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“What?”
I never expected that she’d be gone. I saw them as a team, always together, so close, and in Piedmont, sure he’d been upset with her, but I didn’t think he’d fire her. Or maybe….
“She quit, did she?” I demanded.
I heard his long, irritated sigh. “No,mi leoncina, I fired her.”
“Why?”
“Because…why the fuck do you think?”
He was angry, and that just irked me more. Why did he think he had a right to be angry with me?
“How the hell would I know?” I threw back at him.
“She crossed me when she talked to you the way she did. No one treats my wife that way.”
My eyebrows shot up, and my resentment evaporated. “What?”
“Did you not understand what I said?”
God! This was getting out of hand. “Look, I have to open the bistro and?—”
“I’m not done talking with you.”
“For now, you are.” I hung up on him, and then when he called again, I didn’t pick up the phone and ignored the three messages he sent because I was being childish.
Maura came back out, a cheeky smile on her face. “Trouble in marital paradise?”
“Argh!”
Maura laughed as she tightened her apron. “You both need to sit down and talk like grown-ups.”
“He’s the one who’s behaving like a child,” I pouted, folding my arms.
“I can see that,” Maura’s tone dripped with sarcasm. “You want to stomp your feet now?”
She was right. It hurt my pride to admit that, but she was.
“He keeps saying he’s in love with me,” I said wearily. “And it’s…making it hard to keep asking him about the divorce.”
“Because you want to go back to him?”
“I don’t know what I want.”
Maura gave my nose a sharp little flick with her thumb and forefinger, making me scrunch my face.
“What was that for?”
“Because you’re being a stubborn jackass. You know what you want,” she informed me. “You’re just too scared to go get it. And in case you don’t want to admit it, let me help…you wanthim.”
“He doesn’t want?—”
“You’ve got to get over what you overheard. He was half drunk and sad, and he said some shit. We all say shit. My question is, since you’ve left, how has hebehaved?”
“Better…good,” I admitted. “But…there is plenty of room for improvement.”
Maura chuckled. “Isn’t there always with human beings? Look, Elysa, you love the man, and that’s the bottom line. So, you didn’t have the most auspicious start to your marriage, but if there’s a chance to fix this, shouldn’t you take it?”