Chapter 29
NO TICKET, NO ENTRY. NO EXCUSES
SHARI
The wind chime tinkle of the doorbell sounds just as I’m putting my phone and keys in my bag.
Pickles is still barking at the door, even as I swing it open whilst holding onto his collar so he doesn’t completely cover Jake in fur before we head out.
Except when Pickles sees Jake, he recoils slightly and starts up a low growl.
“Pickles, what’s wrong? Why are you growling? This is Jake, he’s a friend!” I look to Jake, who has a frown on his face as he stares at my dog. “I’m so sorry, Jake. He’s not usually like this, I don’t know what’s gotten into him!”
Jake leans down with one of his hands out for Pickles to sniff, “Hi bud, come on, have a sniff. It’s ok, I’m not here to hurt you.” His gaze flicks back up to me, “He can probably smell my cats.”
“Oh, yes! That’s probably it.”
I coax Pickles back into the house so I can close the main door whilst I put my coat and shoes on in the porch.
“Sorry about that, I would have invited you in, but we may as well just get going. I’m sure when you drop me home later, he’ll be so excited that you can come and meet him properly then.”
I lock up and Jake guides me to his car with a hand on my lower back.
“Are you ready to tell me where we’re going yet?” I ask with a coy smile.
He opens the door for me and as I get situated, he leans down to give me a quick kiss. His eyes are bright when he excitedly exclaims, “The Bristol Model Railway Exhibition!”
I’m completely frozen in place when he shuts the door and rounds the car to get into the driver’s seat. The Bristol Model Railway Exhibition? Why the hell would he think I’d be into that?
Jake starts the car and as we pull off the drive he looks over to me, “Isn’t that great? I try to go every year, so I’m really excited that you can come with me this year. You’re going to love it!”
Unlikely. But I can be a supportive date, maybe he’ll let me drag him to a romance readers event in return. “I had no idea you were into model trains,” I say, carefully. “I love that there’s a local event you can get to most years, though.”
We pull up to the leisure centre where the event is being held, and unbelievably, there is a queue wrapping around the side of the building.
Most of the patrons seem to be men over a certain age.
I really don’t want to be judgemental or pessimistic, but I can already tell that these are going to be the longest few hours of my life.
After queueing in the bitter cold for close to half an hour – thank god it wasn’t raining too – we finally make our way inside. The space is fairly small, but there are a lot of people and display tables packed in here. Jake is positively giddy with excitement. I’m just glad to be in the warmth.
Stopping at the first table, Jake starts pointing out all the little things that excite him.
“Just look at the crosshead link! It always amazes me just how much detail they can get into such small scale replicas. Even down to the people and brickwork on the tunnels, it’s just… ” his voice trails off in awe.
I’ll admit, the level of craftsmanship and detail is absolutely incredible, but as Jake and the guy controlling the demonstration start chatting animatedly about the mechanics of the set, my mind wanders.
I look around the room, trying to count all the displays.
This is only the first table and I feel like we’ve been here for hours already.
My smartwatch buzzes on my wrist, snapping me out of my rumination, and I look at it to see I have a call coming through from Jaime.
Digging my phone out, I touch Jake’s elbow to get his attention, “I’m just going to stand over there and take this call, ok?”
He barely even acknowledges me, waving me off mid-sentence.
“Hey, hun. Fuck, I’m glad you’ve called,” I sigh. I lower my voice to a whisper, “Jake’s dragged me to a model train exhibition, and it’s exactly as bad as you would imagine!”
Jaime’s voice comes through so muffled that I can’t hear what she’s saying over the din of conversation and the whirr of the trains chugging around their tracks.
“Hang on, I’m just going to step outside, I can’t hear you.” I hustle to the main door and brace myself for the cold, “Ok, what’s up lover?”
“I’m…so…fucking do-done!” she sobs through the line. Jaime isn’t a crier, so it has me panicked.
“What? What’s wrong? Babe, why are you crying, are you ok? Is Marcus ok?”
“I-it’s f-fucking Isaiah! I’m done!” She seethes, sniffling. “Can you come…come over? I—”
“Say no more, I’m on my way. Let me just tell Jake I’m leaving and I’ll be there as soon as I can, ok?”
“O-ok. Love you.”
“Love you.”
I hang up and make my way back inside, but the man at the ticket desk won’t let me pass without showing him my ticket. Which Jake has. Inside.
“I’m sorry, my date has my ticket, I just stepped out to take a phone call.”
“You should have gotten your hand stamped before you stepped out, for all I know, you’re trying to sneak in.”
Is this guy for real?
“Do people normally try and sneak in to this event?” I ask sardonically. I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m desperate to get to Jaime. I’ve never heard her this upset about Isaiah before, she never even cried the first time they split up.
“Listen, I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. But I’m leaving anyways, I just need to get inside to tell my date that I’m going. You can even escort me in if you really don’t trust me to...I don’t even know what it is you don’t trust me to do.” My arms drop to my sides as my exasperation takes hold.
“No ticket, no entry. No excuses.”
What a fucking jobsworth! I step past him and stand at the main door to the room to get Jake’s attention.
“You can’t go in there!” the ticket twat grabs my arm to pull me back just as Jake looks up.
“Jake!” I wave him over before turning my attention back to the man holding my arm. “Let go of my arm, or I will report you for assault.”
“Get your hand off her,” comes Jake’s low growl.
Ticket twat immediately removes his grip, but goes off on his spiel about tickets and attendance and whatever else until Jake fishes our tickets out of his pocket and flashes them in his face.
“Jake, I have to—”
“Who were you on the phone to?”
“That was Jaime, she’s really upset and—”
“Jaime? Then why did you go outside to take the call?”
“Because I couldn’t hear anything in here. Anyway, listen, I have to—”
“You shouldn’t have gone outside, you could have just moved into the hallway there.”
“Jake! Please stop interrupting me. I have to go, Jaime needs me. I was only coming back inside to let you know I’m going to grab a taxi.”
His jaw pulses as if he’s chewing on his words, “You’re leaving? But we’ve only been to one table, I had a whole day planned.”
“I know, and I’m really sorry. But my friend needs me. You stay and enjoy the exhibition, and I’ll call you later. Ok?”
“I can drive you.”
“No, honestly. I want you to stay, you’ve clearly been looking forward to this, so I don’t want you to have to leave just to drop me off.”
“You sure you’re just going to Jaime’s? Why don’t you want me to drop you off?”
“Jake, if this is your distrusting side popping up, you need to take a breath. I’m going to Jaime’s house because she needs me.
I don’t want you to drive me because I want you to stay and enjoy this exhibition that only comes once a year and that you’re so clearly excited about.
That’s all. I’m not entertaining this jealousy shit. ”
His nostrils flare as he takes in a few deep breaths. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better. Please let me know when you get there safely.” He kisses my cheek and I promise to text him as soon as I get there.
Jaime’s anthracite grey door flies open before I’ve even stepped out of the cab, her face red and blotchy, although she’s no longer crying.
I pull her into a crushing hug as soon as I get close enough, and she holds on just as tight. “Can we move this inside, though? It’s like four degrees and my nipples might fall off,” I mumble into her cherry-scented hair.
She huffs a short laugh and walks backwards without letting me go, and I kick the door shut behind me. We stand like that in her hallway, swaying softly for several minutes.
When she finally pulls back, her eyes are red-rimmed, but the look of despair that she wore when I arrived has morphed into a mixture of anger and hurt.
“Where’s Marcus?” I ask, holding her by the shoulders.
She wipes her nose with the back of her hand and turns to walk into the lounge. “With my parents.”
We detour into the kitchen so she can grab the wine and an extra glass for me before we move to sit on her black leather sofa. She pours me a glass and then tops up her own, taking a huge gulp.
I sip my wine as we sit in the silence, the winter sunshine streaming in through the window beside us painting her profile in shades of gold and yellow. I let her stew in her thoughts for a few minutes before I break her out of her reverie.
“What happened, chicken?” I ask softly, my hand on her knee.
“Fucking Isaiah. He…I can’t believe…I’m just so fucking angry!” she grits out through clenched teeth. “I know, I know I say it all the time, but this is it. I’m done. There is no coming back from this,” her voice cracks at the end, which has me sliding closer to her.
“Coming back from what, J? What did he do?” I coax.
She scoffs, “You mean who.”
What? He cheated on her? Fucking hell.
“Oh god, who did he do? How big does their joint grave need to be?”
A smile valiantly tries to break through her expression, but immediately turns into a frown. She looks down at her wine and murmurs so quietly I almost don’t hear her, “My sister.”
“Your…your what? Your SISTER??”
“None other than Abby. Perfect little Abby, the baby of the family who can do no wrong and always gets what she wants. Well, apparently she wanted my boyfriend!”