Sheila laughs lightly and takes her matching leather gloves off. “Leave it to a man with refined taste to notice such details,” she says, then looks at me. “I understand you visited my husband at the hospital the other day, Willow.”
“Bill told you?”
“Oh, you call him Bill, now?” she replies, her tone as dry as the Arizona desert. “He did, yes. In a marriage, we don’t keep secrets from each other.”
I get the subtle, intentional jab, but I am too tired for this crap, so I let her rudeness roll off my back. “We’re kind of busy here, Sheila. State your business, then there’s the door.”
“My, my, you’ve grown bolder,” she scoffs. “I simply want to know what the two of you talked about.”
“Your husband didn’t tell you?” Jamie chuckles dryly. “I thought there were no secrets in a marriage.”
Sheila is not amused and glaresat Jamie.
“If Bill didn’t tell you, it’s not my place to tell you. He must’ve had his reasons,” I bluntly reply. “Now, if you don’t mind, we have a wedding to organize.”
Sheila, however, isn’t done here. Her aggression comes off in subtle waves, but it’s there. I see it in her vivid green eyes, in her passive-aggressive smile.
“I don’t take kindly to any woman trying to insert herself into my husband’s close circle,” she says. “Just because it didn’t work out between you and his sons doesn’t mean you should give their father a try.”
“Oh, right, I’m sorry,” I snap, finally losing the last sliver of patience and civility I had left. “That’s your signature move. My apologies. It didn’t work out for you and Cole, and I’m guessing Toby and Asher weren’t even interested, so you slithered your way into Bill’s bed.”
“I advise you to be very careful about what you say to me,” she hisses. “Just because my husband is fond of you doesn’t give you carte blanche to forget who you are and who you’re speaking with.”
“I know exactly who I am, and I never once claimed otherwise. You, on the other hand, have been waging some kind of war against me from the minute Terrence and I got together. You won that battle; congratulations. I didn’t lose anything, truth be told. But don’t think for a second that I won’t defend myself going forward.”
She laughs. “So the kitten does have claws.”
“You may be able to control every aspect of Terrence’s life, but you have no hold over me,” I reply, more driven than ever. “I built myself up from the ground. Even when youtried to bring me down, I rose, I fought, I persevered, and here I am, taking on new projects and facing every challenge.”
“New projects, the Hamilton wedding, right?” Sheila says. “I’m friends with Eleanor. I’m sure she’ll?—”
“Eleanor Hamilton won’t be interested in anything you might have to say,” I say, cutting her off. “I know you badmouthed us to other people. You cost us a few contracts, but you won’t be able to do that anymore because even the city’s most elite are now aware of your machinations. In fact, I have an email from Trudy Van Stratten waiting for my reply.”
Sheila’s face tightens, which prompts a mischievous snicker out of Jamie. “You talked smack about the quality of our services, but then Trudy saw how gorgeous Terrence and Katrina’s wedding turned out, poisoning incident notwithstanding, and she decided to come back to us for her daughter’s engagement party,” he informs her.
“You pretty much shot yourself in the foot by giving us your son’s wedding. I assume you did it because you wanted to hold some kind of power over me,” I add. “Well, thanks. That’s one wrong you actually managed to right, though I’m certain it wasn’t your intention.”
She doesn’t say anything. She just stares at me with the coldest eyes and the cruelest smile I’ve ever seen, but I can tell my words have struck a chord somewhere deep inside of her, where all of her insecurities lie.
I raise my chin in defiance. “I’m sorry your scheme to ruin my business didn’t work. Your attempts to make me feel miserable in my own skin didn’t work either, andneither did your Christmas luncheon reveal. The guys and I have found our way back to one another. You don’t need to worry about me coming after Bill. I’d never take a page out of your book. Now you really should go before I call security. Jamie and I have work to do.”
Sheila isn’t just mad, she is shocked and livid. “Have it your way, Willow. I tried to be civil about it.”
Jamie stifles another laugh. Sheila gives him a deathly glare, but she doesn’t linger for more than a few seconds. The door closes behind her, and we both stay quiet, listening to the sound of her clicking heels as they recede toward the elevator.
“That lady is a fucking nightmare.” Jamie says and exhales sharply. “Honestly, she kind of scares me, Will.”
“She scares me, too. But I couldn’t let her see that; she feeds on it.” I take my seat and a long sip of tea.
“Are you okay?” Jamie asks, looking at me worriedly.
I nod once. “Just shaken. Also, I’m in no mood for that bitch’s drama. Where does she get the nerve to insinuate that I’m the gold digger in this equation?”
“She was projecting like crazy,” Jamie replies and sits on the edge of the table, comfortable beside the wedding catalogues. “But hold on, you just told her you and the guys?—”
“Sheila doesn’t need to know we’re still working on the reconciliation part. I just didn’t want her to walk out of here with any kind of satisfaction.”
“She hates your guts.”
