My Wife Fired Me, So I Became Her Boss Chapter 2

Three days later was our fifth wedding anniversary.

I’d made reservations at Le Ciel Bleu, her favorite French restaurant, and bought the diamond necklace she’d been dropping hints about for months. I wanted to surprise her.

At five p.m., I texted her: “Hey, are you free tonight?”

She replied almost instantly: “Have to take Leo to meet a huge client. It’s going to be a late one. Don’t wait up.”

A follow-up text came a second later: “It’s his first time leading a pitch. I need to be there to guide him.”

I stared at the screen, my thumbs hovering over the keyboard. I typed out a single sentence: “Do you remember what day it is?”

After a long moment, I deleted it, letter by letter.

I canceled the reservation and tossed the velvet jewelry box onto the passenger seat.

Restless and angry, I called a few friends and met them at a hole-in-the-wall taco joint on the other side of town.

We had just ordered a round of beers and a platter of carne asada when two familiar figures walked through the door, hand in hand.

It was Audrey and Leo.

Audrey wore a playful, giddy smile I hadn’t seen in years. She was pointing at the greasy, handwritten menu on the wall, laughing about something with him.

She used to despise places like this. She’d complain that the smoky air would ruin her thousand-dollar perfumes.

Now, I heard her say to him with genuine excitement, “See? Places like this have so much more soul.”

Then I noticed it. Leo was wearing a bespoke suit.

The one Audrey had commissioned for me as my anniversary gift.

My gaze locked onto the fabric, the perfect tailoring.

Leo must have felt my eyes on him. He turned his head and saw me. He froze for a second, a flicker of panic in his eyes. Then, as if on purpose, he jerked his arm, knocking a full glass of orange soda all over himself.

“Oh!”

Audrey gasped and immediately grabbed a fistful of napkins, kneeling down to dab at the stain on his pants. The gesture was so tender, so careful, as if she were handling a priceless artifact.

I couldn’t sit there anymore. I stood up and walked toward their table.

“Audrey,” I said. My voice was a raw whisper.

She looked up, and her face hardened the moment she saw me.

“What are you doing here?”

My eyes went past her to the suit on Leo’s back.

“I thought you were meeting a client.”

Audrey got to her feet, her expression a mask of annoyance.

“The meeting finished early. Leo said he was craving tacos, so I brought him here.”

“And the suit?” I asked, nodding toward Leo. “How do you explain that?”

“He was meeting a major client, Cole. He couldn’t show up looking shabby, could he? I just lent him your suit.” She looked at me as if I were the unreasonable one. “Can you stop being so petty? It’s just a piece of clothing.”

“You’re a driver,” she added, her voice dripping with disdain. “It’s not like you have anywhere to wear something that nice.”

“Petty?” I let out a bitter laugh. “That was my five-year anniversary present!”

The color drained from Audrey’s face. Her eyes darted away for a second.

“I’ll… I’ll buy you a better one later.”

Just then, Leo, who had been silent, stood up. He draped a proprietary arm around Audrey’s shoulders, pulling her close.

“What can I say, Cole?” he said, his eyes gleaming with triumph.

“Someone’s got to pick up the slack when you can’t even hold down a job. Your wife has been under a lot of stress.” He leaned in. “Someone has to help her out. At work… and at home.”

His last words were loaded, his eyes locked on mine in a direct challenge.

And Audrey just stood there, letting him hold her, not saying a single word.

My friends had seen enough. They stormed over, getting in Leo’s face.

“Who the hell do you think you are?”

“You’re a goddamn leech, living off a woman, and you have the balls to act like this?”

The scene devolved into shouting. One of my friends looked ready to throw a punch.

I quickly stepped between them, grabbing my friend’s arm.

“It’s not worth it. Let’s just go.”

They stormed out, one of them cursing me under his breath for being a doormat.

After they were gone, I stood by the door of the taqueria, waiting silently for Audrey to come out. I needed to talk to her, away from all of this, to get a straight answer about what was happening.

I waited until after midnight.