Gastonburry had changed a lot in the course of 20 years. It had always been a city of students, some of the oldest schools were still standing strong, giving the best education in the country. One of them was University of Gastonburry where she was an alma mater alongside Bill and Malcolm.
The castle-like building was still very much the same, they added new connecting buildings on the West and South side to accommodate more students that came in from all over the world.
Somewhere in there was the Dean’s office where her husband’s lover spent her days working, maybe occasionally welcoming him as a guest. Her stomach turned at the thought.
She could’ve just stormed in, confronted her, told it to her face to leave her husband alone. She could just go to the University board, provide them with evidence of the affair and make her lose her job, her dignity, along with her husband’s reputation. But that was beneath her. Bill’s affairs and his mistresses were not as important as the divorce she was planning to get.
“Take me to The Avenue, Travis,” Catherine said to her driver after stopping in front of UOG for a quick look.
After dropping Charlotte at The West Meadows boarding school, made sure she settled in her dorm, took care of all the paperwork, she left to stroll around the city for a little nostalgic afternoon. Having her tea in The Avenue was one of her favorite passing times in her college days.
Watched students enjoyed their leisure time, talked nonsense with their favorite group of friends, sometimes worked on assignments, much like she once did too. There weren’t as many shops there back in her days, but the feeling was still there.
She didn’t realize she was smiling by herself, when she turned to look the other way, someone returned her smile. “Malcolm? What … on earth are you doing here?” her face lit up as she stood up to greet him
“I thought I’d find you here … still your favorite place to have afternoon tea, I see?” he took one of the garden chairs which was too small for his posture.
“Oh, no … it’s more like, I don’t really know any other place around here … I mean, look around … it’s so different.”
Malcolm took a look around and landed his gaze back at her, “Yet … pretty much the same … much like us?”
Catherine chuckled, “That’s true … what brings you here?”
“I called Charlie, she told me you were here to take her sister to school, so I thought I swung by and see how you’re doing.”
“Swung by?” she raised a brow. Goldstone to Gastonburry was a 5 hour drive.
Malcolm laughed, “Well … so to speak … I thought I would tell you in person … your papers are ready, I’ve drafted your case, you can go over it, see if it needs any revisions … and you can file it … whenever you’re ready.”
She fell silent, as if time stood still. Her 20 year marriage was drafted in merely days and filed in a thin folder, with just a single signature, it would be over. She always thought marriage was forever, once she decided to marry, that would be it. But life was all about choices, funny how she had learned that from Charlene. Marriage can be forever, if she chose it to be, but not with a man who put her last after everything else. Catherine smiled, it almost hurt, “I will look into it.”
Malcolm patted her hand, “Take your time.” He exhaled deeply, “That’s not the only thing I want to see you about … I’ve also did some diggin’ on Maxine Roberts.”
The name diverted Catherine’s attention.
“It seems like she’s been making a lot of money from the talents she signed up in her talent agency … not that it’s out of the ordinary, agencies get huge cut from their talents but Maxine seems to be getting more than the 40% of the usual cut … she’s taking over 70% of the contract value, and she’s only taking that much from her most prolific talents … and not from the others.”
Catherine sipped on her tea, “Is that illegal?”
Malcolm shrugged, “it’s not right … that’s for sure, these people toil to get their hard earned money, and to only get less than 30% of what they work for is not a fair trade … even though they’re making so much that the amount is probably more than enough to support a lavish lifestyle … still … can’t imagine how much Maxine is making out of all of them.”
“Hmm … I wonder if she pays income taxes for all that earnings?”
“I highly doubt it, I think she imposed it on the talents from their own cut, I’m sure she had covered her ass with legal papers that these young artists didn’t even bother to read before they signed … but why not all of them? Why just the few she took a huge cut from? Not even sure if they know this is being done by Maxine’s agency … I don’t think anyone in the right mind would agree to something like this willingly,” Malcolm was thinking out loud.
“Is Tom’s name there?”
Malcolm shook his head, “He’s a very recent recruit, I only have the names of her talents from last year … I have my office dig some more, it smells rotten to me.”
“Thank you for doing this … I know you’re probably busy with cases and other work … I’m just worried, I can’t tell Bill about this, and I can’t be in two places at one time, I still have to stay here awhile until I’m sure Charlotte is settled.”
“Don’t worry about it, you know I would do anything to help you … anyways, you have every reason to be concerned, Maxine Roberts is a very powerful figure in Goldstone … high profile business men and women had to schedule their appointments with her weeks even months in advance … but it seems … she always has time for young recruits … we’ll find something on her, I’m sure of that.”
**********
Malcolm Blackwell had a lot on his plate. His firm was one of the busiest in Goldstone. Running his own law firm had its own advantages, he could delegate his work to his associates and took only a handful who insisted that he personally represented their cases.
His work had taken a lot of his time and energy. It might be the reason why he wasn’t married. It wouldn’t be fair to put his work first before his family. Or maybe it was the other way around, he hadn’t found someone who was more important than his work.
He told his team to handle all his pending cases for the week, and asked his secretary to take all his messages while he’s gone. He was going to spend a whole week in Gastonburry, a break years overdue. He checked himself at the same hotel as Catherine Ludlow.
Sometimes you meet someone who could make you feel like you were your best self when you were with them. Cathy was that person for him. Even after 20 years, she still had that effect on him. It drew him in like a moth to a flame, there was no better feeling than to be his best self.
He made her laugh, he knew that, he did it on purpose, he wanted her to feel as good as he did when they’re together. Just like old times. Nothing much had changed, except for life. What he felt for her remained the same.
“Do you want to come in?” he asked her when the elevator door opened.
The question stopped her cold, “No … thank you …” she looked down, avoiding his gaze. “It’s been a long day … I should go back to my room.”
She was still another man’s wife, someone who clearly didn’t deserve her. It was just a friendly invitation to have a drink or two, but he should’ve known she would say ‘no’. “Of course … I’ll see you at breakfast?”
Cathy smiled and nodded, “Breakfast.”
He walked out of the elevator. The door closed behind him, but then she pressed the ‘open’ button.
“Malcolm …”
He turned around.
“Maybe some other time?” she sounded unsure.
He smiled, “Some other time,” he nodded.
“See you at breakfast.”
“Goodnight, Cathy.”