Whatever You Want (Part 1 of X)

When Sean got home that evening, Carol was in the laundry nook taking the laundry out of the washer and transferring them into the dryer. She had already finished washing and drying the clothes for the day, but she decided that it was about time to change Molly’s sheets, pillow cases, and duvet cover to match the upcoming spring season.

Without saying a word, Sean took off his suit jacket and tossed it on the black leather couch in the living room. Looking around, it was a sight that he’s only slowly becoming familiar with: the black leather couch, of course, hand made and shipped from France; the creamy smooth off-white walls; the vaulted ceiling, and the large skylight that actually forms much of that ceiling; the stairs to the left leading up to the second floor, where Molly’s room and the master bedroom are located; the track lighting with adjustable ambient switches that line the entire apartment, exclusively from Oxford Lighting Systems; the open kitchen with a large island installed with pure white marble working surfaces, polished dark maple cabinets, and a commercial grade high-BTU quad-burner range from Viking; behind the kitchen is the pantry and the laundry, where Carol just closed the front door of the Kenmore Capacity Plus dryer with a satisfying thump, like shutting a vault when a bank closes at the end of the business day.

“You’re home early.” Carol said as she walked into the cooking area, and turned up the lighting.

“I suppose,” Sean said.

A slight smile formed on Carol’s thin lips. “Did something good happen?”

“We just closed a deal for one of our Chinese clients and everything got sent out just now. It’ll be the biggest cross-border capital raises for this year yet.”

“Shouldn’t you be celebrating with the other partners on your team, or take the associates out somewhere fancy and get them trashed?” Carol said. “You have been working on this deal for months.”

“Well, actually Bob is taking the associates out as we speak. You remember Bob right? We went to his house in East Hampton last summer for his annual barbecue party.”

Carol nodded.

Sean sat down at a stool next to the kitchen island, plopped his elbows on the marble surface, and rested his chin on his hands. Carol walked around to the other side of the island, and leaned against it.

“I remember I had to keep an eye on the chicken in the deep fryer while Bob played chef on the grill. You were out in the courtyard too I think, if my memory serves me right.” Sean said.

“I was sitting by the lap pool having a gin martini by myself.”

“I see. I thought you would be talking to the women at the party.”

“I wasn’t that comfortable with them...after all, I didn’t know any of them, and I am much younger than most of them anyway. I think they were comparing notes on hiring maids and drivers, that sort of thing. Maybe also private boarding schools.”

“Isn’t that something you would want to know? I mean, it was the perfect chance to get some first hand information on this kind of stuff. So I just think we need to take advantage of these networking opportunities. It’s not like every day you get invited by a senior partner to his private beach house, and it’s not like you can just call these people up anytime you want, you know?”

Carol leaned closer to Sean, smiled, and lightly pressed his nose with her right index finger. “But you know, you really can,” she said.

Sean looked away briefly, and stood up. “Do you still have any tomato juice around?”

“I’ll bring you some. Why don’t you get changed? Just make sure you don’t wake Molly up. It was really hard putting her to bed.”

“She’s already asleep?”

“It’s almost midnight, Sean.”

“Wow, I didn’t realize. I thought it was still early. I came straight home from work too.”

“You must be tired then. Go take a shower, and I’ll fix you something quick to eat. Would you like that?”

“That sounds good, sure. What do you have?”

“Whatever you want,” Carol said.

As Sean was standing in the shower, he was thinking about his day. It was the first time in months he came home early; in fact, it was the first time he came home before midnight since they moved into the current penthouse apartment on Madison Avenue near 88th Street. The apartment was brighter than he remembered, because whenever he got home the lights would have already been dimmed, and Carol and Molly asleep. He would usually go straight to the fridge to pour himself a glass of tomato juice, or if he had a particularly bad day, he would opt for a sip of bourbon instead. After that, he would go upstairs to the master suite, which was always empty because Carol had moved into Molly’s room so she wouldn’t be woken up by Sean when he gets home. He would take every piece of clothing off, shower quickly with scalding hot water, and then fall into the California king-sized bed, naked. If he was lucky, he would be in bed by 1:30 A.M.

Something just doesn’t feel right, Sean thought, as he leaned his head against the granite wall of the shower stall. Carol is probably heating up my chicken noodle soup downstairs. It’s been a while since I’ve actually seen her in person. Or had chicken noodle soup. Her cooking isn’t anything to boast about, but I really have no real complaints, either. Then again that’s not why I came home early. So why did I come home so early? Why am I not at the party? I could have been getting to know some of the junior associates better. Who knows, maybe I can find someone brilliant to mentor. It’s not easy to find someone good to work with these days; they just don’t work as hard as we did. I could have also been talking with Bob, who really champions me at the firm. I couldn’t have made partner without his lobbying and cajoling some of the other senior partners. What’ll he think of me now? Antisocial? But I can’t possibly go to every party and every dinner right? The thing is, after all, I was the real leader of the deal team. I called all the shots. Everyone reported to me. I was on top of things. I am on top of things. Bob’s got to be impressed with me this time around. What an old geezer he is sometimes. I’m going to use him, stay under his wings for a bit longer, and then take his place in the firm when the timing is right. It’ll be perfect.

There was a knock on the door. “Your soup is ready,” Carol’s voice seeped through the door and sounded as if they were softened by the steam that filled the bathroom. Sean got out of the shower, dried himself off, slipped on his navy blue bathrobe, and went downstairs.

(To be continued)