The Relatives Read Online Free PDF Page A

grease, orange grease . She got it on her nightgown and on the sheets, I had to help her out of her clothes and change the sheets and wash everything, and I couldn’t get the stains out. Then tonight, after Landon got here, I had a few minutes to myself. I sat down with the accounts, and I can’t make them balance.” She looked at Mario accusingly. “Someone is siphoning money out of our account!”
    In a level tone, he said, “You’re hysterical.”
    He didn’t believe her.
    She came to her feet. “Hysterical? Where were you? I’m here all day long with her. All I want is for you to come home—and where were you?”
    “Cleaning up the mess Landon made of the job in Poulsbo. The man is an idiot. I can’t even use him as an apprentice. No wonder his electrical firm failed.”
    “ Landon was home hours ago.”
    “I sent him home! The homeowner was shouting at him, at me. What did you expect?”
    “I expected you to come home, not stop at a bar and have a drink!” Because she could smell the liquor on him.
    For the first time, Mario softened and sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I just … it was a long, hard day.”
    “And you don’t like to come home anymore.”
    He hesitated one moment too long.
    Her voice rose. “It’s unpleasant here. Those people are always here.”
    “What’s wrong with Cecily now?”
    “She has headaches, asthma, intestinal parasites, degenerative joint problems, and every other dramatic and unprovable ailment known to man.” Gwen put her hand to her head. She had never in her life suffered from a migraine. But she thought she had one now. “I swear she cruises the online medical sites every night looking for more ridiculous ailments to add to her already bulging curriculum vitae.”
    “She’s a full-blown hypochondriac.”
    “Yes! And you’ve got a hysterical wife.”
    “You are not the problem.” He sounded sincere.
    But … “We haven’t made love in four weeks!”
    “Landon has been working for me for four weeks. I don’t have you to do the books anymore.” Mario’s voice rose. “I’m overworked!”
    Gwen poked her finger at the chest she had admired so much five weeks before. “I would like to point out that you are the one who contacted your cousin Landon. You are the one who was too weak to say no when he announced they were coming to visit. And now they live here!”
    Mario glared as if he hated her.
    That was it. That was the end. She shouted, “And you’re having an affair!”
    “What?” He shook his head. “What?”
    “Come on. It’s obvious. We haven’t had sex. You’re never home. Someone’s embezzling money.”
    He lifted his hands in exasperation and let them drop. “No one is embezzling money. You made a mistake with the accounts.”
    “No. I didn’t. And don’t try to turn this on me. You’re never home. We never have sex!”
    His swarthy complexion flushed dark. His brown eyes flashed with fury. “You pretend to be asleep when I come to bed! How dare you? I would never cheat on you! You are my wife. I take my vows seriously. You are insulting me!”
    “You stopped at a bar!”
    “For a drink!”
    They both froze, breathing hard, glaring at each other.
    Mario took a breath, a step back, and then he ran his eyes up and down her body. “You’re thinner.”
    “I forget to eat.” She couldn’t eat. She was too worried, too sick at heart.
    “ She said that, didn’t she? Cecily said it. She said I was cheating on you.”
    Gwen turned her head and stared at the package of dried whole-wheat pasta. “She didn’t say it exactly. She never says anything exactly. She saw me watching for you and asked when you usually come home. And after you were late a few times, she gave me advice on how to dress to attract you again. As a gift, she went online and ordered a dress for me. And a padded bra.” Gwen could scarcely speak for distress. “She gives me makeup tips.”
    Mario turned toward the door. “I am throwing