Kat walked over to the corner of the office where the small coffee machine sat and poured herself another cup. Alicia declined when she offered her one. “I forgot to mention it,” Kat said as she returned to her desk. “Things have been so crazy around here. You gave Jack and his practice a ringing endorsement. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure he had a new patient opening. Luckily, he squeezed me in.”
“It’s fine. Your hectic life—it takes a lot of time and energy to build an empire.”
Kat cackled. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Why not? You started this agency from nothing, and now it’s a big deal, not only in Boston but all over the country.”
Kat had started KTM Creative Edge out of her New York apartment after working as an art director for two well-known advertising agencies. She’d steadily built up her client list of companies who needed her agency’s expertise in social media, content marketing, and brand building.
Business was good, but when Richard moved the hedge fund he co-founded, York Capital Investments, from New York to Boston, it changed Kat’s business, too. Eliot had helped her land Tillerson Brenner as a client, and she’d been on a roll ever since.
Kat sighed heavily as she leaned back into the Tegan Leather executive chair.
“What?” Alicia asked. “I know that sigh.”
“I’m fine,” Kat said. “Really.”
“You’re doing a lousy job of convincing me. What’s wrong?”
She swiveled the chair from side to side. “Maxim hates me. He practically called me a terrible mother.”
“Why?”
“Not sure. He says all I do is work. I’m never around. That’s all I can get out of him.”
“Come on, Kat. He’s a teenager, for goodness sake. Their hormone shifts can make them say awful things. You should be lucky the boy wants you to hang around at all! Marston and Lily practically banned us from their space when they were Maxim’s age.”
“But did they call you a terrible mother when they were Maxim’s age, or ever, for that matter?”
“Well, it’s not the same thing. You run a successful business. It’s not easy to get there and then stay on top, especially for a woman. You work your tail off. I’m sure Maxim is proud of you and he—”
“Don’t make excuses for me, Alicia. Richard wanted more children, but I refused. I made a trade-off.”
“A trade-off?”
“If I wanted to make the business a success, I couldn’t do it with more kids on my hip. So, I had to choose. But look at Richard! I fully supported him when he wanted to uproot our lives from New York. He works long hours and travels all the time, but Maxim doesn’t call him a bad parent.”
Alicia said, “It’s never easy for us mothers. I don’t regret staying home and raising a family, but not a day goes by when I don’t ask, what if? What if I had finished college? Even gone on to grad school? What if I didn’t have to drop out of college to take care of my sick mother? We’re always second-guessing our choices, but it doesn’t mean we made the wrong call.”
Kat pressed her lips together in a tight grimace. “Even so, it hurts that Maxim is right. I chose my job over him. I’m not there for him, to take him to school once in a while. I work late most nights and don’t have dinner with him or help him with homework. I put my ambition first, and until lately, I never felt the need to apologize or feel guilty about it.”
Alicia’s heart ached at her friend’s pain. Was her behavior at the party a cry for help, so much so that she mistook Richard’s offer of comfort toward an acquaintance for a romantic overture and then came on to Eliot?
“You’re not one to back down from a fight,” Alicia said. “Richard should talk to Maxim, help him understand.”
“He already tried that. It didn’t work. Maxim is as surly as ever. He has a mouth on him, too.”
“What does Richard say about that?”
“That Maxim is just acting out, that it’s part of growing up, that it will pass.”
Both women went silent. Alicia didn’t know how to help her friend. Eliot would have a coronary if one of their girls disrespected her. Lily tried once. She’d told Alicia to shut up and to stay out of her face, and that she hated her.
Eliot had roared when he heard his daughter. “Don’t you ever talk to your mother like that again!” He’d made Lily’s life miserable for an entire month: no friends over, no TV, phone, no outings. Alicia had felt awful about it and had tried to get Eliot to ease up on the restrictions, explaining that Lily had simply picked up a nasty habit from her peers, but he hadn’t cared. Lily served out her full sentence of punishment, and to this day, she never had another mean word to say to her mother.
Alicia stood and stretched out her arms. “Hug?” The women embraced. “Things will get better. You’re not a bad mother, okay?”
Kat let out an exaggerated sigh. “If you say so.”
“I say so because it’s true. Now get back to work. Award-winning empires don’t run themselves.”
CHAPTER 5
Eliot’s phone vibrated. A text message.
Alicia: Are you on your way home? Dinner’s ready.
He typed back.
Eliot: Sorry, baby. Working late. What did you make?
Alicia: Salmon with garlic roasted potatoes.
Eliot: Sounds delicious.
Alicia: When will you be home?
Eliot: In a couple of hours.
Alicia: Okay.
He placed the phone back on the nightstand.
“Who was that?” The woman lying next to him rolled over, adjusting the bed sheets.
“My wife.”
“What did she want?”
He tossed her a sideways glance. “Since when do you care?”
“I don’t,” his companion said, her tone laced with contempt.
He sat up and massaged his neck, an attempt to rub out the stiffness. It had been a long day at the office, discussing and preparing strategy for the upcoming meeting in Paris. One of
