He hung up, immediately came to the couch, and tore into a burrito. “I’m starving,” he muttered with another enormous bite.
“Um, who was that?” I asked after I’d swallowed my food.
“There’s a shop around the corner. Go get a new blouse.” He glanced from his food to my skirt and then back. “Underwear, too.”
I stared at him. “You’ve spent enough money on me. I can just wear my coat at work.”
“Do it, don’t argue,” he said. “We’ve got enough to fight about. Have you changed your mind about this evening?”
I bristled. “No.”
“Then we’re at an impasse.”
“Not exactly,” I said. “I’m going, you’re not . . . and that’s where we are.”
He glared at me as he took another bite, chewing slowly. He swallowed and sighed. “Look, I’m uncomfortable with you being alone with him. He put his hands on you once, he could do it again.”
“I get that,” I said, “but it was out of character for Bill. I’ve been involved with this man foryears. Don’t you think I know him? There’s never been a problem.”
“I get that,” he echoed, his frustration visibly mounting, “but things are different now. You can’t know where his head’s at.” David stood up quickly and stalked over to a closed door I hadn’t noticed before. After a moment he returned with a folded men’s undershirt. “Put this on. It’s not a fair fight with your tits in my face.”
“Well, in that case—”
“Olivia,” he commanded, his eyes narrowing.
I gulped, accepted the shirt, and pulled it over my head. “How come you always call me by my full name?”
He brushed off his hands and sat. “What else would I call you?”
“Uh, Liv,” I said.
“Olivia is beautiful, and it suits you perfectly.”
I wasn’t sure what answer I’d expected, but I was coming to find that when it came to me, David gave thought to every little detail. “Oh.”
His eyes scanned my face. “You’re cute when you blush, you know that?” he murmured, but he still looked annoyed. “To me, you are always Olivia.” He took another mouthful of burrito and chewed quickly. “When I met you in Andrew’s kitchen, and I asked you your name, you said, in your sexy, husky voice, ‘Olivia.’ I’ll never forget it.”
I sighed like a wilting flower, powerless to the love that coursed through me. I was quickly becoming the kind of girl I’d always despised: one who couldn’t stop staring at her boyfriend with starry eyes—even when we were in the middle of a fight.
Fuck. We were definitely still in the middle of a fight. “Youdidn’task for my name,” I reminded him. “You demanded. Like you’re doing now.”
“This is serious shit,” he said. “People have been murdered over situations like this.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Infidelity.”
“Yes, and obviously, having you there would only raise the tension,” I said. “If anything would set Bill off, it’d be that.”
“Wouldn’t matter,” he stated. “I’d be there.”
I dropped my forehead into my open hand. Bringing David was not an option. It wasn’t right. But I hated that he thought I wasn’t on his side. Of all the things he’d said the night before, that had struck me the hardest.
I exhaled finally and looked back at him. “What if you drive Gretchen and me but stay downstairs? That way you’ll be there if anything goes wrong.”
“Fuck,” he said to himself. “Why do you have to be so goddamn stubborn? Don’t you trust me?”
“Don’t you trustme?” I said. “Bill’s not the monster you think he is. Sweetie, I wouldn’t go there if I thought it was an issue. Nor would I take Gretchen there if I thought he was capable of hurting her.”
