“Yeah, about that,” I responded. “I think we need to talk about our plans for when we return. Maybe it’s time to come out of the closet together. I agree it was best to keep things under wraps to start until we were sure, but I’m not comfortable breaking the rules anymore and not reporting our relationship to HR. I think it’s safe to say things are serious enough between us now that we should come forward officially as a couple.”
Jimmy’s face tightened, and so did my stomach at his obvious reaction. “Uh, yeah. Let’s talk about it some more when we get back, okay? There are a lot of hoops we need to jump through with HR and stuff. I just don’t want to be premature. For now, let’s just enjoy ourselves. Okay, darling?”
He reached out and brushed a piece of hair from my face, but this time, I instinctively pulled back from his touch.
“Premature? You were just talking about an annual vacation with me. I would think that meant you and I are past casual dating and moving into something more serious ... something worth taking the steps to make it official. Or am I misinterpreting things?”
“Ivy,” he soothed. “Don’t be upset about this. Let’s just enjoy our vacation. Okay?”
His non-answer triggered another alarm inside of me, and this time his pretty, pleading eyes didn’t silence it. The little voice inside my head whispering something wasn’t right started screaming louder, but I didn’t have a chance to listen to her because another voice interrupted my thoughts.
“I knew it,” the woman’s voice said.
“Arlene?” Jimmy answered, spinning on his stool.
I spun along with him, and when I turned around, a beautiful brunette stood behind us with her arms crossed tight against her chest.
“What ... what are you doing here?” he asked as he jumped to standing.
Arlene arched an eyebrow as her piercing gaze landed on me. “I think the better question is, what areyoudoing here?”
“I’m on my work trip. I ... I told you that,” he stumbled out.
“And her? What isshedoing here?”
“She’s part of the work trip too. We work together, right, Ivy?”
His big brown eyes collided with mine, pleading with me to play along again.
“Who are you?” I asked her before I spit out what I knew he wanted me to say, my gut already telling me the answer to my question.
“I’m Arlene. His wife.”
Hiswhat?