Chapter 64
Logan’s face turned a deep shade of red. He stared at the phone, and seemed uncharacteristically shaken.
“If you need to go I understand,” I said gently. “I can handle this decor stuff.”
He looked at me, then back at his phone. “How will you get back to the office?”
“I’ll figure it out,” my mind briefly flashed back to the time Logan left me stranded after shopping for his wife. He seemed like a completely different person now. “Really, it’s fine. You should go.”
He nodded. “Thank you,” he said. He bolted out the front door and I watched as he made a call on his phone. A moment later he was gesturing wildly, and I imagined he was talking to his very unhappy wife
I watched for a moment, then turned back to the table cloth swatches. I hoped he wasn’t making a mistake by choosing to not go through with the divorce.
I took the swatches to the clerk at the front of the store. “Can I order the black ones with gold table runners?”
“Yes ma’am, let me grab an order form for you,” she disappeared to the back.
I thought about the message I had seen. It seemed like an overreaction for sure, but I tried putting myself in her shoes. She doesn’t know me, maybe it was kind of weird that he’d come shopping with me, even if it was for a party for her.
I felt a small pang of guilt at the realization that I was more than a little excited when he said he would come with me, and it was not because I needed his help with this stuff.
Maybe his wife could somehow sense the thing I could not even admit to myself.
When I walked through the front door of my parents‘ house later that night, I was greeted by Natalie stomping down the stairs.
“Oh, hi Hazel, Have a good day at work?” She said angrily. All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.
“It was…fine,” I said. “Your words don’t match your tone and I’m very confused.”
Without another word she shot daggers at me, then stamped back up the stairs. A moment later, I heard a door slam.
I walked into the kitchen, hoping to find my parents and some sort of explanation. As usual, they were sitting at the table, cups of tea and reading materials in front of them.
“So uh…Is Natalie okay?” I asked tentatively.
“Oh, she’s having some sort of tiff with that man of hers,” Mom said.
The image of the angry text from Logan’s phone earlier flashed through my mind. “What’s it about?”
Mom shrugged. Dad jumped in with, “I’m telling you, that man doesn’t deserve her.”
“You say that about every man she dates,” Mom said, rolling her eyes and flipping a page in her magazine.
“Well so far it’s been true,” Dad muttered.
I figured I got about as much information as I was going to, so I turned and left the kitchen. I quietly climbed the stairs. I wanted to avoid any more encounters with Natalie while she was in her mood. Dealing with her was hard enough as it was, but when she was mad…
As soon as I made it to my door, Natalie popped out of hers. “Hazel!” She said. Her anger had suddenly subsided and she was now weirdly chipper.
I jumped. “Hello Jekyll. Or is it Hyde now?” I said.
She cocked her head to the side at me, confusion crossing her face.
“It’s a book…oh, never mind,” I said. I walked into my room and to both my surprise and dismay, she followed me. –
She bounced over to my bed and sat. “What did you do at work today?” She said, smiling at me.
“I’m planning a work–related party,” I said, trying to give as few details as I could while also hopefully satisfying her enough to get her out of my room. “so I just worked on that today.”
“All by yourself?” She said with a gasp. “That’s a big job for one person.”
“Well no, not exactly by myself. My boss has been helping some.“