Chapter 35 #3
As we walked hand in hand, John greeted many people along the way, shaking hands, introducing me as his better half.
I met so many new people every weekend I was out with John, I struggled to remember any of them.
Faces I could manage, but names were a massive no no, especially if they were Irish names.
I could barely pronounce a lot of them; I’d have hated to try and spell them.
He ordered us both a brandy and he pulled out a bar stool for me to perch on, but I shook my head politely.
I’d been sitting for the last two-and-a-half hours, I didn’t want to sit again already.
He sat on it instead and pulled me in between his legs in an intimate stance.
Positioning his hands on my hips, he pulled me in close enough to talk over the noise.
The band was setting up, as the waiting staff transformed the dining room into a dance floor, dragging tables and chairs discreetly to the side of the room.
‘Are you having a good night, girl?’
‘I’m having a great time, thank you for bringing me.’
As I leaned into him, I caught sight of the blond over his shoulder. Her burning stare depicted disbelief, so much so that I felt compelled to look away and pretend I hadn’t noticed her. I squeezed John’s arm to alert him just before she tapped him on the shoulder roughly.
‘I don’t know who the hell you think you are,’ she spat at him.
He turned around, and annoyance flashed over his features at the disruption. ‘Jennifer,’ he acknowledged her curtly.
‘You think you can treat people like shit and get away with it,’ she snapped.
‘If you want to talk about treating people like shit, I’m not the one here shouting and causing a scene,’ he said quietly, calm in contrast to her angry demeanour.
‘You will learn the hard way, my dear.’ Her tone dripped with sarcasm as she pointed her spindly finger in my face. ‘You’re no better than any of the rest of us,’ she said, rage moving through her shaking hands.
‘Excuse me.’ John stood up from the bar stool and towered above her, positioning himself in front of me protectively. ‘Don’t you dare talk to my girlfriend like that. You know nothing about us,’ he hissed.
People were beginning to stare; heads turned and conversations nearby halted. The couple next to us nudged each other and John eyed them pointedly until they looked away.
‘She’ll find out what you’re like, John Kelly. The hard way. And maybe that’s exactly what she deserves.’ She stormed off as thunderously as she had arrived.
John shook his head in disgust at her. ‘Some people have no class,’ he said calmly, though a few tell-tale beads of sweat lingered on his forehead. ‘Where were we?’ he said, placing his hands on my waist again.
‘What is her problem?’ I asked him.
‘She a complete nutter. A stalker.’
‘Why is she still bothering you?’ I asked, confused.
‘I have no idea. She’s a little obsessed, although I have no idea why.’
‘Is it always going to be this way?’ I whispered trying not to let my emotions get the better of me. Not easy, especially considering how much I’d had to drink already.
‘What way?’ he asked.
‘Me wondering if every woman in the room is a frog? If every woman has a story to tell about my boyfriend?’ Tears threatened the corner of my eyes.
‘Lucy.’ He took me in his arms. ‘How many times do I have to tell you there was no one that meant anything to me before you? Especially not her. I swear on Harley’s life.
’ He attempted to make light of the situation while simultaneously reminding me of the commitment of the dog. He was good, I’d give him that.
The band began to play their version of The Lumineers “Ho Hey” and he led me to the dance floor and put his arms around me. I felt better. It was the newness that threw me. I wasn’t used to the whole town knowing our business and people like her forming an opinion on us.
‘Let’s get another drink,’ I suggested as I clocked Jane and Trisha at the bar.
I felt tired, although the party was really only beginning to get started.
The months of travelling and worrying were catching up with me.
I was physically and mentally drained. I’d have loved nothing more than to crawl under the covers with John, but he was preoccupied with the two Michaels, discussing the potential benefits of getting the three houses re-insulated at the same time, with a foam job in between the walls.
‘I’m going to the ladies’ room,’ I told Jane, turning away.
‘I’ll come with you,’ she said, having witnessed the heated exchange only an hour earlier.
We walked together through the throng of gyrating merry guests on the dancefloor. The toilets were packed, the queue extended out the door. We got in line with the others. The band began to play a few Christmas songs, which could be clearly heard from the toilets.
‘Are you ok?’ Jane asked tentatively.
‘Just tired. I feel like the weeks are catching up on me,’ I confided.
‘Is it any wonder? But you will have a lovely Christmas. Once you get your things over, you can unpack and settle properly. And we’ll get a good few nights organised over Christmas so you won’t get the chance to get homesick,’ she promised.
‘You are so good. I’m so glad you’re here,’ I told her.
‘Ditto. Great to have another blow-in for an ally,’ she reminded me of our common ground.
The line moved along slowly, until eventually the disabled cubicle became free. We both went in. I heard a toilet flush next to us and the clipping of heels approach the sinks as I sat on the loo myself. Two women began to talk as they washed their hands. ‘You should just tell her,’ one voice said.
‘What’s the point?’ said the second voice, which I recognised from less than an hour earlier.
‘She should know what he’s like. Right now, she thinks the sun shines out of his arse. It will do no harm to bring both of them down a peg or two.’
‘They deserve each other,’ the voice I recognised as the frog from earlier replied.
‘I heard she left her husband for him,’ the first voice said.
Jane stood blocking door as I stood up from the loo.
She shook her head at me in a silent plea not to go out and confront them, knowing that it wouldn’t do any of us any good and they would probably thrive on the drama of the situation.
‘She did. The daft bitch,’ the frog confirmed in a superior tone.
‘You should tell her you spent the night with him last Thursday,’ the first said as the blood drained rapidly from my face. I looked at Jane for her to dismiss the accusation, hoping she would brush it off with her hand as nonsense. Instead, she looked at the floor, refusing to meet my eye.
‘Why would I bother? Let her find out the hard way.’ And with that, the two of them clip clopped off out the door back into the party.
My knees were suddenly weak and unable to support me. I fell back down to a sitting position on the toilet seat, quivering hands covered my mouth in horror. If I’d been there by myself, I might have dismissed it as bitterness or lies, but Jane’s reaction confirmed my worst fears.
She knelt in front of me, holding my hand as I sobbed ugly tears of distress, mascara smudged my fingers as I hastily wiped them away.
How could I have been so stupid? Deep down, I knew he was too good to be true. I knew it wouldn’t last. I had always known love like this never lasts. I’d gotten so caught up in the moment, wishing it to be true, willing it to be different for me, for us, the real deal.
‘Jane?’ I asked her when I could compose myself enough to utter her name. She refused to meet my eye still.
‘Please? What is it? Tell me. Please?’ I begged her, make-up running down my face.
I couldn’t give a shit about appearances now.
My insides were crushed, smashed, irreparably broken.
Nausea rose to my chest, suffocating me.
My breath came hard and fast as my shattered heart pumped furious blood through my veins.
‘Maybe it was nothing’ Her hesitation spoke volumes.
‘Please, tell me, whatever you know. I need to know,’ I pleaded. She obviously knew something.
‘Her car was outside his house last Thursday night.’ Her gentle lull was apologetically.
‘Look, it could have been nothing. I thought it was odd at the time. She has a personalised number plate; you’d know it anywhere.
I know they have history. It could still be nothing,’ she attempted to reassure me.
‘Whether or not it was nothing, and let’s face it, it doesn’t look promising, the worst thing is that I had to hear it from her. If it was innocent, why wouldn’t he have told me?’ I wiped my face with the back of my hand, fresh tears immediately replaced the ones I’d removed.
‘I don’t know,’ she said, sympathetically. ‘You need to ask him.’
‘What time did the car leave?’ I was desperate for all the facts, even though it made me sick picturing it, picturing her in the house which I was soon to be calling my home. The house we made love in. The house we had cooked in, planned our future together in and shared our hopes and dreams in.
‘That’s the thing Lucy…’ Jane looked really awkward, wring her hands together.
‘Oh God, what is it?’ I stuttered, pre-empting what she was going to say, although every single cell in me willed her not to.
‘It was there all night.’ She confirmed what I already knew. I had known something wasn’t right that last Thursday from the second I texted him from the hairdressers. He was never as unreachable as he had been that night. I heaved over the toilet, bringing up my dinner.