nothing, apparently, to have your bathroom re-tiled and your bathtub re-enamelled, and Smith & Noble do great custom blinds that are really not that expensive . . .”
Jordana starts to laugh again.
“And then one night when you’ve had a really great dinner and you’re starting to think that perhaps you can overlook the warning signs—even though the warning signs always lead to the same place and frankly your instincts about the warning signs are never wrong—they look you in the eye and ask if you’d ever want your own jewelry store. Or they’ll ask you where you see yourself in five years’ time and you see nothing but disappointment in their eyes when you tell them that ideally you’d love to be settled down with the right woman, living in the same apartment, working for the same company.”
Jordana puts a hand over her heart and breathes an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Phew. You’re not leaving us any time soon?”
“Not planning on it. And that’s the problem. They can’t believe, can’t accept, that I’m happy with my life exactly as it is. All these girls want to help me discover my inner mogul, convinced that somewhere I have this hidden, untapped, fathomless well of ambition that only they can help me access, and none of them want to accept me as I am.”
“So has that happened with Aisling?”
“Yes. Things were going great, and then she asked the five-year question, and said she couldn’t understand how I could not ask for a partnership in this business, or want to set up on my own. ‘You could make so much more money,’ she kept saying, and I kept trying to explain that I wasn’t motivated by money. And then, inevitably, she asked how I could support a family and I explained that I didn’t have a family to support—and of course she wants a family, so suddenly I seem like horrible husband material. ” Michael sighs, shaking his head.
“That’s tough,” Jordana says. “She sounds like she probably isn’t the one for you. I do think that your goals have to be the same or, at least, have to be in tune with one another for it to work, and if she’s motivated by money, or at least by a husband with money, then that’s not right for you. Thankfully,” she says and laughs, “Jackson and I were both equally motivated by money.”
Michael laughs too. “That’s what I like about you,” he says. “You don’t mind admitting it.”
“Listen, as I always say, I came from nothing and I grew up wanting everything, and knowing that I would find a way to get it. I loved sparkly things as a little girl, and worked damned hard at that gemology course before I went to work for a jeweler. I just don’t understand these girls who expect their husband to provide everything for them.”
“Me neither,” Michael says. “Why is it those are the ones I keep finding?”
“You must be looking in the wrong places.” Jordana smiles. “Right. I’m back up to the floor. I’ll phone Lesley Branfield and let her know. I’m sure she’ll want to thank you herself. Are you around the rest of the day?”
“I’m going nowhere,” Michael says. “At least, according to Aisling.” And they both laugh as Jordana closes the door of the workshop behind her.
Chapter Five
"Isn’t this nice?” Bee reaches over at La Guardia and strokes Daniel’s arm, and he smiles at her, wondering if perhaps his sense of being lost is an overreaction, for he does love Bee, does love so many aspects of his life.
“What do you think the girls are doing?” Daniel says, and Bee laughs.
“Are we going to spend the entire time talking about the girls?”
“Isn’t it crazy? Our first trip in years without them, and I miss them so much.”
“Stella was very upset, but they’ll be fine. My dad will spoil them rotten.” Bee smiles. “He was so excited to have them, and it turns out he really does know Nantucket well. He’s given me a list of places we have to visit.”
She glances down at Daniel’s suitcase. “Why is it I can come away with nothing, and you seem to have packed your entire wardrobe?” she says, attempting a laugh which doesn’t quite conceal the irritation behind the comment.
“Because I haven’t been to Nantucket before and I have no idea quite what to wear. I’ve got ‘preppy’ covered with polo shirts and pink and green, and ‘old Yankee’ with seersucker and flip-flops. I just wasn’t