“Me! I didn’t get us in this mess. You did. By putting two bottles in the recycle bin last night. Marge found them, you see, and she blames me.”
“She blames me, too,” said Vesta unhappily. “And so she removed every last bottle from the house. Can you believe she even raided my room? I actually caught her looking under the mattress.”
“And did she find anything?”
“My bottle of Pinot Noir. I told her it was meant as a present for her, and what was she doing in my room, but she wasn’t having any of it. Said I was an alcoholic, and if I hoped to keep living under her roof I was going to have to start going to these AA meetings.” She shook her head. “I ask you:her roof. It’s nother roof. It’s our roof, all three of us. And the cats, of course,” she added.
“I’m not an alcoholic either,” said Tex. But when his motherin-law gave a snort of derision, he cried, “Well, I’m not!”
“That’s what they all say. Those two bottles in the bin? I didn’t put them there. And I didn’t put those three bottles in there two days ago either. Guess who did?”
“I have no idea,” he said stiffly. “I certainly never drank two bottles of wine in one evening.”
“And I certainly never did anything as dumb as putting the evidence of my drinking in the recycle bin, where I’m sure my wife would find them the next morning.” She shook her head. “For a clever guy you’re not so clever, are you?”
“I did not put those bottles in the bin. And I did not drink them.”
“It didn’t help, of course,” said Vesta, ignoring him, “that I arrived home with another two bottles of altar wine from Francis Reilly’s stock.” When Tex gasped in shock, she shrugged. “He told me that when I found myself in need of a pick-me-up I should come to the church and help myself. Even gave me the church keys.”
“He meant a spiritual pick-me-up! Not for you to raid the church wine cellar!”
“I had to, all right? Marge has told Wilbur not to sell me any more alcohol, and I didn’t feel like going to the mall, where I’m sure Marge also has her spies.”
“Marge has spies at the mall?” asked Tex, marveling at this strange new world that was opening up before him.
“Marge has her spies everywhere,” Vesta assured him. “She’s a librarian, you know,” she added, as if that explained everything.
“Look, this buddy system—”
“Sponsor system.”
“Whatever. It’s not going to work.”
“What do you mean?”
“You and me? We can’t be buddies.”
“Sponsors.”
“Whatever! I won’t do it.”
“Well, you have to. If Marge finds out that you’re refusing to play by the rules, there will be hell to pay, sonny boy.”
“You mean…”
Vesta wiggled her eyebrows meaningfully.“Ever heard of a sex strike?”
God. This was just getting worse and worse and worse!
CHAPTER 9
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Steph and Jeff were on their way to Hampton Cove when it happened. They’d been discussing Steph’s visit to the police station that morning, and how unhelpful and discouraging the police officer had been, when suddenly a car cut in front of them, and Jeff was forced to perform a dangerous maneuver by jerking his wheel to the right and almost hitting the guardrail. Lucky for them he managed to get the car under control and bring it to a full stop on the shoulder.
They were both panting and staring at each other in wide-eyed shock, then immediately Steph turned round to see if Zoe was all right.
But the little girl was still strapped safely in her car seat, and was babbling happily and trying to catch a fly that had somehow managed to enter the car.
“That maniac!” Jeff cried. “He could have killed us!”
Steph’s heart was beating a mile a minute, and she said a quick prayer of gratitude for her husband’s lightning-fast reflexes and excellent driving skills.
“But I’ve got him,” said Jeff as he tapped the rearview mirror where his dashcam was mounted. “He won’t get away with this.” And then he released a stream of vituperative in his native tongue that sounded very colorful indeed!
“Jeff, the baby,” she said.
“Oops.”
“God. It’s been an eventful couple of days, hasn’t it?”
“Let’s hope things settle down now,” said Jeff as he eased the car on the road again. “Maybe we can use our time at the winery to come up with a plan.”
“What plan?”
“About the future? About my parents’ offer?”
She smiled.“I thought we already decided that?”
“I guess I wanted to double-check,” he said. Clearly he couldn’t believe his luck.
“I could see your eyes light up and I knew you were going to say yes.”
“I want to say yes,” said Jeff. “Of course I want to say yes. But there’s two of us in this marriage, and we have Zoe to think about also. We have to decide what’s best for her as well.”
“We’re already raising her to be bilingual, and I’m sure Paris has great nurseries and great schools. And of course some of the best fashion houses.”
“Not to mention some of the best banks,” said Jeff with a smile.