*
“Life couldn’t be worse,” Grey confessed, exhaling deeply as he sat back on his friend’s black leather couch and closed his eyes.
“You know, I charge for these sessions,” Mattock said, sitting behind his desk. “Free consultations aren’t my forte.”
“To hell with your forte. Besides, I don’t need a shrink. I need a pall bearer.” Grey shifted around and looked up at the ceiling.
“Why? Are you about to die?” Mattock asked, biting down into a juicy green apple as he looked over the downtown Memphis skyline through his corner-office window.
“Yeah, you didn’t know. My fiancée is planning my funeral now.” Grey sat up. “But she likes to call it a wedding,” he said in a mockingly feminine voice.
“I don’t understand. If you didn’t want to get married, then why did you propose to her? It wasn’t like she was twisting your arm for it.” After being friends with Grey many years, Mattock still did not understand Grey’s need to lead such a promiscuous lifestyle.
Grey pondered the thought. “It was time, according to my father’s standards and Ivy’s. My father thinks that we can’t win this election if I don’t have a more concrete image in the community. Plus, Ivy has always hinted at marriage after college. It was a perfect match. This election means an opportunity to go for it. All the local blogs, polls and political leaders say that Memphis needs a family man in my uncle’s position. Plus at first glance, I did want to get married. Our relationship was going great, both of us had promising futures, both of us had the same ambitions and to top it all off, she was all mine.”
“Well, nothing has changed.” Mattock still did not understand.
“You know Ivy was a virgin when I started dating her?” To Grey that was one of the highlights of their relationship. He had been the first, the only man that she had ever known.
“You’ve mentioned it,” Mattock said. “But she was only a senior in high school. That’s pretty common. You were a junior in college. It’s a different league.”
“I just remember seeing her with her family at one of my father’s dinners, and I fell head over heals for her. I had no idea how young she was.” Grey’s thoughts exhausted him, and he lay back down and gazed at the ceiling again. “Since the day we started dating, I knew that I would marry her. My family approved of her, my friends approved her, and Memphis will approve of us.”
“So, why are you so torn about marrying this perfect woman, by your own standards?” Mattock waited patiently.
“I don’t know. But I did know that if I let her get out there after college with no strings attached going to meetings, traveling, meeting new people and discovering new things, that I wouldn’t seem so fascinating and marriage to me wouldn’t be either.”
“So let me get this straight, you asked her to marry you to keep her off the market and you in the race for Congress?” Mattock asked.
“Basically.” Grey replied reluctantly. He sat up. “But as crude as it sounds it’s not unheard of, you know. I’m marrying for purpose.”
“You don’t think that you could swing the seat without being married?” Mattock was always surprised by his best friend’s constant antics over love and lust.
“Hey, I’m no expert. But the experts tell me that I can’t. So, if I have to marry, then I might as well marry Ivy.” Grey’s forehead wrinkled as he tried to make sense of it all. “Do you see where I’m going with this?”
“Yes, I see where you’re headed, but the question is, do you? More important, you still haven’t answered one important question.” Mattock shook his head. Grey was amazingly confused to be such an intelligent man.
“What question haven’t I answered?” Grey asked curious of his friend’s apparent infinite wisdom on the subject.
“Do you love her?” Mattock sat down his apple and picked up his writing pad.
“Yes, I love her, but I know what’s out there. I didn’t even start to think about cheating on her until I graduated from undergrad. Then it was like all of these successful beautiful women came out of the woodwork offering to do what ever I wanted.” He smiled proudly even in the midst his dilemma. “They couldn’t get enough of me.”
“And you couldn’t get enough of them.” Mattock scribbled down something on his pad and reached for a small book on his table.
“My point is that just like I was turned out before I could get my degree good, Ivy would’ve been if I hadn’t stepped in first.” Grey sighed heavily. Mattock was stressing him out further, instead of helping him.
“So you asked her to marry you,” Mattock said astonished. “What can I say? You had it all figured out, except one part.”
“What’s that?” Grey asked.
“You’re not ready for marriage even if Ivy is ready. You’re still going to cheat on her and lie to her and misuse her. Only now you’ll be doing it in the sacred covenant of marriage. And eventually, Ivy is still going to be exposed and possibly turned out, as you call it. Plus, you could marry this girl and still loose the election, heaven forbid for Ivy’s sake. Nothing is promised.”
“So what do you think that I should do, Doc?” Grey looked at his watch. It was time to head to city hall for his father’s press conference.
Mattock set his book down. “Well, I think you should search your heart for some real answers before you ruin this girl’s life trying to have your cake and eat it too.”
*
Grey pondered his friend’s suggestions as he drove recklessly through the bad weather in his silver BMW Z4 M Roadster to get
