Page 95 of My Wife
Taking her chin gently in my fingers, I tilt her head to meet my gaze.
“Whatever happened?—”
“Despite my hide being as tough as a rhino’s and my personality as bubbly as a dolphin and?—”
“You’re human,” I finish, hopefully encouraging Jessica to open up to me. I know what it’s like to shoulder burdens alone. Not going to say that I’ll suddenly read like an open book, but she has me to lean on. That much I can offer.
She shrugs, folding into herself. “Rexlan and I met on the set of a commercial. I was a cubicle girl. He was the big mean boss, except not to me. In the script, we bonded over antacids. After the wrap, we hung out for a while. His mother showed up. She was very sweet. They took me out for lunch. One thing led to another and soon I was renting a room in their house off Sunset Boulevard, helping maintain her website, packing orders, doing customer service, and denying that I’d gotten sucked into a world that was less sunny and more leechy.”
“I thought you said something about their being lizard fanatics.”
“They were both charming, Or I was gullible. Living in a new city. I didn’t know anyone else. They love-bombed me.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“More like a disaster. It all happened slowly then pretty quickly, I became part of their lives along with a bunch of other people. We were one big happy family, which is what I’d always wanted. While Rexlan played video games, I kept him company. While he ‘worked,’ I helped Sorsha with all sorts of things.”
“Don’t tell me you baked for him.” For some reason, I hate the idea of her bringing him a cake and him dismissing it because he’s pretending to be a commando in Call of Duty. Then again, I haven’t appreciated Jessica the way I should either.
“His mother was putting a lot of pressure on him to get married. His parents were divorced, and I learned that when Rexlan tied the knot, the funds his father paid his ex-wife for Rexlan’s needs would turn into alimony for her—if the bride-to-be got the father’s stamp of approval. According to Sorsha, he was in the movie business and banked a lot of cash in the early 2000s during the reality TV craze.”
“There was another clause that would grant Rexlan access to his trust fund, but I don’t know the details.” She gives a half roll of her eyes.
“Rexlan sounds like a wet handshake.”
Jessica’s expression creases. “I was just happy someone was paying attention to me.”
“You met the father’s stamp of approval, but I take it you didn’t get married.”
“No, he eloped with his secret girlfriend the night before our wedding. I found out at the altar.”
I growl, “He what?”
Jessica shrinks further. I sense this is tied to her childhood, into being rejected.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop,” I say.
“Is that a command?”
“Rexlan doesn’t know what he’s missing. You’re an amazing woman. Will be an outstanding wife and mother. You are beautiful. Your smile lights up a room. No one can resist it. Not even me, Mr. Meanie himself.”
The corner of her lip twitches. She then tells me about the horror show of a wedding day.
“But that’s not even the worst of it.”
“You sure about that? It sounds pretty bad.”
“Sorsha was obsessed with lizards. I figured it was standard mother-in-law quirkiness. She’d created a legit lizard cult called the Skink Society.”
I nearly choke on my surprise. “What did you say?”
“A skink is a kind of lizard. She had a website with products and seminars, even a private community for rituals.”
“Sounds like a felony waiting to happen.”
“I have no doubt they were funneling money through donations, talisman purchases, and their mail-order lizard tonics for healing, restoration, and increased sensation, whatever that means.” Jessica presses her hands to her face as if to hide.
“That’s possibly the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.”
