Logan’s face turned a deep shade of red. He stared at the phone, and seemed uncharacteristically shaken.

“If you need to go I understand,” I said gently. “I can handle this decor stuff.”

He looked at me, then back at his phone. “How will you get back to the office?”

“I’ll figure it out,” my mind briefly flashed back to the time Logan left me stranded after shopping for his wife. He seemed like a completely different person now. “Really, it’s fine. You should go.”

He nodded. “Thank you,” he said. He bolted out the front door and I watched as he made a call on his phone. A moment later he was gesturing wildly, and I imagined he was talking to his very unhappy wife.

I watched for a moment, then turned back to the table cloth swatches. I hoped he wasn’t making a mistake by choosing to not go through with the divorce.

I took the swatches to the clerk at the front of the store. “Can I order the black ones with gold table runners?”

“Yes ma’am, let me grab an order form for you,” she disappeared to the back.

I thought about the message I had seen. It seemed like an overreaction for sure, but I tried putting myself in her shoes. She doesn’t know me, maybe it was kind of weird that he’d come shopping with me, even if it was for a party for her.

I felt a small pang of guilt at the realization that I was more than a little excited when he said he would come with me, and it was not because I needed his help with this stuff.

Maybe his wife could somehow sense the thing I could not even admit to myself.

---

When I walked through the front door of my parents’ house later that night, I was greeted by Natalie stomping down the stairs.

“Oh, hi Hazel, have a good day at work?” She said angrily.

“It was…fine,” I said. “Your words don’t match your tone and I’m very confused.”

Without another word she shot daggers at me, then stomped back up the stairs. A moment later, I heard a door slam.

I walked into the kitchen, hoping to find my parents and some sort of explanation. As usual, they were sitting at the table, cups of tea and reading materials in front of them.

“So uh…is Natalie okay?” I asked tentatively.

“Oh, she’s having some sort of tiff with that man of hers,” Mom said.

The image of the angry text from Logan’s phone earlier flashed through my mind. “What’s it about?”

Mom shrugged. Dad jumped in with, “I’m telling you, that man doesn’t deserve her.”

“You say that about every man she dates,” Mom said, rolling her eyes and flipping a page in her magazine.

“Well so far it’s been true,” Dad muttered.

I figured I got about as much information as I was going to, so I turned and left the kitchen. I quietly climbed the stairs. I wanted to avoid any more encounters with Natalie while she was in her mood. Dealing with her was hard enough as it was, but when she was mad…

As soon as I made it to my door, Natalie popped out of hers. “Hazel!” She said. Her anger had suddenly subsided and she was now weirdly chipper.

I jumped. “Hello Jekyll. Or is it Hyde now?” I said.

She cocked her head to the side at me, confusion crossing her face.

“It’s a book…oh, never mind,” I said. I walked into my room and to both my surprise and dismay, she followed me.

She bounced over to my bed and sat. “What did you do at work today?” She said, smiling at me.

“I’m planning a work-related party,” I said, trying to give as few details as I could while also hopefully satisfying her enough to get her out of my room. “so I just worked on that today.”

“All by yourself?” She said with a gasp. “That’s a big job for one person.”

“Well…no, not exactly by myself. My boss has been helping some.”

“How so?”

Either Natalie had turned over a new leaf and was suddenly no longer a self-absorbed narcissistic person, or she was up to something. My guess was the latter. “Just…helping me pick out decor or putting his input on the food, things like that.”

“So you see your boss a lot, huh?” She asked.

Was it my imagination or did I detect a twinge of jealousy?

“I mean, yeah, my desk is right outside his office,” I said. She didn’t need to know that it was now temporarily inside his office. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I’m preparing for an acting role, I’ll be playing a secretary,” she said. “I’m just trying to get an idea of what you do all day, since I’ve never had to take on a day job like you.” She smiled at me.

Her words were a stab to my failed-actress heart. “Yeah yeah, I’m the failure, you’re not, I get it already. If you don’t mind, I have some things I need to do. Alone.”

“Fine. I have a date to get ready for anyway.” She stood and leaned right in my face. “You know, with my new, rich, deliciously handsome man.”

“I thought you guys were fighting?” I said, trying to keep my cool until she left the room.

She shrugged. “We are, but I told him he needs to make it up to me. So he’s taking me out. He promised he would give me whatever I want,” she said. “I know you don’t understand how relationships work, since you can never seem to hold onto anyone.” She turned to walk out of the room.

“It’s hard to when your sister is the Wicked Witch of…of the…of stealing men,” I called after her.

She ignored me. She walked through my door and slammed it shut behind her.

I shot daggers at her through the door, then sighed. “Not my best comeback,” I muttered to myself.

---

Later that evening, Logan followed Natalie around the high-end jewelry store she had dragged him to. When he had promised her anything she wanted, he’d had some sort of new restaurant or bar in mind. Not jewelry shopping.

She paused at an ostentatious diamond necklace. “You said anything I wanted, right?” Natalie said.

“I did,” Logan said, now regretting it. He made a mental note to not make such open, vague promises down the road. “Whatever you want, my love.” He internally kicked himself. Why couldn’t he stop saying that?

She smiled at him. “Can I try this on?” She asked the store clerk, pointing at the necklace on display.

“Certainly,” the clerk pulled it out and helped her put it on. He handed her a small handheld mirror, and she turned left and right, admiring it.

“Perhaps we can do something different tonight?” Logan said. “Maybe a movie and drinks at my place?”

Natalie frowned and lowered the mirror. “What kind of date is that?”

“I just thought it might be nice, a cozy night in like that,” Logan shrugged, regretting that he brought it up at all.

Natalie scoffed. “No way. You owe me. This necklace is just the start.” She turned to the clerk. “We’ll take it.”

After that jewelry store, Natalie dragged Logan to stores all over the city to buy new dresses, new shoes, more jewelry, and finally, more new purses.

As they checked out at the final store, Logan, trying to not show his impatience asked, “Are you feeling better, my love? Is there anything else you want?” Logan was starving and, quite frankly, annoyed at the liberties she was taking with his money. He was feeling more used than loved as the relationship went on.

“I’m almost better.” Natalie grabbed the bags and handed them to Logan. She lead him out of the store and turned to him once they were on the sidewalk. “There’s just one more thing.”

Logan took a deep sigh. He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Yes, dear?”

“You have to choose. It’s either me or your secretary.”