He Brought His Assistant On Our Honeymoon And Gave Me A Separate Room novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Lunch for Five

Edith did not wait for the dock to empty.

She had the terrace table for lunch set for five, in the middle of the room, where every waiter and every guest could see it.

Tripp sat at her right hand.

Camille sat at her left, because Edith had asked for her by name.

Joanna and I took the two chairs left over, and my sister shook out her napkin and glared at the centerpiece.

"Now," Edith said, once the soup had been poured. "I won't pretend, Rochelle. I'm too old and it's too hot."

"Please don't," I said.

"You have been seen in the water with a stranger. You were photographed on a sandbar with him for two hours." Her spoon did not pause. "My son has been very patient."

"Mother," Tripp said, gently, to his plate.

"I am not saying it to hurt you, dear. I am saying it because the Halvorsen men dislike gossip, and tomorrow they will look at this family very closely."

At the next table a waiter set down a basket of rolls and left without making a sound.

I understood that she had chosen the room on purpose.

She wanted me to defend myself in front of strangers, loudly, with my voice rising, so that anyone watching would see a wife who protested too much.

"I can see that you're worried about the party," I said.

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