Page 39 of The Handy Men
"If the store owners are making tourists uncomfortable, that hurts all of us. They should keep their mouths shut and mind their own business." The wine was making Paige louder and blunter than she usually was.
"Obviously this is your life and you're going to do what you want anyway, but I don't want it to affect the inn."
"It won't. And if I think it is, I'll get a lawyer and sue for defamation of character. Maybe even discrimination, depending on what people said."
Her mother almost dropped the dish she was drying. "You can't do that. These people are our friends."
"Not if they're talking shit about me, they're not."
"You won't win."
Paige shrugged. "Don't have to. I just have to have it on record that I took their business to court for discrimination. How do you think that will affect their bottom line, if they have to pay all the legal fees just because they like to gossip? You tell your friends to keep their noses out of my personal life."
"People are only trying to help you."
"No, Mom. People are trying to control and manipulate me. Been there. Done that. Got the divorce papers to prove it."
Her mother literally threw in the towel as her dishrag hit Paige in the chest. "There's no talking to you. I can see why Fred had an affair."
If Paige hadn't had the wine, she might have stopped herself, but her mouth opened and it came out before she realized what she was going to say. "I can see why Dad had his."
Her mother reacted like she had slapped her and burst into tears.
"What the hell is going on?" her father said.
"I'm sorry. I didn’t mean that." Paige put a hand on her shoulder, but her mother shrugged it off and ran out of the house.
"What the hell was that all about?" her father asked again.
Paige emptied the rest of the bottle into her wine glass. What the hell? She was on a roll. "Why did you cheat on Mom?"
Her father blustered and turned red. "Where is this coming from?"
"Mom told me that I should have stayed married to Fred, because she stayed married to you. Men cheat. Was she right, Dad?" Paige strode up to him and poked him in the chest. "Should I have let Fred break our marriage vows while I kept them? Should I have just looked the other way, like she did?"
"This is none of your business."
"If you want to get into my personal life, I'm going to get into yours. I'll get into the whole town's ugly little secrets if I have to. But I want to know. Do you think I should have stayed with Fred after he humiliated me?"
Her father looked away. "No. No man wants his daughter to be treated like that."
"Then why did you treat Grandpa's daughter like that?"
Her father tossed his laptop into his bag. "You're an ugly drunk, Paige. Lay off the wine."
"Lay off the floozies." She waved at him.
"I am still your father. You remember that when you speak to me."
"I'll make a deal with you. You and Mom stay out of my sex life, and I'll stay out of yours."
He shook his head. "That must have been a hell of a conversation in the kitchen. Don't forget, you could lose the inn if you don't toe the line with us."
Paige didn't have a wine-fueled come back for that one.
12
Opening day was busy. Paige's head throbbed with a pounding wine hangover and her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Her parents came around noon and hung out in the front room to greet the guests and pass out the island information packets Paige had gathered from the local businesses. Her father hit it off with another man his age, and they were making plans to go golfing tomorrow. Her mother pretended as if nothing had happened and had cut her off when she tried to apologize for being such a bitch last night.
