Moonshine whined when I walked in and I petted her head before I took her for a walk. I texted Bastian as I waited for our dog to go to the bathroom.
Our dog, as if this was a completely normal marriage.
What had I been thinking?
Morina:I need you to come home. We need to talk.
He didn’t text me, he called. “That sounds ominous,ragazza. What’s wrong?”
“I talked with Ronald today.”
“You what?”
“He came to the food truck and–”
“Where was security?”
“That’s not the point.”
“He shouldn’t be anywhere near you. So, that is the point.”
“Why shouldn’t he be near me? I can have a conversation, can’t I?” My paranoia lashed out.
“Of course.” He spoke slowly and quietly like he was assessing the situation. “I’ll be home soon,ragazza.”
With that, he hung up. Bastian knew how to de-escalate and he wanted to be here in front of me to do it.
My mind ran away with itself in those moments. I put Moonshine in her room so I could google oil spills and illegal imports and links between them all as I waited. In the corner of my phone screen, my horoscope app said something about heeding warnings.
My stomach twisted, the urge to throw up building and building as the conspiracies online tied the Armanellis to trafficking and drugs. Their partnerships with every big company in the United States suddenly felt questionable instead of respectable.
“Morina.” I jumped when I heard him in my doorway.
“You scared me,” I said, my hand to my heart.
“I didn’t mean to,” he said, walking over and kissing my cheek like he normally did now. When I didn’t respond, he studied me, his hand in my hair. “You want to talk, love?”
“I think we need to.”
“Okay, let’s go in the living room. I’ll make some food.”
I followed him out like a woman trudging to her demise. I told myself I should have hope, that we could work through it all. Yet, a little voice screamed to run and run fast.
“Why don’t you sit? What do you want to eat?”
I shook my head. “I’d rather stand. I’m not hungry.”
“Ragazza–”
“Did you fly to Texas to meet with an oil refinery in the past month, Bastian?”
He narrowed his eyes. “That’s very specific. I fly everywhere and have partnerships with everyone, Morina. Whatever Ronald told you–”
“Please answer the question.” I held up a hand because I knew he would try to coax me down from my anxiety again. “Be honest. Did you shake a man’s hand and say you would up the amount of oil at our terminals?”
“That’s the plan first, Morina.” He nodded cautiously. “I can give you details on that.”
I spun the bracelets on my wrist. “You can give me details? You don’t think that would have been a good detail to disclose early on?”