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I ignore that. Getting into the weeds of our marriage won’t be productive this morning. “You slept with him?”
She stares at me, her perfectly-put-together face losing some of its beauty as acid spills through the cracks. “I can’t believe you just asked me that.”
I clench my jaw, working hard to remain in control of my anger. “Believe it because I’m going to ask you again. Did you fuck Ron?” I already know the answer to this question, but I need to hear it from her. I need her to own what she’s done so we can move forward with an understanding that she can never do it again.
“Is that what he told you?”
“Jill, answer the question.”
“We don’t need his business. I’ll find us ten new Rons today if I have to.”
My chest tightens, my forehead tightens, my mouth tightens, and my patience snaps. “There aren’t ten more fucking Rons to find. And if you think we don’t need his business, I don’t know who I’m talking to anymore.” I pause. “Why?”
“Why what?”
My anger finally explodes out of me as I yell, “Why the hell would you pull that stunt with him? And stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about. You know very fucking well what you’ve done.” I was hoping we’d be able to have this conversation like civilized adults. I should have known better.
Ron Johansen is our top client. Has been for four years. Apparently, he and Jill were having an affair for a couple of months until recently, at which point he ended it with her. In his words, “she’s turned psycho, Owen.” Knowing Jill as well as I do, I findpsychoa little difficult to believe, but I do know that when her heart has been broken, she tends to operate from hurt emotions rather than the intelligence she possesses.
She inhales a long breath before turning away from me and pacing the length of my office. Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooks Manhattan, she keeps her back to me as she says, “He’s very persuasive when he wants something, and I’m not going to apologize for sleeping with him.” She turns to look at me, her face twisted with a combination of defiance and hurt. “He made me feel wanted, and that’s something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.”
One of the reasons our marriage fell apart was because I worked too much. I fully acknowledged that during the marriage counseling we had, and I pulled back on my hours while we tried to salvage our marriage. It’s not the only reason the marriage failed, far from it, but Jill never lets me forget my contribution.
“It’s not so much the sex that I have an issue with—” I start, but she quickly cuts me off.
“Good, because you don’t get to have an issue with any sex I choose to have.”
Christ, this morning is going to hell in a handbasket faster than any morning with Jill has recently. I take a steadying breath. “You tried to hit him with extra fees when you know that’s a bullshit move that will never hold up. And for fucks sake, Jill, he’s married. What I can’t wrap my head around is how someone as intelligent as you does something as dumb as this.” I jab my finger at her. “That’swhy you don’t fuck your clients. Sex gets in the way of good judgment.”
She glares at me. “Can you please stop using foul language with me?”
“You want a seat at the table, Jill? You want me and Julian to treat you the same way we treat each other? Let me assure you that when he or I fuck up to this magnitude, we don’t fucking watch our language with each other.” Now, Iambeing a bastard, which isn’t something I like about myself. And yet, I’m unable to alter course. Not when I’m this angry.
“No, but that doesn’t mean I’ll accept you speaking to me this way.”
“Can we get back to the point? Ron was ready to walk yesterday. To pull everything from us. And that was solely because of what you did.” My chest rises and falls with a heavy thud. “You won’t be handling him anymore. I’ll take over. And if you ever do something like that again, so help me fucking God, you won’t like how I deal with it a second time.”
Jill’s fury matches mine. “We’re equals here, Owen, even though you and Julian like to pretend you two run the show. As such, you don’t get to boss me around. There’s no way I’m handing Ron over to you. Not after I had to fight you tooth and nail for my seat at your table. We agreed that I’d look after the top clients, and I intend for that agreement to stay in place.”
“Yes, we’re equals, but when your good sense has been fucked out of you, it’s time for me to step in.”
She slaps me, her hand stinging my cheek hard when they connect. “Fuck you.” With that, she stalks out of my office in the direction of hers, leaving me in the kind of mood that’s no good for anyone or anything.
It’s not often I get worked up like this. I’m the guy who generally gets on with most people. Even when I think someone’s an idiot, I can tolerate them longer than most can. This is why I’ve indulged Jill while she’s worked her way through her resentment at me during the last year. While it was directed my way, no harm came to the business. Now that it’s affecting the company, I won’t stand for it. And if I know anything, I know that my refusal to tolerate it a second longer is going to cause an enormous problem for me, for Julian, and for the company.
I undo another button on my shirt as I take a seat behind my desk.
Fuck.
I glance to my right, to Julian’s office. We’re separated by glass and since I didn’t lower the blinds while I argued with Jill, he was able to witness every moment of it. He meets my gaze, reading me as expertly as he can after all these years together, and stands to come into my office.
“I take it that didn’t go well,” he says, dropping down into the chair across from me.
“Whatever the extreme opposite of well is, that’s how it went.”
“You told her you’ll take over Ron?”
I nod. “She’s not going to make it easy.”
