Seventy-One

VALERIA

Maybe he was used to giving and receiving the cold shoulder for days on end, but I was not. I felt it was high time we trashed it out the reason for his recent attitude once and for all.

He was in his usual haunt, his study. He was scowling at the screen of computer as though it had done him a personal injury. His scowl deepened when I stepped into the room. He looked as though he would have liked nothing better than to order me out the way he had order me out of his bedroom the last time. I refused to be intimidated by his stare. I marched up to his desk, drew up a chair and sat to show him I meant business.

"What's your problem with me?" I asked.

Before seeking him out, I had decided that going straight to the point was the best form of approach.

"I don't understand what you're talking about. I don't have a problem with you or anyone else," he said.

I slapped down the files he was trying to flip open. I kept my hands there, splayed on them. There was no way I was going to le