Page 44 of Chasing the Horizon

Natasha got up to use the bathroom, leaving Max and Victor alone.

Victor’s breathing stalled. He thought,This is it.

“Do you come out to places like this often?” Victor asked.

Max nodded. “Yeah. You?”

“All the time,” Victor said. “Now that I’m divorced. Twice divorced, in fact.”

Max raised his palm to give Victor a high five. As Victor slapped his hand, he winced and thought,I don’t mean it.

“Twice! Wow. I guess I’m working on my first,” Max said. “Glad I got out of there when I could. She was the worst.”

Victor sipped his drink and thought of poor Catherine.

When Catherine wanted to date again, she’d have to do it as a single mother. She’d have to get a babysitter and fight for a little bit of time just for herself.

“It’s cool that you got out of it without any kids,” Victor said, watching Max’s face for clues. “That’s what really drags you down.”

Max didn’t give anything away. “Totally,” he said, then gestured to the drummer. “He’s the best in the city, I swear.”

It was true that the drummer was fantastic, taking a drum solo like he was battling the soul of the instrument. Victor took a moment to watch, trying to strategize. But he hadn't found a plan by the time Natasha got back.

Luckily, it was Natasha who soon helped him through.

“We were just celebrating our divorces,” he said with a laugh to Natasha, who couldn’t have been more than twenty-four or twenty-five.

Natasha was more than slightly drunk. She turned her head from one side to the other and sighed. “I want to get married. I want it all. The kids. The house. The yard. The dog.” She listed out a “perfect” existence—and the same sort of thing Max had just abandoned.

“Babe, no, you don’t,” Max said almost sternly. “Look around you. This is what you want. You already have it.”

Natasha sighed. “But it’s so fleeting, Max. It’s like, I’m young and pretty now, but I know that won’t be forever. I know one day I want to do the whole parenting thing. I want to teach someone how to ride a bicycle, you know?”

She looked at Victor with big eyes, and Victor was reminded of Valerie again. Valerie when she first learned to ride her bike or first played with her dolls on the floor of his study. Natasha was like fifteen years younger than Valerie and with so much more time to make mistakes. Victor prayed she’d get away from Max as quickly as she could.

And it was then it flew out of his mouth. “Max is going to be a father, aren’t you, Max?”

Max’s jaw dropped with surprise.

Natasha shrieked and nearly dropped her glass. “Max?”

“I don’t know where you think you got that information. But you’re a stranger to me,” Max said, all walls up.

“I know your wife, Max,” Victor continued, performing for Natasha. “I attended her baby shower today. Your mother wasthere, too. Wow. Mandy? Was it worth it for Mandy? But I guess Mandy is in the past now.”

Victor turned to look straight in Natasha’s eyes. He wanted to tell her to run.

But Natasha could take care of herself. She glared at Max and asked, “Who is Mandy?”

Max’s face was pale. He looked like he was sobering up fast.

“Why did you do it, Max?” Here was the question Victor had come all this way to ask. “Why did you put Catherine through all this? Why did you leave your unborn child? You have all the wealth in the world. You fought hard to get pregnant. You have so much time. Why now? Tell me.”

But Max just shook his head. Victor had never seen anyone angrier. It looked like he was about to explode.

And then, Max got out of his chair, strode over to the bouncer, and, pointing at Victor, explained to the bouncer (and a friend, it seemed), that Victor needed to be “let go.” Before Victor knew what was happening, the bouncers grabbed him, carried him out of the speakeasy, and hurled him onto the street. He just barely caught himself before he fell to the pavement.

“Stay out of here!” the bouncer cried.

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