It seemed like just yesterday that he was being placed in her arms, all red and crying, and now here he was about to graduate college. She felt her eyes begin to mist and she pulled a tissue from her pocket to dap at her eyes. Why she decided to wear eye makeup today was beyond her.
"Mom, stop crying I haven't even graduated yet. Its tomorrow!" Harley said exasperated at his mother while also handing her a clean issue. He knew she was upset but this had been going on all day, there was only so much he could take. Between the oh so fun family dynamics between his parents and his dad's new wife and his mother tearing up every five minutes it was proving to be trying. He was just trying to get through dinner so he and his sisters could go hang out and his parents and step-mom could kill each other for all he cared.
"I know Harley, I'm sorry I just can't believe that you are all grown up."
"Janie, leave the boy alone," Jake said as he slung an arm around Anges' shoulder. Anges responded by leaning into him and smiling 'ever so sweetly' at Jane. Jane felt as though it would be more pleasant to scratch her nails repeatedly down a chalkboard than sit here and watch those two being all cute and cuddly.
To distract herself she glanced around the restaurant, trying to find something anything that could capture her attention. Couples having dinner, business meetings so far nothing too exciting, oh but in the corner there was a family dinner that looked about as much fun as this one was. A woman with striking white hair sat stiffly in her chair swirling a glass of wine while the man across from her talking away. She seemed to be staring off into space but he just kept talking. On either side of the woman with white hair were twin girls with bright red hair playing on their phones.
While she was looking the woman's eyes met hers. Jane started to look away but then lifted her glass as though to say 'I'm in hell too.' The woman barely smiled but her eyes lightened for a minute and then raised her own glass in response before turning back to the man and their 'conversation.'
In the midst of her wandering eyes, Jake had paid the check and was rounding the group up. "Ok well Agnes and I are going to the bar, anyone in?" The kids shook their heads and pleaded off for the night, they had had just a little too much family time for now. Jane just shot Jake one of her looks and he raised his hands in response. Message received. They all filled out and left her at the table. She sat and contemplated her options before deciding that it was too nice a night out to just go back to her room and left for a walk.
Miranda was in the middle of one of the most boring nights of her life. She thought briefly about stabbing herself in the eye with the salad fork before deciding that it was in bad form since her daughters were sitting right next to her. Instead she was perfecting the art of rolling the wine around in her glass. She was attempting to keep the wine at the same level as it rotated. Ok really she was bored but it was something. Suddenly she felt eyes on her, not unusual for her but these felt different than the usual 'oh look that's Miranda Priestly, let's stare.'
She lifted her ice blue eyes and scanned the room before meeting a pair very similar to hers. The same shade of blue, but these eyes, oh these eyes sparkled the way hers never could. The woman smiled and lifted her glass in salute that they were suffering the same fate. Miranda couldn't help her eyes lightening for just a moment as she slightly raised hers. Well something interesting, she began to run her eyes over the woman's table. Three children, if you could call them that, all in their early to mid-twenties that clearly belonged to the woman and the man that was currently draping himself over a woman half his age. This must be the new wife.
One of the children had her boyfriend or husband or something with her and he seemed to be in good spirits with the woman with blue eyes. She laughed and threw her head back and she could see how she came to be so sparkly. Why this group was all having dinner together she didn't know but she thought that the woman was silently contemplating killing her ex-husband while trying to play nice for her children.
As they all got up to rise they hugged their mother, even the husband/boyfriend but not their father and left. The woman and her ex exchanged brief words before he took off with his child to play with. The woman, Jane, she heard the man call her sat for a moment longer before coming to a silent decision and walking out of the restaurant and into the night air.
Miranda sighed, distraction gone. She turned back to her husband to find that he hadn't stopped talking and that the girls had also tuned him out. They were more obvious then she could be, they had their phones out. Little darlings, she envied them right now. She could be texting Nigel, or emailing someone, hell reading the news or watching something random on youtube anything would be more benefical than this. Why oh why did she say she wanted to work on things?
"Darling, I'm sorry but it is getting rather late and the girls have an early day tomorrow and need to be at school early. Would you mind terribly taking them home?" Miranda put on her honeyed voice and looked up at him through her eyelashes.
"Oh course dear, will you be home soon?" He sighed to himself, yet another night alone with the twin devils in training.
"Oh course. Girls would you go outside and wait in the car? Mommy just has to pay the bill and talk with Stephan for a moment." The girls jumped at the chance and took off for Roy. Miranda and Stephan both glanced to the door to make sure they got into the car and Roy tipped his hat to the watching pair before shutting the door.
When Stephan turned around, Miranda was at his side. "Darling, I would love nothing more than to be able to come home right now, but I did get into work a little late this morning, if you remember?" She stroked his cheek and practically gagged at the thought of having sex with him that morning. He grinned at her, "well dearest that was entirely your fault. You shouldn't look so good in the morning if you don't want that to happen again. But yes I understand; I have some files to look over at home as well. Off you go." He kissed her gently and she forced herself to respond before standing from the table and walking out of the restaurant.
She really didn't have to go to the office, of course she could there was always work she could do on the upcoming issue but nothing pressing, and tonight, she found that she didn't want to work. With a set of her shoulders, she took off down the street; maybe a walk would clear her head and allow her some time to think.
Jane found herself walking around the city, window shopping and just enjoying the night. She watched all the pretty young woman bounce by and couldn't help but feel her age just a little more. Why was it that so much importance was placed on youth? She was traded in for a newer model because society couldn't see that she wasn't worth anything anymore. It all just made her sad and annoyed. Even she had briefly considered plastic surgery but decided against it, wanting to prove to her children, her ex-husband and herself that she could and would age gracefully and would not bend to the pressures of society.
Shaking her head of her strangely feminist views for a moment she looked around and found she was standing in front of a jazz bar. Well that was one thing she couldn't find back home. Somewhere quiet to sit and listen to jazz? She thought it would be the perfect end to her night.
Miranda needed quiet, quiet and a strong well-made martini. Blue Note, she thought to herself as she raised her hand and a cab screeched to a halt in front of her. Couture does wonder when trying to get a cab. She gave the address and they were off before she could fully shut the door.
"A dirty martini, shaken," Jane said to the bartender as she adjusted herself on the barstool, thanking God that they had backs. God knows her back could not have handled it without one. In record time a drink was placed in front of her and she slid over her credit card and motioned for him to hold running it for the time being. She wanted to enjoy the moment and the night. Tomorrow her baby would graduate and she would have to spend an annoying amount of time playing nice with Agnes.
Miranda walked in and gave her eyes a moment to adjust to the drastic change in lighting. The blue tint gave the bar an almost smoky feel, a drawback to the old age of jazz. Now the best they could do was to try to recreate it. Once she was able to see, she strolled her way to the bar, allowing her hips to sway just a little bit more than necessary. Oh yes she was still married but she knew her married was over, and maybe she just wanted someone to buy her a drink and give her some attention.
She settled down into the only open seat in the bar and turned glanced left and right. On her right a couple that were quickly becoming just a little too close. On her left, oh my god, she thought the woman from dinner. "Dirty martini extra olives," Miranda said to the bartender. Jane turned to her left to see the new arrival, "extra olives why didn't I think about that." Miranda smirked at her companion, "always extra olives."
"I saw you at the restaurant tonight, I'm Jane Adler." She stuck her hand out and it was grasped in a strong grip. "Miranda Priestly," she responded and waited for the common response.
"Nice to meet you," was the only response she got and she saw by looking in Jane's eyes that she had no idea who she was. How refreshing to meet someone who could just know her as Miranda, not Miranda Priestly, Ice Queen.
"Yes dinner, or should I say my weekly torture experience. I love my girls but my husband, well let's jjust say we are approximately two seconds from divorce." Miranda chuckled darkly and sipped long from her martini.
"Ahh divorce, I know it well. Well I can raise you that torture experience with a cross between emotions of my son graduating college tomorrow and having to sit through the tension of my ex-husband and his new wife and watch them be affectionate." Jane groaned and ran a hand through her hair, messing up her up do in the process. With another sigh she shook her hair out before quickly twisting it back into the clip. Miranda was surprised at the effortless sexy look she had just created and from the looks of others around the bar she was not the only one. "It's bad enough that I was traded for the new model, I can almost handle that with the way society is and the focus on youth but to have to sit there and watch it? That is too much, too much and not enough alcohol." Miranda couldn't help it, she laughed as she held her glass up in toast. "To drinking enough that it is tolerable." They clinked.
Drinks flowed and time crept on as the two found themselves talking less about their families and problems that lead them here but more about themselves. Jane felt bad when she found out what Miranda did as she did just insult her line of work with comments of youth but Miranda brushed it off saying that it was nice to meet a real woman and someone who was not all about labels and plastic in random body parts.
Miranda found herself having more fun than she has had in years. Talking with someone who didn't care about her name, status, or job who just wanted someone to talk to. This woman was a breath of fresh air and very real, something she realized she was missing. She realized as she got older that of course her industry was geared towards the young, maybe that is why she clung so dearly to her title. She wanted to prove that she was still relevant, but after Paris she was finding she just didn't have the spark anymore. Her daughters were older now and were in high school. She could retire and travel, or write a book, or sleep past 5 am.
"Miranda, are you ok? You looked lost in thought for a while." Jane looked concerned and Miranda was touched.
"Yes, yes I am fine. I was just thinking about what you said about youth being the focus. I have been the head of Rjunway for over 20 years and maybe it is time for me to do something else. Take tonight for example, I have the perfect chance to go back to work and instead I end up in a bar. Don't get me wrong this turned out to be a wonderful surprise but it is not like me at all. I think I am just getting tired of it all, all the backstabbing and fighting to keep myself at the top and all the things I have to forgo to remain there."
"I think that you are in one of those moods where nothing seems to be working. You have had a rough time of it lately from what I hear, don't do anything rash. I did when I divorced Jake and it was the worst mistake I ever made. I gave up on my business my house my life, everything. It took me years to get it all back. I did eventually but I think if I would have had a clearer head then I would have waited until the storm passed." Miranda was shocked at the wise advice and was about to reply when a man appeared between them and asked Jane to dance. She smiled sweetly at him but told declinded saying it was girls night. He looked put down for a moment but took off in search of someone else.
"Don't feel like dancing," Miranda asked.
"Oh I don't mind dancing and I would just not with somone who is making their way around the bar asking everyone he sees. I'm far too old to play that game and know I will get outbid by someone younger. No I will leave all that to the young, I am perfectly happy sitting here and watching them be silly, young and in love." Jane once again shocked Miranda with her thinking and words. Where were women like this in New York? Did they exist?
The night came and went and Jane pled off first saying she had an early morning, Mrianda offered her car service but Jane declined and raised her arm for a taxi. When one appeared she paused before stepping in, "if you are ever in Santa Barbara, look me up. I would love to see what you ended up deciding. Live life to the fullest," and she was gone. Mirnada was left on the sidewalk. She didn't move for a moment, thinking over the night. Behind her Roy pulled up and opened the car door for her, live life to the fullest? Really? Okay well how did one go about doing that? Clearly the Ice Queen had some thinking to do, was Mrianda's last thought before turning her brain off and preparing herself for meeting her husband at home.