Arranged(50)

Such a bitter explanation for such a beautiful piece of art, I mused. That was when I spotted the letters worked into the flowing lines. Spelled out in small, subtle precision was the name FATIMA.

I knew that name. I felt myself go cold.

I stepped back from him instinctively.

He turned to study me, but I was already heading back into the shower. I should’ve learned by now not to bother getting clean until I was sure he was done with me.

He didn’t follow. Good. I told myself I wanted it that way. Certainly I needed a few private moments to compose myself.

When I emerged from my room, I saw that my hair and makeup people were waiting. Probably had been for a while.

Oh yeah, that’s right. I had an important charity brunch to host with my mother-in-law at eleven.

I said good morning to everyone.

My husband was still present and watching me. I tried to pretend he wasn’t.

He and Asha seemed to have worked out their beef, as they were talking with relative civility.

I sat down for my beautifying.

“What’s on her schedule for the day?” he was asking Asha.

“First there’s brunch with your mother. She needs to leave in one hour for that.”

He nodded like he was somehow involved. Why hadn’t he left yet? “And after that?” he asked her.

“She’s meeting with her financial team—your father’s sitting in—to discuss some potential investments and business ventures. She had a very promising offer to team up with a prominent brand to start her own clothing and shoe line. And there’s a fragrance campaign on the table. Your father wants her to strike while her brand has so much free publicity. He says that every time you two are seen together, it’s money in the bank.”

I watched his lips as they twisted bitterly. “Isn’t that the truth?” he mused. “When will that meeting end?”

“At five.”

“And…?”

“And then she’s going to your parents’ home for a family dinner. That’s her last engagement of the day. Ideally she’ll be in bed by nine. She has a very early morning tomorrow.” She sent me one of her looks. “Think you can manage not to oversleep for the third day in a row, or is that asking too much?” she said it in a snotty tone, but nothing too over the top, at least for her.

I wanted to stick my tongue out at her like a child. Instead I gave her nothing. I’d learned that was the best way to win with her.

“Watch yourself,” my husband said to her, voice low and mean. “You’re on your last warning with my wife. I won’t tell you again.”

Her pinched face pinched harder, but she only nodded. “Excuse me. I’ll be back when they’re,” she waved at my hair and makeup girls, “done with you.”

When she left the room most of the tension went with her. Jovie popped out of her room like she’d been waiting for the moment. She was humming a tune I thought I recognized. Something from the Wicked soundtrack.

Yep, she’d been waiting.

She beamed at me. “Did he make her disappear again?”

I nodded and laughed.

My husband caught my eye. Something happened to him when he saw me laugh. Something volatile and contradictory. He looked bitter and charmed all at once.

It was fascinating to watch.

I only stopped looking when I had to close my eyes for eyeliner. “What about you?” I asked him, just for the hell of it. “What are your plans for today?”

I could hear the grin in his voice. “What are you offering?”

I blushed. I couldn’t think of a single comeback for him.

“So are you like sticking around for a while?” Jovie asked him after an extremely awkward silence.

He didn’t have a single comeback for her.

I finally opened my eyes when my liner was done. I studied him.

He had the look of a man who badly wanted to leave but just couldn’t quite tear himself away.

Apparently he hadn’t gotten his fill of me just yet.





CHAPTER





TWENTY-TWO





I was still fed almost everything to do with Calder through the filter of Asha, and it was all on a need to know basis. Which was why I was annoyed but not surprised when I learned only a half hour before the dinner with my in-laws that my husband and I wouldn’t be driving there together. I assumed that meant he’d meet me there.

I’d spent more time around his parents than I had around him. They’d always been quite pleasant, and they warmed to me more with every meeting.

In fact, a dinner with them where he wasn’t present would be considerably less nerve-wracking than the alternative.

Or so I thought before that night. I arrived on time. He did not.

My in-laws greeted me cordially at the door, led me to an impressive dining room, and we waited.

And waited. One hour passed, then another.

We ate without him and made polite conversation.

His parents, Pasco and Diana, didn’t even bring up his absence for quite some time.

We had a surprising amount to talk about, considering I’d had a meeting with my father-in-law mere hours before. You’d think he’d be sick of it, but he was very forthcoming with business advice for me, which I valued.