Miami
,
Florida

“So what now? Why did
you bother going to
New York City
? Your business is all out in the street now. Have you ever
thought how it would affect Lionel when he becomes a man?” Jacinta asked as
they sat on the balcony of her condo.

Blake hadn’t told her
mother about Kenton yet. It was almost too good to be true, and a tiny part of
her still had a hard time believing it. “I met Lionel’s adoptive father.”

Jacinta glared at Blake.
“And you didn’t tell me?!”

“I’m telling you now.” Blake
ran down how she met Kenton while Jacinta kept her ears glued to every word. “He
sends me videos of Lionel now. I don’t have to sneak around anymore.”

Jacinta just shook her
head as she took it all in. “Well, how does that man know you’re Lionel’s
mother?”

“Remember, I had an open
adoption. I did that so Lionel can be free to contact me when he was ready.”

Jacinta’s worried eyes
grew calmer. “I trust you. If you feel so strongly that this is right, then it
may good for you to do. In fact,” she said, raising a finger, “I know it is. When
can I see him?”

Tears gathered at the
corner of Blake’s eyes. “I’ll arrange for us to go to Kenton’s. Not now, but
eventually I’ll tell the whole story. But for now, I’m telling him I’m his
mother and I love him.”

#

That night, Blake and
her mom visited Kenton and Lionel. Kenton had picked up a few  boxes of pizza
and fried calamari.

“Where is he?” Blake
asked Kenton after making a quick introduction between her mother and him. Jacinta
waited in the living room as they spoke.

“He’s still upstairs,”
Kenton said. “I told him he would have an important visitor. Not who, but I
think he’s expecting something big. He’s ready.”

Blake stood frozen, her
shoulders and neck feeling tight and painful. Almost as if reading her mind,
Kenton put both arms around her. He squeezed her gently and said, “A child will
always love their parent. It’s called unconditional love, Blake. Welcome it.”

Blake thanked him with
her yes, and walked back to the living room to wait for Lionel.
Unconditional
love.
What was that, she thought. She couldn’t remember a time when nothing
came without conditions; she expected them.

“He’s coming,” Blake
said to Jacinta. Jacinta put her hand to her heart as they both turned to look
at Lionel coming down the steps.

Blake stood. He looked
just like her father. Tall, with a long, lanky body; thick, curly hair that he
wore loose; and light brown skin. Blake fell to her knees.

Lionel stood before her
in an awkward stance, and a face filled with questions and a tinge of
impatience. She took him into her embrace. He was stiff, but obliged. Jacinta
and Kenton stood quietly to the side.

“I’m your mother,”
Blake said, looking up at him. She hadn’t thought of any fancy words to pepper
her revelation. She just wanted to say it.

Lionel stood there. He
looked to Kenton for approval. Kenton put his hand on his shoulder and said, “So
you officially have two parents you’re stuck with.”

Lionel finally broke a
smile. “Mom? You’re my mom?”

Blake nodded as the
floodgates of tears gushed out. “And I love you. I want to be in your life,
Lionel. If you will have me,” she said. She braced herself for a swirl of
questions.

“I love you, too,” he
said in that pure innocence only a child could have, and an unconditional sense
of love she never experienced before came over her.
So this is what it feels
like.

She rose and grabbed him
into her arms again. They stood together, holding each other.

Jacinta joined in the
hug, and Blake said, “This is your grandmother. My mother.”

Lionel nodded, rubbing
his eyes from sleep or tears. “Hi,” he said, swaying his body from side to
side.

Jacinta grabbed him and
pulled him toward her, almost taking him off balance. Blake and Kenton laughed.
So did Lionel.

“These are for you. It’s
in your blood,” Jacinta said, handing Lionel a small box of Blake’s father’s
CDs and raw, uncut jazz tunes. “Your granddaddy would have loved to see this
day. You have generations of gifted, talented men behind you.”

Kenton sat on the couch
with his feet kicked up on the leather ottoman, letting the two women own the
moment, but Blake wondered if he didn’t feel a bit left out. Pizza for all and
several Jazz CDs later spelled the end to one of the most memorable nights of
Blake’s life.