Schemes Come to Naught novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Napkin Sketch

Dex signs, and at the engagement dinner Ines arrives with a framed napkin from their first company; Valeria's smile slips once, then she tells Dex to fire Ines on Monday.

I signed the power of attorney.

I signed it because Ines had told me not to, and I couldn't stand that she might be right.

That is the whole reason.

I have gone over it many times since, looking for a better one.

Valeria kissed the top of my head and took the pages away to scan them.

"Thank you," she said. "You don't know how much easier this makes everything."

I did not read past the first paragraph.

The engagement dinner was on Saturday, at the Bexley townhouse, for twenty people.

Valeria had ordered the flowers, the caterer and the playlist.

She had also, without telling me, sent an invitation to Ines.

"It would be rude not to," she said when I found out. "We want her to feel included. Everyone will see how well we're handling it."

By seven the living room was full.

My college roommate was there with his wife.

So were two of our investors, a neighbor, and the couple who had come to my wedding to Ines and sat at table four.

Nobody mentioned the divorce.

They mentioned the weather and the wine.

My roommate's wife stopped beside me at the cheese board.

"You moved fast," she said quietly. "Everybody's saying so."

"It was complicated."

"Ruthless is the word I heard." She took a cracker. "I thought you two were it, Dex. I really did."

She walked away before I could say anything back.

Ines arrived at seven-thirty.

She wore a dark green dress I had never seen and carried a flat package wrapped in brown paper.

The room did not go silent, but it did get careful.

"Thank you for having me," she said to Valeria, and held out her hand.

Valeria took it with both of hers.

"I'm so glad you came."

"I brought something for the two of you."

She set the package on the dining table and peeled back the paper.

It was a small black frame.

Inside, under glass, was a paper napkin gone yellow at the edges.

Someone had drawn on it in blue ballpoint, a box with arrows going into a smaller box and a name above it.

Lowell Systems, it said, in my handwriting at twenty-four.

Underneath, in Ines's handwriting, it said: Someday. Pay Ines.

The room laughed, because the last line was a joke.

I remembered the night we drew it.

We had been eating cold pizza in a booth at a diner and I had promised her a salary the first day we could afford one.

My throat closed up, and I said nothing.

"To the first company," Ines said, and raised her glass of water. "May the second one be steadier."

People clinked glasses.

Valeria was still smiling at her.

"What a thoughtful gift."

"I thought so," Ines said. "Dex has been so generous with the trust, Valeria. I'm told you handle all of it yourself. That must be a lot of paper."

Valeria's smile slipped.

It lasted maybe a second.

Her mouth went flat and her eyes went to my face to see whether I had noticed.

Then she laughed, bright and warm, and touched Ines's arm.

"A lot of paper," she said. "But somebody has to, and Dex is so busy."

I saw it.

I want that on the record.

I saw the second where she stopped smiling, and I decided it was the nerves of a woman hosting her ex-husband's ex-wife.

Anyone would have gone stiff.

I told myself that all through dinner.

Ines stayed through the toast and one glass of water.

She spoke to everyone, asked after the roommate's new baby, and said goodnight to the neighbor in a low voice that made him laugh.

At the door, she stopped in front of me.

"Take care of your hands," she said.

I looked down at them.

They were shaking a little.

"It's a long winter," she said, and went down the steps.

When the last guest left, I carried glasses to the kitchen.

Valeria followed me and shut the door.

"She did that on purpose," she said.

"The napkin?"

"All of it. The napkin, the trust remark, making a scene in my home." Her voice stayed soft, which was worse than shouting. "She's trying to get into your head, Dex. And you let her."

"She was gracious."

"She was patient. It's the same thing with her."

She took the frame off the table and set it on top of the refrigerator, face to the wall.

"Monday is the all-hands," she said. "You'll announce a restructure of operations, and you'll tell the whole company that Ines's role has been eliminated."

"I swore to her."

"You swore in a hallway," Valeria said. "On Monday, you swear in front of ninety people. Which one do you think counts?"

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