Sweet Obsession

I was willing to give her some leeway before, but not now. Now she’d challenged me. Unless she thought I would stand by and watch her mess with my wife. Or maybe she thought I wouldn’t get involved because I never have for her; then again, she probably didn’t expect me to figure it out. She should know better.

One of her grievances with my relationship with Madeline was how protective I am of her, how I’d go above and beyond to make sure she was taken care of in all ways. I’m not sure why she’d think that that would change now that she is my wife. If anything, it’s even worse.

The next morning our marriage announcement was in the local paper and on the evening news. Since Rene hadn’t told anyone that we’d split, probably trying to hold onto those contacts she’d made through her association with me, not to mention the fact that my name holds a lot of clout with the movers and shakers of our city, people she would love to get in bed with.

The announcement was my first volley. “Babe, now that we’ve made the announcement, we have to plan a party to invite all the people that would’ve been at our wedding had we not eloped.” She’s been humming all morning, ever since she saw the announcement on the Internet. I think she even had a little more wiggle to her walk.

“When?”

“Make it for two weeks from now.”

“How many people are we talking about?” She looked at me skeptically because she knew the kind of parties I’ve had in the past.

“Five hundred.” Her mouth fell open, and she looked a little deflated.

“Call Andrea; she’ll take care of it. Just tell her what you want.”

She brightened at hearing the event planner’s name. “Anything, in particular, you’d like?”

“Just you! Everything else is up to you; it’s your day.”

“Budget?” I just gave her a look, and she smirked. Cheeky brat!

“No, my ward had a budget; my wife doesn’t. On second thought, maybe I should be the one working with Andrea.” I’d forgotten how cheap she was and with good reason because an hour after she left to run upstairs to start planning, Andrea called a bit bemused.

“Yes, Andrea, what is it?” I started to tell her that all calls should go to my wife, but she stopped me with her exasperated sigh.

“Have you given your wife some sort of limit?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, she likes a lot of the nicer things I suggest, but when I tell her the price, she changes her mind and goes with something that costs way less.”

“That’s easy! Keep track of what she likes, either don’t tell her the price or tell her it doesn’t matter, then make sure she gets what she wants and send me the bill.”

“Oh, thank heaven. I turned down two other jobs that were on my waiting list to take care of you. Five hundred people in two weeks, Garrick? Really?”

“Are you saying you can’t do it?”

“Of course, I can, but only because I already have your guest list since it’s usually the same people for occasions like this.”

“Oh, about that. You’ll need to scratch two people from that list.” I didn’t want my mother to look bad even with all that she’d done, so I came up with an excuse for why she wouldn’t be there, but Rene, I gave no explanation for, not that it wasn’t obvious.

“Do me a favor, add the partners from the law offices of Bryant and Dunn to the list, would you?”

“Of course. Well, I better get started; I told your wife that I’ll get on this right away since the venue may give us a bit of trouble with such short notice.”

“I doubt it. Just have them call me.” I sometimes forget that not everyone knows what I own around here.

I doubt I’ll be knocking anyone off a reservation list since the hotel has more than one ballroom big enough to hold that many. I’d been smart there when I took over the place years ago, once I learned that it was a prime spot for weddings and society galas.

She was sitting on our bed with her legs crossed Indian style and her laptop open in front of her when I went upstairs to check on her. “What’re you doing, love?” I walked over to run my hand over her hair. Sometimes, like now, I’m reminded that she’d mine to touch, to hold, to love, and I need to touch her in some way.

She looked up at me, her eyes still bright and an impish smile on her face. “I’m spending lots and lots of your money. You’re going to faint when you see the bill.” I’m sure I will but not from anything her cheap ass orders.

“I’ll live. Listen, I have to go somewhere for a few hours. Do not go near that door and do not answer the phone.”