Chapter 16: Hard Life

I had issues. But at least I could recognize them as my issues now. I’d like to say we talked until two and then I said ‘It’s time for bed.’ But I’d come home early because I was sick. After a couple sips of wine, I passed out on the sofa with my head in Bruce’s lap. He woke me with a kiss when Lily called us to dinner. She’d made pork chops with caramelized onions and shredded Brussels sprouts served with wild rice pilaf. Maybe it doesn’t sound extraordinary, but it is one of my favorites and I felt very loved.

We did talk, of course. It just wasn’t all that night. We even decided that we should each have individual dates with each of the others each week. It was a little hard on the odd man out, and I admit that on my night at home with the baby, I cried myself to sleep. The dating couple took the master bedroom. So once I put Emily down in her room and made sure the monitor was working, I went to the guest room and cried myself to sleep.

I realized this must be what the others felt like when I was out with one. I felt like a big part of my life was missing. But in the long run, it was good for us. By Emily’s first birthday and our first Christmas together as a family, we were getting along pretty well. It was only one night a week that each of us spent in the guest room. We even started calling it the Oddfellows Room. And we started treating that night as our special date night with Emily. That changed the perspective immensely when I realized that it was my opportunity to be closer to my daughter.

She started to pull away from my breast when she got a taste of strained peaches. Not long thereafter, she bit me with her brand new tooth and I encouraged her to eat more solids and take the bottle. I didn’t dry up right away because I was still expressing milk for her nighttime bottle and whenever she needed something to keep her from fussing, but she nursed less and less.

I was sad about that.

I didn’t breastfeed the first time around. My mother forbade it as indecent. Willa had bottles of milk and formula, and half the time I didn’t get to give her those. But breastfeeding was so intimate and personal. I knew that I nourished my daughter with what I ate while I was pregnant, but you don’t really realize what that means until you see her actually sucking the milk out of your breast. I just felt so close to her when she came to me for food.

She was up and cruising around the condo. We’d childproofed everything, thanks to Bruce and his tools. He’d padded every sharp corner, built shelves that were hung well above her head, and installed childproof locks on the cabinets, drawers, and toilet seat. He was a good daddy.

We had a holiday party for my staff. Unlike single family detached home sales, condo sales didn’t drop off as sharply once snow flew. I was able to keep both salespeople and my receptionist on their salary. I was happy that both earned a bonus right before Christmas and I padded each of their pay envelopes with an extra hundred dollars.

It was the first time we’d really had guests in our home. Gordon and his wife, my three people and their significant others, and Jim. He brought a pleasant woman named Dana with him, but none of us figured out what their relationship was or if they actually had one. The ten of them made all kinds of appropriate comments about how lovely our home was and raised a few eyebrows when I introduced my boyfriend and girlfriend.

“Oh, like that TV show Three’s Company,” my receptionist Renata said.

“Yes,” Lily replied. “Except there’s sex.”

Carla Fiske elbowed her husband and whispered, “I told you so.” He just shook his head.

Emily, of course, was the star of the show until about nine when her little eyelids drooped and she fell asleep in Gordon’s arms. He brought her to me and practically dropped her in my lap.

“I don’t know what to do now,” he said in a panic. “Please just don’t make any comments about how natural it looks. I’m not cut out to be a father. Just ... no!”

“Gordon is afraid he would have to reform,” Carla laughed. “But if he ever started talking children, he’d find my legs crossed anyway.”

“What do you do with your time, Carla?” Dana asked. I was glad I didn’t let that question escape my lips. Carla was practically a fashion plate. Perfect hair, perfect nails, perfect teeth, perfect party dress, and high heels that made her almost as tall as her husband.

“You mean besides being the perfect little corporate real estate wife?” she teased. “Well, I can’t shop all the time, so I practice law.”

“Okay. The conversation got there,” Gordon said. “You might as well go ahead and tell people.”

“What?” I asked. “Is there news in your lives?”

“What Gordon is referring to is that my name will be on the primary ballot for City Council this spring,” Carla said. “I have a committee, of course, but other than that I haven’t really said anything to anyone yet. We’ll launch the campaign near the end of January, though I’m sure it will leak well before then.”

“Since the primary is still four months away, don’t give away your whole campaign tonight,” I said. I hoped this wouldn’t turn into a political gathering. “Just tell us all how you plan to deal with the liability of your husband.”

“We actually have different last names,” Carla said, “so I thought I’d try keeping him a secret until after the primary. That will give us ‘new revelations’ for the fall campaign. If I win the primary.”

We all wished her luck and unlike every politician I’d ever heard of, she didn’t bring up her campaign again.

“We could have a more intimate party with just Gordon and Carla sometime if you want,” Lily said as we snuggled in bed after everyone went home. “You know. If it would help your business. Don’t you think so, Bruce?”

“Well, if you two can take care of Gordon. I don’t swing that way. Otherwise, I’m game.”

“No,” I said. “I know you both. You both want me to take care of Gordon so you can pry Carla’s thighs apart and drink from the fountain of power. No, no, no.”

“How about if we just invite Carla?” Lily asked. I started tickling her and before long the three of us were tangled together in a Gordian Knot of love. I knew they were just teasing, but still ... I had to consider that last option.

We ended the year with 61 condos sold. We were really just getting up to speed, but nine a month wasn’t bad at all. All twenty of the units in my original building sold. We had two more buildings over halfway sold and my current building was selling as the crews finished the renovations. That was about a unit every three to four weeks. We actually had contracts on the next three units under renovation, but we don’t count the sale until it’s closed.

I did some research and started offering some appliance upgrades in units. Jim still had a mindset of restoring all the woodwork to mint condition, but his restoration of the kitchens sucked. We put together a premium package for kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures. People loved the pedestal sink option. To me that was a waste. There was no place to put your toothbrush. But it was actually less expensive to put in a pedestal than to build a nice cabinet with a one-piece counter/sink combination. And they sold for a premium. For those who wanted a real premium fixture, I found a guy who was collecting and restoring old claw-foot bathtubs. Higher price for less convenience in my book. But they sold. Especially in the old residence hotel. People were captured as soon as I closed the old-fashioned gate on the elevator to take them upstairs.

There were some long-time residents in the old hotel. Miss Flora had moved in during World War II when she was working in a munitions factory. She did not want to leave her apartment and did not want any new-fangled renovations done. She’d lived there for nearly forty years and had no intention to move at this stage of her life. Jim resolved the issue. He bought the apartment and leased it to her. I discovered he did the same with nearly a dozen other units. It was all funny money since he technically owned the building to start with, but now the units were officially registered as condos and he was personally the landlord. Of course, I didn’t earn a commission on those. They simply never came up for sale.