Frisky Business

by Tawna Fenske

  “Because I’m an idiot,” she told Magoo. “That’s the answer to the question about the cheese party. I’m an idiot who agrees to go to a wine and cheese tasting because she thinks that’s what’s expected of the director of development for a major organization. How pathetic is that?”

  Magoo refrained from voicing an opinion, but he did turn his head to the side so he could lick Marley’s ankle. After about four minutes of belly rubbing, he rolled to his feet again and trotted off toward the kitchen. Marley plucked her phone out of her purse and glanced at it, disappointed to see Will hadn’t called yet. True, it was only six twenty-five, and she’d said she’d be home by six thirty, but some clingy, needy part of her wished he was as eager as she was to talk again.

  She smiled, flashing back to their romp in the woods that afternoon. She could still smell pine needles under her fingernails, still felt the scrape of his whiskers on her breasts. How long before she could touch him again?

  Marley flipped the phone off and stood up, heading toward the kitchen where Magoo had gone.

  “Dad?” Marley called, trailing a finger over the granite countertop. “Mom? Anyone here?”

  She rounded the corner into the kitchen and spotted a note on the counter in her father’s handwriting.

  Marley: Your mom and I are watching the sunset. Don’t wait up.

  “Great,” Marley muttered, staring at the note for a few more seconds. Magoo’s head snapped up, and Marley set the note back on the counter with a sigh. “It’s possible my father is courting my mother,” she told the dog. “Despite the fact that he already has another wife.”

  Magoo licked her left ankle, then moved to the right. Marley sighed. “If they get married again, would that make her his seventh wife, or his first wife squared?”

  Magoo cocked his head to the side, then barked twice and trotted toward the living room. Marley watched him go, wondering what he’d decided to lick this time. Then she realized someone was knocking at the door. She padded after her dog, hoping there’d be something on the other side of the door that one of them might wish to hump.

  She was smiling as she flung open the door to see Will.

  He wasn’t smiling.

  Not at all.

  “Will?” she asked, taking a step back. “What’s wrong?”

  He folded his arms over his chest. “Is there anything you want to share with me, Marley?”

  Marley winced at his tone as panic rose up her throat like bile. She took another step back and decided to try a page from his book. “I take it you’re not asking me to share a cup of sugar, a roll of toilet paper, or a jar of Grey Poupon?”

  Will shook his head, not cracking even the tiniest smile. Marley felt her gut curl into a tight ball as she pondered the fact that this was the first time she’d seen Will not in the mood to joke. Part of her wanted to shut the door in his face and open it back up to see the regular old Will standing there grinning and making jokes about sex in the woods.

  Part of her knew why he’d come. And part of her was ready to get this over with. She was tired of hiding.

  “Why don’t you come in?”

  He hesitated, then stepped into the foyer as Marley closed the door behind him and tried to pretend her hands weren’t shaking.

  When Will turned to face her, his expression was flat. Only his eyes betrayed his emotions, flashing with mismatched shades of anger.

  “So,” Will said, his voice disturbingly calm. “Was there some point you planned to tell the board of directors that you spent more than a year under investigation for fraud at your last job?”

  Marley waited for the words to hit her like a punch to the gut. But she’d been braced for them, knew they were coming. The only thing she felt was a strange sense of relief this was finally on the table. She said nothing, waiting for Will to continue.

  She knew there was more.

  “There’s also the fact that you declared bankruptcy and did a short sale on a home you owned in Portland. Relevant info for someone whose job is handling other people’s money, don’t you think?”

  She swallowed, folded her arms over her chest, and licked her lips. “No.”

  “No?”

  “No,” she said calmly, measuring her words before she spoke them for once. “I don’t think it’s relevant. I wasn’t aware we were required to exchange financial records before exchanging bodily fluids.”

  Will’s eyes went wide for an instant, but he recovered quickly. “This isn’t about me, Marley. It’s about professionalism and integrity and trustworthiness and—”

  “And the fact that you have enough trust issues for an entire football team of jilted lovers. The hell it’s not about you.”

  Will blinked, clearly not expecting her to fight back. “Okay then, let’s make it more about me. Care to tell me about the private investigator who’s looking into how you managed to lose my aunt’s valuable antiques?”

  Marley gasped and took a step back. She hadn’t seen that one coming. “I didn’t lose them.”

  “No? They were trusted to you, weren’t they?”

  “They were trusted to the Cascade Historical Society and Wildlife Sanctuary,” she said slowly, waiting for him to jump in with Cheez Whiz.

  Will just shook his head. “You were in charge, Marley. You were the one tasked with getting the appraisal. You were the one—”

  “Oh, spare me, Will,” Marley snapped, her attempts at a cool exterior cracking like a bad ice sculpture. “This has nothing to do with financial records or fraud or even your aunt’s stupid sculptures which I did not lose, by the way. This is about you looking for reasons to mistrust anyone you’re involved with so you don’t get blindsided again. Congratulations, Will. Job well done.”

  She didn’t mean to shout, but she realized her voice had risen at least six decibels by the time she hit the end of the sentence.

  Which is probably why she didn’t hear her parents.

  “Marley?” her mother called from the kitchen. “What are you shouting about, dear? We heard you from all the way on the back porch. Such a pleasant sunset this evening.”

  Marley turned to see them marching into the foyer. Her mom wore ridiculously high heels, and her father clutched a glass of bourbon. His look of concern darkened as his eyes landed on Will.

  “You again,” Walter said, not sounding pleased about that.

  “Marley, sweetie.” Her mother planted a kiss on her cheek, engulfing Marley in a cloud of perfume. “What were you yelling about, dear?”

  Marley closed her eyes and counted to ten, feeling her stomach roil. She wasn’t sure whether to blame the cheese, the confrontation with Will, or the presence of her parents, but she suspected the combination of those things wasn’t doing her any favors.

  When Marley opened her eyes again, Will was handing her something.

  “Here,” he said, thrusting it into her palm. “Take these.”

  She blinked and looked down at her hand. Pink tablets wrapped in plastic? “Did you just give me Pepto Bismol?”

  “Now there’s a thoughtful gentleman,” Judy said, beaming at Will.

  Marley blinked at the tablets again, then looked at Will. “You show up on my doorstep to call me a fraud, a liar, and a thief, and then offer me Pepto Bismol?”

  Walter cleared his throat. “It is the leading medicine offering fast relief for heartburn, nausea, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea—”

  “Dad, please,” Marley said, closing her fist around the tablets. Then she thought better of it and tore open the little plastic wrapper, chomping the chalky pink forms into minty dust. She couldn’t decide whether to feel grateful or annoyed, but settled for saying nothing as she chewed.

  “I assumed they’d come in handy,” Will said coolly. “Since you just spent the evening at a cheese tasting event because you’re more concerned with making friends than
you are with making sure you don’t puke your guts out from lactose intolerance.”

  Marley shook her head, her gratitude receding as quickly as it had washed over her. “Was that another accusation? Because I’m losing count now. Let’s see, you called me financially irresponsible, a fraud, a thief, and someone who’s overly concerned with winning friends and influencing people.”

  “I always said you’d make a great politician,” her father said, clapping her on the shoulder. “We’re proud of you, honey.”

  “Dad, please,” Marley said, turning to glare at him. “Normal parents would give their daughter some privacy to fight with her lover. Mine regard it as a spectator sport.”

  “Lover?” Judy asked, perking up. “Honey, I didn’t realize things had gotten serious between you two.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, Mom,” Marley said, turning back to Will. “There’s very little risk of Will being serious about anything, ever.”

  Will folded his arms over his chest. “I’m pretty serious now.”

  “Well so am I. And not that this is any of your business, but yes—I declared bankruptcy. So did one-point-five million other Americans. I lost my job, Will. It happens. I’ve paid my dues and am working to move past it, and I don’t feel it has any reflection on my ability to do the job I was hired to do here.”

  “But you lied—”

  “I didn’t lie. Nowhere on my employment application did it ask about bankruptcy. I just didn’t volunteer the information.”

  “The application asked about fraud charges though, didn’t it?”

  Marley swallowed. She glanced at her mother, then her father, then back to Will. She opened her mouth to tell him to butt out, but her mom laid a hand on her shoulder.

  “Stop protecting me, dear,” Judy said. “That’s what got you into trouble in the first place.”

  “Mom, don’t—”

  “Well, if he’s going to come here all in a tizzy, he at least needs to hear the facts.”

  Will frowned. “Tizzy?”

  Marley frowned. “Facts?”

  Judy shook her head and looked at Will. “I ran a jewelry store in Portland for many years. Every now and then I’d contribute items to charity auctions. I got the tax write-off, and the non-profit group got the proceeds. But times got tight and, well—”

  “She scammed them,” Walter finished, folding his arms over his chest and adopting a stance that mirrored Will’s. “Made a bunch of fake jewelry and pretended it was the real deal.”

  “Scammed is such an ugly word,” Judy said. “But I did donate a necklace I claimed was appraised at half a million dollars to a charity Marley was doing donor relations for, and when the buyer had it appraised—”

  “He discovered it was fake,” Walter finished. “And so was half the other jewelry she’d been selling that year.”

  Will stared at them, not saying a word. “But you were at the center of the investigation,” he said to Marley. “According to my source—”

  “You’re right, I was,” Marley said. “I’m the one who accepted Mom’s donation, and I’m the one who failed to have it appraised at the outset. My fault.”

  Judy touched her daughter’s arm. “I thought no one would know…”

  “I should have known better,” Marley said, pulling her arm away. Magoo whimpered softly at her feet, and Marley rubbed her shin against his side as she blinked back tears. It had taken her years to come to terms with this. Years. And Will thought he could just waltz in here and—

  “So you covered it up?” Will asked.

  “No,” Marley said softly. “I turned her in.”

  She watched his face for a reaction, saw those mismatched eyes flash with surprise. Good, she thought, not sure why it mattered.

  “Judy went to jail,” Walter said, stepping up behind Marley and putting a hand on her shoulder. “And Marley was asked to resign from her job. Better than being fired, but willingly leaving a job means no unemployment benefits.”

  “And with no unemployment benefits and no job prospects,” Marley began.

  “Bankruptcy,” Walter finished. “I would have helped her out if I’d known, but I was living in Japan for business that year, and Marley was too ashamed to say anything.”

  Marley shook her head, the shame apparent even now after all these years. “I sent my own mother to jail,” Marley said. “I turned her in. I put her behind bars. So I guess you’re right, Will.”

  Will blinked. “What?”

  “About trusting people. Maybe it’s best not to trust anyone at all, not even the people closest to you. Don’t trust anyone ever—isn’t that your motto?”

  “Wait a minute—”

  “No, Will. I’m done with this conversation. And I’m done with you, too. You can show yourself out. Congratulations on being right.”

  She turned away and walked slowly, deliberately down the hall, hoping like hell he couldn’t see her shoulders shaking.

  ***

  “If I’m right, why do I feel like such a dickhead?” Will asked.

  Polly barked once, and Rosco followed suit. Will felt comforted by the reply, even though he knew it was merely because he gripped their tennis ball in one hand. He chucked it down the hall and watched the dogs scramble after it.

  He looked down at Omar, who was rolled on his back with all four paws flailed in the air. Will rubbed the dog’s belly and sighed.

  “You notice she still never addressed what happened to Aunt Nancy’s donation,” Will said. “She may have explained the finances and the fraud, but she clearly avoided the subject of the missing rock dicks.”

  Omar looked at Will, then licked his own nose and closed his eyes. Will rubbed his belly some more. “I know you’re deaf, but sometimes I swear you’re the best listener I know.”

  How had the confrontation with Marley gone so completely wrong? He’d gone in feeling self-righteous, determined to prove—

  To prove what?

  “To prove you can’t trust her,” he said aloud, feeling vindicated and stupid all at once.

  Just hours ago he’d held her in his arms, certain they had a future together, certain he’d found someone who could make him laugh and smile and feel good all over. And when he’d discovered she might not be that at all—

  “I was right,” he said to Omar, moving up to scratch the dog’s thick chest. “About not trusting her in the first place.”

  Omar opened his eyes and blinked.

  That’ll keep you warm at night.

  “Are you communicating with me through telepathy?” Will asked the dog.

  Omar was spared from having to answer when the doorbell rang. Polly and Rosco ran barking into the foyer, and Will stood up, feeling a flare of hope it might be Marley.

  Stupid, he thought, but walked quickly anyway.

  He opened the door and blinked against the glare of the porch light. She took a step forward, her hair blowing across her face and a miserable look on her face.

  “Will, there’s something I need to tell you.”

  Chapter 20

  Will stared at April for a few moments, her words ringing oddly in his ears.

  “I have something to tell you,” she repeated, perhaps assuming he’d gone deaf. “May I come in?”

  Will stood still, not sure he wanted to step aside and let her in. Hearing his ex-wife’s problems was the last thing he needed right now. “You know, last time you started a conversation with I have something to tell you, you informed me you’d been walking-the-unicorn with my sister.”

  April sighed. “Please let’s not start things off on that note. There’s something very important I need to share.”

  “By all means,” Will said, waving her in. The dogs leapt and bounded and pounced all over her with joy. April scratched their ears two at a time, stooping to kiss Polly on the snout.

&n
bsp; “Such a lovely little doggie,” she said as Rosco dropped his ball on April’s foot.

  Will stood watching her, ready to scream with frustration he knew had very little to do with his ex-wife. At last, she straightened up and looked around the living room. “I don’t suppose I could trouble you for a cup of tea? It turned chilly out there this evening.”

  “April, why are you here?”

  She shook her head. “You know, you used to be much better with foreplay.”

  Will blinked, taken aback by her words. He couldn’t recall ever hearing his sweet, kind ex-wife ever making a dirty joke in her life.

  “I see Bethany has been rubbing off on you.” He closed his eyes, wincing at his own innuendo. “That wasn’t a sex joke, I swear.”

  “People change, Will,” she said, brushing past him. He opened his eyes again and watched her walk toward the kitchen.

  He didn’t know what to say to that, so he moved toward the kitchen and pulled the teakettle off the back burner. He filled it with water, then reached into the cupboard for tea bags.

  “Is that Marley’s blueberry tea?” she asked.

  The sound of her name made Will’s gut clench, but he focused on preparing the tea, on not reacting to her name. “I ordered some online after I saw who makes it,” he said. “Bought a whole case.”

  “Do you love her?”

  Will dropped the mug on the counter, and it clattered noisily but didn’t break. Rosco barked and clicked into the kitchen to sniff the dropped tea bag on the floor. April stepped around Will and stooped to pick it up, tossing it in the trash before turning back to face him.

  “I was going to use that,” Will said. “Five-second rule.”

  “Answer the question, Will. Do you love Marley?”

  “Didn’t you just show up on my porch saying you had an announcement? How’d we get from there to me serving you tea and answering questions about my love life?”

  April sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Marley just called Aunt Nancy to say she’d lost the family figurines. Said she felt horrible about it, but that she wanted the family to know, and she’s handing in her resignation at the Cascade Historical Society and Wildlife Sanctuary. Effective immediately.”