Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 54

Chapter 54 My Wife Likes It

en she let the pause stretch and added, helpfully, “The fountain lights come on later. If something shorts out, that would be very unfortunate. I’ll have the Lanes come and collect the body.”

“And I imagine,” she said, stretching the words out, “that if the Westons call it an accident, nobody puts me in front of a judge.”

The evening wasn’t cold, and that sentence still put a shiver all the way through him.

He started for the edge again, and Griff stepped into his way. “She hasn’t said you can get out.”

Trevor looked at how tall Griff was and how much of him there was, decided a single punch from that would finish him, and stayed where he was.

Back in the living room, Nora walked in on Constance laughing and Olivia talking.

“Grandma Weston, all Julian does is give me a hard time. You have to take my side.”

Constance laughed. “All right. I’ll make him apologize. Don’t be angry with him.”

Then she turned to Julian. “Apologize to Olivia. The two of you grew up together. You should know better.”

Julian apologized like he meant it. “I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful next time.”

Olivia laughed, pleased. “It’s fine. I could never stay angry with you.”

Nora stood in the doorway and looked at the three of them on the couch, a picture of a family perfectly at

ease.

Constance sat while Olivia worked the knots out of her shoulders, and Julian sat beside them.

Olivia looked up and spotted her. “Nora, you’re back.”

Julian raised his head. “Done with your walk?”

“Mm,” Nora said, and left it there.

“Come and sit, Nora,” Olivia said.

Nora crossed to the couch, and Julian shifted over to make room beside him.

She walked past him and sat down in the chair next to it.

Julian frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Something in Olivia’s eyes warmed at that, and she leaned toward Julian with even more energy. “Julian, she must be exhausted. Go get her a glass of water.”

Then she called past him. “Bess, bring Nora some fruit.”

Nora sat there watching Olivia play hostess to her and hand out orders to the staff, planting a flag in a house that wasn’t hers, as though the place were hers and Nora had stopped by to visit.

1/3

15:24 Thu, Oct 1·

Chapter 54 My Wife Likes It

She really does go looking for it.

Nota’s eyes went to Julian, who was pouring the water, and they cooled. She was angry. And he actually did what she told him.

Constance saw all of it and only smiled.

She patted Olivia’s hand. “That’s enough. Sit down and rest…

Olivia agreed, came around the couch, and sat herself down right beside Julian, which made her look more at home there than ever.

“Olivia.”

Julian came off the couch fast, and his eyes were cold. “That seat is Nora’s. Not yours.”

Olivia got up in a hurry. “Julian, I’m sorry. It’s habit, that’s all. I won’t do it again.”

A little of what had been sitting in Nora’s chest let go.

“Nobody sits next to me but Nora. Remember that.”

He said it low, then carried the glass over and sat down beside her. “Drink.”

Nora glanced at the glass. “That one came with a side of sweetener. I’m not drinking it. Pour a fresh one.” Everything Olivia had said in the last five minutes had come out drenched in artificial sweetener.

Julian had only registered that she was tired and needed water, and none of the rest of it. Now that she’d said it, he understood. She minded that he’d done what Olivia told him to do.

She was angry, and she was angry over another woman, and the corner of his mouth lifted. “All right.”

He poured her a fresh glass, and Bess came in with the fruit.

His voice dropped. “Nora doesn’t like apples or grapes. She’s the lady of this house. If you can’t keep her preferences straight, you aren’t doing your job.”

Bess took that hard. The kitchen had put the tray together, and Nora had been in the house two days, which was hardly long enough for anyone to have learned what she liked.

Olivia heard something else in it entirely. Julian was announcing that the house was Nora’s and that Olivia was a guest in it.

Olivia pressed her lips together and gave Nora an apologetic smile. “Don’t be upset, Nora. I grew up in this house, so Bess learned my preferences a long time ago.”

Nora tilted her head at her. “I haven’t said a word. What exactly am I upset about?

“Or does Miss Blithe want me to be upset?”

Olivia had nothing at all.

Julian turned to Bess. “Strawberries, raspberries, and the blue cheese. Those are what Nora likes.”

2/3

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify