Marcus laughed. “No need to thank us, we know what business we’re in.”
“I think it’s worth it to maintain the niceties anyway.”
“Sure, yeah, you’re right. So, to that end, thanks for taking this call at a family wedding.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Have a good rest of your evening.”
“You too,” Carver said, and hung up.
He sat down, feeling a strange relief that manifested as a warm full-body tingle. He leaned back in his chair and sipped his vodka soda, watching his wife, nurturing an almost perverse delight at having defied her.
Finally Lillian got off the phone and came back over to him. “They’re in,” she said, sitting down beside him. “They’re willing to take it all on, they promised they could have everything in place by Monday.”
“No need, honey,” Carver said with a smile. “We got the equity.”
Lillian looked at him funny. “What do you mean?”
“Marcus just called and said we’re good to go. So I gave him the go-ahead.”
She went still, then laughed. “Excuse me?”
“I told him we’re good to go. I don’t want to fight DB on this.”
Lillian’s eyes narrowed and hardened. She nodded as if contemplating what he’d said, then turned to face him, placing an arm over the back of his chair and crossing her legs.
“Since when do you go behind my back and blow up my deals?” she said in a silky voice.
“Since tonight,” Carver said. She was trying to frighten him, but it wasn’t working.
“What the fuck, Carver. We’re co-equals, we don’t make unilateral decisions. What’s wrong with you, what’s gotten into you?”
He knew what had gotten into him: Scott. “We’re at a wedding,” he said. “I didn’t want to keep dealing with this. I wanted to enjoy my weekend.”
Lillian tilted her head at him like a bird. “First of all, sweetheart, I would have dealt with it,” she said. “You know I had no issue with continuing to take point on this, so that’s a lie. And you enjoying your weekend is also a lie. You’ve been sulking since we got here.”
Carver sipped his drink and shrugged. In the background, over the hall’s speaker system, Britney Spears crooned about being killed by her loneliness.
“This is coming out ofyourass,” she said. “This is going to cut into our pipeline for the dealsyouwant. My leads get priority from now on. You’re the one who’s going to be scrounging for cash by Q4.”
“Fine. Good.”
“And whatever this is, you need to knock it off.”
“There’s nothing to knock off,” Carver said, meeting her gaze. “In my heart I’m a vindictive little prick, you know this about me. You love this about me, in fact.”
Lillian’s jaw tightened. “You don’t turn that shit onme, Carver. I am not your doofus fucking family.”
“You married me, honey, so you actually are my doofus fucking family.”
“I know being insolent gives you a hard-on, but I think you drank too much and forgot who you’re speaking to.”
“I’m speaking to mywife,” Carver said, almost giddy. He couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been so pissed at him. “I’m the head, you’re the neck, baby, so turn.”
“Uh-huh. Keep pushing it.”
“I want to. Let’s push it right over the edge.”
