Tried With Fire - (Ruth Harris Series)

Chapter 24

'In the kitchen.' I called out when I heard the front door open and close that evening. Olivia was upstairs playing in her room. Hunter slid off his shoes and tossed his keys into the bowl on the coffee table, all the while whistling a love song to himself. Then he joined me in the kitchen and opened the fridge.
               'Ciao bella.' he said over his shoulder. 'How's your day been?' I took a deep breath before replying,
'Just peachy.' Hunter heard the impatience in my tone and turned around.
'What's wrong? Did Ethan annoy you?'
'Aha, I forgot all about Ethan. He's the least of my worries right now.'
'You forgot your lunch.' was my simple response. Hunter paused.
'So I did. Never mind, I'll take it tomorrow.'
'What did you have for lunch today?'
'Oh, I went out for lunch - with a client.'
'How did that go?' My hands were trembling with the effort of staying calm as I cut the vegetables for dinner. I am surprised I didn't accidentally hack off a finger. I think I would have been too angry to care if I had.
'Eh, it was alright.' Hunter said, sipping a can from the fridge. 'Boring though. I got him to sign with us so that was good - my commission's gone up because of it.'
               Hunter sat down at the kitchen island, across from me. 'Are you alright, Ruth? You seem...'
'I'm fine.'
'How did your visit with Cassidy go earlier? Did you show her how much you care about her, like I said?'
'Er, yeah.' I murmured. 'It went really well actually. She seemed much more relaxed around me once she knew I still struggle with things now - I think I reminded her I'm still human and why the hell didn't you tell me you hired an assistant?'
'Whoops.'
               Hunter froze with his can still in his mouth. He slowly lowered it.
'Okay, now, Ruth, it's not a big deal -'
'Don't talk to me like I'm unstable, Hunter, you know I hate that.' I snapped. 'What's with all the secrecy?'
'I haven't been keeping secrets Ruth, okay? I just hired an assistant -'
'But you didn't 'just hire an assistant', did you!? You hired a young thin model who's tall and cute and blonde! Vanessa is a nice bit of meat for you to look at all day, isn't she!' I put a bitter twinge on her name, making Hunter groan.
'How did you even find out I hired her?'
'What difference does that make?' I cried. 'I just want to know why you've kept her your little secret for so long! You told me two months ago that you might get one, but you weren't sure. Now I find out you hired Vanessa BEFORE THAT? You lied to me!'
               Hunter rubbed his eyes tiredly.
'Do we really have to argue about this, Ruth? I'm exhausted -'
'Don't try and get out of this by pretending it's not a big deal!'
'It isn't a big deal!' Hunter whined.
'Yes it is! It is to me.'
               I said it so forcefully that Hunter glanced up at my eyes, and then straightened his back.
'Alright. Alright. I'm sorry. Look, Ruth, I needed an assistant so I hired one. That's all -'
'And why did you have to choose a gorgeous blonde twenty five year old to sit by your office all day making googly eyes at you?'
               Hunter groaned again. He kept doing that so I added, more sarcastically, 'Am I annoying you, Hunter? Because of course I would hate to tread on your toes, it's just that you promised to keep me more involved in your work life but in the same breath you lied to me!'
'I -'
'You have no idea how embarrassing it was for me when I went to your office this morning to give you your lunch and met Vanessa for the first time. And then everyone piled into the lift until it was crammed full but I didn't panic! Oh no. I didn't let myself panic, because I was so excited to see you! But then Ryan told me you weren't around all day and all your horrible, arrogant friends looked at me like I'm an idiot because I had no idea where my husband was or who he was even with!'
               Hunter hung his head. 'But I still shrugged it off and acted 'normal' so your friends didn't see how weird your wife is! God forbid I do something to humiliate you!'
               I finally stopped shouting. Fischer was whispering in my ear that I was just transferring my disgust over Alastair onto Hunter because he was there to take it. She told me I was overreacting. Perhaps I was, but I didn't think so at the time. One never does.