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“The girls have been asking about you. We didn’t know you weren’t coming home at your usual time,” she said, taking a step towards him. She had missed him all day, especially after his behavior from the morning. Veronica yearned for his touch, but Frank stood his ground. She could see now that he wasn’t going to reach out to her.
“They know that I’m sometimes held back at the office. And it’s not like I need to ask for your permission before I change my plans,” he said curtly and it felt like a dagger had been struck in her heart. Veronica thrust her chin out to him and realized that her lip was quivering.
“Yes, I know. I only work here,” she said, trying to sound as firm as possible even though she was crumbling inside. Without a word, Frank stepped past her and walked towards the living room. She followed him.
They were both silent as he walked over to the bar in the corner and poured himself some whiskey in a crystal glass. He didn’t offer her any, but Veronica knew that he was aware of her presence in the room. He was purposely choosing to ignore her.
“What’s changed, Frank?” she blurted out, when she realized that he wasn’t going to say anything. She couldn’t just remain silent endlessly. He swirled his drink around in his glass and then slowly turned to her.
“You tell me, Veronica,” he said and a small sarcastic smile was forming on his face.
She was stumped. Yes, a lot of things had changed since she met Calvin. But nothing between Frank and her.
“I don’t know what you mean. You were fine last night when I came home and since today morning you’ve been pushing me away, like we’re strangers,” she said, clasping her hands together. She was thankful that the girls were already asleep, because they definitely didn’t need to hear this.
Frank took a few hurried sips of his drink and then smacked his lips, before fixing his eyes on her again.
“We are strangers, Veronica, aren’t we? I mean, how much do we actually know each other?” he said and she shook her head, her nostrils flaring. Why was he tiptoeing around what he had to say? Why wasn’t he just being honest with her?
“Last evening, before I left for the restaurant, you told me that you cared for me deeply. That you wanted nothing more than to be with me. What has changed since then? What makes you think that we don’t even know each other?” she said, aware of the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. She was already awash with guilt, full to the brim with the anxious thoughts in her head…with the decision she had to make. Who knew when Calvin might call and demand for her answer? And Frank was only making it worse for her. He was making her feel like she was all alone.
“A lot of things have changed since you went to the restaurant, hasn’t it?” he asked and Veronica watche
d in silence as he gulped the whole drink down his throat in one go. He slammed the glass down on the bar and proceeded to fold his arms over his chest. His eyes seemed like they were trying to burn a hole right through her head. She had never seen Frank so angry. This was probably what people talked about, when they said that he was a difficult and harsh man to work with.
“What’s changed? You know nothing about what happened at the restaurant. You’re only making assumptions and taking your anger out on me!” Veronica’s voice was raised now, but she couldn’t control herself. Even though the truth was that a lot of things had changed, Frank had no way of knowing that. And she was sure that he hadn’t followed her to the restaurant and seen Calvin proposing.
“You’re right, I have no way of knowing exactly what’s changed. Especially since the first thing you did when you came home was have sex with me,” he said, maintaining his calm deep voice.
“You wanted it too!” Veronica said, aghast.
“You’re right. We both wanted it, but you failed to point out a crucial factor of the night. Which was entirely your responsibility,” he said, keeping his small glimmering dark eyes trained on her. Veronica could hardly look at him any more, without the fear of breaking into a volley of tears.
“What crucial factor? Why don’t you just tell me what’s on your mind?” she said, through gritted teeth now. She could sense that she was beginning to lose her patience.
“I found it, Veronica,” Frank said and drew in a tired deep breath. “The ring. It fell out of your purse in the study, maybe when we were stripping our clothes off each other. I found it when I came back down to turn off the lights after you were already in bed,” he continued.
Veronica could do nothing but stare at him, her mind had stopped functioning.
“It’s a beautiful ring and I suppose congratulations are in order!” he added.
“Frank, I…” Veronica tried to formulate the words but he only waved his hand away like he didn’t want her to bother with an explanation.
“Like I said, Veronica, I respect your decision. You’ve decided to marry him, and that’s fine. What I am concerned with is that you kept it from me and then proceeded to have sex with me, knowing fully well that you now officially belong to another man,” he said and turned away from her with a jerk, to pour himself another drink.
Veronica stepped towards him when his back was turned, in the hopes that she might be able to find the words to explain it to him better. She wanted to get closer to him.
“I wanted to, Frank…I really did,” she muttered and he turned to look at her again.
“But you didn’t, did you?” he said and Veronica noted how completely calm he sounded, despite the anger she could see in his eyes.
“You told me that you didn’t want to hear the details then, not before we made love first,” she argued in a strained voice and Frank sighed and shook his head.
“When your first words weren’t - it’s over between us Frank, I assumed that there was no reason for us to not continue as usual,” he said, his voice rising a little but within seconds he had calmed himself back down. “I had no reason to believe that anything had changed. I asked you to spare me the details of an awkward date with an ex boyfriend, not spare me the most important detail; that you are now engaged to the man I thought you were going to break up with,” he said and with a huff he shook his head, as though there was something funny about that.
Veronica stared at him, her dark eyes widened, her breathing going heavy.
“I’m not engaged to him, Frank,” she said and suddenly the sarcastic smile from his face dropped.
