“You mean because I’m insulted by insulting questions I have an edge?”
“Yes, Katie, that’s what I mean. And the question is awfully insulting when you kept demanding I give you $30,000 for your wedding and you didn’t even have a date set.”
“You’re on thin ice, Oscar.”
“Open lines of communication require honesty. And I don’t think we’ve had that between us. Because what I’ve thought for a good while is that you wanted that money so you could tell Craig you could pay for the wedding with it or else you could walk.”
“You think I was trying to leverage him?”
“Just tell me I’m wrong, Katie.”
She just glared at me.
“Seems like I have my answer,” I said. “So now I have another question: do you want out?”
“You mean with Craig?”
“Yeah. If you want out, tell me and I’ll get you out.”
“It’s not your place to do that.”
“I agree with you. But you’re reducing my girlfriend to tears every time she goes to see you and that stops now. Your house is off-limits for her and Caroline until I have evidence we won’t be dealing with another one of your fights.”
“I can’t get out. Nobody will take care of Amy if I leave.”
“Amy is two. She can go and live with her grandmother instead of being raised by her kinda-sorta Factory Girl stepmother.”
“Are you saying I can’t handle this?”
“I’m saying you are clearly under a lot of stress. You’re practically strangling yourself with that scarf.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“That’s not a particularly relaxed response.”
“Look, my relationship with Craig isn’t…like yours is with Amber. But that’s as much my fault as it is his. I wasn’t programmed to do…relationships. I was supposed to be a career girl. And you know that. It’s why you hired me, and then of course you blew up my job.”
“And you rejected that career path and took up with a succession of guys. And I didn’t blow your job up, I sold the company. I negotiated with the buyer that you could keep your job and you said no. Let’s remember this correctly.”
“Oh, what difference does it make?”
“For one thing I talked to Dave Killearn, the manager over at RDS. That job is open again, and he asked if you’d like it back.”
“Wow. That’s…”
“I’ll give you his number. One one condition. This screaming and fighting shit with Amber has to end, and you’re going to have to be nice to Caroline.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Oh, whatever,” she said. “The job…I’ll think about it.”