With a Bang (Jack McClane Story)

Chapter 7

6 months later

It's been six months since my Russian adventure with Jack McClane and his father John and to say I was now bored with my life was an understatement. I had always been bored with the Upper Eastside of Manhattan lifestyle but now it was just downright excruciating. It wasn't even the adventure that I was missing but the people that were part of it. I haven't seen Jack since we left Russia.

Once we had arrived in Moscow, Jack contacted his base and reported everything that had happened, including how I got involved. The CIA was able to get me back into my hotel room to collect my things and get me back to New York, even without proper identification. I got to take a private jet to JFK, but the disappointing part is that Jack and John had to take a different jet to New Jersey.

I immediately started writing once I got home, and I wrote nonstop until my manuscript was completed a couple of weeks later. I sent it to an editor at HarperCollins who wanted to publish it right away. Once my parents realized that I had succeeded in becoming a published author, they changed their tune rather quickly.

They began bragging to all their friends, associates, and acquaintances. They even wanted to throw a launching party for me, which is what I was getting ready for right now. My mother would find a reason to throw a party for anything.

I sat in front of my vanity doing my make-up and smiled as I saw the thin, barely noticeable scar on my cheekbone. The only physical evidence left that Russia really happened.

When I arrived home six months ago, in the state I was in, my mother nearly had a heart attack. She went on and on about how my beautiful face was ruined and how she didn't know how she was going to go out in public with a child that looked like she went through a wood chipper. Right, because the way I looked affected her soooo much.

Once my makeup was done, I stood up and put on the dress that my mother picked out for me. It was a beautiful, royal blue, floor length silk gown. It was a halter, but the straps met in the middle of the sweetheart neckline. The hemp of the dress has rhinestones sewn into it, just like that halter strap does.

It really was a beautiful dress, but I didn't love it. It wasn't me. In fact, this entire life wasn't for me. I sighed as I looked through the mirror one last time before leaving my room and heading downstairs.

"There you are, sweetheart." My mother said and beckoned me over. "Let me get a good look at you." I stood tall and poised and let her study me and finally she let out a sigh, "I suppose it will do...I guess." Never good enough.

"Shall we go?" I asked.

"Yes. Your father is going to meet us there. He's working late." She said.

I know she knows that he isn't working late. He's sleeping with his secretary. He was probably having sex with her on his desk right now. Oh well, she can live in her little fantasy world if she wants to.

We got to the party fashionably late, like we always do. I spoke to a few people and gave polite greetings to many more. I even spoke to a New York Times reporter about the release of my novel. Once that was over, I grabbed a glass of champagne from a waitress passing by and downed it before exchanging my empty glass for a full one from another waiter.

I made a beeline for an empty table in the back of the room but was, unfortunately, intercepted by my mother. "Haven dear, Kenneth is here. You remember him, don't you? You went to high school together. Did you know he's recently taken over his father's business?"

"Yes mom. I could never forget Kenneth." I said–he slept with half the female population...while he was dating me.

"Oh good. He's over there talking to Jill Hennibee. Be a dear and say hello."