The Truth About Ever After (22 page)

“What
work do they do?” he had muttered when I tried to use that line of reasoning.
“What purpose do they serve except to spend Daddy’s money?”

I
had no argument for that. Sarah had been working at a PR firm for the last
several years, but had quit the moment she got engaged, saying that she wanted
to focus on creating a home. No doubt, her creation of anything would be
limited to calling someone and hiring them to do the work for her. I was not at
all surprised. Most of the girls I went to school with stopped working when
they got married. It was just how things were done in that circle.

After
a few moments of eating in silence, Eric sighed. “I’m sorry I’m grouchy,” he
said, looking up at me. “I just feel like I never get to see you.”

“I’m
sorry too,” I said. “But we shouldn’t waste the time we do have arguing, don’t
you think?”

He
grinned at me. “Always put me in my place, don’t you,
Kiks
?”

I
leaned across the table to kiss his cheek. “Let’s talk some more about how much
you miss me.”

He
smiled, but then a worried expression came over his face. “We need to talk
about something else.”

I
didn’t like the tone of his voice. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s
wrong,” he said quickly. “I just…” He put down his fork and knife and turned to
me. “Kiki, they’re talking about giving me a promotion at work.”

I
gasped and reached out for his hand. “Eric, that’s amazing!”

I
was surprised to see a shadow cross his face. “Yeah. Real amazing.”

“What’s
wrong?”

“Nothing,”
he said, his voice flat. “It’s going to mean a lot more hours, a lot more work.
I’m going to have to really prove myself.”

There
was something about his tone that I didn’t like. “Isn’t the promotion proof
enough that you’re doing well?” I asked. “I mean, I hardly think they’d promote
you if they weren’t pleased with your work.”

“
You
might not think so,” he muttered.

“Eric—”

He
shook his head. “Sorry, I’m being grumpy again.” He closed his eyes for a
moment then squeezed my hand. When he opened his eyes he looked more like
himself. “Sorry,” he said again. “I’m just thinking of the hours I’ll have to
spend away from you. I don’t like the idea much.”

I
felt my heart swell. “I don’t like it either,” I told him. I got up from my
chair and went around the table to put my arms around his neck. “Let’s promise
each other that when we’re together we make the most of it, okay?”

“I
can deal with that promise,” he said, smiling up at me. “And I can think of a
few things I’d rather be doing than eating right now.” He raised his eyebrows
at me and grinned, making me laugh.

“You’re
so predictable,” I laughed, smacking his shoulder. His eyes grew wide and
suddenly he was standing up. He grasped me around the middle and swung me up
over his shoulder, making me squeal.

“Let
me go!” I yelled, hitting his back and laughing.

“Just
trying to bring some surprise into the relationship,” he said seriously,
marching me toward the bedroom. “I aim to please, Kiki.”

***

“So,
what’s the plan here?” Ginny asked, plopping down next to me on the floor.

“Besides
drinking a lot of wine and eating yummy food,” Annie clarified, joining us.

“The
plan is to take these daffodils and replant them into these pots here,” I told
them, gesturing at our materials. “But first we have to paint the pots with
these stencils.”

“And
these are party favors?” Annie asked skeptically.

“Party
favors
and
place settings,” I
corrected. “I made these little plant stakes to put in each pot that will have
the guests’ names on them. That’s how people will know where to sit.”

“Wow,
Kiks
,” Ginny said, looking around at the mess
surrounding us. “You’re really going all out, aren’t you?”

“I
want Jen to have the best shower ever,” I said firmly. “She deserves it.”

“Good
point,” Annie said. “I’ve never seen that girl so sick.”

“I
feel terrible for her,” Ginny said. “And so, so lucky that my morning sickness
ended at the second trimester.”

“Okay,
so the first thing you want to do is tape down your stencil,” I explained. “If
you don’t, your paint will probably bleed through.”

Annie
was looking down at one of the terracotta pots. “Kiki, did you paint this or
did they come this way?”

“I
painted it,” I said. “I used green for the base color then went over it again
with yellow. I used a rag for the yellow to give it that effect.”

“These
are really, really cool,” Annie said, clearly impressed. I felt a rush of
pleasure at her words. “This must have taken you ages.”

I
shrugged my shoulders. I had been working on the pots, as well as about a
hundred other things, every night after work for the past few weeks.
Might as well stay busy
, I thought to
myself grimly.
Since my husband is never
home anymore
.

“Like
I said, Jen deserves an awesome shower,” I said.

“All
right, let’s get to work,” Ginny said.

The
girls and I set about taping our stencils. We then used a dark green paint to
stencil the words “A precious new life to celebrate.” The finished effect was
very nice, in my humble opinion.

Painting
took a lot longer than I thought it would. It was easy to fall into conversation
with Annie and Ginny. The two of them argued like an old married couple,
probably the effect of being friends since they were five years old, but it was
all in good humor. We quickly went through an entire bottle of Merlot while we
worked, and the more we drank, the slower we painted. Finally, all the pots
were ready for the flowers to be replanted.

“We
need to wait for these to dry,” I said. “Then we can do the flowers.”

“
Wanna
eat while we’re waiting?” Ginny asked. “I’m
starving.”

I
looked at my watch and was shocked to see that it was nine p.m. already. I knew
I had been neglecting my own eating lately, what with all the extra hours I had
been putting in. Eric was complaining that I was losing too much weight, and
now I could understand why. I was simply so busy I was forgetting to eat.

We
decided we were in the mood for Middle Eastern and I called to place the order
at the
carry-out
place down the street. While we
waited for the delivery guy, Annie and Ginny started to explore my condo.

“Kiki,
this place is amazing,” Ginny said, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling
windows in the living room. “You can practically see all the way to Detroit
from here.”

“Thanks,”
I said, feeling a little uncomfortable. For some reason I wasn’t thrilled about
the idea of Ginny finding out that this was my dad’s condo. I hoped it wouldn’t
come up.

“Have
you seen this bedroom?” Annie called from down the hall. Ginny looked at me,
slightly abashed.

“This
is probably
kinda
rude, isn’t it?” she asked. I
laughed.

“Not
at all. Feel free to explore.”

Ginny
gave me a quick grin,
then
ran down the hallway to my
bedroom. I followed, a smile on my face. There was something very reassuring in
the girls being comfortable enough with me to exclaim over my place. So many
people were awkward or anxious around me because of my money. The girls’
reaction reminded me of the way I myself had been when we first moved from our
smaller house to the new big place in Bloomfield Hills.

“Holy
crap,” Ginny called. “This is the biggest bed I’ve ever seen. All three of us
could fit on here!”

I
joined them in the bedroom. They were both giggling and lying on my bed, arms
stretched out like they were about to make snow angels. “Our fingers don’t even
touch!” Ginny laughed.

“Kiki,
are you aware that there’s a fireplace in your bedroom?” Annie asked.

“There
is?” I gasped in mock surprise.

“There
is,” she said seriously. “There is also a ginormous window that has an even
better view than the living room. And I’m not sure if anyone told you, but your
entire bathroom is covered in marble.”

I
laughed, feeling unaccountably happy. My phone rang and I rushed to get it,
assuming it was the delivery guy.

“Hello?”
I answered.

“Hey,
babe,” Eric said. He sounded tired and I felt my heart clench. I’d barely seen
him in the last few weeks. He was working later and later every night, and my
weekends had been almost completely occupied with Sarah and the wedding.

“Hi,”
I said softly, walking over to the window. I looked off in the direction of the
city, thinking how far away it really was. I wished he were here instead. “How
are you?”

“Pretty
beat,” he said. “Look, we still have a ton of stuff to get through before this
presentation tonight. You shouldn’t wait up.”

I
frowned. “You know I don’t sleep well if you’re not here,” I told him. “I don’t
mind waiting up.”

“It’s
gonna
be late, Kiki,” he
said firmly. “You’re not sleeping enough as it is.”

Before
I could answer, the house phone rang.
Probably the doorman
with the delivery.
“Hang on,” I said to Eric. I covered my cell and
answered the phone, instructing the doorman to send the delivery up. Then I
walked back to the bedroom, where the girls were now sitting in my closet, trying
on my shoes. “Food’s on its way up. Can one of you answer the door?”

“Sure,”
Ginny said, grinning at me sheepishly as she started to put the shoes back. I
headed over to the office and pulled the door shut.

“Sorry
about that,” I told him.

“Are
the girls there?” he asked.

“Yeah.
I told you they were coming over
,
remember
?
To work on stuff for Jen’s shower.”

“Is
that this weekend?” he asked, sounding annoyed.

“Yeah,”
I said. “Is that a problem?”

“I
wanted to actually do something this weekend,” he said. “I haven’t seen you in
ages.”

“I’m
aware of that,” I said, starting to feel annoyed myself. Why was it always my
schedule that he had a problem with? It was after nine and he was the one still
at work.

“So
are the girls still going to be there when I get home?” he asked.

“I
doubt it, if you’re really going to be as late you say.” I know my voice was
cold, but I couldn’t help it. Why was every conversation between the two of us
ending up this way lately?

“Look,
I have to go,” he said, sounding even more tired than when I had first picked
up the phone. “I’ll talk to you when I get home, or tomorrow, if you’re
sleeping.”

“Okay,”
I said, blowing out a gust of air. Neither of us hung up, as if we were both
waiting for the other to do or say something.

Finally
Eric sighed. “Goodnight, Kiki.”

“Night,”
I whispered. It was quiet for a moment and I took a deep breath, suddenly
wanting to tell him that I was sorry for whatever was happening, that I loved
him and missed him.

But
he had already hung up.

Chapter Twenty-three

Over
the next few days I tried to put the tension with Eric out of my mind. There
was so much to do for the wedding, as we were now fast approaching the bridal
shower. In addition, we were also coming up on deadlines for bridesmaid dress
fittings, cake tastings, final approval on food; every time I looked at my
to-do list, I felt lightheaded.

Smack
in the middle of all that was Jen’s shower. The girls and I had booked a
banquet room at her favorite Italian restaurant downtown. Over the past week or
so her appetite had started to return and her nausea seemed a lot better. I was
keeping my fingers crossed that she would continue in that positive direction.
I wanted her to enjoy her shower.

“I
think this is all of it,” I said, setting down the last box. I blew my hair out
of my face and looked around the room. Annie and Ginny were busy placing vases
of flowers at each table. The room was coming together; it was a pretty little
restaurant with exposed brick walls, big windows, and an enclosed little patio
filled with greenery. We didn’t have to do much by way of decorations.

“What’s
in that one?’ Ginny asked
,
coming to peek into the box
I had just set down.

“Candy
dishes and snacks to put in them,” I told her. “Let’s do three per table,
okay?”

“Got
it, boss,” she said, starting to unpack the dishes. “Geez, Kiki, these are
gorgeous.”

“Thanks,”
I said. “They’re antiques. My grandma gave them to me.”

We
filled the candy dishes with a variety of chocolates, mints, and nuts for the
guests to munch on. It was probably a bit much, as we were going to enjoy a pretty
substantial Italian feast, but I would rather be on the safe side.