Charles expected far more fireworks from Abby. She’d been discreet throughout their long-term affair, but she seemed desperate in his office this morning. But now she was claiming marriage wasn’t on her radar screen. She was lying. He knew she was lying. But just as long as she knew that he was not.
He stood up, with Jenay rising too. “I’ll take care of my child,” he said. “But that’s as far as I’ll go.”
“That’s as far as I want you to go,” Abby responded with umbrage. “You need to stop suggesting otherwise. You’re telling me not to make a mockery out of her. Then stop making a mockery out of me!”
Charles looked at her. A lesser man would have been touched by her bravery, by her independence, and would never think of it as what it was: an act. An Academy Award-winning performance. Charles and Jenay left. He felt he had gotten his point across.
But as soon as he left out of her house, and drove off of her property, Abby went ballistic. She threw things and trashed the room. She cursed from the top of her lungs. By the time Reeva and the maid made it into the living room, she had slumped down on the floor, and was sobbing.
They both looked at each other, wondering more about the future of their employment than the future of their hateful employer, and then hurried to her side.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Norm told horror story after horror story about his new job as a chef on a cruise ship, and Jenay couldn’t stop laughing at his funny spin on every episode. She had her computer’s webcam on, and had been videoconferencing with her two old friends from hospitality school, Norm and Denise, for nearly half an hour. This was their Saturday ritual. They always took time from their busy schedules, to stay in touch.
“The Three Oddateers,” Norm said. “One day we’ll be together.”
“Yes, we will,” Jenay agreed. “But you have got to get off of that cruise ship gig first.”
Norm laughed. “Isn’t it crazy? Me on a cruise ship? And it’s not like it’s a luxury liner. It stays in port and take old ladies up and down the bay from six at night to midnight.” They laughed. “I always dreamed of owning my own restaurant, or working in the best of the best of five-star places. And this is what I do for a living.”
“Well, I’m happy,” Denise declared. She was seated behind her desk at her home office, and was rubbing the bottom tip of her long hair.
“You have no job,” Norm said, “but you’re happy?”
“I have a good man. He’s taking care of me.”
Norm shook his head. “Talk to your girl, Nay. Talk to your girl. Relying on a man is not the way to go. I should know. So should you.”
Jenay smiled. She was cutting up potatoes at her kitchen countertop. “I talked to her,” she said. “Repeatedly. I told her about the mistakes we made. But she seems to think our fate won’t become hers.”
“It won’t,” Denise said. “Mark is really good to me. He loves me.”
“Peter loved me too,” Norm said. “Until he didn’t.”
“Quince loved me too,” Jenay said. “Until he didn’t.”
“Whatever,” Denise said. “All I can speak for is Mark. And he loves me. He takes care of me. I’m happy.”
“What can you say?” Norm asked Jenay. “And speaking of men, how’s yours?”
Jenay hesitated. She hated that she told them about Charles. But she needed somebody to talk to about it! “He’s okay.”
“He’s still gorgeous?” Norm asked.
Jenay smiled. “He would say yes.”
“He seem mean to me,” Denise said. “I don’t like him.”
“You don’t have to like him,” Norm said “Jenay does. And she’s head over heels.”
“I don’t know about that,” Jenay said as she tossed a peeled potato in her bowl of water.
“I know about it,” Norm said. “You didn’t pack up and move all the way to boring-ass Maine for your health. And you certainly didn’t move there to run some small town B & B, I don’t care how luxurious you claim it is. You went to Maine for that man. Period. Full stop. End of discussion.”
“You are so judgmental, Norman,” Denise said. “You think you know everything.”
“Not everything,” he admitted. “But I know Jenay Franklin.”
The doorbell rang just as Denise was about to lash back at Norm. “Got to go, guys,” Jenay said, feeling as if she was saved by the bell. “We’ll talk later.”
“Bye girl,” Norm said.
“Be good,” Denise said.