Page 26 of For Her
“Okay,” she says hesitantly, her grey eyes searching mine.
“I just heard from Ron, and Kassandra Morgan is giving Eli an exclusive interview.”
I can see the exact moment her heart drops to her stomach as her eyes glaze over and her mouth drops open.
“Oh you have got to be kidding me!”
“I know, I wish I were,” I tell her.
“So he’s… just going to give an interview and… say what? ‘I’m innocent! Those seventeen women came on tome’?”
“Who the fuck knows, but it’s happening, and while it’s not likely to go in his favor, it’s still going to put a lot of media heat on us, and Ron just wanted us prepared.”
“For fucks sake,” she muses as she begins to pace the living room. “The dipshit doesn’t give up! My relaxed state? Totally gone!” she waves her arm in exasperation. “Just what the hell does he hope to accomplish with this?”
“To pretty much get a rise out of us and gain the support of anyoneviewer he can,” I grumble.
“Uggghh!” she turns and heads in the direction of the kitchen and I follow.
“You okay, Sweetheart? What are you doing?” I ask as she starts yanking open cupboards.
“Since I can’t hit the liquor like you, I’m stress eating!” She finds a bag of jalapeno chips and savagely tears into it.
Jesus Christ.
Eli’s sentence should’ve included putting him in a room alone with my wife - even if she did already teach him a lesson by jamming her knee into his balls.Classic.
“What are we going to do, Jack?” she asks, chomping on a chip.
“According to David and Ron, we just carry on. We don’t let on that this news affects us in the least. Don’t react, don’t respond, don’t comment…”
She nods, considering this as she looks down in the bag to retrieve another chip.
“Makes sense, I guess. If we protest it, or rush to contradict his statements, it will look discrediting.”
There’s my levelheaded girl.
“But uggggghhhh!” she grunts, shoving her hand in the bag again.
Maybe not.
“Just why can’t this fucking end?” she demands rhetorically. “We outed him and sent him to prison! That means it’s supposed to be over!” she huffs and turns towards the counter.
“Baby, baby calm down,” I try to coax as I come up behind her and cage her in with my hands on the counter and rest my chin on her shoulder. “Don’t let him work you up.”
“That’s cute coming from the guy whom the douchebox drove to drink only moments ago,” she answers cynically.
“That was a knee-jerk, but I know now it wasn’t the answer. But yes, I get fired up when it comes to him. Here’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to have a family meeting with Matt and Melanie and we’re going to decide how to handle this. We can’t stop it from happening, but we can control how it affects us, okay?”
She shakes her head while continuing to munch on a chip.
“It’s just… why does he have to do this? Why?” she holds her hands out in exasperation. “Seventeen women, a jail sentence, and public crucifixion weren’t enough for him to get the message?”
“Because guys like him don’t go down without a fight, and they hold on to whatever last pitiful thread they have.”
This time I get a resigned nod.
“Pssst,” I whisper in her ear like I’m about to tell her a huge secret. “Give me one of those,” I nod my head at her chip bag.