The maid sets the heated charger on the place setting and scurries away so she doesn’t get hit by the crossfire.
“I gave you that money and thus, I am supporting them.”
“That’s—“ She shakes her head in frustration at how wrong my statement is but I don’t back down because Orchard and I never talk. We only argue. I suppose that’s why I provoke her. It’s the only time she speaks to me.
“Reasonable,” I finish for her. I stuff a morsel of steak in my mouth and watch her face turn red with anger.
“Bullshit,” she says. “It’s bullshit and besides, what does it matter? I’m not having kids anyway. Having kids would require us to have sex and that’s never going to happen so I’ll just use my account in whatever way I want. David!” she yells.
My man pops through the doorway. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I want that guy’s bank account number. I know you have it.”
David’s eyes slide to me.
“Don’t look at him. This is my money. I get to spend it on jewelry or shoes or clothes or dads to be that are unreasonably fired and no one gets to tell me otherwise.”
David still looks to me. I shrug. “It is her money.”
“Damn right it is.”
“I’ll get you the information straight away, ma’am.” He nods, backing away.
“Don’t call me ma’am!” Orchard yells after him. “I’m twenty-three, not eighty-three.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replies, completely reflexively.
I raise the napkin to my mouth so Orchard can’t see my smile, but her next words totally wipe away all traces of humor.
“If I could leave you, I would,” she spits.
This is a marriage of convenience, but it’s not convenient. It’s a pain in my heart.
2
Orchard
“I can’t win,” I groan as I drop my phone down onto the break table at work. Cindy pushes half of a donut towards me. I pick it up, taking a giant bite. I moan when the sugary sweetness hits my tongue. A tiny bit of my frustration with my husband melts away. I use the word husband very loosely.
“What did he do now?” She steals one of my fries from my plate.
“He fired someone for no good reason so I gave them severance money. The guy had a baby on the way and he just up and fired him.”
“Did he stop the payment or something?”
“No, he replaced the money I spent.” I shove the rest of the donut in my mouth. The man is so frustrating. He often says one thing and does another. It drives me mad. I think he does it to get under my skin. He could have easily paid the money himself. Or not fired the poor guy to begin with. Instead he had played this game.
I swear that he’s toying with me sometimes but what would be the point of that? Does he like when he gets a reaction out of me? Does he think that I’ll bow down to him like everyone else in his life does? That I’ll play the good wife and do exactly what he wants.
“Wait, let me get this straight, you’re mad because he gave you money? Do I have that right? I’m not seeing the problem here.” Cindy leans back in her chair looking out into the hallway. I follow her line of sight to see Jeff standing out there looking our way. I snap my head back.
“Stop looking at him or he’ll come this way,” I whisper to her. Jeff is a total jerk. I don’t have to deal with him often because we work different shifts. There’s something about him that creeps me out so I stay as far away from him as possible.
He is the night manager at Good Foods while I am the assistant day manager. He likes to remind me of his title any chance he gets. I always laugh inside because if he’s trying to intimidate me, it’s not working. I could care less about his position here. My own billionaire husband can’t even control me. So I’m sorry to break it to Jeff, but he has no chance.
“He’s got a thing for you.”
“He’s got a weird way of showing it,” I mutter, finishing the rest of the donut. “I’m married,” I remind her. It is one good thing about being in this marriage. I have an easy out whenever I am asked out. Not that I am asked often but it happens every now and then.
“I know and he’s pissed you’re married so instead he’s a jerk to you. Kind of like your husband.”
“He’s not a jerk.” I clamp my mouth shut. My husband is a jerk. Still, I have this weird need to defend him. Only I’m allowed to call my husband names.
Cindy just snorts. “Let’s focus here. So we have money to spend. That’s what this boils down to.”
“I’m not spending the money.” What is there to buy anyway? I want for nothing. That’s a lie. I want for nothing that costs money. There are so many other things I want in life but they don’t have a price tag on them. That’s a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down right now while I’m at work. I have to focus on being pissed at my husband.