Chapter 39 LUCY
LUCY
Iwasn’t in a rush to divorce Eddie.
Some of my parents’ worries were justifiable. In fact, I agreed with many of them. And yet, none of them was enough to divorce him over.
Oh, he looked at other women a second too long? As if he were the only man who did.
I wanted to ease my mind a bit, so I tried to start some small talk with Eddie on Monday morning after I’d met my parents.
“Hey, honey,” I said. “What’s your plan like today?”
“I’m pretty busy. Got a few meetings and then I’m meeting a client at Auld Fella this afternoon.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s going on at Auld Fella?”
“This woman is the head of some entrepreneurial group. I think it’s called Young Woman Entrepreneurs or something like that.”
“Sounds pretty interesting.”
“It’s just a bunch of rich, white, pretty women getting together and telling themselves how good they are.”
“Not all rich, white, pretty women are annoying,” I said, trying to be playful.
Eddie contemplated his answer. “You’re not annoying, honey, but you’re also not rich. Only your parents are, and your father made it abundantly clear last night that he doesn’t want me to get any of it.”
“Eddie, that’s not true.”
“It’s not? Would you like me to quote him?”
“I think he just had a few too many drinks. He does that sometimes.”
“And I always thought your parents liked me.”
“They do, Eddie.”
I found myself defending my husband, even though I now knew that my parents were no longer on team Eddie.
“Well then, your father sure has a funny way of showing it.”
I’d been hoping to allay my fears about Eddie, but this was only exacerbating them.
“I thought you didn’t care about my parents’ money.”
He turned serious. “I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I like being embarrassed in public.”
He had a point. There was no question that my father had meant to embarrass him.
“I’m sorry. I’ll talk with him.”
I wasn’t going to let him know that I’d been to their house the previous night, and it had been a doozy.
“It’s not you, Lucy. You’re great. You always have been.”
“Thanks.”
He was back to being charming Eddie.
“Listen, I really have to run. This women’s entrepreneur happy hour could be pretty big, and the woman who’s running it has plenty of money.”
“See, you do care about money.”
“I care about our money. Not your parents.”
And with that, he kissed me goodbye.
Much later on, I’d found out that the women’s entrepreneur happy hour was the genesis for all that was to come.