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I opened the fridge to check. “I’ve got provolone you can use.”
She slowly added the grated cheeses.
I set the timer for twenty minutes. “Now pop it in the oven, and in fifteen to twenty, dinner is ready.”
She loaded the dish into the oven and closed it, beaming at her accomplishment. “That wasn’t so hard.”
“What pasta are you having with it?”
She pulled fettuccine from the bag. “These.”
“Okay, you need to warm some of your sauce, and then the pasta goes in the water when the timer gets down to nine minutes.”
“Nine minutes. Got it.”
When the time was up, I helped her drain the pasta and serve the chicken parmigiana.
We took the plates to the table, and I opened a bottle of cabernet.
She cut into her chicken and forked a piece. “Now you can tell me what happened. And, just so you know, I’m not leaving until you do.”
I’d had that threat from her before, and I knew she was serious.
“You know those nasty articles about the company?” I asked.
She nodded while she chewed.
“Jennifer was the source of the leak.”
“She wrote those pieces?”
I sipped my wine between bites. “No, but she supplied the memos.” Just mentioning it made my heart hurt.
“Why would she do that?”
“She thought I killed her father, actually her stepfather.”
Her fork stopped mid-flight to her mouth. “What the fuck? Is she delusional?”
“No. He died in a welding accident at the company, though, and I had us take the blame so the family would get the full settlement.”
She took the piece from her fork and chewed thoughtfully for a moment before sipping her wine. “And she didn’t believe you?”
“No, that’s not the problem. Don’t you see? She attacked me personally as well as everybody at the company, and she did it on purpose. It wasn’t an accident.”
She stirred her pasta around a bit. “So Cindy was right. You’re the problem.”
I put my fork down. “I am not. I didn’t do anything to hurt her. It’s the other way around.” I held her gaze.
She blinked first.
I went back to my dinner.
“And when are you going to get past this?”
“I’m not sure I can, knowing what she did.”
She ate another few bites. “She lashed out at you because she thought you killed her stepfather. I can see that.”
