Page 78 of The Shifting Sands Beneath Us
She cocked her head to the side, studying my face. “First of all, I’m your wife, and you’re calling it your place. That doesn’t exactly make me feel welcome.”
“It just slipped out,” I answered.
“Second, did you get my voicemail?”
“I haven’t looked at my phone all day except for business.”
“And if you had, you would know why I’m angry.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Would you like me to take my phone out and listen to the message, or can we save some time here and you just tell me?”
I was going to have to work on my short temper. I seemed to only be pissing her off more, which didn’t bode well for me.
“I walked out of your bedroom in your t-shirt.”
“Okay.”
“And then a woman showed up and basically made me feel like a whore.”
I closed my eyes, trying my best not to show her how irritated I was that this was her big grievance. “Rose, that’s just my housekeeper.”
“Who knows nothing about me,” she added. “Did you think to tell her that I existed? Or maybe tell me so I wasn’t walking around in next to nothing?”
“What’s the big deal?” I snapped. “She’s just the housekeeper.”
She scoffed at that, outraged at my attitude. “She’s just the housekeeper? God, you’re an asshole.”
“What do you want me to say? It’s not like I share conversation with her all the time. And it’s my apartment. I can have whoever I want there.”
Her sarcastic laugh should have been my first hint that she was really pissed at me. The second hint should have been when she got up and stormed out of the room. But did I listen to my instincts? Not at all.
I raced after her, ready to grab her by the arms and spin her around. Maybe I’d shove her up against the wall and force her to listen to me. Except, when I got to her bedroom door, it slammed right in my face, and along with it, smashed my thumb in the door jamb.
“Son of a bitch!” I screamed as she pressed the door closed even harder, trying to get it to latch. “Would you fucking stop? My thumb is in there!”
Finally, the pressure let up and I pulled my hand into my chest protectively. I took deep breaths, trying to calm the fuck down. Glancing down at my hand, I saw no blood, but my nail was clearly bruised to hell. I’d probably lose the nail.
Turning away from her, I went back to the living room, pulling off my coat. Draping it over the chair, I yanked off my suit jacket and tie, tossing them over the same chair.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting comfortable,” I bit out, stalking into the kitchen. I grabbed ice out of her freezer and wrapped it in a paper towel.
“Can I see?”
“Oh, do you care now?”
“Don’t be a jackass. I always care, and you know it.”
Turning to her, I let her pull away the ice and examine my wounded thumb. “Happy?”
She looked at me, biting back a smile. “No, I would have been more happy if I cut your thumb off.”
Narrowing my eyes at her, I decided to play along. “Fine, would you like to go back and try again? Will that make up for the fact that my housekeeper saw you half naked?”
“Not even close.”
I threw my hands up in the air, grimacing when my thumb throbbed from the motion. “Goddamnit!”