Chapter Five

Though it had been a long and arduous day, largely due to several creditors taking action against one of the firm’s biggest clients, Maddison’s colleagues wanted to grab a few drinks after work to celebrate their successful triumph over this accounting emergency. She took a rain check instead and headed home. Driving along at a steady pace, her thoughts started to drift. Maddison was part of the team that initially handled the books and though she was very good at what she did, she was not perfect. Her superiors informed her that only the most seasoned professional would have spotted the small errors that she missed which did little to comfort her.

I know I would have seen them if I had been more thorough.

Maddison was fully aware that she was being hard on herself but you never got to the level she was at by being if you weren’t. She remembered the words of George Bernard Shaw: the reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to him. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. She would learn from this and come back stronger.

Twenty minutes later, Maddison arrived at the underground parking lot of the apartment complex in the posh neighbourhood of Celades and took the elevator up to the third floor where her apartment was situated. She took off her heels, strolled into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of Chardonnay which Maddison believed she deserved after an incredibly long day. She took a long sip of her drink, glancing around at the place she called home. It had cost her a pretty penny but it was worth it. A mixture of white, gray and burgundy adorned the interior of the living room, dining room and kitchen. From the gray tiled floors to the coffered ceiling design, coupled with the latest designs in home furnishing; all combining to give her home an urban, modern feel. Maddison moved to one of the large windows that formed part of the wall of her living room, looking down to the street below. Despite it being nine o’clock in the evening, there was a fair amount of foot traffic. That was how safe her little neighbourhood was.

Maddison sat down on the couch, stretched her long legs, pulled out her phone and began scrolling through her social media news feed. She smiled as she scrolled through a few pictures of her colleagues at a bar, chuckling when she read the captions attached to them.  A picture of her older sister and her two year old daughter suddenly appeared on her news feed. It had been six months since she last saw her sister and her niece had been asking about her every now and then. Maddison knew that it would be suicide to show up empty-handed.

It would be nice to get away for the weekend and see them both.

Her sister was always a fan of surprises so Maddison knew this would be a welcome one in spite of its sudden nature. She finally made up her mind, finished her drink and started planning for her trip.

It looks like I’m spending the weekend on the East Coast. A well deserved one at that.