Chapter 11
Will paces his apartment.
She's gone.
Thank God!
He wants to sit out on the terrace but now the rain has soaked the seating and the wind at this altitude is still chilly. It crosses his mind that Mac has gone out in this weather in a blouse, without a coat, but he tamps down his worries about her health. She is no longer his problem.
He's no longer affianced. An acute loneliness washes over him. 5 minutes ago he was never going to be alone again.
Will continues to flit from room to room, going over things…..While she'd been at FOX, had that given her the opportunity to meet Brian behind his back? What was she even doing with him anyway?
After an hour, and two more scotches, he can contain himself no longer and has to act. So he phones Scott, just before the agent closes at six and tells him briefly that the wedding plans will have to be called off and Scott needs to prepare to make the announcement and cancel their various commitments and caterers. Scott is stunned
"What? You've fallen out with Mac? Are you sure you got it right Will? " Scott questions in amazement "What does Mac say? Does she even know you're doing this? I want to speak with her"
But Will finds he can't explain further, can't voice any more about what had just happened between him and Mac…he can hardly think straight, his life is in tatters.
"Just get prepared " Will growls angrily "You're my agent, do your job" and a bit less fiercely "We can talk on Monday to review your suggestions on how best to go about this!" and he cuts the call.
Talking to Scott has not relieved Will's agitation. He opens the fridge door and is faced with the healthy food that it contains, a painful reminder of Mac. He swings the door shut and wanders round the apartment with a box and puts in all the Mac related items that he finds in his lounge. The carton is soon full and the room looks clinically bare. Just like it used to before she had swept into his heart again… never left?
Will dumps the box in the guest room and starts on the bedroom - tears running down his face as he sweeps her cosmetics into a bag. Soon all the obvious traces of Mackenzie are hidden away out of sight. He can't bring himself to look in her wardrobe… his cleaner can pack the clothes into cases and ship them to their owner next week.
Only seven o'clock, and the rest of his life to go. Will sighs, picks up the phone and presses a hotkey "Nina, Hi. You want to go out to dinner?"
Nina says yes of course and alters her plans to make a space for the man she knows is in love with another but who she rather likes herself. And who picks some great restaurants too.
She is not disappointed as he puts on his anchor's face and accompanies her through a prestigious and shockingly expensive dining experience. By eight thirty they are being seated in a discrete booth. Will orders a scotch and a steak but feels sick at the thought of eating and leaves most of it, to the concern of the chief.
"So tell me why we're here" Nina prompts "Mac have a new boyfriend? Cheating again is she?" she teases quite oblivious to the actual events of the day
Will's face crumbles and tears appear in his eyes but he stays their release
"Does everyone know except me?" he whispers miserably
"What? No! Not at all. Nothing is out there about Mackenzie Will. What makes you think that? She's a loyal person. Everyone in the industry respects her. There's not a bad word!" Nina reassures him honestly, a sure sign of her feelings for him. She has been civilized, around Will anyway.
"Why did you just say…?" he asks
"Only teasing because I can "she replies "But I think I touched a nerve there. Anything I can do?"
"Come home with me and I'll tell you…but not here in public" Will answers "Enjoy your soufflé, they're famous for it"
He orders another scotch for himself.
On the ride to his place Will puts his arm around Nina. Entering his home he drops his keys into the bowl on the table in the entryway and turns to Nina putting both hands on her shoulders.
"Can I get you a drink, Nina" he asks falling into the routine they had built together until five months ago.
"Red wine would be lovely Will" she responds in her familiar girlfriend role
They settle closely on the couch with their drinks, Will having poured himself a fifth of scotch.
Nina looks at him, placing her hand gently on his free hand. "What's happened Will? Tell me about it"
So a very drunk Will tells Nina what had happened that day; how he'd had begun the weekend with a future and now faced an empty chasm. Tears run down his face but he pays them no attention. He insists he is not upset but angry at Mac and at himself for being fooled again.
Nina listens carefully and then strokes his hair to sooth him as she takes him to bed to help him forget for a few minutes how miserable he feels and how terribly Mackenzie has betrayed him. She's unaware that Will doesn't forget Mackenzie during their, in his case drunken, coupling…it merely serves to increase his awareness of what he's lost. Nina offers no distraction at all.
Will falls into a deep, alcohol-fuelled sleep after their lovemaking and Nina is just drifting off too, when a ping from Wills phone alerts her to the machine on his nightstand.
Leaning across, Nina sees a text from Scott with an interesting title.
She glances furtively at Will while opening his text message and scanning it with a concerned frown. Then she forwards it to herself before deleting it from Will's phone and turning his phone off completely. She puts it back on the table as it was. Sliding out of bed Nina walks quietly into his lounge having hauled on one of Will's clean shirts from his closet. She pulls her ipad from her handbag and starts typing. Forty-five minutes later she makes a phone call and then returns to bed. Placing a soft kiss on Wills temple she turns on her side and closes her eyes. It is now 11.30pm.
Following her nightmare, Mac lies in the chilly darkness of her apartment, shaking and going over the scene she's just had with Will. By midnight, after the first effects of the tablets have worn off a little but retain some calming impact, she feels empty and …..just hollow but at this point at least she can think.
She thinks through her day and Will's behaviour. If this is the end then she needs to set up the rest of her life. NewsNight is not a place she can be. She feels a really strong urge to run but Will has blamed her for doing just that last time. She needs to start making plans.
She fishes her phone out of her bag and sees there's a text in from Scott.
OH Fuck! Her wedding has been cancelled BY TEXT! How could he? How could Will be so cruel? She will never live it down. Whenever wedding cancelation hits the headlines, her and Will's texted dissolution will be dragged up in the press as context…. forever! And her parents have learned of their split before she's been able to warn them. And their entire staff will be so ... she can't think of a suitable word that will describe the mixture of disappointment, sadness, pity and anger that will possibly reflect their staffs combined reaction.
Sitting on her bed, Mac knows this is the end. Tears do not flow. It's too bad for them. She has to go home to the UK, now. But when she looks up flights she realises she needs her passport.
Which is in Will's safe with her birth certificate.
And she has her own safe key.
Now, finally, Mac's anger is building. Will has dumped her, after promising not to hurt her and has aborted their wedding in the most humiliating way imaginable. How did she ever believe this this person could forgive her enough to love her again ? Well, she is going to have it out with him. Tonight! Today! whatever! She will go back to his apartment and either get this resolved or come back with her personal papers.
The cab drops her outside Will's building at around 2am and she speeds inside to avoid getting wetter than necessary.
"Hello Ben" she mutters passing the weekend night porter who gives her an anxious nod.
Her key turns smoothly and the heavy door opens to reveal that several lights are still on around the place and all is quiet. Mac slips off her shoes and makes for the terrace which is so often Will's choice when things are stressful.
No Will there, but the weather is really unpleasant so she heads for the bedroom. She notes the lack of photos of her family and friends that had stood on the table beside the couch. The place looks quite bare. The bedroom door is ajar and in the low glow from the bathroom light, Mac realises Will is asleep, lying face down, head in his pillow, his right arm draped across a sleeping Nina Howard's waist, his fingers curled around her left hip.
Her world stops. Mac is completely stunned at the montage before her. Knowing something and actually seeing it – completely different. For reasons unknown, Will's repeated reference to his brain image of Mac with Brian came into her consciousness. Will has never seen Brian with her in a compromising position. He had imagined a scenario in his head and tortured himself (and her) with it. Now she knew the huge difference between fantasy and reality. No contest. She'll never get the picture of Will in bed with Nina out of her head.
Two minutes pass and Mac pulls herself together. She is freezing and desperate to pee so she slips to the guest bathroom and then calmly she kneels before the safe and inserts her key.
Their passports are stacked on the left hand side of the container. She opens the top one - it's Will's. She takes a long look at his face smiling up at her. Closing it she placesit back on the shelf alone and tucks her two into her pocket. She sorts through other piles of papers and retrieves her birth certificate and her Peabody award papers.
At the far side of the safe is a stack of jewellery boxes- gifts from Will that she had kept in a bank deposit box while she'd been in the Middle East. They'd been moved to Will's safe last month so she has easy access.
She takes out the empty box for her engagement ring, slides it off her finger and slots it into its place. She put it on top of Will's passport.
Then she picks up a very battered Tiffany necklace box and smooths it between her fingers. This piece had gone with her to Kabul and had been her constant physical connexion to Will. It was her favourite everyday piece of jewellery, her constant companion, a delicate string of small gold coins. She wares it whenever she is not wearing one of the others. She is wearing it now.
Mac raises her hands to the back of her neck and with shaking fingers, unhooks the links from their clasp. Then placing it lovingly into its worn box she stacks it on the top of the pile, swinging the safe door shut.
Mac puts the safe key and her fob with the keys to his apartment and elevator beside the coffee machine. She knows that is where he'll go when he wakes and she also knows Nina is unlikely to brew the coffee in his home….he's very particular about it…but then what does she know !
Finally, Mac collects her coat from the hall closet. Looking round for the last time, she draws in a breath, straightens her shoulders and lets herself out of Will's home.