Chapter 108: Stafford Townhouse
Wednesday, January 4th, Evening
It was a long day when she walked into her townhouse. She placed her keys into a bowl by the door, put her briefcase down, and slipped off her coat. She hung up her coat on a hook in the foyer. She picked up her briefcase and walked across the Garden Level (First Floor), to the eat-in-kitchen in the back of the house. She put her briefcase down and turned on the oven.
Taking up her briefcase, again, she walked up the curved staircase to the Parlor Level (Second Floor) and walked into the living room. She put her briefcase down on one of the tables and returned to the curved staircase.
Even though she had a big office on the Third Floor she preferred to work in the living room. She kept on going to the Fourth Floor of her Townhouse, where the Master Bedroom is located.
Inside the Master Bedroom, Fallon Stafford looked at herself in the mirror over her dresser and sighed. She looked haggard, but some of the board meetings caused that. She was always the youngest person in the room. This made the men and the women underestimate her or even worse treat her like a child. Not as bad as Tanner, but bad anyways.
Shaking her head, she slipped her blazer off and walked into her massive walk-in closet. Hanging up her blazed, she then stripped out of her business clothes, dividing them between dry cleaning and regular laundry. Naked she looked through her dresser to find some work out gear. Finding what she's looking for, she slipped on running shorts and a sports bra.
Next, she returned to the Garden Level, three levels down a warm-up for her work out, and put one of her pre-packed meals in the oven. She looked to the ceiling.
"Alexa set a timer for forty minutes," Fallon said.
"Forty minutes starting now," her household Alexa said.
Fallon did a quick nod and returned to the third floor. The back bedroom, formally Trin's room, is now her gym. Fallon looked at the machines and decided to do weights.
"Alexa, play The Offspring on Amazon Music," Fallon said.
"Shuffling songs by The Offspring," her household Alexa said.
Fallon let the music of Dexter, Noodles, Greg, and Company play over her as she set up the machine and started her workout. Fallon's always been a workout machine, part of it came from having a model as a mom, but part of it was some of her own obsessiveness. The weights, like someone, once said, don't lie. It made her face stress. Six days a week she did some form of working out, on the seventh, she sought other forms of relief.
Fallon would attend mass every Sunday. There's a church local to her that she attended, The Church of St. Luke in the Field, and she rather enjoyed attending mass. The mass and worship gave her the spiritual fuel she needed to get through the week, just like the working out gave her the physical fuel to get her through. After working out for a while and more then a few California Pop-punk songs played Alexa's alarm started going off.
"Alexa, alarm off," Fallon said and finished her set. Getting up, she grabbed a towel and dabbed her face. After a quick breath, she went down to the Garden Level. She checked her dinner and found it had finished cooking. She took it out of the oven and turned off the oven.
After she put the food on a plate, she pulled up a stool at the breakfast bar and started eating. This is a typical night for her. She was alone and didn't date. She reflected not for lack of trying, it's just tough for her.
Once she finished eating and cleaning up, she went back to her bedroom. Walking through her walk-in closet to the Master Bathroom, she stripped out of her work out gear and started her multiple shower head shower and waited for it to get to the right temperature. Once she was comfortable with the water temperature, she stepped into the shower and washed off the day's stress and the work out's sweat.
The music from her Alexa was still playing when she stepped out of her shower and wrapped herself in a towel. Collecting her discarded things, she put them where they needed to be.
After drying her hair, she put it up in a messy bun and found some comfortable clothes and slipped into them. She studied herself in the full-length mirror, the PJ pants and t-shirt looked fine. Who did she have to impress?
Shrugging she left her bedroom and headed down to the living room. As she walked down the curved stairs she thought about her various homes. The Tree Hill home she only lived in a short time in high school, and currently, she rents it out. The Hamptons house she opens only in the summer. The house in the Hamptons Houses was more a drain than what it's worth, but she has to keep up appearances. No, the Millneck home she might visit this weekend, it's nice to get out to the country every so often. The townhouse was her home.
Fallon put it out of her mind and took up a seat in the living room. The music ended on Alexa. Fallon sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
"Alexa, play Paramore," Fallon said.
"Shuffling songs by Paramore on Amazon Music," her household Alexa said.
Fallon looked down and picked up her briefcase. Once it was open, she pulled out several files. Looking through them, she was bored, almost the second she started to read them. Most of her life has become facts and figures, where she's making money, where she's losing money. Rejuggle this division or this company.
Often, she wondered did she really need to make another million dollars? How much was too much? Her legacy would be passed down to Keni, and how much would Keni need? There was always another course, the Andrew Carnegie route and give away what she's personally earned. That would piss off those pain in the ass distant cousins, who were the ones that tended to use the Hamptons House more.
Looking at the files, there was very little she could learn from them. That was one reason she used UBER; she would be driven around while reading her files. One thing she liked to do was over tip for the silence. So, looking them over would teach her anything new.
Sighing, she slipped the files back into her briefcase and looked at her smartphone, which was vibrating. Fallon wondered who was calling her. Ellie would be doing whatever Ellie does. Her work would email her. Trin is usually busy with Wyatt. Tanner would never call her; the world would be coming to an end and Tanner wouldn't call her to tell her.
Fallon picked up the phone and saw it was Grant Coyle. A small smile broke onto Fallon's face as she answered the phone.
"Hi Grant," Fallon said.
"Hello Fallon, I hope I'm not disturbing you," Grant said.
Fallon looked around the room, "No, not at all," she said.
"Is that Hayley Williams I hear?" Grant asked.
Fallon looked up at the ceiling, "Oh yeah, I'm listening to Paramore on my smart speaker," she said.
"Wow, I love Paramore," Grant said.
Fallon laughed, "Something I didn't know," she said.
"Yeah, I did, I caught them on tour many times," Grant said.
"Nice," Fallon said, "Favorite concert moment?"
"Oh easily, it was when Mental Lapse was opening for them," Grant said.
"You're just being trendy," Fallon said.
"It wasn't the second time, it was with the good Mental Lapse when Kat Hartmann played bass for them," Grant said.
"Do tell," Fallon said.
"Yeah, it was at Webster Hall, Hayley called Kat out and to the shock of the fans they did a duet," Grant said.
Fallon nodded, she remembers hearing those plans, and how hard Kat practiced for it. She had to hold back in order not to show Hayley Williams up. Fallon had a slightly broader singing range.
"Oh yeah, what song did they do?" Fallon asked, teasing, as she already knew what the song was.
"Kat talked Hayley into doing Misery Business as it was Kat's favorite song," Grant said.
Fallon smiled, that bit of theater worked, she reflected, "Oh wow, Hayley thought that song was problematic," Fallon said.
"I heard that," Grant said, "I never asked, what do you do for a living, Fallon?"
The Trap question, Fallon thought, people will use it to figure it out, "Well I go to meetings mostly," Fallon said.
Grant laughed, "I hear you, but where do you work?" he asked.
"I work at the Stafford Foundation," Fallon said, well it's not really lying," They were who sent me to the party."
"I see," Grant said.
"Yeah," Fallon said.
"What's your last name," Grant said, "I can't just have you in my phone as just Fallon."
"It's Adams," Fallon said, "Fallon Adams."
"Well nice to finally meet you, Fallon Adams," Grant said.
"Maybe, next time face to face, Mister Coyle," Fallon said.
"Maybe, Ms. Adams," Grant said.
Fallon smiled, this most certainly has potential.
