Three and a half thousand miles. The distance between them made him feel sick, and he breathed deeply, trying to quell the nausea.
But he got a pleasant surprise. There were seven new text messages waiting for him, the first of which started with:I can’t sleep. All I can think of is you, and all the things I’d like you to do to me.
The next six messages went into great detail as to what those thingswere,which Cohen read with a dry mouth and wide eyes.
Afterwards, he took another shower, before falling into bed, exhausted.
His first meeting the next day was with his divorce lawyer. He handed over Christine’s latest demands for money, before detailing his need for the return of his grandmother’s ring.
His lawyer started nodding enthusiastically. ‘Right,’ he told Cohen. ‘We’ll offer her a renegotiation of the alimony terms. We’ll offer her a twenty percent increase on her monthly payments in exchange for the ring, but we’ll also ask for stricter conditions to be adhered to. So—’
‘—no.’
His lawyer looked up, clearly surprised. ‘No? This could save you years of alimony payments, Cohen. Just think about that, and about—’
But Cohen shook his head. ‘No. Give her what she wants. A twenty percent increase in exchange for the ring. No renegotiation otherwise.’
‘Cohen—’
‘—look,’ Cohen said with a sigh. ‘Listen to me. Christine only gets alimony so long as she remains single. She’s stuck in a limbo of sorts, unable or unwilling to move on because of money. Well, money I have. And if it’s so important to her that she’d rather be alone and living off an ex-husband’s income, well, let her have it.’
His lawyer stared at him. ‘Are you sure about this, Cohen?’
‘I’m sure.’ Cohen nodded. ‘Contact her lawyer, lay it out for her. I want that ring ASAP though, so make it very clear that this is a one-time offer. In fact, if she returns the ring by end of business today, I’ll give her an extra ten thousand dollars on top of the twenty percent.’
His lawyer’s mouth fell open. ‘This is ... this is your ex-wife, Cohen. Remember, the one who left you for another man? The same ex-wife who then dumped that man in exchange for extra alimony payments? You used to come in here and demand revenge. You used to want to make her suffer. What happened?’
Cohen sat back and drummed his fingers on the table. His reply, when he made it, was short and succinct.
‘I grew up.’
His next stop was his office at Roberts-Canning LLC. After his two-word reply to Fowler’s email, followed by three days of radio silence, he’d half expected to be escorted from the premises as soon as he set foot in the building.
But his pass worked as normal and people treated him with the usual deference and respect. He went into his office, which was untouched and immaculately clean after his year of absence, and loaded up his computer, noting with surprise that he still had access to the mainframe and all his saved files. He spent two hours tidying them up, beginning the process of closing up his accounts, when Tarquin Fowler stormed in.
‘Fowler.’ Cohen nodded at him from behind his desk, not even flinching when Fowler slammed his hands down upon the mahogany.
‘No thanks?’Fowler snarled at him. ‘No thanks? Are you kidding me, Ford?’
‘No,’ Cohen replied calmly. ‘No, I wasn’t kidding.’
‘Do you know what a time of it I’ve had explaining your absence for the last three days? Thank your lucky stars that Canning’s already in Panama. I told him that you were off the grid working on a Saudi deal in Europe. He bought it, thank Christ, but still ...’ Fowler stopped to take a breath. ‘What the hell, Ford? Is this about wanting more money? Some kind of power play? Because if it is, don’t be a fool. You’re not Canning yet, you know?’
Cohen nodded slowly. No, he wasn’t Canning. Not yet and not ever, if he had anything to do with it.
‘I want out, Fowler,’ he said simply. ‘This isn’t about money, or power, or anything underhand. I just don’t want the job. I want out.’
Fowler stared at him, much like his lawyer had stared at him earlier.
‘You want out,’ Fowler repeated, his voice tight. ‘Just like that, you want out?’
‘Yes.’
‘Just like that?’
‘Yes. Just like this. I’m done with it all, Fowler.’
For a moment there was quiet as Fowler digested the news.
