The Arrangement 1

Chapter 4

That night April found herself driving alone into the city. Luckily the babysitter had been available. The girls were crying when she left the house and she felt guilty for doing it but she had no choice. 

Walter had called from the office to say the partners wanted to meet her. It was another idea she had only been made privy to at the final minute but as was usual, she rushed to accommodate it. She just wished she’d had more time to get ready. The restaurant was an intimidating place where they served hundred dollar bottles of wine and the waitresses all wore the skimpiest little dresses they could get away with. She rubbed her hand over her own little black dress as if doing so would make it blacker, tighter, sexier. She was an attractive woman at thirty-four, in great shape, well taken care of. Walter was forty and not nearly as trim, but she knew him well enough to know he liked them young and the fact that she was younger and fitter than him didn’t stop his eye from wandering.

She had hardly seen Walter since Monday when he’d told her of the promotion. Now her house was on the market, her belongings boxed up and shipped off to a depot somewhere, and she’d be in a new house by Saturday. She thought, if things would just slow down for a second her mind would have a chance to catch up and get to grips with all the changes that were occurring. Then again, she might break down and have a panic attack if she thought about all that was going on. She’d never found change easy and this was more than she was used to by far. Luckily she didn’t have time to think. She was being kept too busy with surprises.

She pulled up outside the restaurant and a valet took her keys from her. The boy couldn’t have been much older than eighteen and he was beautiful with his suntan and messy blonde hair. Usually April would have gotten a kick out of that, maybe even said something flirty, but tonight she was just too nervous. All it did was remind her of how attractive the waitresses were going to be when she got inside.

She prayed that she would at least be better looking than some of the partners’ wives. It wasn’t that she was vain or competitive. That wasn’t it at all, and usually she would take pleasure in the beauty of other women she was in the company of. It was just that with all the upheaval of the last few days she was feeling vulnerable and insecure. She couldn’t help it. If there was one fault she had it was her insecurity and she knew it, but it was something she just couldn’t change and so would be struggling with it for the foreseeable future.

She entered the glitzy restaurant and the maître d’ welcomed her. He nodded knowingly when she told him her name. It was the kind of place where they acquainted themselves with the guest list at the start of each evening. He took her coat from her and then brought her to a round table at the back of the restaurant. She walked past men and women who probably ran the country when they weren’t dining. When she got to the table she was surprised to see that none of the other wives were there. It was just Walter and the three other partners sitting there smoking cigars like it was boy’s night and they were about to have a poker game.

They were laughing at something that must have been very funny when the maître d’ announced her and pulled out her seat. The four men stopped laughing and rose courteously in their seats while she sat. Then they sat back down.

–Gentlemen, you know my wife, April. April, this is Herb, Frank and Pete.

She’d met them all at various functions down through the years of course but Walter hadn’t been a partner then and so she had never really been introduced to any of them on equal terms. She had to admit, sitting here with them all, being given their full attention like this did make her feel a little special.

She smiled as graciously as she knew how and bowed her head a little. They were all older than Walter, in their fifties, Herb in his sixties, and she knew she could charm the pants off them now that she had them to herself. She was also pleased to see that their waiter was a man. The evening was looking up.

They ate a delicious meal, accompanied by even more delicious wine, and throughout the evening all four men were exceedingly attentive to her. They ordered for her of course, but she found this to be a pleasure as the waiter brought out plate after plate of the finest and most expensive delicacies on the menu. Then at the end of the meal, while she was sipping coffee and the men were drinking cognac, Herb raised his glass.

–Well my dear, he said, addressing April, you’ve been an absolute darling.

The other men, including Walter, all agreed and rose their glasses.

Herb continued. –We just wanted to take this night to welcome you to the Shepherd & Wedderburn family. And I don’t say that lightly, my dear. To me this firm, these men sitting around the table and their wives, are my family. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

Herb was a bit flushed from the alcohol he’d been enjoying. April was too, but she gave him the most gracious smile she could and mouthed silently, thank you.

–I’m honored to be included in the family, she said to the table and she meant it.