breathless haste that you hurry past it.
― Soren Kierkegaard
The next day after the party at Coro's I felt wasted. it wasn't a great night and I forced myself to go into the office because that's what I always did when I didn't want to do something.
I know--pathetic.
“Did you get a new car, Gray?”
Tess had just gotten off the elevator and although it was only eight a.m., her eyes were dancing.
Bloody hell! She hadn’t even had her coffee and already she lit up the room.
“My car? It’s a demo, you might say—a Porsche Cayenne Plug-in.Hybrid, but with special features ”
Her already enormous eyes grew huge, if that were possible.
“I've never seen a model with a strip of taillights like that across the back, and it’s still early in the model year—how could you…”
“Like I said it’s a demo,” I cut in.
I caught myself, realizing how abrasive I sounded. I softened my tone.
“It’s not really a production vehicle, Tess—my friend Hans Mueller arranged for me to test an advanced concept car equipped with some of the 2026 model year features. I really wouldn’t advise your bruiting that around though. Hans has asked me to be discreet.”
“Oh yes, of course.” Her face has grown somber, but her eyes are still warm. The girl adores me.
She’s busies herself making coffee, all the while talking to me over her shoulder.
“Are you going to Victor’s party this weekend? I hear his Muskoka retreat is breathtaking—all picture windows and right on the lake.”
“A northern chateau? I’d expect nothing less of Victor,” I say drolly. “Yes, I think I’ll drive up Friday afternoon and stay overnight.”
“Sylvia and I want to go but neither of us wants to drive on a two lane highway all the way there.”
My heart stirs at the mention of Sylvia’s name.
I feign nonchalance. “You can both catch a ride up with me, but you’ll have to stay overnight.”
“That sounds marvellous!” she enthuses. “I’ll have to check with Sylvia, of course, but I’m sure she’d be willing to go.”
“Let me know,” I smile, as I head off to the conference room.
Sylvia and a moonlit lake—the mere thought takes my breath away.
Surprisingly, Tess gets back to me later in the day and says Sylvia agreed to my suggestion.
Outwardly I'm blasé, but inwardly I struggle to contain my elation.
This might be a turning point in our relationship, I muse—not that Sylvia and I have any real connection, per se, but it's a step in the right direction.
Cherchez la femme, Victor might say, and at the very least this weekend excursion might uncover Sylvia's true emotions and settle the question of whether I might even have a chance with her
Friday afternoon finally arrives and the three of us leave the firm early and are soon heading north.
I would have preferred Sylvia beside me, but the two girls are keeping each other company in the back leafing through old vintage copies of Vogue and chatting amiably.
I check the rearview mirror occasionally and always find Tess smiling back—Sylvia is either perusing the fashion magazine, or staring out the window—strange though, how her face mirrors the same expression of the world-weary ennui I see in Victor.
Seems appropriate somehow for The Girl Who Has Everything to be bored with the merely mundane.
We stop at huge roadside restaurant and I enjoy chatting mostly with Tess while Sylvia, oblivious of everything, is disinterested, and blissfully unaware she’s turning men’s heads.
An hour later, we pull into Victor’s private access road, as the western sky is burning like a forest fire and tall pines are casting long shadows.
We drive about a quarter mile and just round a bend, when Tess gasps, “That’s magnificent!”
I stop the car and we both stare at the chateau’s three-storey high picture windows glowing red in the dusk, and beyond, the quiet waters of the lake.
Sylvia is unimpressed and I’m beginning to wonder what, if anything, excites this chick.
I pull up to the door to let the girls out but am relieved of my keys by a parking valet. I shake my head in wonder.
Who the hell employs a parking valet at a vacation house? But then, of course, I'm talking about Victor Goldman, The Man Who Has Everything.
I have to admit I'm in awe. Even at the lake, Victor entertains elegantly.
Someday perhaps, I'll be successful as him and hopefully as smooth and self-assured.
For now, however, I’ve succeeded in arranging a weekend getaway with Sylvia, albeit with Tess along as a fifth wheel, but if I stick to my plan, this high-risk investment might eventually result in a high yield.
I’m almost there—I just have to convince Sylvia.