Page 58 of Parker
“I’m being convicted without trial, even though I’m standing here as your wife, telling you this is untrue.” Fury surged, devastation turning to disbelief. “You believe this?” I threw the paperwork at his feet. “Once the criminal, always the criminal. Isn’t that the truth? We’ve been married for six years. Six years. And have I ever given you a reason to doubt me?”
“The evidence is clear. You stole those ideas. The whole of Parker Fashion knows it. You’re going to be fired. If you just tellme how you did it, maybe we could work something out. I love you.”
“Love me?” I sneered. “Is this how a husband who loves his wife treats her?”
His haunted eyes held mine. “I’ve had a tough day. I have more important issues to be dealing with than women on a power trip.” He shrugged his shoulders. “The board and my mother have ripped me to shreds, asking me every fucking question under the sun. What you’ve done doesn’t just affect you. It questions your reliability as a member of our family.”
“But I haven’t done anything.”
“Stop lying, please. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. All of it. Paperwork doesn’t lie.”
Emotion broke to the surface for the first time since he walked through our front door. I stood looking at the man I love, not knowing who he was. Never did I think Joel wouldn’t be in my corner. How could he believe all this so easily?
“She’s setting me up,” I whispered.
“Nicky,” he bellowed. “Ebony can barely make a cup of tea, never mind set you up as a thief. Please enlighten me on how she traveled back through time to send what you’re holding in your hand.”
“It’s possible to forge paperwork,” I said, deadpan, crossing my arms protectively over my chest and glaring at him.
“She has more important things to worry about. The only reason she never brought this to our attention before now is that you’re my wife.”
His jaw ticked. “She spends her evenings trying to make her bastard of a husband happy. He beats her—every fucking night. And it doesn’t matter how much I beg her to leave, she won’t. So your bloody excuse doesn’t wash, Nicky.” He paced like a caged animal, barely keeping it together. “For once, own what you did and stop blaming everyone else.”
***
Sophie’s eyes drop to the floor as I recount my earlier conversation with my husband.
“What happened next?” she asks.
“I left.”
After he made it clear that he believed her over me. I packed a bag and drove straight to my friend’s, not knowing where else to go. She had thrown the door open and taken me in her arms. My tears flowed for an hour before I could control my emotions enough to push the story past my lips.My happily ever after we cheered about, destroyed.
“What happens now?” Sophie is still stirring the tea in the mugs.
“I don’t know. Joel hasn’t called me. He didn’t ask where I was going. I’m not allowed to go to the fashion house.”
“What about your marriage?” Her wary eyes meet mine. “Your career has entangled itself with your marriage. You need to speak to Joel as your husband.”
I shrug. My mocking phone lies silent, goading me.
What if this has all been an illusion? My job, my marriage, the future we planned. What if my past fears prove true, and I’m the problem at the center of it all?
“Let me run you home, even just to pick up a few more things. You can stay here as long as you need to. But don’t go to sleep on this argument. Your marriage is too precious; you two had the ultimate love-at-first-sight-fairytale.”
“There’s a reason those stories are called fairytales.”
***
After an hour of nagging, I relent and let Sophie drive me home. She said I wasn’t stable enough to drive myself. Pullingup outside the electric gates, I press the buzzer, and they swing open. The house is lit up as usual.
Joel’s flying machine sits in its usual spot. He’s home. But next to it is a small blue convertible, which I recognize as Ebony’s. I glance toward Sophie, but she says nothing.
“Turn off the headlights,” I hiss.
“What?”
“Turn off the lights. I don’t want them to know I’m here.” She rolls her eyes at me but does as she’s told. “If we park here”—I signal to the side of the drive—“we will be able to walk up unseen.”
