6 - Aurora

6 - Aurora

I left for the airport a couple hours later, determined to not think about Nathan or that incredible night again. I am going home to my boyfriend who has been with me through so many things. Gabriel is in this for the long haul, where Nathan is just looking to fill his time to avoid boredom.

Although I will never deny that it was time well spent, I will hold onto that night for a very long time. I may not be able to follow through with the not thinking about him part, but I definitely blocked him. I have no reason to actually keep his number. That would be disastrous. Especially if Gabriel found out and saw the things Nathan said to me.  That betrayal would be unforgivable. I can’t bring myself to feel guilty about the pleasure I gave myself at his instruction though.  The logic that it isn’t cheating if I didn’t let him see me and I touched myself is flimsily hanging on. I will also not say anything about the additional org*sms I gave myself while letting the whole experience loop in my head.

I have never been reluctant to go home after a trip, ever, but I have this nagging, sinking feeling in my stomach as the cab drives away from the hotel towards the airport. I’m not sad to go home, I have so many great things waiting for me there. But I enjoyed the literal one full day I spent here far more than I thought. 

I know the Corleone’s enough to know I will probably never work with the Westfields directly. They usually keep me away from the male clientele.  I think they are hoping Mallory can catch someone’s eye and marry into a business relationship. It’s fine by me because I don’t think I could stomach the things I know they do to make business deals happen. A lot of the men are slimy assholes I would never associate with on my own.

I message Gabriel before I board the plane letting him know I’m returning early so he can get me from the airport when I land. I don’t get a response, but I don’t expect one. He doesn’t like to text message, but I do it anyway, mostly because it’s faster, partly because it irritates him. Who doesn’t text at all? It’s always been one of those quirks I thought I could slowly pull him out of. No luck so far. Copyright ©️ 2025 Miss L Writes and Ember Mantel Productions

When I finally land, I am so wiped out and I feel disgusting. I hate all day travel and I wasn’t really able to get much work done on the plane, sitting coach makes it difficult to spread out and work the way that I like to. So I know I’ll have a pile of emails to sift through and I already know Lady C has messaged me 6 times, I’ve just left them unread, I know whatever she wants I won’t be able to do until I am at home and on my own WiFi. As soon as I read her message she’ll expect whatever she requested to be done in about 20 minutes, no matter how unrealistic the expectation is. So I leave them all for a later time.

I message Gabriel twice and finally try to call, but get no response so I’m forced to take an almost sixty dollar cab ride. On the cab ride home I check in with my mother.  If we don’t talk daily she has a literal panic attack.  The downside is we only seem to talk about when Gabriel and I are going to get married. She has no other interests in my life.

“Mom, we have been over this.  Gabriel and I have only been living together for a year. I don’t want to rush anything.”

“Yes dear, but you are not getting any younger and he comes from such a wealthy family.  Think of all of the new high class people you will get to become friends with.  That would show Margory.  She has been bragging about how Stella is engaged all week, and they have only been together for 6 months.” She whines at me. “Besides, you two met in college, it’s not like you will learn anything new about him if you wait another year.”

“I’m not Stella mom, and I’m not a gold digger either.  I don’t want to marry Gabriel for his money.  We each work and I have a very well paying job that I love.  I’m not ready to settle down yet.  Things are just beginning to get exciting and more travel is in my future.”

“Well, don’t wait too long and don’t travel too much. Gabriel isn’t the kind of guy to just sit around and wait for you. And he will probably want you at home to take care of things while he negotiates and shmoozes with all those high profile people.” She giggles. I pinch the bridge of my nose. We have been over this a thousand times.

I change tack trying to throw some of my relationship’s slow movement blame on Gabriel. “Really? Isn’t it his job to decide he wants to marry me and ask? Why would he be waiting for me? I am currently waiting on him. He knows how I feel, we talked before I left on this trip.  And what do you mean stay home while he networks? We have the same job and I have more training and experience than him.  Why wouldn’t it be me out networking?” 

“You know what I mean, men are so sensitive when they have a woman who works.  If he feels that you like your job more than him, or that you are more successful, he might hesitate or leave.  It’s better to show too much affection for him and less about your job and snag him up before he gets another offer.”

“You sound like and old Jane Austen story and you’re acting as if he has more than one girlfriend hanging around that he can pick from.  Besides, I would like to get to know him a bit better before we decide to spend forever together.”

“Oh, pish. You will have plenty of time to get to know him after you’re married.  That’s what marriage is, getting to know each other every day. Those wealthy boys have girls buzzing around them like flies.” I just roll my eyes, knowing this is something that we will never agree on. “By the way, the latest Bentley just came out, you know the one your father has had his eye on.  I was thinking, our anniversary is coming up and that would be a great present, but I want to surprise him.  Could you go with me to the dealership and handle the financing, so he doesn’t know about it?”

I should have known.  She has been dropping hints about this car, and it has all of these bells and whistles so it's going to be in the $300k range. And by ‘handle the financing’ she means ‘buy it for me.’  I love my parents, but they have this little problem with keeping up with the Jones’ and they can’t budget to save their lives. I already cover their phones and condo.  My mom and I had a huge fight when I told her I wouldn’t buy her a home in the same neighborhood as Margory. They don’t need it and I won’t pay for a maid to clean a space she won’t want to take care of.

“Mom, there is no reason he needs a new car.  He already has 2 Bentley’s and one of them he got last year, which I also paid for.” I say exasperated. I’m still paying for that damn car.

“I know honey and you are always so good to us. We do appreciate it.  It’s just that Margory’s husband just got her the new Mercedes and has been driving and showing it off everywhere.  Your father can’t be seen in last year’s model. It will make us look poor and we will lose our place in society. I don’t even know what I would do if my friends didn’t speak to me any more.” Breathing heavily, she’s now working herself into a panic. I am not sure if this is real or a guilt trip, probably the latter. “Oh my, it’s getting hard to breathe, and your father isn’t here to help.” She trails off. I roll my eyes.

“Mom, everything will be fine, we can talk about the car tomorrow, okay, I just got back into town and my head just isn’t in the shopping space. You need to take three deep breaths for me okay.” 

I am trying to be calm, I hate it when she does this. She knows it works every time too, because she will force herself to pass out or be so sick she goes to the hospital. She’s like having a really stubborn toddler with massive tantrum issues.

“Okay, baby.” She says, dramatically breathing into the phone. “Thank you. I feel so much better. I-I need to go lie down.  I will talk to you tomorrow.”  And with my agreement to take her shopping, she’s all better and dismisses me. Sigh.