“Can I ask you a kind of weird question?” I ask. “Why did you marry Francois?”
CeeCee looks highly offended. “Because I love him more than life itself. And he asked.”
“Yes, I know allthat. Don’t get your designer panties in a twist.”
She giggles.
“What I mean is, you’ve both been married twice before. His main residence is in France. Yours is in LA. And you’re both at an age where you’re not going to have any babies.”
“Francois and I aren’t going to have babies? Oh, crap. Don’t tell Francois! He only married me for my fertile womb!”
We laugh and laugh.
“But, seriously,” I say. “I don’t get it. Okay, you both fell head over heels. Woohoo. Congratulations. But why not be ‘jet-setting lovers’? Wouldn’t that be far more romantic than trying to make a trans-continental marriage work?”
CeeCee looks at me like I’m trying to glue false eyelashes onto a pig. “You think being ‘jet-setting lovers’ ismoreromantic than exchanging vows offoreverwith the person you’re head over heels in love with? And doing it in front of family and friends, in a ceremony that dates back hundreds of years and islegally binding?And,in my case, getting to exchange those vows of forever, and thereafter partying with said family and friends, in a seven-hundred-year-old castle in the South of France? Pfuff. I mean, to each their own. But I,personally, think there’s nothing more romantic than any ofthat. Especially considering Francois’s wealth. He owns half the world, and yet, he told me his life wouldn’t be complete if he didn’t spend the rest of it withme.”
“But, see, that’s my point. Spend the rest of your lives together. Great. Wonderful.Whygetmarried? You and Francois both know, for a fact, marriage isn’t necessarily forever, no matter what you say in your vows. CeeCee, Francois is yourthirdhusband.”
“He is? Oh, shit! Please, don’t tell him that! He thought I was a virgin when he married me.” She flashes me a snarky look. “Yes, I’m fully aware marriage might not lastforever, but the thrill is that itcould. Did you not hear a word I just said? Marriage isn’t aboutlogic. It’s a leap of faith, you fool.”
I bring my drink to my lips as my drunken brain feverishly tries to ignore the crazy shit my lovesick heart is saying to me.
CeeCee arches an eyebrow. “You’re planning to propose to Georgina?”
My heart shouts,Yes! But I ignore it, as best I can. Because, obviously, that would be a ridiculous thing to do.Georgina is too young for that. And I don’t even believe in the institution of marriage, as a matter of principle. “No,” I manage to say in a calm voice. “I don’t believe in marriage. But even if I did, Georgina istwelveyearsyounger than me. She’s got a lot of life to live before she’d be ready to commit to ‘forever’ with me.”
“I’m fifteen years younger than Francois, and I was ready to commit to him forever.”
“Yes, but you’re twenty-five, darling. Not twenty-two. That’s a big difference.”
We both laugh at my silly, drunken joke.
“I was twenty-two the first time I got married,” CeeCee says wistfully. “And it was so much fun.”
“CeeCee, you gotdivorced!”
“Yes, but it was fun while it lasted. And the wedding was a damned good party.”
I can’t help laughing.
“Have you asked Georgina what she thinks about all this ‘forever’ business? She’s been through a lot at such a young age, you know. Losing her mother. Taking care of her father through his cancer battle. And let’s not forget what she went through with Gates. I think maturity has more to do with what’s happened to a person in their years of life, rather than how many years of life a person has had.”
I swirl my drink. “I’m not going to ask Georgina’s permission toaskher to marry me. That’d take all the fun out of it.”
CeeCee chuckles. “Oh, so youarea romantic, underneath it all.”
I shrug. “Maybe I am. I decided tonight I hate the word ‘girlfriend.’ It isn’t even close to enough to describe what Georgina means to me. In fact, the word feels like an insult, at this point. A hideous slur.”
CeeCee laughs. “Well, I think that’s a tad bit dramatic. But okay.”
I look out at the neon-lit view, gathering my thoughts. There’s something on my mind... something I didn’t realize I thought about, until this very moment. But now, suddenly, it’s crystal clear. “I think my parents’ marriage, and bitter divorce, has messed me up in the romance department. My father was thirty-two when he knocked up my nineteen-year-old mother and married her. I was too young during my parents’ marriage to understand the dynamics of their age gap, but looking back, as an adult, I can plainly see my father steamrolled my mother at every turn. He lorded over her, controlled her, squeezed the life out of her. In fact, I’d even venture to say he gaslighted her. Finally, my mother discovered his mistresses—one of whom was nineteen, by the way. Oh, and thenhedivorcedherwhen she found him out,as ifshe’ddone something wrong becausehehad mistresses. I was only nine when they divorced, so I didn’t fully grasp everything, but Georgina recently showed me some legal documents that shed some light on my parents’ divorce and custody battle, and I got to see how nasty it was. How scorched earth my father was. And I guess, if I’m being honest, I’m terrified of history repeating itself with me and Georgina. Either with me as the controlling older husband who squeezes the life out of his young wife. Or with me as my mother, who falls apart, completely, when the fairytale doesn’t work out.”
“Oh, Reed. Who says the fairytale wouldn’t work out?” She grabs my hand, her face awash in sympathy and love. “Not every love story ends the way your parents’ did. You’re not your father, and you’re not your mother. You’reyou.A beautiful, brilliant man with a huge heart and a whole lot of love to give. You’ve kept the best of your love bottled up for thirty-four years, like the finest wine. It’s time for you to finally pour that delicious wine into someone’s goblet, without holding back. Whether that will translate to marriage for you, I have no idea. Just, please, don’t let your parents, and your childhood, keep you from doing whatever is truly in your heart. Whatever that might be.”
My eyes feel as though they’re on the cusp of tearing up. So, I take a deep breath, and then another, to ward off my threatening emotion.
“Forever is a beautiful thing to promise to someone you love,” CeeCee says. “If you’re feeling the urge to propose to Georgina, then get yourself a prenup and roll the dice.”
