Naomi thought she’davoided the conversation she’d stopped the night before by passing out in bed after a long day.
But the next morning, she’d left the room where she was staying, heading over to the coffee maker.The first sign of trouble was the fact that there was coffee, already made in the pot.
But she needed coffee, so she poured herself a cup, added a sufficient amount of creamer and headed to the living room…
Only to find Leah, Judith, and Liv sitting on chairs, waiting for her.Their faces were the pictures of innocence, but none of this—not the coffee, not the waiting, was innocent.
“What happened?”
Of course it was Judith who was asking.She thought better of Leah, at least, who’d taken a degree of responsibility for keeping Judith from information.
And yes, it wasn’t all Leah’s responsibility; it was Livvy’s as well.So, she too got a glare.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Naomi finally said, sitting down in the empty chair, coffee cup in tow.“This is your wedding, Judith.We’re here to celebrate the fact that you’re getting married.Preparing for it and celebrating you are far more important things than delving into my issues.”
“And seeing my wedding planner an absolute mess is good for my psyche?Come on, Naomi.Let’s go beyond the thankful fall of Ida and the amazing work you must have put on behind the scenes to get this happening.I’ll thank you for all of that later,” Judith said.“And don’t ask me how I know, but I know that our wedding bank account had a whole bunch of zeroes neither Ash nor I accounted for, and yet not one word from any of you.”
Naomi wasn’t in the mood to be quaking in fear over her cousin’s emotions.Or her information-gathering capabilities.“So now it’s time to analyze my issues?”
Leah made a swiping motion with her hand like the universal symbol for chopping things off, but Naomi wasn’t in the mood.
Leah said, “Look, you’re not in a condition to deal with any of this.Suffice to say that Naomi is going through some things, which she will discuss with you after the wedding.”
Naomi loved her cousin, but she knew if she didn’t stop this out-of-control freight train now, it would continue.“Look.Jason and I are done, and honestly, I’m glad about it.I’ve had enough…attempting to be around someone who doesn’t listen to my suggestions and definitely doesn’t understand me.”
“Naomi,” Livvy said.“That man understands you more than anybody I’ve ever seen.Who isn’t me, of course.”
And that was it, that was the bursting of the dam; the tears fell like rain.“Then why didn’t he understand I had no way out.Why didn’t he understand I…”
Naomi found herself surrounded by family, by her cousins and her sister.And she knew that when she stopped crying, she’d have to tell the whole story.But then and there, she relaxed into the safety of her family and their embrace.
*
When Jason broughtthe food into the main part of the cabin, the only two people that were there, were Ash and Artur.
“I guess he took first line of defense too literally, hm?”
The humor that usually intrigued Ash was shut down.“Who’s destroyed your reputation and why are you acting like someone kicked your puppy?”
“Kicked my puppy or was I the puppy?”Jason asked.“Which do you mean?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Artur said.“You think someone destroyed your reputation because why?”
“Do I have to spell it out?”Jason asked.“Bleeding my veins on the ground would be much more pleasant, thank you.”
“Your brother led a group of the guys down to the lake, so they’ll be there for a while.”
Jason nodded, the unspoken question about where everybody else had gone answered without a pause.“Fine,” he said.“A meeting was called to address my fitness as an individual, as a chef.And the person who knew how important it was to me, helped me through the preparations for that meeting, basically managed to confirm, in two words, that the purpose of the meeting had been correct, that in fact, I not only required, but alsohad, a keeper.And I told that person they were no longer welcome in my life.Happy?Or do you want me to cut my chest open and bleed out the rest of the way?”
And of course, neither Ash nor Artur had words; that was typical of both of them.
“Just so I understand,” Artur said.“Someone spent a crap ton of their time prepping you for a meeting that was important to you, took time away from whatever they were supposed to be doing, and then you cut them completely out of your life because they…”
“They spoke in a way that made it clear they knew what they were doing, which was undermining the purpose of the meeting.”
“Undermining the purpose of the meeting and destroying your reputation.”
“In one fell swoop.”
