Thou Art With Me by Debbie Viguié Page A

and Jill were at their table. She had been a bit put off by Jill and Kim when talking with them earlier. The other couple at their table she hadn’t met yet.
    “Isn’t this fabulous?” Jill said in a giggly voice as they all prepared to sit down. “It would only be better if Kim were here, too.”
    Cindy glanced around the room. Kim and Levi were sitting down across the room by a large picture window. Cindy noticed that they were at Dorothea and Flynn’s table and that Kim had wasted no time in trying to get her hands on the older woman’s pearls. Kim was leaning in and touching them as though examining the strand.
    “Looks like she’s sitting at Dorothea’s table,” Cindy said.
    Jill spun quickly, eyes zeroing in on Kim and Dorothea.
    “Why that little-” Jill started to mumble under her breath before she grabbed a passing staff member by the arm. “Excuse me, I really need to be moved to that table over by the window.”
    “I’m sorry, ma’am, all the seating arrangements have been finalized,” the man said.
    “But you don’t understand, I have to sit over there,” Jill wailed.
    “Ma’am, I assure you every table is an excellent one.”
    Cindy could swear she could actually see the gears in Jill’s mind turning. She was clearly not going to let Kim get the upper hand when it came to schmoozing the rich, older couple. She glanced at Jack to see what he thought of his wife’s behavior. He stood beside his chair, just watching the exchange, face passive.
    “It’s not good enough!” Jill said, her voice raising and drawing the attention of more people.
    “What seems to be the problem?” Arnold asked, suddenly appearing.
    “I’m, I’m claustrophobic. I simply must sit by the window where I can see outside,” Jill said. “That table,” she added, pointing.
    Cindy gaped at her. It was such an obvious bald-faced lie. The others had to see through it.
    “Come with me and we will see what we can do,” Arnold said.
    With a smug grin Jill set out after him, and Jack followed behind. Cindy watched as they reached the other side of the room. Arnold said something quietly to the people at that table. After a moment Dorothea and Flynn rose, much to Jill’s obvious chagrin.
    A few moments later the older couple were seating themselves at Cindy and Jeremiah’s table.
    “I’m sorry they made you move,” Cindy said.
    “We volunteered,” Flynn said. “It seemed like a good excuse to move.”
    “I don’t know what was wrong with that one girl. She kept touching my throat. I thought she was going to attempt to strangle me,” Dorothea said.
    Cindy bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud. Once she had managed to restrain herself she said, “I know she and the girl you swapped seats with were admiring your pearl necklace earlier. I imagine she was just trying to get a closer look.”
    “Any closer and I would have been wearing her around my neck instead of the pearls,” Dorothea said drily.
    “That’s an image I’d rather not see,” Jeremiah said.
    “Me either,” Flynn chimed in.
    They made introductions around the table. The third couple were Beth and Tristan from Nevada. They seemed nice, but they were both very quiet. They had been married for ten years. Dorothea and Flynn had been married for thirty-six years.
    Cindy glanced over to the table by the window and saw that both Jill and Kim were staring over at them. She had a sudden, insane urge to give them a little wave, but she restrained herself. It wasn’t a good idea to antagonize anyone here, particularly since they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves.
    “You doing okay?” Jeremiah asked.
    “Yes,” she said, turning to him with a smile.
    As dinner dragged on Cindy found herself with more and more butterflies in her stomach. It was as though with every passing moment the reality of the fact that they were here as spies to ferret out the truth came home a little bit more. The anxiety must have started showing on her