My fingers tightened around the wine bottle.
“And you thought this was something to joke about over lunch?”
Marjorie looked at me with the same expression she always wore when she thought I was being unreasonable.
“You’re always here, Renee. Colin has felt ignored for years.”
There it was.
Not surprise.
Not shame.
An excuse.
I set the wine bottle on the table.
“How long have you known?”
She looked away.
Long enough.
I didn’t ask anything else.
Not there.
Not yet.
I walked back to my office and closed the door.
For several seconds, I simply stood behind my desk.
Then I opened the folder where I had been keeping copies of the strange transactions.
There was the hotel charge Colin had told me was connected to a client meeting.
A jewelry store payment he said must have been entered under the wrong expense category.
A weekend resort charge.
At the time, each explanation had been just believable enough.
Now they looked completely different.
My phone buzzed.
It was a message from Dana, our accountant.
I’ve reviewed more of the transfers. There are several I need you to see before we speak to Colin. Please don’t authorize anything new from the operating account.
I called her immediately.
“How bad?”
“I don’t want to give you a number until I finish tracing where everything went.”
“Did Colin authorize any of it?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
“How much?”
“I’ll have something more complete for you tonight.”
I looked toward the office door.
“Dana, I think he’s having an affair.”
Another pause.
“Then don’t confront him alone until we understand the accounts.”
Before I could respond, Wesley knocked.
“Renee?”
I ended the call.
“What is it?”
“Marjorie wants you at the table. She says Colin sent something for you.”
That got my attention.
When I returned, dessert had arrived.
Beside Marjorie’s plate was a dark leather folder.
She tapped it with two fingers.
“Sit down.”
“I’m working.”
“This will take five minutes.”
I remained standing.
Marjorie opened the folder.
“There. Colin has been asking you to deal with this for weeks.”
She pushed several pages toward me.
I recognized the restaurant’s legal name.
Then Colin’s.
Then mine.
There were sections referring to membership interests, management authority, and transfer rights.
Yellow tabs marked several signature lines.
“What is this?”
Marjorie sighed.
“You know Colin’s business has been going through a difficult period.”
“What does that have to do with my restaurant?”
“He explained that things between the two of you were never structured correctly.”
I looked at her.
“Structured correctly?”
“Yes. You’re married, yet everything is unnecessarily complicated because you insist on keeping business matters separate.”
That didn’t sound like Marjorie’s language.
It sounded like Colin’s.
“What did he tell you these papers do?”
She frowned.
“They put his name where it should have been from the beginning.”
Something in that answer bothered me.
“Where exactly does Colin think his name should have been?”
Marjorie’s impatience returned.
“Renee, I am not your lawyer. Colin told me this is paperwork you’ve been avoiding because you don’t want to mix the restaurant with his company problems.”
That was probably true.
At least the second half.
“And he asked you to bring this here?”
“He asked me to make sure you finally dealt with it.”
I looked around the room.
Thirty-eight women.
An enormous lunch.
Marjorie sitting at the center of all of it.
“So you thought I’d sign because you brought an audience?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
“I’m not signing anything.”
“You haven’t even read it properly.”
“Exactly.”
I closed the folder.
“I’ll have someone review it.”
Marjorie gave a cold laugh.
“Colin said you’d do this.”
“Do what?”
“Make him beg for everything.”
I slid the papers back toward her.
“Then he can talk to me himself.”
She leaned back.
“Fine.”
The way she said it told me she still believed Colin would eventually get what he wanted.
I left the folder there.
For the next forty minutes, the women finished dessert, ordered coffee, and asked for two more bottles of wine.
By then, the total was $14,812.64.
Wesley brought me the check.
“You still want to do this?”
“Yes.”
I carried it to Marjorie.
She was laughing at something Meredith had said when I placed the folder beside her.
“There you go.”
She glanced at it.
“Just take care of it.”
I didn’t move.
“You’ll need to.”
She looked at me.
Then she opened the check.
Her smile disappeared.
“What is this?”
“Your bill.”
“Fourteen thousand dollars?”
“Fourteen thousand eight hundred and twelve.”
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am.”
She stared at me as though I had slapped her.
“Renee, I have never paid for a meal in this restaurant.”
“I know.”
“Then why would I start today?”
“Because you brought thirty-eight people and told them you were paying.”
“I said it was on me because this is family.”
“You signed as the responsible host.”
Marjorie pushed the folder away.
“I’m not paying this.”
Several conversations around us stopped.
She lowered her voice.
“Remove it.”
“No.”
Her eyes widened.
“You are humiliating me.”
“No, Marjorie. I’m charging you for lunch.”
She grabbed her phone.
“Fine. I’m calling Colin.”
I knew she would.
She called him immediately and put the phone on speaker.
He answered after several rings.
“Mom?”
“Colin, your wife has completely lost her mind.”
There was a pause.
“What happened?”
“She just put a $14,800 bill in front of me.”
Another pause.
“Where are you?”
“At the restaurant.”
“With everyone?”
“Yes.”
I heard the change in his breathing.
“Is Renee there?”
“I’m here.”
“Renee, can we talk later?”
Marjorie interrupted.
“No. You can talk now. Tell her to stop this nonsense. She is trying to make your mother pay fourteen thousand dollars in your own restaurant.”
Colin answered so quickly that even I was surprised.
“Mom, stop.”
Marjorie frowned.
“What?”
“Don’t call it my restaurant.”
The room went quiet.
Marjorie gave a confused laugh.
“What are you talking about?”
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