The Cold Wife Page 13

  “Yes. That light blue dress compliments her quite well. The color is just as cold as she is.”

  “Mr. Monroe goes out of his way to please her but she doesn’t appreciate anything he does.”

  If she didn’t appreciate Justin, then she wouldn’t have minded the rumors so much. But the truth was she did appreciate him. She was growing to like him and did enjoy his affections. Had they been there to see the way she responded to his touch and kisses, then they would understand that she wasn’t quite so cold after all. In fact, he made her feel very hot. She had stopped talking about an annulment because it suddenly dawned on her Wednesday morning that she didn’t want it anymore.

  She was relieved when she reached Helen’s room. Helen was a great source of comfort and stability. She sat next to the old woman by the window. Helen rocked back and forth in her wooden chair and looked expectantly at her.

  “What?” she finally asked.

  Helen chuckled. “Is the gossip rattling your cage?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Don’t people have anything better to talk about?”

  “Around this place? No. It gets boring around here and there’s only so many books old people can read before they go crazy. Try not to let it disturb you. You can’t help what people say. You can only help how you react to it. If you get defensive, it’ll add more fuel to the fire. If you act as if it doesn’t bother you, it’ll die down faster.”

  She could only hope that was true. “Well, I wanted to know if you would like to go to lunch with me today?”

  “Mary already invited to take me to lunch, but there’s no reason why we can’t all go together.”

  Since Mary was due to come over to her home at two that afternoon, Carrie figured it was just as well that they have lunch together too. She was surprised by how disappointed she felt that she wouldn’t be going to lunch with Justin. A week ago, she didn’t want to have anything to do with him and now she actually looked forward to seeing him. She had no idea her feelings could be so volatile.

  “How are things really going between you and that good looking husband of yours?” Helen asked.

  “They’re fine.”

  She raised her eyebrows in interest. “You’re blushing.”

  Carrie subconsciously touched her warm cheeks.

  The woman grinned. “Next thing I’ll know, you’ll be telling me you’re expecting your first child.”

  “Oh really, Helen. All we’ve done is kissed.”

  “You should be doing more than that since you’re married.”

  Carrie had the sudden inclination to throw a blanket over herself so her friend couldn’t see her cheeks go from light pink to bright red.

  Mary tapped on the door. “Good afternoon, Helen.”

  Carrie breathed a sigh of relief as her other friend entered the room.

  Helen didn’t hide her surprise. “Why are you dressed so poorly?”

  Mary smoothed the apron on her pretty but lower class rust colored dress. Carrie thought the color went wonderfully with her naturally pink cheeks. Her blond hair was under a white bonnet that matched her apron.

  “She’s the peasant lady in the upcoming play,” Carrie explained. “I’m going to hem the dress for her later this afternoon. I didn’t realize she’d wear it all day.”

  Mary shrugged. “I didn’t have much of a choice. After I went to the costume designer’s house, I helped Mrs. Edwards get the luncheon ready for the Mother-Daughter banquet at the church. Then I had to come over here. Between going to lunch with Helen and going to your place, I won’t have a chance to change. I’m afraid I will be sorely out of place at our usual restaurant.”

  “We can go somewhere else instead,” Helen suggested. “It might be nice to try something new for a change. That old restaurant on the corner of Jefferson and Adams isn’t so particular about dress code. Let’s go there.”

  The decision was made and, unlike the other restaurant, they were seated right away. Carrie felt out of place in one of her best dresses. She had picked the dress because she thought Justin might like it since he mentioned that blue was his favorite color. It would have been suitable at the restaurant he had planned to take her to, but in this place, it was too high class. She wasn’t the only one who noticed this minor detail. As she followed her friends, she overheard a couple women comment on her choice of dress. She ignored the whispers, but she wondered why they couldn’t have waited until she was well out of hearing range before voicing their opinion.

  She took off her hat and placed it next to Mary’s bonnet and Helen’s modest hat in the empty chair at their table that was meant to seat four people. She hadn’t been in the restaurant before but already decided she didn’t like it. The men from the other room who played at the billiard tables were loud and obnoxious.

  “Today is a popular billiards day,” Helen said. “I hear that every Thursday here they have two games for the price of one. It naturally draws more men here.”

  “Do women ever play?” Mary asked.

  “I haven’t known one to. Do you play the game?”

  “My father has a billiard table at home and I play some games with him.”

  “Really? I didn’t know that.” Carrie was amazed that even after all this time, she was still learning something new about her friend. She thought she knew everything there was to know about Mary.

  “Are you any good?” Helen wondered.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never played against anyone but my father. He seems to think I’m a challenging player,” Mary replied.

  “I’ve never seen the game,” Carrie said. “What does it involve?”

  “The goal of the game is to get all your balls into the holes at the edges of the table before your opponent does. You hit the balls with a long wooden stick called a cue.”

  The game didn’t sound particularly interesting to Carrie, but she noticed that Mary seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, if the way she passionately continued to discuss the game was any indication of her interest level in the activity. Mary continued to explain the rules of it after the three friends ordered their meals.

  When she was done, Helen laughed. “You could write a book about it with the way you talk. I bet you play better than you let on.”

  A couple minutes later, their lunches came and they ate. While Helen asked questions about the play Mary was going to be in, Carrie happened to look at the billiard room to see Justin holding a cue that Mary had mentioned, and he was listening to the man who was talking next to him. She frowned. It didn’t look like he was at a business lunch. It looked like he was playing a game during business hours.

  She glanced back at her plate, surprised that she felt stung by the fact that he cancelled his plans with her to run off and play a game with one of his friends. I shouldn’t be startled that this happened. After all, we really don’t know each other. But besides feeling startled, she was also upset. Why did he even ask her to lunch if he would rather do something else?

  “Carrie?” Mary waved her hand in front of her friend’s face. “Carrie, are you feeling alright?”

  Carrie blinked and focused on the blond sitting next to her. “Did you ask me something?”

  “No. We just noticed you weren’t paying attention to us. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” Simply nothing. It was ridiculous that she would be jealous that someone else was taking her husband’s attention from her. She didn’t know him well enough to love him.

  “If you want us to believe that, then you could at least do a better job of lying,” Helen said. As usual, Helen didn’t hold back. “Now, we were talking about billiards when you got this sad look on your face. So it must be something about the game. Did your father play it?”

  “No.” She forced herself to gently lay her cloth napkin on the table next to her plate. She didn’t know how to explain the situation without giving away her true feelings about it. Who knew what the people around them would overhear and later gossip about?

  As she tried to form the
right words, Justin’s uncle happened to exit the billiard room and saw them. He immediately headed their way. When he reached their table, he smiled and greeted them. “Good afternoon, ladies.”

  “This is Justin’s uncle,” Carrie introduced. She wasn’t sure if they knew who he was or not but decided to say something since she felt awkward. “His name is Mr. Monroe.”

  He grinned. “You may call me Jonathan,” he told them.

  “Well, I can see where your nephew gets his good looks,” Helen replied. “If I were younger, I’d chase you right down the aisle of the church to marry you if I had to.”

  Carrie felt her face flush from embarrassment. Surely, he would find her friend to be too forward.

  To her relief, he chuckled. “I would be honored had we met at an earlier time. After I turned forty, I settled on the fact that I would be a bachelor for the rest of my life.”

  “How old are you now?”

  “Forty-three.”

  She waved her hand at him. “Why, you’re still a young pup. When you’re eighty, you can start thinking of being a bachelor for the rest of your life. Go out there and find a good woman.”

  “That is Helen Ritter.” Carrie pointed to the old woman before she could saying anything else that might embarrass the man.

  “I believe I briefly met you at the wedding.” He took her hand and kissed it. “I’m glad to see that getting older doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your sense of humor. I hope to keep mine intact.” He turned to Mary.

  Carrie took that as her cue to introduce him to her other friend. “This is Mary Duff. Mary is the leading actress in the next play at the theater,” she added. “I asked her to wear the dress so I can make some alterations later on.”`

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” He also kissed her hand.

  “Well, it seems that good manners run strong in your family,” Helen noted. “I suppose that makes Justin considerate enough to wait for Carrie to come to her senses about this whole annulment thing.”

  “Helen!” Carrie snapped.

  Jonathan smiled. “Oh, don’t worry about me,” he assured her. “I find Helen’s comments extremely refreshing. You’d be surprised by how many people are too timid to speak the truth as they see it.” He glanced over his shoulder as someone called his name. He waved to the person before turning back to them.

  The older man walked over to him.

  “Mr. Tyndall, I would like to introduce you to three wonderful women. Carrie Monroe is my nephew’s wife, Helen Ritter is this witty woman here, and Mary Duff is this beautiful young woman who will be starring in the upcoming play called To Bid for a Bride. I heard it’s going to be a comedy. Is that right?”

  Mary nodded, blushing. “It is.”

  “Good afternoon,” Mr. Tyndall curtly stated.

  Carrie noted that he wasn’t a very friendly person.

  “Will you be returning to the games?” the man asked Jonathan. “I have lost some money on the game and wish to make it back and more, if possible.”

  “Yes, I will be right there.”

  “Don’t take too long.” The man walked off.

  “You’ll have to forgive him. He hasn’t dealt well with women ever since his wife passed away.”

  “Oh, just come out and say he’s a difficult man to deal with, period,” Helen spoke up. “I’ve heard about him. He thinks just because he’s one of the top five richest men in town, he can call anyone to do his bidding.”

  “I was merely being polite. In my line of work, I have to deal with certain types of clients on a regular basis. It’s not easy, especially for a woman who has to watch her husband cancel plans at the last minute because a client makes a phone call, demanding that he run off to meet him and his son for some games of billiards or else he’ll take his business somewhere else. When that client makes it clear that he doesn’t care that the husband has a wife he would rather be with... Well, it can make for a sticky situation. Mr. Tyndall has a tremendous amount of influence and a third of my clients will go with him if I displease him today.”

  Carrie understood what Justin’s uncle was telling her, without directly saying it. “So, Justin doesn’t want to be here?”

  Helen glanced at her in interest.

  “No, I assure you he doesn’t,” Jonathan replied. “His arm was twisted.”

  Carrie felt much better knowing that he did prefer her after all.

  “In fact, he hates billiards,” he continued. “He’s not very good at the game either.”

  “Do you need someone who is good?” Mary asked.

  He looked at her. “Do you know someone who can play the game well? It would certainly help if we could get Mr. Tyndall and his son someone who can win their money back.”

  “I can play. I’m not sure how good you and your nephew are, but I do enjoy the game and play often with my father.”

  He smiled. “I would be honored if you would assist us in keeping Mr. Tyndall as a client.”

  Mary looked thrilled. She was obviously excited by the prospect of playing the game. “Will you come to watch?” she asked her friends.

  Carrie shook her head. “I can’t. I’m supposed to be back at the house at two.” She hadn’t told Mary her plan to cook something with Jim so he and Mary would have to meet. Now she wasn’t sure what to do. “Shouldn’t we work on the dress?”

  “We can do that later. I never get a chance to play outside my home. This will be fun!”

  “I’ll come watch,” Helen decided. “Mary will take me home, Carrie. There’s no sense in you missing out on whatever it is you need to do. Hopefully, you’ll be picking something out to wear in bed tonight for that good looking husband of yours.”

  Carrie gasped.

  To her relief, Jonathan pretended not to hear the old woman’s comment. Instead, he paid their bill and escorted the two women to the billiard room. Carrie bolted out the door, too embarrassed to face anyone after Helen’s loud statement. Surely, half the restaurant heard her! If there was ever a time she wished for the earth to open up and swallow her, this was it. She gladly went home.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Around four that afternoon, Carrie was sorting through her new collection of crystal figurines to put in the display case that had arrived while she was at lunch. She had purchased a swan, a unicorn, a rose, a leaf, and a kitten. She thought they made a nice start. She decided she would add a new one to her collection every year. Just as she set the kitten next to the unicorn, Constance walked into the parlor.

  “I thought you might like some of the flowers from the garden,” Constance said as she put them in the crystal vase which sat on the table in the middle of the room. “The blue carpet you ordered should be arriving tomorrow.”

  “Wonderful!” Carrie clapped her hands and ran to the lilacs so she could smell them. Now that the lacy white curtains had replaced the drab and heavy blue ones, the entire room felt brighter and more comfortable. “Thank you, Constance. They’re beautiful.”

  The maid examined the room and smiled. “I like what you’re doing to this place. It’s nice to have a woman’s touch.”

  “I admit that it is fun to decorate the room.”

  “I’m sure Mr. Monroe will let you decorate other rooms. He’s so in love with you that he won’t deny you anything.”

  She blushed, surprised that she was pleased at the thought.

  Jim walked into the parlor. “Oh good. You’re both here. I just made a cinnamon apple pizza that I hope will make a suitable dessert for my future restaurant. Will you try it and tell me what you think?”

  “Of course,” Carrie readily agreed. “I like to sample anything you make. You have a real talent for this line of work.”

  “If only all my future customers will be as kind as you,” he replied.

  “I agree with Mrs. Monroe,” Constance said. “You do an excellent job. It’s too bad Louis doesn’t give you a chance to serve one of your pizzas at dinner. I never realized he is opposed to pizzas until we ment
ioned you making one.”

  Carrie was glad that Jim could at least make his recipes while Louis was resting before he came to prepare dinner.

  As she and Constance sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, Jim sliced the freshly made dessert pizza.

  “It smells great,” Constance said. “How did you come up with the idea to make it an apple cinnamon pizza?”

  “I piggybacked the idea when I helped make Louis’ pie from last night,” he admitted. “I thought that if an apple cinnamon pie could taste that good, then a pizza made from similar ingredients should be a treat too.”

  “I notice you aren’t making as many mistakes while cooking when he’s around,” Carrie remarked.

  “Those index cards are a big help. You were right about hiding them in my apron. It works like a charm. I just wish I didn’t feel so clumsy around him. I almost broke the glass pie plate last night.”

  “Is that why Louis screamed something about his pie?”

  He nodded, grimacing at the memory. “I still can’t believe how red his face got.”

  “He needs to relax,” Constance said. “I told him that he needs to lighten up. Life is too short to be serious all the time. Sometimes it’s just good to have a laugh and go on with your day.”

  “Well, here’s a slice for each of you.” He handed them their plates and a glass of wine. “I’ve also been studying up on which types of wine goes best with certain foods. If I’m going to serve pizza at dinner, I’ll have to add wine to the beverage list.”

  Carrie took a bite. “I don’t know how you manage to get better at this but you do.”

  Constance nodded her agreement. “We’re lucky,” she told Carrie. “Someday when he’s a famous chef, we’ll be able to say we were the first to try his pizzas.”

  “That’s true.”

  Geoffrey entered the kitchen. “Constance, the cleaning supplies just arrived and the delivery man wants to know where to put them.”

  “I’ll be back.” Constance left the room.

  “Another pizza?” Geoffrey wondered in interest.

  “A dessert. Would you like a slice?” Jim offered.