Convenience

Part 29

David realised that his wife was good at lobbing grenades.

Another bark erupted before he had a chance to temper his tone, "You what?" His eyebrows shot to his hairline. She had to be joking. No one would go to those lengths. Unless they were a stalker.

Beatrice was pleased to see that she had him well and truly on the back foot. About time, she thought as she tossed another grenade his way, "Your grandfather furnished their names. And contact phone numbers." Beatrice announced glibly.

She could see that he found her statements shocking. Obviously he'd just assumed she had fallen in with their grandparent's plans without demurring. Obviously he had never expected any woman to check his previous dating history!

His current stream of dates either hadn't checked on his relationship history or did not care about the fact that he was a married man. As far as she was concerned that spoke volumes about the women he dated. No wonder she did not register on his radar! She would never contemplate going out with a married man.

"He what?" David was fairly sure he was shouting. He never shouted. What the hell was going on here? How had a woman who he had assumed was reserved, shy, retiring, managed to render him all but livid, without any measure of control and in a complete and utter state of disbelief?

But Beatrice had not finished. Grenades were all well and good. But she figured this man warranted a warhead. She felt sure that with him already reeling, her next salvo would have significant impact.

She began leisurely. "You might be interested to know," she drip fed him the information, more than pleased to see that he knew she was stringing him along, "that I met with two guys who served under your command in the army." She kept her voice low, her tone flat as added that pertinent bit of information. David looked like he was about to explode or have heart failure.

"How the hell..."

She was still working up to her warhead. So she had no hesitation in interrupting David as he began to remonstrate with her. "I met with your father." That was the incendiary statement that she hoped would really set him a light. Beatrice knew he and his father did not get along. It had not stopped her from going to speak with the man. Best to know the best as well as the worst, she had figured at the time.

David's jaw all but fell open as that statement registered.

The woman was maddening. She had derailed his thought processes, she had undermined his hold on his composure and she had done so with utter simplicity. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this shell-shocked.

It took David several long seconds to reel himself in and re-gather his wits. His composure back in place he said with a fair amount of derision, "Well that would have been enlightening, given he hadn't seen me in ten years."

David drew on his experience garnered during his early years as CEO of a large corporation, bringing about change during challenging times, with difficult people and amidst chronic situations. No more. This woman had held the upper hand for most of this meeting. That was about to change. His wife was about to find out that her husband did not tolerate people who were deliberately antagonising and strategically irritating.

David took a moment. He folded his arms and reigned in his escalating temper. He was now well beyond exasperation and frustration.