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“Cowards. We were cowards. No, well… I am.” She nodded with a
faraway stare then snapped out of it. “Drink up. Then tell me the truth. You
have all the money you need, but you couldn’t last six months without a
job. You want to come back.”
I nearly spit my wine.
“I guessed right again?”
“Why would I come here asking for that? You spent how many years
trying to get me out?”
“My God, Ella.” She seemed deeply offended, or at least I assumed she
was offended. “You hated it. You hated it even before I got there. You just
didn’t know it. Of course I was trying to get you out. If I hadn’t fired you,
do you know where you’d be? You’d be there right now, at this hour,
working your tail off and hating every minute of it until you exploded in
some mischief or other.”
I hid behind my wine, taking two big gulps and not even emptying half
the glass.
“I don’t want my job back,” I said, holding down a burp.
“You need some water.” She sailed to the fridge like a purple flag on a
windy day.
With perfect instincts, Mr. Tubbs got up and went after her. As she filled
a water glass in the refrigerator door, she took a treat from a canister and
tossed it right into his mouth.
“I wanted to apologize for something,” I said.
“Oh, let me sit for this event.” She put the glass in front of me and got
another bottle from the fridge. It was already half-empty. “What are we
apologizing for?”
God, she was intolerable.
“I… stole some things from work. Some rhinestones.”
“Some?”
“Some. A lot. Over the course of a few years. Overages. Defects.”
“The Swarovskis.”
“Yes.”
“I knew, dear. But thank you for bringing it up. More wine?” She
poured before I could refuse.
“You knew? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Out of respect for your father. And I admit…” She shrugged, cupping
her glass. “I wanted to see what you were going to do with them. I have to