The Show Goes On

Midday at SoHo

After kissing Jordan at the park, Brandi's mother had paged her asking for her address to stop by and deliver cookies to her house. Cookies were code for a long visit which Brandi appreciated since she only saw her mother a few months at a time. Sadly, she had torn herself from Jordan with the promise of seeing him soon and taken a cab to her condo to find her mother in the lot.

Jordan walked through the streets of Manhattan with renewed purpose and overall the highest level of motivation to do his job in the past 4 months. Brandi's kiss had transformed him. Everything around him was beautiful. Consciousness felt like a flashback of the first time he took acid in high school. Everything sharper and more amazing than it had been a few minutes before, Jordan breathed fresh air into his lungs and felt more in love than he'd ever been in his entire life. Brandi did that to him. How he had ever deprived himself of her was a mystery and on the way back he couldn't stop thinking. Everything in his memory about her was tinted pink and drenched in rose petals. From seeing her in his clothes the night she had come to his house after being in the hospital to the faint, sweet memory of her little body pressing against his back in the early and dark hours of the morning. Horribly, his remembrances were stopped in their path by the reminder that he was married to Naomi. He had to fix everything and do it quickly. Because another second trapped in his loveless marriage was another second stolen from Brandi; and he couldn't bear to do it any longer, not another second. He called Donnie as he stood at the streetlight of an intersection, hailing a cab.
"Yeah, hello?"
"Donnie?"
"Jordan? Make it quick, I'm swamped, the lines are going crazy right now. And there's a guy in a suit waiting for you in the lobby, he said he needed to talk to you and that it was urgent. I think he might be a co-"
"Never mind all that, man. I'm in love with your cousin. And I told her. And she kissed me."
"Jeez . . . Figures you guys were out for so long."
"Yeah, it was great, really really . . ." He was spacing. "Look I just, I have to talk to Naomi. Right now. I have to tell her."
"Tell her about Brandi or tell her you wanna leave her . . . ?"
"Yes. I have to go. I'm just calling to tell you I'm not gonna be in for the rest of today and to hold down the fort while I'm gone. Tell the suit to beat it and make sure no one's slacking while I'm gone."
"Yeah, yeah, you got it. Happy divorcing."
"Thanks, buddy." He hung up and stepped into a cab en route to his house to find Naomi.

"Brandi? What's that look on your face all about? You're so pink."
"Yeah I just-" she cut herself off and felt a grin cutting her cheeks. "I just had a really great lunch with a colleague." Brandi's cool fingers pressed against her cheeks.
"I'm gonna need more than that, babe," Brandi's mother, Natalia smiled, holding out a blue tin stuffed with cookies.
She sat with her daughter on her velvet couch for a good forty minutes as Brandi told her everything that had happened before she had rushed over.
By the time she got to the kiss, Natalia had lit a cigarette and let out a long sigh as she sunk into the back of the couch.
"Hoooo . . . God, Brandi. Your boss?"
"Yeah, I just, I don't know. I mean, I've always known but I guess it just took so long to see. But you know Jordan. He's a . . . he's a good guy. He helped me with Lenny, he's . . . he's always been there for me, to listen and to keep me safe. Really, ma . . . I don't know where I'd be right now," Brandi's breath fluttered. "If it wasn't for him. He's my best friend. I love him, ma. I'm in love with him."
Natalia examined her daughter's face and resigned herself to touching her cheek.
"My sweet girl. I see it in your eyes."
Brandi looked at her mother, not bothering to hide the lovestruck look in her eyes after having Jordan's name in her mouth for sentences after sentences. "I like this guy for you really, he's done good by your side. But baby, he's a married man."
Brandi looked at her hands resting in her lap.
"I don't want to discourage you from being with him. But you should know what you're getting into. Don't be with a man who cheats on his wife. Don't be the other woman. If Jordan wants to be with you," she tapped her cigarette over an ashtray, "he has to go about this the right way. He needs to divorce his wife. Not only because she deserves to know, but because you deserve the peace of mind that everything is being taken care of the right way, before God and before your conscience."
Brandi rested her head on her mother's shoulder. She knew she was right.
"I'll talk to him tonight. I don't want to be the other woman. He'd divorce her for me . . . I'm sure of it."
"He'd better. Now you keep him honest, Brandi. You're a nice girl." Natalia turned and winked at her daughter. "Don't let him turn you bad."
Brandi sighed and visualized Jordan's perfect face. If her mother only knew . . .

Jordan rushed up the steps to his mansion and unlocked the door with solid urgency. He collected himself and cleared his throat.
"Naomi?" He shouted at the ceiling. No answer.
"Naomi!" He called again. Was she even home? He stood at the kitchen counter and noticed a glossy catalog with a circle marked around a Dolce & Gabbana sample sale in SoHo today at 3. He checked his watch. 3:12 PM. Jordan grabbed the ad and read the directions, stepping back outside with a clear path formulating in his mind. He knew where to find her now.

Cutting through highways and speeding through every traffic jam in Brooklyn, he found himself in the packed street where a horde of people stood outside the clandestine Dolce & Gabbana store in SoHo. He parked his car and began to walk towards the line, scoping out through the people a woman with familiar blonde hair and smoothing his hair back nervously.
He got closer and saw that Hildy was with her.
"Naomi," Jordan said.
She turned around to face him and raised her eyebrows.
"Hi, honey pie," she kissed his cheek. "How'd you know I was here?" Hildy turned to look at Jordan.
"You left a paper on the table, and look I . . . I have to tell you something."
"Can we do this later?" She checked her nails absentmindedly and craned her neck to see above the crowd. "I'm really getting pissed at how slow this line is moving."
"Naomi, I want a divorce."
She turned around quickly and focused her gaze on him. "What?"
"I can't do this anymore. I'm lying to myself if I say that I love you and I can't stay with you any longer. You make my days painful and I haven't been happy in a long time. I don't love you anymore, Naomi. I want a divorce."
Hildy's jaw dropped and she gawked at Jordan openly. "Oh my God," she muttered under her breath.
Naomi's eyes were wide with rage and brimmed with tears.
"What? How can you do this to me now? I gave myself to you Jordan. You married me and- and you . . . you said you loved me, goddamn it. We were gonna try for a baby," her voice began to break with sobs. "HOW?!" She shouted at him.
People in the crowd began to turn around to catch a glimpse of the commotion. Jordan ignored them and focused on her.
"You heard what I said," he said coldly. "I don't want to be with you anymore, and we both know it hasn't been the same for a long time. So stop with the dramatics. No more of this shit Naomi."
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT? HOW CAN YOU JUST STAND HERE AND THROW AWAY EVERYTHING?! EVERYTHING WE HAD?!" She screamed, tears rolling down her face. "Does this ring mean nothing to you?!" Naomi shoved Jordan's chest. She tore the ring off her finger and threw it to the pavement. "You got someone on the side, don't you? I know about all the hookers. Don't think I'm so dumb. WHO ARE YOU LEAVING ME FOR? TELL ME HER NAME, YOU BASTARD!" Naomi cried, swiping at Jordan.
"I love someone else," he said simply. "Brandi. I love Brandi."
Naomi's face dissolved into a bitter look of hate. "Brandi," she scoffed. "Of all the women in the world . . . I should have known."
Jordan stared at her hard. "I want you out of my house by tomorrow. You'll have the papers tomorrow afternoon and they'd better be signed by Friday."
The crowd was openly staring and the chatter was completely silent. Jordan turned around and walked back to his car, turned on the ignition.
Naomi stood, fuming among the crowd, her fists balled so hard the sharp nails on her fingers had began to cut into her palms. She quickly walked towards the street and hailed a cab with only one place in mind.

And her condo wasn't too far away.