Page 57 of The Marriage Agreement
“Nuts?” Nicole twists to face me.
“He has a pistachio allergy.” I lean back into my chair. “Same as me.”
Nicole’s face is blank. “Right. Of course.”
“Someone gave him some pistachio candy, and he had a nasty reaction.”
Again, nothing. Not a trace of guilt or anything to betray any deliberate wrongdoing she might have done. Maybe she’s better at hiding it. Maybe I’ve just never realized what a brilliant actress she is. Or maybe I am letting Ivy’s words get to me.
We get back to the meeting and after we’re done, I instruct Meg to take Lake to the in-house day care center. “There are three girls your age you’re going to like playing with there,” she says to him as they leave.
“You’re staying.”
Nicole clutches her iPad and stands obediently like a schoolgirl. I think about the conversation Ivy and I had. She was jealous of my relationship with Nicole and thought we slept together. Looking at Nicole now, it’s striking how I’ve never given her a second look because she is a beautiful woman. Plenty of men would drool over a tall and lithe woman with an elegant poise such as hers. Not a hair is out of place in her tight French bun. Her makeup is perfectly done. Her clothes are immaculate and professional. Nothing is out of place. She’s too perfect. Ivy’simperfections are irritating. She can be messy, impulsive, and wild. In all my eight years working with Nicole, I don’t think she’s ever been late or done anything out of the ordinary. Nicole was not the type of woman to work her way into one of your clubs just so she could get a chance to talk to you. She was also not the type of person to seduce you in a maze.
“I wanted to ask you something about Lake.”
“Oh.”
“The allergic reaction he had. We have no idea what caused it. It's possible that it's related to nuts since I have the same allergy, but we're unsure. We only told him that to make him feel better.”
“The doctors couldn’t work it out?”
“They think it might be a number of things, nuts being at the top of the suspect list, but one can’t be sure.”
“Maybe the nanny gave him something.” Nicole is as impassive as ever. Giving nothing away. I feel a prickling sensation at the back of my neck. She has never been so obviously invasive. I think of Ivy again.
“Maybe,” I say, “She also told me that you came to my place that night and played with Lake for a while.”
I see a small flicker of emotion contort her face and as quickly as it comes, it goes. “That’s right.” Her voice is almost breathless. “I was dropping off your dry cleaning. It came to your office after you were gone and I thought to bring it to your place.”
“And you didn’t give Lake anything?”
She shrugs. “No. Nothing at all.”
This is the first time I am seeing her in a different light. She’s lying to me now. I don’t know why she would lie about such an innocent thing if she it happened by accident. She didn’t know that Lake was allergic. No one did. There’s no reason to lie and if she’s worried about me reprimanding her, she knows I would never fire for something as simple as this. I offer her one last out.One last way to dig herself out of the grave she’s burying herself in.
“Huh. She was sure you gave Lake some candy.”
“Candy?” Nicole shakes her head. “Maybe she is accusing me so she can get off the hook for something she did? I don’t know.”
Invasive again. Now she’s even more suspicious, and I hate that she inadvertently proved Ivy right. Something niggles at the back of my head. Ivy’s other accusation rings in my head. That fucking note she waved at me, with my handwriting on it. It couldn’t have been Nicole who wrote it. If she’s hiding this, what else is she hiding? I let the matter drop.
“Huh, maybe you’re right. That’s probably why she resigned.”
Nicole nods her head. “Some people don’t know how to take responsibility. Is that all?”
“There’s another thing I want to discuss. Remember when Ivy was pestering me all those years ago?”
Nicole scoffs under her breath. “She was very persistent. How could I forget?”
“Right. Great, because there’s something I want to ask.” I open my desk drawer, take out that piece of paper Ivy gave me, and hand it to Nicole. “Ivy gave me this. She told me I gave it to her.”
Nicole picks up the note and reads it. There isn’t any change in her expression and for a minute, I wonder if I am wrong, but then recognition registers on her face before she quickly masks it with her usual blank expression. She puts the note down. “You wrote this?”
“I didn’t.”
Nicole scoffs a little louder. “Ivy forge it? Typical.”
