New York - The Novel

say seven? Theyserve breakfast from seven at the Regency on Park. That’s not far from your apartment, is it?”
    He didn’t know what to say. A woman in her seventies was hustling him into a breakfast at some ungodly hour, and she’d already cornered him. He could see how she ran her gallery.
    “That would be fine,” he heard himself saying.
    He worked until six thirty, then gave Maggie a call to find out what time she’d be home. She said seven fifteen.
    “After supper,” he told her, “I need to talk to you alone.”
    “Oh?” She sounded tense. “What about?”
    “Business,” he said. “I can’t tell you over the phone. Something’s come up.”
    They ate with the children as usual and got them started on their homework. It was nine o’clock before they went into the bedroom and closed the door. Maggie was watching him cautiously, her face set.
    “Okay,” he said, “I got a call from a headhunter I know today. I went downtown to see him at lunchtime. There’s a chance I could be offered a job.”
    “What sort of job?” She wasn’t giving anything away.
    “As COO of a bank, actually. A smaller bank, of course. But they have a very attractive package to offer me. Effectively, they’d buy me out of my bank, and offer me a very attractive performance-related contract. It could be worth quite a lot of money.” He paused. The idea is that in three or four years I would take over as CEO. They think I have the experience to build it up into a much more significant operation. From what I’ve learned, I think they’re right.”
    But she’d already seen where this was going.
    “Where’s the bank?”
    “Boston. I’d commute weekly. It could work.”
    “So we’d see you at weekends.”
    “Right.”
    “Maybe.”
    “I’d be here weekends.”
    “And how do you feel about that?”
    “I’d rather it was here in New York, obviously. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. Professionally, this is what I’ve always wanted.”
    “But you have three children who need you. Are you really going to walk out on them, on me?”
    “That is totally unfair. I wouldn’t want to walk out on them, on you, and this would not be doing so.”
    “Maybe not in theory, not in your own mind as you see things now. But in practice that is exactly what you would be doing.”
    “It’s not ‘as I see things,’ Maggie. There’s no need to patronize me.”
    “Okay, I won’t patronize you. If this was absolutely necessary, if this was the only way you could make a living to support us, that would be different. But it is totally unnecessary. We’re fine as we are, and yet you are planning to walk out on your wife and family.”
    “I’m not fine as I am, Maggie. I have the chance to run a bank.”
    It was too much. She lost her temper.
    “Big deal, Gorham. Great for your ego. Whether you would be so happy doing it is another matter. I’m not sure you actually like being a banker, if you really want to know.”
    “You mean I’m not that good at it.”
    “I guess you’re okay at it.” She was stepping into dangerous territory—she had to know that—but she was angry now. “I think you just have a vision of yourself as a banker. That isn’t quite the same thing.”
    “Well, tomorrow morning I have a meeting down at the World Trade Center—that’s where the headhunter’s office is—with the chairman of the bank. If that goes well, and we sense a good fit, I’ll be going up to Boston to meet a few more people early next week. And if I think it’s a good idea to take that job, then that’s what I’ll be doing.”
    “And I’ll also be considering what I’m going to do, Gorham. Because I think you may be putting just a little more strain on this marriage than it can bear. Maybe you’d like to think about that, too.”
    “You want to wreck our marriage? You want to do that to the children?”
    “That’s out of order.”
    “Is it? I wonder, Maggie. You’ve got the career and the lifestyle and the kids. Maybe you don’t really need a husband now. You can take my place on the board of the building with John Vorpal, and live happily ever after.”
    “Spare me the more pathetic aspects of your midlife crisis.”
    “You know what, Maggie? You’re right. You’re always right. You are the perfect Branch & Cabell lawyer who always knows best. Maybe I should just enjoy my midlife crisis by myself. You never know, having a midlife crisis might even be something I have a real talent for.