This story is by Eva Goldsby and was part of our 2016 Winter Writing Contest. You can find all the Winter Writing Contest stories here.
The big clock outside the luxurious café in the heart of the city struck 1 p.m. Only 29 minutes and about 30 seconds before the meeting. He counted out the moments – punctuality is the politeness of kings, as he recalled, and it was one of his sweetest pleasures.
Outside it was raining, even pounding. Strange, in a way, for the summer season. The passersby were melancholically strolling along hiding under their umbrellas on the drenched pavement. The dark clouds were still gathering gloomily and hanging over the city.
At the very edge of the café a man was sitting alone at the table. He was dressed in a snow-white shirt and a beautiful blue tie which reflected his thoughtful sad eyes. He seemed to be middle aged, his designer business suit and perfect hairstyle to match his expensive watch. His polished shoes which gleamed like ivory made a very clear statement of his social status. Stunning, self-assured and successful – he impressed all who encountered him. His hand was under his chin, while he stared in contemplation at the window. A black brief case lay closely beside his feet.
A petite Chinese waitress approached his solitary table with a smile and with a simple question on her lips she asked…
“Would you like to order, sir?”
‘Just an espresso, please!’
“Certainly. I’ll be right back!’ she replied respectfully.
The waitress disappeared and he continued to stare at the window. A group of tourists suddenly appeared rushing in different directions tempted by the sights and enjoyment of life in this big city….
A big and sprawling city wasn’t the place this man was born in. In fact Richard, it was the name of him, was brought up by his mother – a single and fragile woman in a small house in the mountains far away from civilization. His mother worked at a school employed as a French and piano teacher. She had high hopes of him becoming a famous ballet dancer or French school teacher. However, he didn’t fulfill his mother’s ambitions and dreams because he didn’t inherit any of his mother’s delicate frame and genes. Quite the opposite in fact, he inherited the height, strength and brutality of his father whom he never met. With a height of two meters, this strong man chose engineering for his career. His mother was deeply disappointed with her son’s choice of career and his move to the city. She often held his little ballet shoes in her breast longing for his return but for Richard Lawrence there was no going back. He had gone too far and had reached the point of no return…
His cup of espresso arrived.
“Here you are, sir”.
‘Thank you’ he mumbled in a deep voice.
Richard took this small cup and smelled the rich aroma of coffee that tempted his nostrils. He enjoyed every single drop of strong coffee and treasured its comfort. He was deep in thought and pondered his life so far. The name Richard seemed synonymous to him- he was rich – stinking rich! He seemed to have everything that money can buy – connections, houses, businesses and… happiness. Happiness?
He took the cup of espresso and sipped it with his lips…
That first sip of espresso reminded him of his first love, his first feelings for the wife of his youth. Together they studied engineering at college.It was she who typed his Diploma thesis of 300 pages while he dictated it, pacing through their rented flat. It was she who helped him to start his first company. Together they loved and adored each other, more than 7 years, and it was she whom he divorced for being unable to have children with him due to rare genetic blood disorder. Following his divorce Richard Lawrence threw
himself into his work and buried himself as any typical workaholic refusing to deal with his past and enormous failure of life…
…He signed. Meanwhile, the tiny particles of the rain were slightly touching and sliding along the café’s window. It seemed they looked like tiny salted teardrops, sadly playing on the surface of the window… Richard took a second sip of espresso. Eve- like a thunder this name came into his mind. A young and successful beauty-a secretary for some political organization. They met at a business conference and it was love at first sight. They seemed to be a perfect couple, a couple to envy-both were stunning and both were wealthy. Everything was going perfectly until the moment he met her best friend, a lady with pink-colored hair whom he despised. She informed him that his darling Eve had a serious drink problem. He couldn’t believe that Eve, a gorgeous woman, whom he loved and lived together with, could be a secret alcoholic. To his horror, he later discovered stache of empty cognac bottles hidden under her private bathroom in their enormous apartment. He secretly opened her small designer purse and found there a bottle of cognac. On the surface this woman was perfect, but deep inside in her heart bad memories from her childhood were hidden away. Apparently she inherited bad genes from her family. Richard pleaded with her to get help. Unfortunately, the problem grew worse and worse however.
One day he received an urgent call. It was the police. Her attempt to commit suicide was her only way to attract Richard’s attention. He was always too busy for her; he didn’t even notice that she drank. His Eve was standing on a bridge, calling out his name and she was about to commit suicide by jumping into the river. Her green Jaguar was parked beside the bridge when Richard arrived, having left his conference. He coaxed Eve to calm down and held her in his arm. An ambulance was standing by. Eve was taken to the nearest psychiatric hospital where Richard often visited her there. From that moment, he spent more time with Eve than ever before. He tried to see her as often as his business schedule allowed. Four weeks later, Richard remembered that sunny Thursday morning when he was driving to his office. He got a call from the hospital to come in immediately. His darling Eve was dead. The doctors said she had committed suicide by an overdose of sleeping pills…
Richard sighed again He still had some coffee left at the bottom of the cup and he took his last sip of espresso. This third and final sip of a warm beverage touched his throat and the disturbing memories of his heart. The image of his latest encounter, a beauty too appeared in short flashes in his mind. The Internet was the culprit. A pretty 35-year old insurance consultant who lived downtown. Countless calls and dreams of finally starting a family and settling down were in both of the sweetheart’s thoughts. Short lovely meetings on weekends added to the ideal setting of perfect happiness. But it was not what it seemed either. The girl was cheating with two other men and he was number three on her list. How cruel this life is, he protested. He split up and rejected her, but she wouldn’t leave him alone. Text after text, call after call he refused to answer. About six months later Richard received a call in the night but it was too late. A suicide note was left for the only true love of her life…
The espresso cup was empty. As well as his heart. The only thing that could ever fill this dark empty space in his heart was his work and business. His work was the only consolation to him, the only life buoy, the only anchor that kept him near the surface of the waters of life’s hard billows. He could buy everything except happiness. Having lost any hope himself, he was a gleam of hope for thousands of his employees, who had families to take care of. Richard Lawrence was always busy. Too busy. Too busy for friends, too busy for women, too busy for his mother who now had things she never ever even dreamed of, things to replace the lack of her little Richard’s attention.
The tears of rain outside soaked the pavement, the houses, the trees and the umbrellas of the passersby. It seemed that heaven itself was crying, crying silently with his heart for a lost sun…
…It was now 13.29 pm. His business partner entered. Punctual as usual. Dressed in a strict office suit with polished dark shoes, he closed up his black umbrella and approached Richard Lawrence’s table.
The colleagues greeted each other with a wide smile and shook each other hands. Richard opened his black brief case and after ordering lunch from the petite Chinese waitress, the partners discussed the companies countless plans, contracts and figures…
…Outside it was raining, even pounding. Strange, in a way, for the summer season. The big clock outside the little but luxurious café in the heart of the city struck 3 p.m…
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