Chapter 56

DORIS

We got to the apartment penthouse.

"Mommy, Daddy! You're home early!"

"We are, pumpkin. Mommy's sick, and I cut my European trip short so I could take care of her."

"Are you sick, Mommy? Do you want me to read to you? Daddy always reads to me when I'm sick, and it makes me feel better."

"Yes, sweet girl, that's a great idea."

Mia hugged me, and then she looked up at me. “Would you like to read Goodnight Moon? I know that's your favorite, as well as mine."

"Sure,” I said as Mia took my hand and dragged me to her room.

"Goodnight, moon. Goodnight, spoon. Goodnight, baboon. Goodnight, cartoon," I said.

"Mommy! Come on! You know that's not how it goes."

"Isn't it? Goodnight, June. Goodnight, Looney Tunes. Goodnight, Frank Sinatra croons? Goodnight, prunes. Goodnight, macaroons."

"You're silly."

Arthur laughed. He was standing behind us.

"We're all silly, sweet girl. That's part of the fun." Then I yawned. I was still feeling sick. I had worked too hard for too long, and I had worn myself out. I don't know how Arthur did it all these years.

"Just one book, pumpkin," Arthur said, still standing behind us. “Mommy's tired, and she needs to go to bed."

"OK, Daddy. I understand. I get tired when my heart problem is bad. When I'm sick, I get very tired too."

Arthur promised that he'd get me the best doctors from the hospital if I didn’t get better soon. Luckily, I began to take a turn for the better.

Maybe being with Mia and Arthur's care helped. Maybe it was just time, but with a few more days of rest, I began to feel better and better; by Friday, I began to feel human again.

I decided not to sing at The Strip again this weekend just to be really on the safe side. Devi was glad to pick up the extra work.

Monday, I had lunch with Nina at our favorite diner.

"I can't believe you've been incognito for so long." She chastised me. After she gave me a big hug, Nina said, "Catch me up on what has been going on."

First, I told her how sick I had been.

"Well, no wonder I haven't seen you or heard from you."

"I have so much to tell you. I don't even know where to start," I said.

I told her that we won back to Brooklyn land track.

"I heard about that. Congratulations."

Then I told her about the office party and that Arthur gave everybody in the office a $1000 bonus.

"Oh my god, that's so generous, that's fantastic, and I'm sure that'll make everybody in the office love Arthur and you. "

I blushed a little bit.

Then I told Nina about running into Andrea on the street and Bob and the bimbo and how Andrea made a scene.

"That's such drama. It doesn't surprise me that Andrea acted like that, though. She's so low-class. She's getting what she deserves."

"Yeah," I said. "Although I did feel a little bad for her. She's pregnant, and I'm sure that's a lot of stress on the baby."

"Still, yelling like that in the street? That's stressful for all the people in the street who had to hear her."

I giggled.

"And Bob." Nina just shook her head in disgust. "What a jerk."

"I wonder if the blonde bimbo even knew he was married?" I said, more to myself than to Nina.

"Who knows?"

"Anyway," I said, "It's not my business anymore."

Then I told Nina about Dr. John and how he forced his way into my apartment, then took care of me.

"Well, I hate that he was pushy, but it's a good thing he took care of you. It seems like you needed it. You could have called me, though."

"I should have. I was too sick to even call. That's how sick I was."

"Huh," Nina said.

"I haven't told you the other part. Arthur rushed home from Europe, but when he came to the door, Dr. John lied and said he was my boyfriend and fiancé! And for a second, Arthur believed him."

"Oh my God. No!"

"Yes. Then Arthur confronted Dr. John, and said he must be full of shit and that Arthur was my boyfriend." I continued and told Nina the whole story.

I was pretty out of it when it happened, but I gave Nina every detail I could remember.

"Wow, Arthur was like your knight in shining armor. What a hero. It was like a soap opera over by you."

"Tell me about it. Between working hard and the pneumonia thing, I felt like I was a death door and everything else. It's been a crazy couple of weeks."

"It sounds like it."

"Enough about me. Tell me about you. I assume you're still waitressing at The Strip."

"I am, but I've been working mostly Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, which sucks a little bit because the tips aren't as good. I went back to The Tavern for lunch on Saturday to pick up some extra money."

"I've gone on a few dates," Nina said. "One professional baseball player who has the nicest tightest ass you could possibly imagine."

I laughed; leave it to Nina to find something like that.

"I went on one date with a guy who said he was a CEO, but it turned out he was actually the CEO of a newspaper route as if he was a 13-year-old delivering newspapers and he lived with his mom, so no thank you."

"Also, when we went out to dinner, and then he stuck me with the bill."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. Dating in New York City for ya. You're lucky. Obviously, don't let go of the guy you got."

"I'm not planning on it."

"What else?" Nina put her chin in her palm. "I miss Real Estate, really."

"Why don't you apply at Heritage Properties? I think they're hiring."

"I will. It was hard work at Marcus Properties, and of course, it's never fun not knowing whether I would earn any money from one week to the next. It was stressful, but when I helped people find their dream homes, that really meant a lot to me."

"I know what you mean, and you were a natural at it. I know you're having fun at The Strip watching the shows, but you're wasting your talent."

"I hear you. Other than that, my life is boring. I don't have all the excitement you've got."

"I think I've had enough excitement for this year."

"How's Mia?" Nina asked me.

"Great, she is intelligent and amazing, as usual. She keeps bugging me to move in with them."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

"You should move in. Why not?"

"Because if it crashes and burns, then I'll be heartbroken."

"But if he asks you to marry him, you'll already be there."

"I don't think that's going to happen, Nina. He's a billionaire. I have been struggling my whole life. He's been dating models and actresses, and I am not that."

"I think it's normal for somebody as gorgeous as him to be a playboy when he was younger," Nina told me. "But isn't he, what, 30 or 31? Maybe he's ready to settle down. Why wouldn't he settle down with you? You're hard-working, smart, and beautiful. You've got a good sense of humor. You like his kid. He'd be lucky to have you."

"You have to say those things. You're my best friend. I don't think you're exactly objective."

"I am objective, and I don't have to say any of the things. If you were ugly and mean, I would tell you."

I laughed. "You probably would."

"I definitely would, and I've seen the way Arthur looks at you. He's crazy about you."

I sighed and took a bite of my burger. "I'm not going to get ahead of myself."

"Doris. I know I've said this before, but you don't need a man. It's nice to have a man, but you don't need one. How does that song go? I can buy myself flowers. But it's better if somebody else buys them for you, yeah?"

"The same goes for orgasm," she said.