Page 14 of Best Kept Vows

“Well.” I got up and began clearing the table. “She was impressed by my speech.”My silly little speech!“And she said that Nina Davenport may have something for me at Savannah Lace. Nina’s assistant called to book time for tomorrow.”

I started to rinse the plates.

I heard his chair move and then he was standing next to the sink, facing me, resting his hip against the kitchen counter. His brow was furrowed in what I knew was disapproval.

When was the last time I saw approval on his face, in his eyes? I couldn’t remember, but my guess was three freaking years ago, when we were not living under the shadow of the Boone family legacy, which I didn’t give two shits about.

“Nina Davenport and Betsy Rhodes are friendly, I’ve heard. But Nina is…. You know how Mama feels about her.”

I also know how your mama feels about me, but that didn’t stop you from marrying me, now, did it?

“I have no idea how she feels about Nina,” I murmured, now stacking dishes into the dishwasher, not allowing myself to throw plates in so I could hear them crack and break, releasing some of my frustration.

“You should call her.”

I straightened, still holding a plate in my hand. “Call whom?”

“Mama.”

I frowned. “Why?”

He huffed out a sharp, irritated breath. “She knows how things are done in Savannah.”

“Sebastian, I’ve lived here as your wife for twenty-two years. Ialsoknow how thingsare donein Savannah, especially inyoursocial circles,” I quipped, a hard edge to my tone.

His eyes flickered with disbelief that I was talking to him like this.

Oh, yeah, baby, Ophelia Boone has some claws, and thanks to you grinding her into the ground, they’re pretty sharp right now.

I know it was pitiful that my barely standing up for myself felt like some major breakthrough for me—but it was.

“Lia, what’s going on, baby?” he spoke gently like I was a wild animal he was trying to corral.

I shrugged and put the plate into the dishwasher and then slammed the door shut. “Nothing. I got a job interview.I’m excited about it. I don’t need to call Dolly to get permission to doanything, Sebastian, and you asking me to do that is…insulting.”

Sebastian hissed.

I grabbed a washcloth and began to wipe the counter.

“Lia, Nina is not someone you should associate with. The way she divorced her husband, starting that company—it’s nothing but a vanity project.”

I dropped the cloth on the counter and stared at him, incredulous anger rising once more. This was my husband, openly disparaging the one person who’d recognized my potential, who’d offered me an opportunity, and for what? To preserve the Boone family’s precious reputation? To keep his vapid and mean mother happy?

I pursed my lips for a moment and then quietly said, “Sebastian, this is not up for discussion.”

“Lia,” he growled in warning.

Oh, please, you think you’re the only one who can get all threatening? Get a life!

“I have a headache,” I told him. “I’m going to bed. Can you clean the rest up?” I waved a hand at the stove and the dining table.

He gaped at me. I never askedhimto clean up.

Well, bud, the times, they are a changing!

“Thanks, honey.” Without waiting for his response, I left the dining room, retreating to our bedroom.

I took my time getting ready for bed, not prepared for him to come in and try to talk to me, order me around, or treat me like I was an imbecile and he wasoh so fuckingsuperior. Damn it, but I should never have to be ready for that kind of emotional abuse from my husband, the one who claimed to love me—though it had been a while since I’d even heard the words.

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