“Where are you?” Christy asked.
“I’m at the Pierre. I moved. Sorry, I should have called as soon as I left the club. It happened suddenly.”
“Why all the secrecy? Are you hiding from your creditors?” she asked.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Okay, fine, whatever,” Christy said. “I was hoping we could talk. Can you meet me?”
“Of course. I can be at Harry Cipriani’s in five minutes.”
Ten minutes later, Christy walked into Cipriani’s. Michael was already at the bar drinking a beer. He’d ordered a martini for Christy.
“Hi, there,” he said, standing up and pulling out a barstool. “You look great.”
“Thanks.” Christy knew she looked good. Her hair had just been styled. Her athlete’s figure was back. And she’d turned the corner in more important ways.
“Listen,” she said, as he said “Beegee” at the same time.
“You first,” they both said.
“No, you,” they both said. They smiled at each other.
“Fine. I’ll go first,” Christy said, taking a big sip of her drink. “Michael, I’m obviously not the woman you married anymore. You married a trophy wife. I’m anything but that now. I gained weight. I stopped dressing up for you. I didn’t pay attention to you the way I used to. I was so busy with that ridiculous PTA that I gave up traveling with you. I’m sorry. Maybe I had a hand in driving you to Galit. I don’t know. But I’m here to say that I’d like us to see if we can work things out.”
Michael took Christy’s hand. “Beegee, I want that, too. I never cared if you were a CEO. I mean, if it was important to you, I wanted you to have it. What I mean is…oh, hell. I just want back the girl I married. And I take full responsibility for what happened with Galit. She’s been after me for some time. I thought I could resist her and still get the book done. I was wrong. I was weak.”
Maybe we can put our marriage back together again, she thought. Christy pulled out her cell phone and handed it to Michael. “Call Galit. Tell her it’s over. Tell her you aren’t going to cooperate on the book anymore and you won’t see her again.”
Michael held the phone in his hand. He hesitated. “I can’t just call her like that,” he began.
“What do you mean, you can’t? Then forget it.” Christy stood, downed the rest of her martini, and stormed out the door.
Michael ran after her and grabbed her arm.
“Let go. You’re hurting me,” she said.
“Christy, come back. There’s something I have to tell you. Please just give me a chance and listen.”
She looked at him dubiously, and finally said, “Fine.”
They sat back down at the bar. Michael was silent for an uncomfortably long minute. She could tell the news would not be good.
“Do you remember when we bought Anipix Studios?” he asked.
“Sure. California, animated films.”
“Yep,” he said. “Well, it started with that. Andy Chapman, my CFO, led the due-diligence team. But they weren’t very diligent. There were significant liabilities, starting with massive debts that weren’t booked. He didn’t want me to find out that he’d screwed up, so he pledged assets from some of my other companies to pay back the loans. But the idiot pledged mortgaged property. Things we didn’t own. Later, our bond rating was lowered, and some of the loans were called. Andy pledged mortgaged equipment and real estate to cover those. He double-and triple-pledged assets and then lied about all of it. One of his direct reports blew the whistle on him. Of course I fired him as soon as I found out what he’d done. Now I’m working like hell to clean up the mess.”
Christy was stunned. Michael seemed too omnipotent to allow his company to get into this kind of trouble. He always gave the impression of having everything under control. Now his business and reputation were at risk. “How long has this been going on?” she asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Michael ran his hands through his hair a few times until he’d achieved that Nick Nolte mug-shot look. “A few months. You were so distracted that I kept it to myself. The thing is, Galit tracked Andy down and interviewed him for the book. He told her everything. Of course, he didn’t take responsibility for causing the problem. He gave her all the documentation just to hurt us. He thinks he was screwed when we fired him. Ever since, she’s been threatening to write an article for the Journal exposing the whole thing. Anytime I try to brush her off, she lets it slip that her management is pressuring her for the story. If I call her and tell her I’m back with you, the piece will be in the paper tomorrow. I’m sure she’s already written it.”
“Jesus, Michael. How could you get yourself into such a mess? You, of all people?” How could her fearless protector have screwed up so royally? She wasn’t sure how she felt about this Michael.
He shook his scruffy head. “I keep asking myself the same thing.”
Christy realized she would sort her feelings out later. Right now, she had to help him. “How far away are you from cleaning this up?”
“Some of our banks know; some don’t. We’ve leveled with our biggest lenders, and we’re negotiating new terms.”
“You need to level with everyone. Convince them that they can’t afford to call the loans. Make them your partners. Put a plan together to get out of this hole.”
“We have a plan. I just haven’t shown it to everyone.”
“Well, I think you’d better reveal it sooner rather than later. You don’t want it revealed for you.”
“I’m so glad to have you in my corner again,” Michael said, pulling her toward him, holding her. “You have no idea how lonely I was.”
It was strange for Christy to see Michael so vulnerable. He’d always
