Convenience

Part 90

He looked around, and said, "Nice." His brows drew together as he tried to rework out his plan. He had thought about dinner, how to get her to agreed to dinner. Beatrice chewed on her lower lip as she quickly reran her plan in her mind. She hadn't planned on dinner. A quick meeting. A few minutes, talking for a few seconds, then signing. The end!

No need for small talk! Or beat around the bush! Or moderation. He can just tell her what she needs to sign, she can tell him what she wants, and that would be enough. If he starts to stall, she will tell him to work with her lawyer.

"Right." Beatrice added insolently as she unconsciously pushed a few strands of jet-black hair off her face. "I want a divorce!" Anything to get this over and done without having dinner! Just a shame, that she opened the napkin, shook it and placed it on her lap! So much for not stopping for dinner! Why shook out her napkin? 

His eyebrow quirked, "I don't!" He told her firmly. David reminded her, in a tone that suggested that she was being an unruly kid. "Your grandfather wanted me look after you." That was true. Just a shame that he hadn't done that.

"I've absolved you of your duty." Beatrice said bluntly and rolled her eyes in rancor.

"Hardly." David corrected and ran his fingers through his hair and repeated, "Your grandfather expected me to look after you." He added, "And you know," his lips pursed as he said, "you left!"

She glared.  Why stay? She rubbed her temple to avoid a headache.  

David sighed, looked at her. "Why didn't you ask me for a loan?" He asked her after a few moments. "Why not tell me you wanted to set up a business?"

She questioned instantly. "Ask for your approval?" Was he crazy? Why would she go begging to him? He'd all but forgotten she even existed. "Why would I do that?"

"We should have talked about your plans, what you wanted, the business that you wanted to start." He said as if that should go without saying.

"Talk? About plans?" She rolled her eyes. Idiot, she thought. "Plans to seeing other women?" She snapped. "That is not exactly a typical husband, or a typical relationship, wouldn't you say?"

David took a few seconds. "How did you find out I was dating?" He wondered whether her friends in Auckland had kept her informed.

She laughed and said drolly. "It wasn't hard. Open a paper, look at the social pages and voila!" At the time she hadn't been quite so blasé. It hurt. Not because she cared about him, but because she knew that people knew he was married to her. It was mortifying. Though, now she realised that those photos only showed them: No public demonstration of affection. "I know that the newspapers didn't show you and your girlfriends in a lip-lock! And yes, I guess because you don't like public demonstrations." She added, "But it was pretty obvious. You were out with those women."

Bumping into people in Auckland who knew she was still married to him believed they were separated. They had slid into that separation. That nearly had her laughing hysterically. Slid into separation? Hardly. They had never been together so how could they have separated? A fictional separation to accompany a fictional together! That's what they had in reality, it was fiction. Nothing. Hysteria welled up in her throat and tasted like bile.

"Weekend magazine supplements were particularly edifying, albeit without any real truth or facts."

David shifted uncomfortably. David looked across at her, shook his head and couldn't help the grimace.

Good job that the waiter arrived with their drinks. The waiter smiled happily as he placed the order in front of them. He asked if they were ready to order their meal and started to tell them about the special of the day.

"Sorry. We haven't looked at the menu." David looked at Beatrice and his eyes sought confirmation that they would be ordering dinner. She nodded with a silent sigh. David returned his gaze to the waiter. "Could you give a few minutes?"

The waiter nodded. "Yes. Of course." He gave them a smile and wandered away.

Beatrice glanced at her watch. She wondered how long she would have to stay, if they kept going on about their relationship, rehash their relationship, she would be here forever. She avoided his eyes.