7
Home Sweet Home?
Jerome swung his car in through the electric gates.
It had taken him roughly twenty minutes to get home, and by the time he’d got there, he was feeling nervous.
Nina’s car was parked in the garage as he pulled up next to it, achingly aware that Liz’s car was missing.
Jerome tried to suppress the tirade of thoughts and questions that forced their way into his head as he approached the door adjoining the garage to the house.
Why wasn’t Liz home? She hadn’t been at Level One today.
So where was she? She should be home, now that the kids were in from school.
He found himself in turmoil over how to deal with the situation.
He didn’t want a fight but he needed her to know that if they were going to make it work, she’d have to change.
Even if she did change, could they ever go back to normal?
He was worryingly unsure if he could handle it or if he could even forgive her at all.
Who was she with? His stomach clenched as he rubbed his forehead.
He had to make this work; he had to at least try.
He couldn’t just give up, not when the stakes were so high…
this was his family. His heart thumped against his chest as he wrestled with himself and twisted the handle of the door.
Jerome could hear Alessandro’s voice and his heart instantly began to slow down.
The kids would have been home almost an hour.
He thanked his lucky stars he’d found Nina.
At least his kids were looked after by a nanny that truly cared for them.
The sound of their voices and the smiles on their faces were always enough to make Jerome almost forget about Liz.
He found them sitting at the kitchen table, assembling some magnets and metal balls.
“Hi, Jerome.” Nina grinned up at him as he dropped his keys on the kitchen counter, her mop of ginger curly hair in a bundle on top of her head.
“Hi, Nina.” Jerome smiled down at her.
“Daddy!” Both Kara and Alessandro jumped out of their seats and threw themselves at him. He crouched down, scooped them up and straightened with ease as they clung to him.
“Hey guys. What’s that you’re making?”
“We’re just seeing how high we can make it go, Daddy,” replied Alessandro.
He walked over to the table, putting both of them down after he squeezed them tightly and kissed them.
They proceeded to explain what they were doing and Nina discreetly rose from the table and let Jerome have some private time with his children.
Nina had worked for the family nearly eight years.
She’d started when Alessandro was nine months old.
Liz was finding childcare very demanding.
That, along with her wanting to continue her modelling career, meant Jerome needed to find a full time nanny.
At first, Nina had come in at eight and left by four.
But as time went by, she ended up staying longer.
Jerome was at the restaurant and Liz wanted to be able to come and go as she pleased.
She hated the fact her baby restricted her.
The family moved from the flat above the restaurant into their present home.
A large six bedroom house set in an acre of land in the suburb of Bramhope.
Jerome hoped that having their own home, away from the restaurant, would make Liz happier.
Nina was asked to move in with them and Jerome converted an outhouse into a one bedroom residence for her to live in.
At first, Liz seemed content. She enjoyed the idea of having her own home and spent a lot of her free time redecorating it.
She began to work again – small contracts, mainly catalogue modelling and some promotional work.
She aspired to be a successful catwalk model, but at the age of twenty-six, she had never yet achieved that level of success.
When she fell pregnant with Kara, the real cracks in their marriage began to show.
Liz realised her chances of ever making it big were now even less.
She spent little time at home and Nina took on the care of the children.
By this time, Jerome had opened Sky and it meant he worked long, unsociable hours.
Liz enjoyed the fact her husband owned a popular nightclub and she spent a considerable amount of time there with him.
However, like many things with Liz, after a while the novelty and glamour wore off, and she lost interest. Especially as Jerome was constantly playing his role as host and giving Liz less of his undivided attention.
The agency Liz worked with found her a few jobs but not the high profile ones she sought after.
So in an attempt to please her, Jerome suggested they open a gym and beauty salon for Liz to manage.
She spent every day at either one or the other, so it seemed the ideal business for her to be involved in.
It had been two years since they opened Level One.
Jerome sat on Kara’s bed as she snuggled into his side. He’d changed out of his suit and put on some lose black lounge pants and a thin apple green sweater. Alessandro was curled up on the bed, with his head resting on Jerome’s stomach. He giggled every time he heard it gurgle. “It’s funny, Daddy.”
“The film?”
“No! Your tummy.”
“My tummy’s funny?” Jerome furrowed his brow.
“It’s gurgling.” Alessandro gazed up at Jerome, his eyes almost an exact replica.
“That’s because it’s working hard to digest my dinner.”
“Well it’s working super-hard then,” he snorted and then rested his head back on Jerome’s stomach.
They’d settled down to watch Shrek before they went to bed. Jerome had prepared dinner for them. He loved to cook and whenever he had the chance to, he took full advantage. Today was one of those times. He’d purposely come home early so that he could prepare dinner for his children.
Both Alessandro and Kara loved it, especially as Jerome let them help.
He prepared one of their favourite dishes: Piccata Milanese.
Kara mixed the rich tomato sauce as Jerome pan fried the veal coated in breadcrumbs and Parmesan.
Alessandro kept checking the spaghetti, pulling out a strand every so often to see if it was ready.
Once they’d eaten, Jerome bathed them both, then sat to watch their favourite film.
His agitation grew as the evening progressed when there was still no sign of Liz.
He contemplated ringing her but he didn’t.
Whatever he had to say to her he wanted to say it face to face.
Nina had helped tidy up, then left Jerome to enjoy his children, retreating to her place.
She genuinely liked Jerome – they’d fallen into a familiar relationship but still managed to keep a respectful distance, and it was because of him and the children that she’d put up with Liz for the last eight years.
That and the fact that Liz spent less and less time at home.
Nina took her instructions from Jerome. It was only as a courtesy that she followed Liz’s rare instructions, and her respect for Jerome was why she put up with Liz’s rudeness and belittling comments.
Nina gave Liz a wide berth and avoided her as much as she could.
By eight o’clock, both children were asleep. Jerome made his way back down to the kitchen and found Liz sat at the kitchen table on her phone. She looked up at him as he walked in and her face stiffened.
“Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later… Sure, bye.” She switched off her phone. Jerome crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, his eyes focused on her nervous face. “What?”
Jerome arched his eyebrow at her comment, making it perfectly clear he was waiting for some sort of explanation.
She just stared at him, her pale blue eyes cold.
“Where have you been?” His voice was low but steady.
“I had an appointment with an ad agency. It went on longer than I expected.” Her tone was bordering on arrogant. She pushed back her chair and stood up, then paced over to the fridge.
“Why didn’t you call?”
Liz opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of open wine. “I didn’t think you were home. You’re not usually.” The last three words were laced with sarcasm and Jerome inhaled deeply trying to keep calm. She poured herself a glass of wine, then turned to face him.
“You also have two children. Didn’t you think about them?”
”I know I have two children, Jerome, I don’t need you to remind me. I spoke to them when they got home from school. Jesus,“ she sneered.
“So the rest of the day, where were you?”
“Is this how it’s going to be, Jerome? Twenty questions about where I go and what I do? For the last six years you never bothered and now you interrogate me?“ she spat out.
Jerome straightened. “I didn’t think I had a cause to wonder what you were doing before.” He clenched his teeth as he spoke.
Liz huffed, “Oh, just go back to your beloved Casa. You’d much prefer to be there than here with me.”
“Don’t turn this on to me, Liz. It’s my work. It’s what provides you with this.“ He lifted his hand in the air, gesturing to their surroundings. “Provides you and the kids with everything you need and want.” His voice was a little louder, betraying his feelings.
“And you never let me forget it, do you? Well I was at work too. I’m trying to get my career going again, but what do you care, eh? You’re so wrapped up in Casa and Sky or Level One, that what I want doesn’t count.” Liz took a drink of her wine and put down her glass.
“I don’t care!” He stepped closer to her, his fists clenching.
“Who the fuck do I work so hard for? All I do is try and make you happy. But you never are. I don’t know what you want anymore.
Jesus, I don’t think I ever have.” He rubbed his forehead in exasperation.
“I set up Level One for you. Something you could get involved with and you just abandoned it, leaving me to pick up the mess you left it in and –”