A Perfect Life: A Novel (15 page)

And Salima was adjusting to Simon too. They had occasional arguments about how to spend their time. He had suggestions for every day, and he thought everything they did should have some educational value. But he also made her negotiate the post office, the pharmacy, the grocery store, the dry cleaner, the bank. And he forced her to take public transportation instead of cabs. She insisted
that her mother preferred that she take taxis, but he didn’t care. He was trying to teach her everything that he considered useful to her, while he was there. He even made her put the groceries away, and complained when she did it out of order and he found cottage cheese in the cupboard and pasta in the fridge. He expected her to get it right, and occasionally he was a hard taskmaster, but whenever he was and she accomplished the task he had set before her, she felt great about herself. Blaise was watching her grow more self-confident every day. And he still wanted to work on her about getting a seeing-eye dog. He thought that with a dog she could go to school alone. He didn’t think she needed a caretaker all the time. And the thought of that panicked Blaise when he talked to her about it, and she told him to slow down.

“I have a fantastic opportunity with her while we’re here,” he explained. “I want her to gain as much ground as she can before she goes back to Caldwell,” he told her mother, and Blaise pointed out to him that he was moving ahead at jet speed, and so was Salima. She loaded and unloaded the dishwasher now with ease, and even helped him with the cooking. He had shown her how to make an omelet on her own, and it was good. She had surprised her mother with one on Sunday morning. They were definitely on a crash course toward success, and once her music lessons started, Salima was ecstatic. Some of what she had to do was boring, like scales, but the rest of the time she had a ball, and Lucianna also let her play with her voice. She loved to hear her sing. And once in a while they sang duets that were exquisite. Lucianna had a beautiful soprano voice, and when their voices blended, it sounded like angels singing. Sometimes it brought Blaise to tears to hear them, and
Simon was deeply moved. Salima had a powerful voice, and it was growing stronger with the lessons. He could hear the difference within weeks.

And on the weekends, when she didn’t have work to catch up on, Blaise joined Simon and Salima on their outings. Even when she brought work home, she would stop what she was doing and go out with them for a while. They went to movies, stores, museums that had tactile exhibits, and a performance of
La Traviata
at the Met. Simon was using all the wonders of New York to educate and entertain her, and little by little he was making her more independent. He was constantly asking her to help him with chores or on the computer, and he asked her to do her own laundry, and she refused. She said her mother didn’t either, and he laughed. She had a point, and maybe Salima would never have to, so he gave up on that.

It was also a huge relief to Blaise that enough time had passed—Salima hadn’t come down with meningitis and was healthy. She had discussed it with their doctor, and the incubation period had passed. The school was staying closed for longer, but the risk of illness was at least not still a concern.

All of them were busy: Simon with Salima, Salima with the things he asked her to do, and especially her singing lessons, which were time consuming too, and Lucianna gave her homework. And Blaise was constantly swamped at work and trying to prove something to the boys upstairs. Zack was still breathing down her neck, and Susie Quentin got more ambitious every day. She wanted Charlie to give her more specials, and she was obviously jealous of Blaise. She wanted to show everyone what she could do. Zack
played along with her with an idea that was typical of the entertainment division he had come from and unheard of in news. After a long meeting with Susie, he suggested she do a live interview with the first lady in January. It would be a first. He thought it would be a great coup to establish Susie as a valid alternative to Blaise, since all of her specials and interviews were taped. He said a live interview with the first lady would be “fresh and exciting,” and Susie came out of the meeting with stars in her eyes. She confided to several people that she was sure she’d be even more important at the network than Blaise after that.

Charlie had a quiet meeting with Zack as soon as he heard about it, trying to explain that a live interview with a first lady was fraught with risk. It was traditional and much safer to have it taped, as Blaise always did. Zack was quick to brush him off.

“We’re through with traditions around here,” Zack said, looking irritated. “We need new blood, new people, new ideas. We’re going live. And Susie’s just the one to do it.” Charlie hoped he was right and broke the news to Blaise himself, before she heard it from someone else.

“Is he crazy? What if something goes wrong? If the first lady says something she shouldn’t?” They both knew that happened. “She’ll never do it live.” But much to everyone’s amazement, her press secretary agreed to it. Susie had won the plum of the year. And Blaise felt like she’d been left in the dust. She would never have dared to suggest a live interview with the wife of a sitting president, or anyone else of that magnitude. Her subjects were far more comfortable knowing they were being taped, in case anything went
wrong. It was Zack’s idea, but Susie was unlivable, she was so full of herself, after it was announced. Zack had created a monster, and Blaise had to live with it every day.

Mark felt sorry for her, and she talked to Simon about it several times at night.

He was shocked at the abuse she had to take, and the stress she was under, and he admired her immensely for her grace and poise, and strength. Although to him she readily confessed that she had an overwhelming urge to strangle Susie every time she saw her. And he didn’t blame her a bit.

In the weeks he’d been in New York with them, Simon had somehow become her confidant. He was smart, interested, and there every night. Blaise was surprised at the things she told him, how much she trusted him, and valued his opinions and advice about her life. And he was equally open with her about his own. He confessed the secrets of his childhood, his fears about his life and if he’d ever make something of himself, his regrets about Megan and the unhappy relationship he’d fallen into with her. And they talked about Salima a lot, and Blaise’s dreams for her. She wanted her to find a career path that was meaningful to her. It was the same advice her father had given her at the same age. Blaise wanted her to have a job she loved, to give meaning to her life. The rest would fall into place after that.

Simon respected Blaise enormously for the things she said. And despite the times she knew she hadn’t been there for her, Simon admired the kind of mother she was. Her heart was in the right place. And living under one roof, Blaise’s relationship with Salima was flourishing.

Both Simon and Blaise were surprised by the multitude of subjects they discussed, sometimes until very late at night. And neither of them felt the difference in their ages. They were just two people who had become friends, and respected each other, and liked each other better every day.

Both of them took pride in Salima’s progress. Thanks to Simon, she was more independent than she ever had been. She had learned how to do countless new things, and she was much more willing to go out into the world. But she still refused to use a cane, or talk about a dog. She was perfectly happy being with him.

“But what if I’m not here one day? If you’re a famous singer on a concert tour? You think I’m going to do that with you?” He teased her to make the point.

“You’d better!” she shouted at him and gave him a playful shove. She was totally comfortable with him now too. He was like the big brother she’d never had. “That’s your job!” she reminded him.

“What? Follow some crazy rock star around, while you sign autographs and keep me up all night, fighting off your fans? Hell, no! I’m going back to Massachusetts to live out my life in peace.”

“You’d be bored to death now after New York,” Salima said to him, and what she said was truer than she knew. He had been thinking that himself. He was having a ball in New York. And he loved spending time with Salima and Blaise. It no longer felt like a job to him after he had been there for a while. It had begun to feel like home, and they had a lot of fun together. His time with them had turned out to be none of what he expected. And when Eric called to check on him again, he told him so.

“Well, don’t wind up staying there with them,” Eric said mournfully,
well aware that Blaise could afford to pay him far more than the school, and might steal him from them. “I’m expecting you back when we reopen in January,” Eric reminded him, but it seemed like a long way off. And Simon knew he had a contract with them that he had to honor until May. But in the meantime, he was thoroughly enjoying New York and everything it offered. And their dinners together every night felt like family. He loved his long conversations with Blaise.

Blaise was helping him clear the table one night and loaded the dishwasher with him, while Salima had a lesson with Lucianna later than usual, and Blaise was complaining about the network again. She couldn’t stand Zack Austin as her boss, and the trouble and angst he created for her every chance he got. Susie’s upcoming live interview still stuck in her throat, and the unpleasant, supercilious way Zack spoke to her sometimes made her want to quit. With his propensity for firing people without warning, she was tired of living with a sword over her head all the time. The tension he created around him was palpable and not the way she wanted to work.

“Sometimes I feel like if I blink for a minute, someone will knife me in the back and I’ll be gone. I just don’t want to live like that anymore, no matter how much they pay me. I want to be treated like a human being.” As she said it, she reached past him to take a plate out of the sink, and brushed very close to him. She could feel his warmth, and without thinking, he gently touched her cheek with his hand. He had never wanted to do that before, and she felt a current of electricity run through her. She looked up at him, and as their eyes met, she completely forgot what she’d been saying and so did he. He had felt it too. He didn’t know if he should apologize or ignore it, and Blaise went back to loading the dishwasher as though
nothing had happened, so he took his cue from her. But it had been an odd feeling wanting to touch her, and he couldn’t stop himself.

Blaise had noticed more and more recently, that the age difference between them didn’t seem to exist. She looked up to him as a man, and shared many of his values and opinions, and he thought of her as a woman his own age. It had been so long since she’d had a man to share her thoughts with, and it suddenly seemed normal to talk to him about everything. He made so much sense. And he loved the absence of drama in her life. For three years, every day had been a roller coaster with Megan, as they hid from her abusive alcoholic husband, which had begun to seem normal to Simon. With Blaise he felt sane again. The fifteen years between them didn’t matter anymore. It was an odd but endearing friendship for both of them, which crossed the boundaries of her being his employer and the difference in their age.

She never mentioned how much time they spent together to anyone, or how impressed she was with him. All she ever said was what a terrific job he was doing with Salima. And she had said it to Mark several times. She never said anything else about him, and all Mark knew was that Abby’s replacement was working out well.

Blaise was on an all-day trip to Washington to interview a freshman senator who was making noise about running for president when she realized she had forgotten some papers at the office that she would need when she got back that night, and she called Mark to have him drop them off at her apartment on his way home.

“I’m sorry to do that to you,” she apologized. “I was so tired when I left yesterday, that I didn’t even notice they weren’t in my briefcase till I got on the plane today.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take a cab and drop them off after work. Can I leave them with the doorman?”

“They’re a little sensitive. There’s a report on the senator who just got outed for having an affair with a fourteen-year-old. Do you mind leaving them with Simon?”

“Sure, no problem.” And it would give him a chance to see Salima, which he hadn’t done since she got home. He hadn’t seen her in a year. They only talked on the phone, and he was one of her biggest fans.

Mark rang the doorbell when he got there, and he had the cab waiting downstairs. The papers Blaise wanted were in an envelope marked confidential. A man opened the door. Mark found himself looking at a tall handsome man with his shirtsleeves rolled up. He was wearing jeans and cowboy boots and had dark tousled hair. Simon looked at Mark and immediately guessed who he was. He matched Blaise’s description of him to perfection. Short, bald, and slight, he looked like a bundle of nerves, and he was wearing a blazer and an Hermès tie. He dressed for work every day. And Mark thought Simon looked like a movie star. He was tall, dark, and sexy, and suddenly Mark wondered if there was more going on with him and Blaise than what she said.

“I’m Simon,” he said, holding out a hand to Blaise’s assistant with a broad smile. “Come on in. I’m sure Salima would love to see you. She talks about you all the time.” Mark could hear her singing in the background. She was having her lesson with Lucianna.

“I don’t want to disturb her,” Mark said, looking nervous, just as Blaise had said he would. He handed Simon the envelope and quickly moved toward the elevator and rang. Simon looked disappointed
and as though he were afraid he had said something to offend him. He hadn’t, but Mark had been so totally unprepared for his looks and the aura about him, and the ease Simon obviously felt in her home, that he was embarrassed to come in. The elevator was there in an instant, and with a wave and a smile he was gone. “Faster than the speed of sound,” Simon said to himself, closed the front door, and went to put the envelope on Blaise’s desk. She found it there when she got home. And she asked Simon about it when she had a cup of tea with him in the kitchen. Salima had already gone to bed, after a long, exhausting lesson. Lucianna was demanding a lot from her, but she loved it.