The butterfly wings

Cairo closed her eyes and sighed heavily, “There’s no way out of this Den?”

“I’m sorry Ms. Hudson,” he answered, staring at her devastated expression.

“It’s not a big deal,” she said cheerfully, “I can manage, with the money I get from my job and the money my mom sends me for college I’ll be okay. I’ll get another apartment, a smaller one an-”

“I’m sorry Cairo but there’s something you should know.”

Cairo’s weak smile faded the moment she heard his tone, “Is there something wrong?”

“Well, your grandfather left your mother her share and she contacted me two days ago and….” Den looked at the young girl and wondered how bad this was going to sound for her, “she took the money and left the country.”

“What?” Cairo asked with an ironic smile, “I know my mom doesn’t care much about me but…” she stared at him for a moment and realized he was actually telling the truth.

“I’m sorry Cairo, I-”

“No, no,” she mumbled slowly “where did she go?”

“Italy and she asked me if Mr. Walsh had left you anything, and when I said yes she told me that you are going to be okay without her, and that she’s getting married and leaving for Italy with her husband.”

“You mean she left me completely alone and went to Italy?” Cairo muttered.

“She thinks that Jake left you enough money to live a happy life. I didn’t tell her about his condition.”

“God, I don’t know what to do Den.” She tackled weakly. She’d spent the last few days thinking and trying to figure out what she was going to do with her life. Cairo thought that maybe she could do it on her own. She decided that she’d do just fine without her grandfather’s money, but right after what Den said about her mother leaving and that she was left all alone, she didn’t know what to do.

“I don’t know how to say this Cairo but… did you think about, you know….”

“Getting married?” she asked, cutting him off, “God no, I can’t get married Den, I’m nineteen. Okay maybe twenty next month but I can’t possibly get married right now,” She protested faintly. But then she frowned, “and most importantly I’ll never marry someone like Adam Walsh.”

Den sighed and wondered what Adam did to make the young girl hate him so much. He knew Adam wasn’t an easy person. The fact that his parents died when he was young and the fact that he’d never really seen love in his family had made him a somehow cold person, a person who didn’t believe in love. He could remember back when Adam was twenty years old and had had a bad relationship with a girl that cheated on him. Den could remember how Adam loved that girl at the beginning, she used to be everything to him and he was actually planning on marrying the girl. But then she cheated on him more than once and he couldn’t take it anymore and he left her. It devastated him for months after and until this day Den knew Adam wasn’t over that girl.

He wondered what Cairo would think if she found out that underneath the coldness of Adam laid a warm person who’s just afraid of getting hurt again.

“Don’t hate him dear.” Den said kindly, he sort of knew why she didn’t like him. Even though neither one of them told him what happened the first time Cairo went to see Jake, he knew Adam must have done something silly and injudicious because Den had to spend the next two weeks convincing Cairo to come back and meet Jake. She’d only agreed when she was completely sure Adam lived somewhere else and that she wouldn’t probably meet him. But the day she went again, to her -bad or good- luck Adam was there, and the looks they both threw each other assured him that these two would never get along nicely, let alone get married.

“Oh, Den you don’t know what he did. He is such a jerk!” She exclaimed.

“You just don’t know him well, if you do, you’ll find out he is a good guy after all.”

Cairo shifted in her seat, ‘I don’t want to get to know him at all.’ She thought dryly.

“All he cares about is the money!” Cairo continued.

“No, not Adam.” Den said shaking his head with assurance, “Cairo, you don’t know how much he is going to lose if you two didn’t get married.”

“What? He’ll probably lose millions and millions of money.”

“No, it’s not just the money. He is going to lose the house he grew up in, the house his father grew up in. Adam lived with his parents and his grandparents in this house until he was ten. And then his father and mother died and he was left with Jake and Jane, they raised him up in that house. The thought of losing it would make him do anything. It’s the memories he wants to keep not the money.”

“Are you trying to convince me that he doesn’t want the money?” Cairo asked and deep down she was starting to believe Adam was really after the memories of his parents. She knew how it felt to live without them, she might have lived with her parents till she was fifteen but there presence didn’t mean anything to her, it was like they were died. Both her mother and her father didn’t care a bit about her. That was why she sort of knew how Adam felt, but that was not an excuse, she still hated the guy.

“Adam has his own money Cairo. He’s a well known artist and his paintings are being sold all over the world.” Den said proudly as if Adam was his own son.

“Paintings?” She repeated to herself more than to him, ‘Adam is an artist?’

“I thought he worked with old Jake.”

“Well, that’s a long story Ms Hudson and I better get going.” He said as he got up and waited for her to walk in front of him.

Cairo opened the door and watched Den leave her apartment, “Goodbye Mr. Arnold.” She said with a smile.

“Goodbye Ms. Hudson, I hope you’ll consider the….um what was written in the will and I hope you’ll decide soon. And I would strongly suggest you speak with Adam.” He added the last words as he went down the stairs.

* * * * * * *

Den’s words were still echoing in Cairo’s head when she left her apartment the next day heading for the salon where she worked. She was late and had a terrible headache as she’d spent the night awake wondering what she was going to do. She exited the building and walked to her car.

The first time she glanced at the car she thought she was imagining things and that her mind was so busy thinking about the whole marriage thing that she’d imagined Adam standing next to her car. But as she kept getting closer and closer she realized it wasn’t her imagination and that he was really standing there waiting for her.

It was the first time she’d seen him wearing something but his suit. She was starting to believe he didn’t quite own any normal clothes. But right now he was proving her wrong with his used jeans, his dark blue t-shirt and white sweater. His hair was somehow uncombed from the wind and he actually looked human! ‘And more likely looks like an artist.’ She thought as she stopped right in front of him.

“Good morning Ms. Hudson.” Adam said politely.

Looking up at his face Cairo couldn’t help but gaze at his eyes, they were beautiful! With long eyelashes which were such a waste on a guy.

“Good morning Mr. Walsh.” She answered hoping that her voice was steady.

“I came to apologize for what I said few days ago.” He said with a hint of a smile.

Well that was another first too. She had never seen him smile before, ever.

“It’s okay Mr. Walsh.”

“Then, if its okay can we go get a cup of coffee somewhere and talk?”

“Talk about what?” She asked cautiously.

“We need to find a way Cairo.” He said plainly and it was the first time he’d ever call her by her name. There was something strange about him today and she just couldn’t put her finger on it.

“And do you think there is a way out of this Adam?”

He actually grinned! Cairo thought, ‘okay, so? I knew he looked good, some people look even better when they smile and he is one of them, so what?’

“Does that mean we can sit down and talk?”

“Uh, I’m sorry but right now I have to go to work.” She mumbled as she reminded herself of their first meeting and how he tried to give her money then threw her out.

“Fine then, I’ll come pick you up tonight at eight. We can go out for dinner and talk.” He said as he started walking towards a black BMW that she didn’t notice was parked on the other side if the street.

“What?”

“You don’t want me to pick you up?” he paused before getting inside his car.

Cairo stared with an astonished expression as he waited for her answer.

“No, no that’s… um fine.”

It was all she was able to say until she got inside her car and stared blankly in front of her.

“What did I just do?” she asked in horror.

“God, I just agreed on going out with him tonight!”