whole day.” She was staring at
him.
“I haven’t done anything wrong. This is
crazy,” Steven exclaimed.
“They wanted to come in, and I told
them no, someone had broken in and killed your dog last night, and
you didn’t want anyone in the house without you being here. They
didn’t seem to know about that. One of them left a card and asked
you to call as soon as you could. It’s on the counter.” Jennifer
pointed at the kitchen.
“I don’t get it.” What was happening
here?
“Don’t you? DON’T YOU?” Jennifer
finally lost it, screaming at him now. “Steven, your dog’s dead,
they’ve frozen your money, and now they’re coming for you.” She
beat upon his chest with her fists. “What don’t you get? Your
little game with the goddamn stock has turned into a nightmare and
you’ve endangered everything we’ve got, everything we had. Avalon’s
dead and they’re after you. WHAT…DON’T…YOU...GET?” She’d expended
her energy, and he held her shaking wrists as she collapsed back
onto the sofa.
She looked up at him. Composing herself
a little. Then suddenly calm. “You thought you were so damned
smart, and now Homeland Security’s at your door. This isn’t a game,
Steven. It’s real life. Real consequences. You lost Avalon, for
real. You could lose everything.”
Jennifer looked away, then back at him,
directly at him, with an intensity born of betrayal and anger. “And
you’ve lost me, Steven. I didn’t sign up for any of
this.”
So there it was. He was to blame for
everything, and she wanted no part of it.
And she was right.
“Jennifer, I haven’t done anything
wrong. Don’t you see? There’s no law against creating a website.
This is lunacy. There’s gotta be some other explanation.” Even to
him, that sounded empty. Lame even. The only new variable in his
life the last few days was the website. They must have tracked him,
even though he’d been extremely thorough; or so he’d thought. And
they wanted him off the air enough to pull out all the
stops.
“Well, you’re going to have to figure
it out without me around, Steven. I love you, but I didn’t agree to
risk everything for some stupid stock, and this isn’t the life I
want. Maybe I’ll feel differently later, but right now, you’re
living in some kind of nightmare, and I’m scared, and I want
out.”
She was beautiful even as she hated
him.
“You’re not the man I met. You spend
more time on that stupid computer than you do with me, and now it’s
gotten you into big-time trouble.” Her voice cracked raw, hoarse
from the strain and emotion. “I don’t want this life. I want our
old life back. But it’s gone, and it’s all because of you and that
fucking company. I can’t take this, Steven; I don’t want to be
involved in whatever you’ve exposed us to. It isn’t
fair.”
She’d pretty much nailed it. He’d
impacted her right to happiness by taking poorly calculated risks
without accurately understanding how much was being put on the
line. And now he was in crisis mode, and Steven in crisis mode
wasn’t a good partner or mate. She wanted security, stability, not
chaos and danger and change. Hard to argue that.
He’d sensed a confrontation coming for
a while, the dissatisfaction building, the resentment over his time
involvement in the market becoming a simmering issue. Just as with
the kids and family thing, he’d hoped to deal with it at some vague
point in the future, hoping it could wait. But it hadn’t, and the
last two days had tipped the already teetering balance.
“Maybe we should take a break while I
figure this out,” was the best he could manage. It sounded shallow,
but the reality was he had bigger problems right now. Internally he
was churning, trying to figure out the next step, and Jennifer’s
dissatisfactions weren’t at the top of the list – even if they were
justifiable.
Her being right wouldn’t fix things,
and he needed to focus on fixing this
him.
“I haven’t done anything wrong. This is
crazy,” Steven exclaimed.
“They wanted to come in, and I told
them no, someone had broken in and killed your dog last night, and
you didn’t want anyone in the house without you being here. They
didn’t seem to know about that. One of them left a card and asked
you to call as soon as you could. It’s on the counter.” Jennifer
pointed at the kitchen.
“I don’t get it.” What was happening
here?
“Don’t you? DON’T YOU?” Jennifer
finally lost it, screaming at him now. “Steven, your dog’s dead,
they’ve frozen your money, and now they’re coming for you.” She
beat upon his chest with her fists. “What don’t you get? Your
little game with the goddamn stock has turned into a nightmare and
you’ve endangered everything we’ve got, everything we had. Avalon’s
dead and they’re after you. WHAT…DON’T…YOU...GET?” She’d expended
her energy, and he held her shaking wrists as she collapsed back
onto the sofa.
She looked up at him. Composing herself
a little. Then suddenly calm. “You thought you were so damned
smart, and now Homeland Security’s at your door. This isn’t a game,
Steven. It’s real life. Real consequences. You lost Avalon, for
real. You could lose everything.”
Jennifer looked away, then back at him,
directly at him, with an intensity born of betrayal and anger. “And
you’ve lost me, Steven. I didn’t sign up for any of
this.”
So there it was. He was to blame for
everything, and she wanted no part of it.
And she was right.
“Jennifer, I haven’t done anything
wrong. Don’t you see? There’s no law against creating a website.
This is lunacy. There’s gotta be some other explanation.” Even to
him, that sounded empty. Lame even. The only new variable in his
life the last few days was the website. They must have tracked him,
even though he’d been extremely thorough; or so he’d thought. And
they wanted him off the air enough to pull out all the
stops.
“Well, you’re going to have to figure
it out without me around, Steven. I love you, but I didn’t agree to
risk everything for some stupid stock, and this isn’t the life I
want. Maybe I’ll feel differently later, but right now, you’re
living in some kind of nightmare, and I’m scared, and I want
out.”
She was beautiful even as she hated
him.
“You’re not the man I met. You spend
more time on that stupid computer than you do with me, and now it’s
gotten you into big-time trouble.” Her voice cracked raw, hoarse
from the strain and emotion. “I don’t want this life. I want our
old life back. But it’s gone, and it’s all because of you and that
fucking company. I can’t take this, Steven; I don’t want to be
involved in whatever you’ve exposed us to. It isn’t
fair.”
She’d pretty much nailed it. He’d
impacted her right to happiness by taking poorly calculated risks
without accurately understanding how much was being put on the
line. And now he was in crisis mode, and Steven in crisis mode
wasn’t a good partner or mate. She wanted security, stability, not
chaos and danger and change. Hard to argue that.
He’d sensed a confrontation coming for
a while, the dissatisfaction building, the resentment over his time
involvement in the market becoming a simmering issue. Just as with
the kids and family thing, he’d hoped to deal with it at some vague
point in the future, hoping it could wait. But it hadn’t, and the
last two days had tipped the already teetering balance.
“Maybe we should take a break while I
figure this out,” was the best he could manage. It sounded shallow,
but the reality was he had bigger problems right now. Internally he
was churning, trying to figure out the next step, and Jennifer’s
dissatisfactions weren’t at the top of the list – even if they were
justifiable.
Her being right wouldn’t fix things,
and he needed to focus on fixing this
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