Authors: Renee Flagler
Vonnie couldn't help the tears. The deception made her heart feel like it had severed. She couldn't come up with one valid reason why Mike had hidden this from her. Ignoring important bills while keeping his country club membership payment current baffled her.
Vonnie went to the wine cooler and pulled out a fresh bottle without even bothering to see what kind it was. She uncorked the bottle and drank straight from it. Hours later, she was still sitting in the same spot, waiting for Mike to walk through the door.
Chapter 30
Vonnie
When Mike came home that night, Vonnie had already downed at least four glasses of wine. Her lips felt numb, but her anger was still fresh. Normally Vonnie greeted him at the door what a hug and a kiss. Today, she stayed put. Minutes after she heard him come in, he cautiously strolled into the kitchen.
She sneered at him. “And how was your day?” she asked, cutting her eyes at him. She took a long sip from her fifth glass of wine without taking her eyes off him. She slammed the glass down. “Why didn't you answer my damn calls?”
Mike still hadn't stepped all the way into the kitchen. “Babe, I told you I had meetings.”
“Until...” Vonnie looked at her watch and squinted. “Ten o'clock at night? Are you lying about that, too?”
“V! I never lied to you.”
“Yes, you did!” Vonnie banged her hand against the table and knocked her glass over. Mike walked over to the sink, pulled off a wad of paper towels and cleaned up the spill, while Vonnie continued to lay into him. “Keeping secrets is just as bad as lying. Since when did we start keeping secrets from each other, huh?”
“I can explain.”
“Yeah! Well explain these while you're at it!” Vonnie held up the pile of overdue bills and then tossed them at him. “Everything is past due and Noelle's school called me today because they haven't been able to get in touch with you!”
Mike's eyes stretched wide. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it back, shaking his head. “Just let me explain. Please!”
“I don't even know if I want to hear what you have to say. How many more lies or secrets,” she said, curling her fingers into air quotes, “are you going to tell me?” Vonnie went to the cabinet, snatched it open, grabbed another wine glass and walked back to the table.
Mike scooped the glass up before she could pour more wine into it. Vonnie glowered at him.
“It looks like you've had enough.”
“I'll tell you what I've had enough of...”
“I know. My lies,” he said sarcastically. “I get it. Can I explain now?”
Vonnie snatched the glass out of his hand, but sat down without pouring more wine. “I'm listening,” she said, folding her arms.
Mike sat across from her at the table and placed his hand over hers. She pulled her hands back. Mike sighed.
“I ran into some trouble with the business.” Vonnie looked away for moment and then refocused on what Mike was saying. “We hit a rough patch, baby. I don't know what happened. The market started changing. Business didn't just slow down. It practically came to a halt. Technology can sometimes change like the wind. Clients were bailing for newer options that cost less money. I went through the company's nest egg to pay salaries until I had to let people go. I've been working with an engineer on a new idea. I need to be able to compete with some of the newer technologies in order to stay afloat. But I needed money to fund these new products.” Mike dropped his head.
Vonnie knew he felt ashamed, but refused to give in to the sense of pity that was moving in on her anger.
Vonnie got up and paced. “Our house, Mike. We could lose our home! I can't understand why you would keep this from me.” Vonnie swiped at the tears that streamed down her face.
Mike dropped his head into his hands. “Babe.” He looked up with pleading eyes. “I'm sorry. I am trying to fix this. I didn't want to worry you. I didn't want to disappoint you and have you think that I failed you!”
“Mike! I could have helped.”
Mike slammed his hand against the table. “Dammit!” Vonnie flinched and look at him as if he'd lost his mind. “I said I'll fix it. I told you I'll take care of you...of this and I will. Just give me a chance.”
“Well, something needs to be done now.”
“I. Will. Fix. This. I don't need your help right now. I have a few things in the works and after that, I will be able to catch up on everything and we will be fine. I can take care of my family.”
Vonnie thought for a moment before speaking again. She had a few more pieces of her mind to toss at him, but it was obvious that his sense of masculinity had been bruised. She walked back to the table and sat down. After a few moments, she put her words together in a way that she hoped wouldn't cause more damage to his ego. She was still furious, but understood where he was coming from. Mike and always prided himself on being able to take care of his family and having a wife who worked only because she wanted to. “Fine! Nevertheless, I'm a part of this too, and I don't appreciate you leaving me out. Now I feel like I can't trust you.”
Mike looked into her eyes and shook his head. “Baby. You know you can trust me.”
“Keeping secrets from me makes me feel like I can't.”
“I just needed time. That's all.”
“Okay. I'm telling you now; I'm going to use
my
money from
my
savings to help pay some of those bills. So if you want to get all mad about it, start now. This ship ain't going down without me taking a turn at steering this boat to stiller waters.” Vonnie stood. “I'll tally what we owe and see what we have to put toward getting back on track.”
“No.” Mike held his hands up.
“Don't tell me no!” This time she yelled. “This is my life too.”
Mike looked away.
“If we owe more than what's in my savings account, then we'll cash in some investments, take out a loan, or something.”
“I really don't want you to do that!”
“Well that's too bad.”
“Just leave it alone for now. I have something in the works that will take care of everything.”
Vonnie threw her hands up. There was no use in fighting him. Mike was stubborn. However, she was still going to tally her accounts which she now considered their reserve. This made her realize how oblivious she had been with their financial standing and that scared her.
“If you're going to handle this, then fine, but I want to be included in helping to manage the bills from now on. I realize how uninvolved I've been.”
“Vonnie!” Mike said her name softly, but looked in the other direction. “Baby,” he said. “I said I've got this. Can you pleaseâ¦just trust me?”
Vonnie groaned. She didn't like it but knew that Mike wouldn't put them into a bad situation that he couldn't get them out of. She sighed long and hard and then her mouth said, “Okay,” but in her mind, she knew she'd be checking on things when he wasn't around. If his business tanked, there was no way they could afford this lifestyle. The reality hit her hard. If he wasn't able to handle this situation, their entire lives would change.
Chapter 31
Nadalia
Nadalia checked her calendar on her cell phone. Tonight was girl's night, which the wives had scheduled the last time they went out to dinner. Nadalia thought the timing couldn't be worse. She didn't feel up to it, but also didn't want to alert the girls to the fact that something was wrong.
“I can get through this day!” she affirmed aloud. She'd been saying the same thing to herself each morning since her conversation with Angela. Moreover, just as Angela predicted, Sage's weekend was filled with âmeetings and appointments.' None of which included her.
The more she thought about it, the timing of the dinner was perfect. She needed an outlet. Hanging with them would be much better than sitting around the house wondering what Sage was doing or who he may have been doing it with.
Nadalia would have to curtail her drinking tonight because she was picking up Angela early the next morning. After her emotionally tumultuous week, she was looking forward to being with Angela. She'd be able to talk about how this situation was affecting her with someone who would understand. There was no one else in her life that she'd dare breathe a word of this to.
Nadalia put on make-up before heading to work. She sighed at her reflection in the mirror. No amount of concealer would hide the puffiness below her eyes. The weary lines in her face reflected exactly what she'd been feeling. Between his long working hours and being too preoccupied to notice, Sage hadn't realized her sullen mood. They'd hardly spoken during the day. He was up and out before she woke in the morning, and returned home after she'd fallen to sleep at night. The one day he did manage to make it home at a decent hour, he was so exhausted that he skipped dinner and went straight to bed. Sage had always been a hard worker and if she found that he wasn't cheating, she would feel like a fool.
As she thought about the limited amount of time they had been spending together, her eyes watered. The excursion she planned was just a week away. Depending on what she and Angela found out, she wondered if their getaway would happen. If he were cheating on her, would she leave him?
Nadalia squeezed her eyes shut. Sage loved her, she told herself. This she knew for sure. If he apologized, asked for forgiveness, promised her it would never happen again and then started paying her more attention, maybe she could give him this one pass. This could just be a bump on their way back to bliss. She wasn't married to the idea of working past his possible infidelity, but she wasn't ready to lose her husband.
The more arrogant side of her was angry and even wondered how he could possibly cheat on a woman like her? She was accomplished and beautiful. Men told her that all of the time.
Nadalia grabbed her concealer and dabbed a few spots under her eyes, covered her face with foundation, added thick smoldering layers of dark shadows on her lids, and coated her lips with a nude gloss. She looked more like she was going to a cocktail party rather than work, but at least her eyes looked âmade up' as opposed to weary.
She got up, grabbed her purse and checked her cell phone as she headed out the door. Angela had called. Nadalia dialed her back through the car's Bluetooth system as she pulled out of the driveway.
“How are you doing?” Angela asked.
“Not good. What about you?”
“Me neither. I can't believe I'm coming to New York to spy on my husband instead of shopping. I don't even feel like shopping. Now that's bad.” Angela gave up a weak laugh.
Nadalia laughed slightly, too, but her face quickly turned into a frown and she fought back tears for the umpteenth time that morning. “I don't know if I can do this, Ange.”
“I know! This is so hard, but I have to know. I have to know what I'm fighting against and whoever these bimbos are, they need to know what they are up against. I'm not going to just give up my husband and my life...I just can't.”
“I'm so scared.” Nadalia sniffled and then eased to the side of the road to search her purse for tissue. Her make-up was running and the tears caused the mascara to sting her eyes. The ladies stayed on the line together, but no one spoke until Nadalia started driving again. “So are you all set to leave?”
“Yes, I have a small bag and my mother is coming to get the kids tonight. They are staying with her until Monday. I figured I'd give myself an extra day or so before I go get them, depending on what I find when I get there.” Again long moments went by without words. “This is so scary. I've had jitters in my stomach for the past two days.”
“Oh my goodness. You too? I haven't slept.” Nadalia dabbed her face with the tissue. “My eyes look horrible. I called myself doing the whole smoky eye look so I won't look so ragged at work today and now I just look like a sick raccoon!” This time both girls laughed genuinely.
“I hate that we are going through this and I really hope we find nothing bad. It might sound crazy, but...at least we are not going through this alone. We have each other to lean on.”
“I know what you mean.” They paused again. “Well, don't forget to call me in the morning before you take off. I've got you set up for one night at the W Hotel. I figured we could have breakfast out here on Long Island before we head to the city for our...stake out.” Nadalia chuckled.
“Yeah.”
“So...see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Bye.”
Nadalia drove the rest of the way in silence just accompanied by her thoughts. She pulled into her designated spot at work and reapplied her eye make-up before getting out of the car. She put on her game face and marched into work with her head held high.
Locking herself behind her office door, Nadalia ordered her assistant to make sure that she wasn't disturbed unless there was an emergency. Almost two hours into her day, she came knocking.
“What?” Nadalia yelled from her desk.
“I have a delivery.” Her assistant's voice sounded muffled through the door.
“Come on in!” Nadalia pushed the sketchbook she was reviewing for the next season's designs aside. As Anna entered, Nadalia folded her arms, making it seem like she was really annoyed by the disruption until she looked up. She was carrying an exotic arrangement of flowers so large that Nadalia couldn't see her face as she brought them to her desk. She gasped, but recovered and made space on her desk for Anna to place the arrangement down. “Who is this from?”
“Your husband, of course.” Anna looked at her quite confused.
“Oh, yeah.” Nadalia chuckled. “He's been in the dog house.”
“Well, I'll assume this will get him back in the big house! These are amazing.” Anna smiled and turned to exit Nadalia's office and then turned back. “Let me know if you need anything.” She put her hand on the doorknob. “Do you still want your door closed?”