"Why do you say marriage like it's a curse?" My mother asked me and I looked at her with horror.
"I mean you would think that! You've been married four times. It would sound good to you, but it's your example that has made me swear of holy matrimony for most of my life!" I said bluntly and she gasped, clutching her heart dramatically.
"I don't know what you mean by that but I will pretend you didn't just say it." She responded and picked up her glass of iced tea.
"But please, rephrase your words and make it sound more believable. How did I become the subject matter to the point that getting married was involved?" I asked her and she sighed.
"I didn't raise you to be slow. Your father is thinking of stepping down as overall CEO and they said they were going to mention it in the meeting next month, you're next for the position but they won't give it to you if you're still unmarried." She said like it was a normal occurrence and ultimatums like that were dropped everyday.
I stood up from the chair and looked at her as she played with her iced coffee. "So he was just going to drop this on me one random work day and make me choose between getting married and taking the CEO position? I mean, he's not even married!"
"He is the boss and he is your father so you should know how to talk to him with respect and not this disgust I can hear in your tone, Lincoln."
"Maybe if he stopped the drugs he uses and focused on peacefully retiring we would have a more peaceful life" I retorted and her eyes widened in surprise.
"Does he do drugs?" She asked me and I raised a question, watching her neglect what seemed to be my life's dramatic change and she was asking about her ex husband, noting that she is currently in the early stages of her current relationship.
"No mother he doesn't! You were married for fourteen years. You should know he is too uptight to do drugs."
"I don't know him as much as you think I do. Plus, he has a new girlfriend and she is much younger, she probably uses drugs and has managed to charm your father into destroying your life." She muttered grudgingly and Linc nodded, as he fell into the cane chair, allowing himself to sink into its foamy cushion.
"Oh mother," he mumbled and she was quiet.
"What of Eliza? I haven't seen her in a while?" His mother stated she wasn't Eliza's best fan and she never failed to show it. My mother once said Eliza had the power to charm me into matrimony but she never used it and that was why she didn't like her, considering she was my fathers secretary also, before they finally got married.
"Eliza quit work here. I don't know why, but she did." I answered and I saw that she wanted to ask a lot of questions and I wanted her to go on, but I wasn't in the mood.
"I must add, there's an alternative if it seems like getting a wife on your own is difficult. There's a friend of your fathers, he has agreed for you and his daughter to get married, it's a mutual agreement and you may know him. Colonel Redford is his name. I shouldn't be telling you all this, but your father plans to send her here next week. Then he would 'coincidentally bring up the issue of getting a wife in the next board meeting." She explained, talking like all of this was normal information.
"You both found me a wife? What the heck is wrong with you both!" I asked her and stood up, unable to listen to any of her words, words that seemed to be endless.
"So where are you going, Linc?" She called out to me.
"To do what I should have done a long time ago." I responded. Things were going haywire and I needed to see her, maybe then they would make more sense to me.
"You have a worse temper than your father," she scoffed as I left the room. I needed to make things right.
**********
I knocked on the door of her apartment and fond memories flashed through my mind. Even after I instructed Alex to send her the salary of the last month alongside some of her other stuff she didn't say anything about it and it made me almost mad.
When she opened this door I was going to go down on my knees and beg her and force her back into my life, things were being clearer and I was making sense of the almost supernatural feelings I had for her.
The door opened and her twin brother opened the door. It had always amazed me how much they looked alike and seeing all of her features on his more defined face made me miss her more.
"If it isn't good ol' Mr Grey," the annoying brother said and I was running out of patience.
"Nick, you look dumber than the last time I saw you." I responded angrily and his eyes widened, we shared a mutual dislike for one another but he had learned to keep his safe distance because of the last encounter we had.
"I've missed you too Grey. What do you need?" He asked, folding his hands against his chest.
"Where is Eliza? I need to speak to her, is she in?" I asked him and he looked confused for a second before standing up straight.
"When was the last time you spoke to her?" He asked me about his eye and then it was my turn to be confused.
"The day she quit her job." I answered shortly and he nodded in what looked like pity and a mix of confusion.
"Eliza left. She went out of the states two weeks back." He told me and I was filled with rage immediately.
"Do I look like I'm joking to you?" I asked him and he shook his head in surprise.
"She isn't here, she left New York exactly one week ago today." He insisted.
Blinded by my anger and rage grabbed his shirt and drew him closer to me.
"This is the last time I will ask, where is Eliza?"