Page 119 of The Bad Husband

She tilts her head down, her eyes still connected with mine.

“Is he in town?”

“He just got back.”

“Where is he?”

“I have no idea.”

This exchange sounds more and more like us having an argument.

I move closer to her, close my robe, and set my water down.

“Is something wrong? You seem upset,” I say.

The woman’s eyes glint with conflicting feelings.

“Truthfully, I’m not. I never liked that woman,” she says.

“Who are we talking about?”

A small smile tilts her lips.

“Henrietta, who else?”

I fold my arms over my chest, tilt my head back, and look at her expectantly.

“You must’ve heard me talking on the phone with him.”

I say nothing.

“I’m more upset with you that you’re about to piss your life away,” she goes on.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me right.”

Livia is about my mother’s age, had my mother been alive. She looks stern, unlike my mother, which is not unusual considering that she runs this house.

I’m shocked that she has an opinion on my life. This could cost her her job.

I don’t think Damon would take it lightly if he knew his housekeeper had an opinion on us.

“How old are you? Twenty-two, twenty-three?”

“Something like that.”

“He’ll burn you down, and you won’t be any good for any other man.”

I open my mouth. Her finger goes up.

“And please don’t tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ve lived longer than you have. I’ve seen this kind of thing happening before.”

“I never asked to live in this house. It was my father’s idea.”

“What it was and what it is are two different things.”

“I did nothing.”