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The truth is, I have no idea if he is annoyed with Wilson or angry with me—and after our conversation, he’d have every reason to be.
“Just you wait and see, Alma. I’ll get that dinner!” Wilson proclaims jokingly.
“Well, in the meantime, it’s Vadim King who’s on your menu today. Enjoy your meal, gentlemen.”
I flash them a smile that clearly means “get lost,” and Vadim walks away without looking back, his graying lackey trailing at his heels.
Yes, I know we’re not meant to comment on the appearance of our coworkers… but sometimes it’s okay to make an exception.
8
Alma
Niels bails on us at the last minute, probably for some guy. I’ll let him off the hook this time. Clémentine and I see each other after work in a tapas bar near Opéra. This time, she was the one who requested an emergency meet-up. All I understood from her message was that my best friend was on the verge of mom burnout.
“Monsters, I’m telling you! I gave birth to monsters!”
She downs her glass of white sangria and spills half of it on her chin, which she wipes away with her sleeve.
“They take after someone I know,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.
“Oh, they’re on a whole other level! My daughters definitely don’t do things by halves… They’re ambitious, determined, and wildly imaginative. I mean, it definitely takes imagination to come up with the idea of emptying a tub of gold glitter into the washing machine. Or trying to dye their hair blue with a tester pot of paint their father had left lying around. Or, the best yet: scooping my Givenchy Skin Perfect cream into the toilet and flushing three hundred euros down the drain.”
“Oh wow, sounds like they’ve certainly kept you busy this week.”
“It’s because I give them too much attention, isn’t it? When I was their age, I could have drunk drain cleaner straight from the bottle, and no one would have noticed. My parents didn’t give a damn what I was up to, and I think they were much happier for it!”
“Clem, there’s one thing you can take comfort from: you didn’t repeat the cycle. You’re an amazing mother, and they’re lucky to have you.”
“Yeah, well, those two had better watch out! That could still change…”
I don’t believe a word of it, and neither does she. Clémentine may question her entire life once a month, but she loves Madeleine and Séraphine more than anything.
“I envy you sometimes. Well, for your job, anyway,” she says.
“Thanks for clarifying.”
“Come on, admit it: being a stay-at-home mom has never been your dream.”
“Well, it’s not right for me, but it allows some women to thrive… and not miss out on the precious moments that others miss. Society would have us believe that we can have it all and that we can be everywhere at once, but that’s only possible with a fully hands-on partner and some sacrifices anyway. You made this choice, for now, but nothing is permanent, Clem. Is it still what you want or not?”
“I think so… But I dream of the day I go back to work. And then when it comes, I’ll probably cry my eyes out because I’ll miss my daughters. And I’ll call you to come to the rescue again. Why do we absolutely want to have it all? A perfect marriage, cute kids, a flourishing career, money flowing in, freedom…”
“Because men have pretty much all of that, don’t they? Thanks to the invisible sacrifices women make.”
I think of my mother, who doesn’t even complain anymore. Then, I look at my best friend, who is at the end of her rope, and I realize that one generation hasn’t been enough to rebalance the scales.
“What should we do, Alma—burn it all down? Get ‘Down with the patriarchy’ tattooed on our boobs?”
“No, we drink sangrias… and we support each other.”
“Cheers, Lancaster!” she says, raising her glass.
“To your mental health, D’Aragon!”
On the back of a napkin that Clémentine had used to dry her tears, I write her a voucher for a weekend of babysitting whenever she chooses, on the condition that she take two whole days just for herself—not for laundry, groceries, cleaning, or her useless husband.
After filling up on serrano ham, tortilla de patatas, and chorizo croquetas, the subject of Vadim comes back up.
