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The voice of reason in my head said these things, but I didn’t like that voice very much right now.
“Have Wolfgang call and replace her.” Elspeth’s voice made me jump because it was like she had just appeared out of nowhere, beside me.
Wolfgang had just been here; however, he was gone.
How long had I just been standing here?
“That’s a bit harsh. She’s just doing her job…it’s not a big deal,” I muttered to myself.
“Do you remember what I told you?” She frowned, looking at me. “The first year, everyone is looking to take advantage. She is not doing her job; she is flirting. He might not realize she is flirting. But you do. I do. So call and remove her, because once they think they have an opening, it only gets worse…believe me. When it comes to your family and your husband, you don’t have to be nice. Even if you are wrong about her, it’s better to be safe.”
I inhaled from my nose, putting my hand on my stomach. “What if he gets upset with me? And calls me jealous.”
“Throw something at his head and blame it on the hormones,” she replied, linking arms with me. “Come on, no need to look any longer.”
If she hadn’t pulled me away, I would have just stood there, watching. I liked her idea, but I knew Gale. I knew how much he cared about honesty, fairness, doing the right thing. If I called and just got her fired or replaced simply because he had talked to her, he would look at me like I was crazy. He would tell me I was overreacting, and then that might push him further away than he already was. His father’s death had made him a bit detached; I didn’t want to add more to that. So I needed a plan B…and just didn’t know what that was yet.
“Stop thinking about it,” she said, carefully helping me down the stairs.
“I can’t. I hate when he and I are not on the same page. It makes me freak out and question everything.”
“Welcome to marriage.”
When I entered our bedroom, she was sitting in bed with a bottle of red wine, cigarettes, sushi, cold shrimp, and oysters, plus cookie dough.
“What in the hell are you doing, Odette?” I asked, completely baffled by the sight in front of me.
“It’s my I-can’t-have party!” she replied, making zero sense.
“Why are you having one?” I questioned, moving closer to the bed to see what else was there. Cans of unpasteurized milk and some sort of dip? What was this?
“Because I think I am mad at you.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“Nothing too bad yet, which is why I said think.”
I really had to scratch my head because I was so confused. “I’m going to need a full explanation from start to finish because I am beyond lost right now. You don’t even smoke or like oysters, so why are they here? Who brought this in? Odette, what will they think—”
“They won’t have time to think about this because you were too busy laughing it up with the pretty film lady,” she snapped at me and uncorked the bottle of wine.
“Odette! Stop!” I ordered, marching up beside her and reaching for the wine. “Are you insane?”
“I’m not going to drink it! You are!”
“Me?” I repeated.
“Yeah, you. Everything on the bed here is for you.”
I looked over the bed and then her again. “I don’t smoke, either.”
“I know, but I thought you’d like to try something less hazardous to your life, but still new, to get it out of your system before you see Winnie again.”
I was speechless, just staring at her. “You are not serious right now?”
“I had them put oysters on ice…do I look unserious?” she shot back, mocking me. “Sit and eat.”
I sat and looked over the spread again, then at her. “Okay, so to be clear, because you heard that—”
