“Will?” Buffy asked, sitting up in bed, the next morning. “Last night?”
William nodded, looking out the window.
Buffy shook her head silently. She still couldn’t believe it. The shell shocked couple hadn’t spoken about it last night. In fact, they hadn’t said a word. Not when they were walking back back to the room. Not when they latched the room door behind them or when they were getting ready for bed. Or after they had crawled under the covers, falling asleep instantly in each others arms.
Son of a bitch, she thought. How could he think she would just. That they would just. Son of a bitch.
“I wanna go home,” Buffy said simply, her voice hoarse.
William nodded. An hour later, Xander Harris was informed in the middle of a business meeting that Buffy Summers and her husband had checked out of the hotel suite and were headed to the airport and catching a flight to Sunnydale.
Three months later….
“So what’s the big secret B?” Faith said, peering at her friend from across the table
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Buffy said, a look of intense concentration on her face as she surveyed the dessert menu.
Faith sighed. She wasn’t going to make this easy, was she?
“Oh come on,” Faith said. “You call me out of nowhere.”
“So?” Buffy said, a little too self consciously. “I can call.”
“It’s been ages,” Faith said, shaking her head. “And then….”
“And then?” Buffy challenged.
“You just sit there,” Faith exclaimed.
“Sitting’s a crime now?” Buffy asked dryly.
“The way you’re sitting,” Faith said acidly, her eyes
spelling out the B word loud and clear.
“And how am I sitting?” Buffy enquired.
“Like,” Faith said exasperated. “Like you’ve got a secret or something. Something you’re dying to tell someone about. And you just can’t.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Buffy mumbled.
“Hey!” the blonde protested as Faith snatched away her menu. “I was reading that….”
“No cake for you,” Faith waggled an accusing finger at her friend. “Until you spill.”
“It’s nothing,” Buffy sighed. “It’s stupid.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” Faith said. “Now spill.”
“Well,” Buffy began. “Will and I….we went to Atlantic city a while ago…and….something happened….”
Ten minutes later, Faith sat back, slumping in her chair.
“I need a piece of cake,” Faith confessed to Buffy, fanning herself, then signaling to the waiter. “Garcon?”
“Yes madame?” a handsome young waiter said.
“Chocolate cake,” Faith said. “For two. Chop-chop.”
Faith looked at Buffy. Her friend looked pretty deflated too.
“So I guess congratulations are in order?” Faith said.
“Hmmmm?” Buffy said, distractedly looking up. “What now?”
“Congratulations B,” Faith grinned. “Two million dollars. You hit the jackpot.”
Faith smirked when Buffy glared at her with that death of a thousand suns fury as the waiter brought them two scrumptious pieces of chocolate cake.
“I. Didn’t. Do. It,” Buffy growled through gritted teeth.
“Why not?” Faith said impishly, taking a bite. “Oh my god, this is so good. You’re totally paying for this right?”
Buffy’s eyes narrowed and Faith held up her hand to acknowledge she’d overstepped a boundary.
“Of course you didn’t do it,” Faith said assuringly. “I’m only kidding.”
“Shyeah,” Buffy said, shaking her head.
“I would have,” Faith confessed, off-handedly.
“You would not!” Buffy said heatedly.
“I totally would have,” Faith said, quickly typing on her phone. “This is the guy?”
Faith held up her screen for Buffy to see. It was a picture of Xander Harris, somewhere on vacation.
“I’m telling you B,” Faith whistled. “I totally would have. He’s rich and hot.”
“He’s a creep,” Buffy said. “It was disgusting. The way he thought he could just buy me.”
“What if you were single?” Faith challenged.
“I’m not single,” Buffy said pointedly, holding up her ring finger.
“What if,” Faith said rolling her eyes.
“No,” Buffy said. “Not a chance.”
“What if he never made the offer?” Faith pondered.
“But he did,” Buffy said indignantly.
“You’re telling me that if you were single and you just happened to run into Mr Good-looking moneybags, nothing would happen?”
Faith saw the tiniest flicker of indecision on Buffy’s face, before the blonde put on a firm, unyielding
expression.
“Nothing would happen,” Buffy said playing with her
chocolate cake. “Ever.”
“If you say so,” Faith said.
Three months later…..
William looked up from his tiny workdesk on hearing his name called.
“Will,” a brunette with a Texan accent beckoned frantically. “We’re all wanted in the conference room.”
William struggled to put a name to the button cute woman. He’d seen her around sure. Sheila? Sara? Susan?
“Be right there,” he waved back, quickly organizing his papers into various stacks. William adjusted his shirt and tie, then walked at a steady pace to conference room 1, by far the largest and most spacious one in the offices of Mcann-Stevenson. He opened the door to find the conference room nearly bursting with bodies.
“Is everybody here?” he heard one of the Senior partners say. Another one chimed in, “Well near enough. Get on with it Philip”
Philip Mcann, the founder of Mcann-Stevenson had a pensive look on his face.
“As you all know,” he began. “There have been rumours of a merger with the lawfirm GCP.”
William frowned. A merger with GCP? This was news to him. William looked around to see the same confusion on most, if not all the faces around him.
“An offer has been made,” Philip continued. “A generous offer. One….one the senior partners have since approved.”
A deathly hush came over the crowd.
“What does that mean?” a woman in the crowd asked.
“It means that GCP will acquire all our clients….and some of our talent,” Philip Mcann said, a pained look on his face.
“I don’t understand,” the brunette that had beckoned William to the office confided.
“It means,” William said softly. “We’re all fired.”
And with that, he turned and walked out of the conference room. William undid his tie, threw it near the nearest trash can, collected his papers and walked out.
Three months later……….
“The money’s gone,” William said quietly.
Buffy said nothing. They were sitting at the kitchen table, sparsely picking at their dinner. She didn’t need to ask how. She knew. The last three months had been unlike any other of her young life. First, William’s lawfirm had ‘merged’ with a much bigger one. Most of the staff had been laid off, including Will.
Then, the stock market had completely tanked, wiping out all their investments in one fair swoop. And their savings? That had been ravaged by the money pit that was her mother’s museum. Once it had seemed like a frivolous expense, something to keep her mother’s precious memories alive, but now it was the mill around their necks, dragging them down to debt and ruin.
“How much time do we have?” Buffy asked, finally.
“A month,” William replied. “Maybe two.”
God, I can’t even look at her. I’m such a failure.
“It’s okay,” Buffy said, reaching out to touch his hand. “We’ll get through this. Together. Like we always have.”
“We have to sell everything,” William said. “The house. The car. All of it.”
“For richer and poorer eh,” Buffy smiled weakly. “Can I get a mulligan on that one?”
The lame joke failed to get even a hint of a smile out of William.
“The museum too,” William said.
The words sent a knife straight through Buffy’s heart. Her mom’s art museum. The one she’d spent countless hours at growing up. The one that had given Buffy her love of art. The one her mother had promised her to take good care of on her deathbed. Buffy knew William would never have brought it up unless he had to, but Buffy’s emotions got the better of her.
“How can you say that?” Buffy said, angrily, furiously wiping a tear from her eye. Buffy picked up her dinner and threw the plate in the sink, wincing at the crash. Still she leaned over the sink, looking out at her garden.
“We don’t have a choice Buffy,” William said, his voice deathly calm.
“It’ll turn around,” Buffy said. “I swear.”
One good month, Buffy thought despairingly. That’s enough to buy us some time. Just one.
Two months later…..
Buffy sat in her tiny office in her mom’s museum, trying not to despair. She’d been calling her contacts in the art world all day, trying to get rid of her stock. William was meeting a bankruptcy lawyer, hoping to try to extricate them from this situation. Buffy felt a spasm of guilt run through her.
It’s my fault too, Buffy thought, looking around. Things were bad, but we could have made it. If it wasn’t for this place. If I wasn’t so stubborn.
Buffy, desperate from some distraction turned on the Tv. She glanced at her cellphone from time to time, hoping her husband would call her with some good news. But he didn’t. Buffy stared at the flickering screen with vacant eyes until she reached MTV. Buffy sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, and just listened to some songs. Buffy didn’t know when she passed out or for how long, but when she awoke the sky was dark outside and the a commercial was playing.
“Welcome back to Cribs,” the host said. “Today we’re at the 20 million dollar beach side home of Casino billionaire Xander Harris.”
The name only half registered with Buffy. It was his voice that froze her.
“It’s a pleasure to be here,” Xander said, smiling at the camera.
And then Buffy could hear his voice in her head again. Two million dollars. For one night with you.
Buffy’s hands trembled as she picked up the remote. She stared at the screen for an instant before she turned it off, throwing the remote away in disgust.
Disgust as she remembered what the billionaire had proposed, but also at the revolting thought that had come to her, unwanted and unbidden.
It would solve everything.
That night, as they lay in bed together, Buffy found herself turning the channel to MTV. That thought had haunted her all evening. While she’d driven home, parked the car, done the dishes and made dinner. Buffy knew it was partly her fault that they were in this mess. The guilt was eating her up. She’d burdened them when they were most vulnerable. Now part of her yearned to help get them out of it, as the other part told her how disgusting she was for even considering it.
It would solve everything.
Buffy curled up. She knew Cribs would be back from commercial in a minute.
What am I doing? she thought. This is crazy. It would solve everything. You’re disgusting. It would solve everything. We could keep everything, the museum, the house, the car. We’d never have to worry about money again. You’re disgusting.
“Welcome back to Cribs,” she heard the host say “Today we’re at the 20 million dollar beach side home of Casino billionaire Xander Harris.”
Buffy glanced at William. He never looked up from his book.
“Will,” Buffy whispered.
God, what am I doing?
“Hmmm?” he replied distractedly, looking up at her.
Her eyes were fixed on the telly. William looked at the Tv, confused. They were taking a tour of some rich bloke’s mansion. So what?
“Luv?” he said softly. Buffy never replied, her eyes transfixed to the Tv. Her eyes looked sad. Haunted.
William glanced back at the Tv again. Xander
Harris’s smiling face flashed across the screen. William froze.
Him. All these months later, he’d been the conversation they’d avoided having. It had been their silent pact. And now here he was, showing up at their most vulnerable time?
William picked up the remote and turned the TV off, leaving them mostly in darkness. The memory of that day was seared into both their brains. Not even once. William felt dirty suddenly, as if he needed a shower. Quickly he got up, tossing the book aside, then took two steps towards the bathroom.
“Will,” she said, her use of his name stopping him in his tracks.
“Yeah,” he said gruffly.
“Can,” Buffy swallowed heavily, trying to breathe. God, she couldn’t believe she was doing this. Saying this. This was the hardest thing she’d ever have to say.
“Can we at least talk about it?”
She heard the breath go out of him, felt as if she’d slipped a knife between his ribs and stabbed upwards. She could feel his brain work out that this was no coincidence. He knew that she’d planned this somehow. He knew. And now Buffy felt the searing pain herself.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said gruffly. Buffy winced when she heard the door slam with a fury, heard the shower turn on. Buffy curled up to one side, listening to the water running, felt hot salty tears run down her face.
She didn’t know how late it was when he finally came back to bed. It had been hours, for sure. He faced away from her, denying her the warmth and comfort of his arms. Buffy knew he was beyond angry with her.
“It wouldn’t mean anything,” Buffy said hesitantly.
William said nothing, but she could feel his body tense, his breathing get heavy with rage. Rage at her, for even daring to suggest such a thing. Anger at himself for, in his mind, failing them.
“It’s not my heart,” Buffy said, touching his shoulder.
“Not my soul.”
He refused to respond. Buffy waited, looking at him for a long time before her drowsy eyes closed and she fell asleep. When she awoke he was gone and she was alone.
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