CHAPTER SEVEN
Auggie
Dad called me the next week to let me know he was sending someone over to chat with me about the assistant’s position. I had no idea what to expect, but I trusted Dad’s opinion. I’d already interviewed three people the agency sent over and while each one had an area of expertise, none had the right combination.
It was an introspective process — to figure out what kind of person you are so you can hire someone to be an extension of yourself. I realized it might also be a good idea to hire someone with strengths that offset my own weaknesses. Our combined assets would accomplish more.
I waited outside on the patio and Betsy announced the visitor. I stood to receive her and was surprised to see a man standing before me. Not just any man, but one of the best-looking men I’d ever laid eyes on. I literally salivated and had to swallow hard before I said anything. “Hello,” I greeted him and held out my hand to shake his.
“Mrs. LaViere, I’m Bernie Livingston. Well, legally, I’m Bernard, but believe me, I’m far more likely to answer to Bernie.” He smiled and his teeth were blindingly white. His hair was almost a white blond and he had pale gray eyes. He’d be a natural costume at Halloween, I thought to myself.
“Welcome, Bernie, have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Cold water would be wonderful. The day turned out warmer than I’d expected.”
I grabbed a bottled water we kept in the fridge on the patio and handed it to him. He started to stand when I rose, but I waved my hand for him to stay seated. “We’re really casual around here.” I smiled.
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded.
“That too. Call me Auggie. Did you bring a résumé?”
“No, ma’am… that is, Auggie. I know it’s customary, but your dad called and it was sort of last minute. I hadn’t really gotten all my things out of storage yet and… well, you know. I’m sorry. I’ll be glad to tell you my education and work history, and I can give you phone numbers of referral contacts.
“What do you know about horses, Bernie?”
He smiled. “Oh, that’s easy. That I’d trust a horse any day over a human.” He grinned bigger when I chuckled in agreement. “Auggie, I know I’m young, but remember that also makes me malleable. I’ve grown up with horses and I’ve ridden Steeplechase. I’ve known your dad for a few years and I respect him, and I believe he feels the same or he wouldn’t have sent me. I have a degree in marketing and I probably know the same families around here that you know. I’ve just been away at school for a while and that makes one major difference; I’m not up on the gossip and that’s a good thing.”
I was still smiling by the time he made his case. “You’re very right about that, Bernie. When can you start?”
His eyes grew wide. “You’re serious?”
“I’m serious. The job is about more than horses, though. I need someone who can cover for me when I want to pull in and focus on my family. You’ll need to supervise the rest of the building here on the estate, manage things for the foundation that supports Sunset Village, run this operation when it’s launched, and make me lunch.” I threw the last in to indicate we would have a sense of humor about all this.
His pearly whites gleamed. “It would be my pleasure. White or rye?”
Worth would be furious and I was going to love it.
***
I called Worth to tell him I’d found an assistant, but his voice sounded odd.
“Hi. Is it an emergency? I can’t talk right now,” he answered before I’d gotten in a word.
I pushed down the hurt. “No, not an emergency. I can talk to you later.”
“See you later,” he said.
I heard voices in the background, so I hung on, trying to catch the mood of what was so important. Worth evidently didn’t take time to tap the End Call button, and that’s when I entered the world of my husband as he behaved without my being there. I was alert to anything that sounded like a patient consultation, at which point I would have immediately hung up — but there was nothing “consulting” going on in this conversation.
“Just her,” Worth was saying.
Her? Did that mean me?
“If it’s important, take the call. I’ll give you privacy,” said the female voice.
“No, no… she’s never that important. Oh, maybe she thinks she has small crises, but they’re more in her head than anywhere else. Believe me.” He laughed.
He was talking about me!
“Worth, honey, shame on you. You shouldn’t talk about your wife that way,” she said.
I was right!
“I wouldn’t talk about you that way if we were together,” he answered and I heard some scuffling noises and realized he was probably hugging her, the phone muffled between them.
I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming at him. I could hear the phrase, “There’s an app for that,” in the back of my mind and wished I had one that would detonate his phone at that very moment.
“You have beautiful hair,” Worth said and the woman laughed, a soft, seductive sound.
“So, where did you say we’re going?” she asked, her voice a purr.
“My farm,” he answered and then the sound was muffled.
“…normal thing you do on a business day?” I caught the last of her words.
“This is a special day.” He used that tone, the sexy one that was supposed to be only for me.
I couldn’t listen to any more. I tapped the phone to end the call and slammed myself onto the bed. I could hardly breathe, whether from anger or fear. Did it matter? Who was she? As if I really had to ask. I knew that voice, that accent. She would be the only one riding with him in the middle of a business day. What farm? Worth must have bought a place and I knew nothing about it. Maybe that’s where he goes when he says he’s supervising his new clinics.
My brain was spinning and I was having problems with coherent thought. All I kept thinking of were his cruel words about me and what a liar he was. Not only was I not someone who had crises, he kept telling me how much he trusted and respected my business sense. Dammit. He told me over and over how valuable I would be to him if I were to help him with his new ventures. What a liar!
“Trust me,” he’d said to me time and again.
Trust!
That’s what cheaters always ask for; a longer leash with which to stray! I was shaking and the worst part was that it was my best friend who had betrayed me. I had no one to turn to and get it off my chest. I wished I’d never married him. I wished I’d never met him. I couldn’t wish I’d never slept with him because that would mean wishing away my son, and that I wouldn’t do.
Did he think that just because he married me that I was some sort of possession and he could treat me however he saw fit? Was I the laughing stock of all our friends? Did others know he was carrying on and talking about me at their little lemonade afternoons on the front lawn?
He was going to pay, I swore to myself. If I were going to be the laughing stock, I would give them all something more interesting to talk about.
The bastard! I hated him! That’s when I remembered… I lived with him! How could I hate him and still cook his meals, sleep in his bed? I had two choices: I could leave or I could stay and make his life a living hell.
I considered the options.
I’d left him before so, this time, I would stay. If I left, I’d only be making his cheating life that much easier. I wouldn’t be a party to that — not ever. No, this called for a calculated method of slow acid down his cheating throat. He couldn’t find out that I knew because he’d only cover his tracks that much better. I had to maintain a certain amount of normalcy. Beat him at his own psychological game.
I knew just where to begin.