Chapter 3
Violet
"Sorry for the cloak and dagger stuff, but I swear to you, living with Ridge is like living with the CIA lately.” Moreland laughed before he put a forkful of baked tuna in his mouth.
“Speaking of which,” he scooted my chair closer and held his phone out. “We need to take a picture for my fiancée before she thinks I’m up to no good, too.”
I rolled my eyes but smiled for the selfie he took of us. “Tell Gabby I said hello, and I’ll call her soon. All this secret party planning is stressing me out.”
“Maybe, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to tell him you’re planning a party.”
“No!” I pouted. “It’s the one thing I’ve heard him say he wanted that I know for sure no one else can pull off.
Come on, Moreland. What are the odds that my husband married a woman who loves to plan parties, and he just so happens to want SOMEONE to plan a surprise party for him one day?
It already felt like fate when we met. This is even better. ”
“You’re trying for a baby and stressed to the max with all this cloak and dagger shit, as you put it,” Moreland pointed out unhelpfully.
“I’m sure that’s not helping things along.
” He mentioned the last while pointedly looking down toward my belly which he couldn’t see because I was tucked up to the table.
Lunch soured in my stomach as I pulled the binder out that had all my planning ideas in it.
I decided to ignore his concern and carried on as if he had never voiced it.
“We have the cake nailed down, and it will be delivered to the house while Fiona keeps him busy at the office. I’ll have to transport it to the park from there. ”
Moreland snorted out a half-laugh. “Sorry, Vi, but you’re the only woman who wouldn’t be afraid of that statement. I’m not around all that much, since I’m stationed in Jacksonville, but even I have seen that Ridge’s assistant is gagging for him to notice her.”
“That’s only slightly disturbing,” I hissed at my cousin-in-law.
“Seriously, why would you say something like that to me?” It made me nauseous to think of my Ridge possibly falling for the old cliché of the man-eating secretary, especially since she was a bit younger than him and gorgeous in a way that said she had to work for it, but the dividends paid off.
Granted, she was a year older than I was, but still, when I stopped to think about it, the woman spent far more waking hours with my husband than I did most days.
“Sorry. I know you, and it has to be something you have noticed, too.”
I shook my head. “I trust Ridge.”
“Of course you do. That doesn’t mean you should trust his assistant not to push the envelope.
I don’t know if you’re aware, but her clothes have been getting tighter and shorter over the past year.
She played it sweet, prim, and proper for the first six months and now it looks like the gloves have come off.
That’s a euphemism for her receding hemline. ”
“God! I have enough to worry about with this party, making a baby, and now you’re putting that pile of shitty thoughts in my head?”
Moreland slid back over and pulled me in for a hug.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to add to the pile.
I just want you to be careful with that one.
Your husband can be a bit clueless when it comes to the way other women come on to him.
He would never cheat, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t miss the signs of a woman who attempted to manipulate him into it.
I don’t want you to be blindsided if he comes home smelling like her perfume or with lipstick on his shirt. ”
I gasped and shook with anger at Moreland’s suggestion that my husband might one day succumb to Fiona’s charms.
“Not like that. I mean, she might try to set it up to look like something is going on, to cause strife at home.”
“Jesus, More!” I hissed as I slammed my planner shut. “We need to take a break. Your conversational skills leave a lot to be desired.”
“Sorry,” he muttered sheepishly. “I love you and my dumbass cousin, and don’t want to see that bitch stir up trouble. She seems the type and you need to be prepared for it.”
“I worried about Ridge thinking I was up to something – because I am. Now, you have me worried that he might step out on me every time he goes to work. Fiona didn’t have to plant that seed of doubt in me, because you just did.
” Moreland winced and grabbed hold of my hand.
He leaned in and put his head down to meet mine, so he could speak quietly.
“I’m sorry. You know Ridge. He would never step out on you.
You are the love of his life. Christ, the idiot thinks you’re his soulmate because you met on his birthday.
Then, you had to play into that bullshit by agreeing to marry him on his next birthday.
” Ridge’s cousin rolled his eyes. “He will be the happiest man alive when he realizes you also managed to give him the one thing he didn’t think anyone could ever pull off. ”
“Once this party is behind us, I’m going to demand he get a new assistant.”
“Probably for the best. Tell him to hire a man next time.”
I turned to look for a waitress, to get the check, and the woman we were just talking about stood over by the door watching us. “Is that Fiona?” I asked.
By the time Moreland turned around the woman had ducked further into the alcove she’d been hiding in. The only thing back there was the bathrooms and the door to the kitchen.
“I’ll be right back,” I said as Moreland shook his head.
“I didn’t see her. Jesus, I made you paranoid.”
“I’m going to the bathroom. Can you flag our waitress down while I’m gone?”
“Sure.” I didn’t wait for his answer, but I heard it as I walked away.
I could have sworn it was Fiona and she had her phone held up in front of her like she might have been filming us.
I don’t know why she would do that, since she had to be in on the whole surprise party thing.
In fact, she was the worrisome weak link in the whole plan.
I hoped like hell, especially after the bomb Moreland just dropped about her wanting my husband, that she didn’t ruin the surprise for Ridge.
I turned the corner, and no one was there, so I moved into the bathroom, thinking that was the only place she could have gone.
It was empty. I even looked under the stalls to be sure she wasn’t hiding from me.
Maybe Moreland was right and my paranoia after the conversation we just had made me see things that weren’t there.
It could have been someone from the kitchen staff who looked like her.
It probably wasn’t even a cell phone she had in her hands.
The nagging feeling in my gut wouldn’t dissipate, though.
I wished I could punch Moreland in the gut, so he could feel this horrible insecurity for a few minutes.
I never, not once in my relationship, ever doubted my husband.
I still didn’t. I did, however, now have a new and growing concern about his assistant.
What if she really did try to push a wedge between us?
Would my husband be dumb enough to fall for it?
Obviously, I might fall for her lies, since I was seeing her in places where she clearly wasn’t.