Chapter Sixty-Three
‘What do you think of Emme?’ Lexy asked, as she sawed into her bloody steak.
Bill looked befuddled and paused twirling his tagliatelle, fork frozen in his hand.
He considered his wife as though it was a trick question. Questions often were with Lexy.
He resumed twirling.
‘Erm, the kids seem to like her.’
‘Yes but what do you think of her?’ Lexy seemed to be in a particularly combative mood despite it being their wedding anniversary.
‘She seems less, erm, problematic than Jenny …’
‘Jesus, Bill! Why can you never give a straight answer?’ Lexy hissed, as she saw their neighbour Tomas Edstrom pass their table with a nod and a wave, so she faked a smile as quickly as a Christmas lights switch-on.
Tomas disappeared to the bathroom and Lexy returned to her questioning.
‘Do you find her attractive?’ she asked, as she gave a gentle flick of her tonged auburn mane.
Bill looked up, his mouth stuffed so full of pasta his words were incomprehensible.
‘Pardon?’ scoffed Lexy.
Bill swallowed.
‘I said she’s a pretty thing, but it’s not my place to say.’
‘Why not?’ Lexy probed, as she mopped up her peppercorn sauce with a last chunk of steak.
‘Well, what does it matter if she’s bloody pretty or not, Lexy? What corner are you backing me into now?’
Lexy leaned back, caressed her stomach and rolled her eyes, as if she were a petulant child.
‘I just wondered if men think she’s sexy. It’s hard to tell when someone’s looking after your children. It’s hard to tell what people think.’
‘What does it matter what people think? It doesn’t matter that she’s sexy, does it?’
Gotcha.
Lexy primly placed her knife and fork in a line on her plate and took a slug of red wine.
‘You know, I don’t think Emme does enough with the kids,’ she declared.
‘You don’t? She always seems busy when I’m home with her.’ Bill mopped a splash of ragu from the corner of his mouth with a white linen napkin and declared himself finished.
‘Well, you’re hardly home,’ Lexy countered.
A waitress came to clear their plates.
‘Everything alright with your dishes?’ she asked, as she gathered the detritus.
‘Top notch,’ Bill said appreciatively while Lexy gave a brief smile.
When the waitress left, Lexy resumed the conversation, much to Bill’s apparent chagrin. Why was he being so cagey about this nanny?
‘Well, I think she’s too busy with her social life. She’s gallivanting around town too much when she should be helping out more. She should be teaching the children to read more fluently. She should be helping them with their German, for god’s sake.’
‘Does Emme speak German?’ Bill asked, his eyebrows in a knot.
‘I can’t remember, but what’s the point of a nanny who doesn’t enrich the children?’
‘They learn German at school,’ he added idly.
Lexy looked around the restaurant, and she felt so agitated and uncelebratory that she wanted to cry.
‘Look, what’s the real issue here, Lex?’ Bill cleared his throat and took a sip of beer from his tube glass. ‘I know it’s hard for you to trust after Jenny, but I promise the same thing won’t happen again.’
And with that, Lexy felt a rage coil up her, flooding every vein. What was worse was that Bill would never know the extent of how his words stung.