My phone rings, reminding me of a budget meeting with Laure, who is right on time as usual.
“Hey, how’s it going, girlie?”
I begin to pace, the hundred-year-old, oak floor beneath me, as I reply, “Fine.”
“Yeah? Besides almost being blown up in a terrorist attack?”
Her cynicism is not lost on me.
“What’s really, going on, Steph?”
“The list is too long.”
“Dude, you don’t need to tell me! It’s a total shit show out there!”
I laugh. “How’s Tyler?” Knowing he’s the reason she was able to leave Phoenix safely, on his private jet, no less. I tease her, “That must have been some date.” There’s no doubt her beaux struggles with the fact that his father is a murdering sociopath, and although he has distanced himself from his estranged, pathological parent. It’s still too close for comfort. But it means the world to me that she is safe.
“He’s good. In fact, I was thinking he could join me when I come out after the holidays. If that works for you?”
Tyler, here with Remy? I don’t know about that.
“Steph?”
“Let’s see what we can figure out.”
“I feel so bad for him,” she continues. “He’s been getting blowback from his mother’s family in Egypt. It seems, I’m too modern for their tastes.”
“Ya think?”
“No, seriously. They want him to marry his cousin. His freakin’ cousin!” she states, chewing something nervously.
“People still do that?” Is she contemplating marriage? “I wouldn’t label Tyler as the type to be told who to marry.” Knowing he sabotaged our company and aided his father in a murderous plot against us last year, I am extremely wary of anything he does. As a Greek, I forgive him, but I will never forget. “He seems to be a man clearly in charge of his own destiny.”
“You’re right. He’s not the type to be told what to do. But his money is tied up in the family business, and they’re using that as a means of control. You know the story. It’s terrible. His father is a worthless piece of shit, and now this!” Her voice on edge, she admits, “They’ve sent the cousin over to spend some time with him. She arrives in New York this week.”
“And you’re in New York?”
“Mmm, hmm.”
“Oh my god, Laure. That’s . . . awkward.”
“Yeah. We’ll all be one happy threesome! Wait. It gets worse. Are you sitting down?”
I sit on command.
“She’s gay.”
Eyebrows leaping to the top of my head, I’m confused, “Wait. They want him to marry his lesbian cousin?”
“Dude, they’re pretending they don’t know she’s gay. They’re saying she’s . . . masculine. They think if they find her an acceptable husband who doesn’t live near Cairo, it’ll all work out for them. They’re throwing them under the bus, so they can continue to live their delusional lives controlling her money in the family hedge fund. It’s barbaric! She’s an embarrassment to them. I don’t even know how to wrap my brain around how much of this is wrong.”
“An embarrassment that’s worth a bloody fortune,” I add.
“Bastards!” She pauses to catch her breath before she states, “Tyler told me she looks like an unattractive, large, brutish man. Apparently, she has all her life. When she was twelve, she mistakenly, shaved her face, and to this day, she has a five o’clock shadow. He loves her like a sister though, and told me that Aalin is hysterically funny. I feel so bad for both of them.”
“Wait, her name is Aalin?” I roll my eyes questioningly.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Aalin in Arabic, means beautiful, fair, graceful.”
“Oh. That’s just mean.”
“It’s a man’s world.”
“Fuckers!”
We’re both silent for a moment, before she states ominously, “There’s something else you should know.”