“Why didn’t they go back on board and radio for help?” She asked with a concerned voice.
“I guess they aren’t sailor’s honey, not like you and me. I doubt they would even know how to start the dinghy. Let alone operate the emergency radio.”
“What did they do while you were ill?”
“I don’t know. I think they must have just waited.”
“Ok.” She nodded again. Everything sounded plausible. Logical. As she thought this, the words of Devia, started to play in her mind. ‘And remember, everything he says will sound plausible, that will be because he is lying again. He will have had time to make up a good story…don’t let him off the hook.’
Crystal stiffened; her body was suddenly tense.
“What’s the matter?” Julian asked.
“Nothing.” She said. “Please continue.” Her mind was repeating... ‘Don’t let him off the hook.’
“When I came to, it was dark. I was somewhat disoriented and had to pack everything up. So I was trying to get them, and the picnic items on the boat as quickly as possible.”
“Did you ask them what had happened? And what they were doing?”
“Yes, I did. Sh…” He had almost slipped up and said She. He quickly corrected himself. “They complained that they had been stranded, and helpless, and that they wanted to return to the marina immediately. They said my sickness had ruined their entire day and they were going to insist on a full refund.”
“Oh.” She looked down at her hands.
“Yes, you can imagine how I felt. To be ill, and now to lose the earnings from the day, when I had done the job to the best of my ability.”
“Please carry on.”
“As we were readying to leave. I saw a dense fog rolling in.”
“Ok. And?”
“Well, I couldn’t sail in that. Not at night. If it were myself, alone, I would have risked it, but with passengers, you know, as the captain I am responsible for every soul on board. So when we went on board I radioed what had happened to Andrew and asked him to contact you to tell you what was happening, and why, and to let you know I was safe.”
‘Don’t let him off the hook.’ Her mind whispered. ‘It will all sound plausible.’ Devia’s voice said in her head.
“Did Andrew call you? He said he would.” She nodded.
“Hmmm. So you won’t mind if I talk further to Andrew, ask him about all this?” She asked. For a split second she saw his body tense, and she spotted this. ‘Don’t let him off the hook.’
“Why would you need to do th at ?” He questioned. He was afraid that Andrew would tell her that the client was Devia, and tell her that they had been alone on the boat; just the two of them. He saw it all happening, like a slow car crash, in his mind. The repercussions of how it would appear to her, then the inevitable fallout. Even though he had done nothing wrong.
“I thought I should fight for your money. After all, you did your job. It’s not your fault. He must have insurance and everything, for things like this.” She saw him relax again, but the damage had already been done. She doubted him, and that was all Devia had wanted.
The mental seeds of doubt that Devia had planted, began fermenting and growing. Growing, at an exponential rate.
“It’s ok honey. I’ll talk to him. You are right.” He said, so that she wouldn’t call Andrew.
Crystal heard Devia’s words repeat in her mind. ‘You are right. You are right.’ Her mind interpreted the words that he was guilty and her broken heart hardened against him.
She stood up, and he stood up with her, relieved it was all settled, but what he didn’t know, was that it was nowhere near settled.
It was only just beginning.
Chapter Six – Crystal
That night, when they went to bed Crystal allowed him to sleep in the same bed as her. He tried to snuggle up with her and wrap his arms around her as he normally did, but she refused to allow him to touch her. Instead they lay in bed back to back, both facing away from the other. Neither slept. Both had thoughts spinning in their minds. Crystal’s had all been implanted by Devia. She replayed the past few days, over and over again. How quickly it had deteriorated from being so happy to this great divide, a grand canyon of emotion, a deep chasm of confusion, hurt and misunderstandings.
A deep gnawing churned inside her stomach. She could hear him breathing as he slept, his breathing even and calm. Little did she know he was pretending, he too was wide awake, lying by her side, thinking about the past few days, trying to relive everything to work out where he had gone wrong. He was still none the wiser.
In the morning, she got up and went about her business around the house. She got the kids breakfast and saw them off for school, watching them walk down to the end of the drive to catch the school bus. She continued to watch until they were on it , and then she sat down with her coffee. The housework could wait. It could be a normal day if it weren’t for her stomach churning, and her nerves all shot. Her eyes were still sore and puffy from crying and she now had an upset stomach from the stress. The entire night had been spent tossing and turning, with bouts of broken sleep. She didn’t know how she was going to get through the morning, let alone the day.
Julian seemed happy and whistled as he worked around the house, the more he whistled the angrier she felt inside. Of course he was happy. He was having an affair and thought he had lied convincingly enough for her to believe him . H e thought he had gotten away with it, but she knew better than that, now she was even more convinced.
When he went to work she started going through his jacket pockets looking for receipts. Receipts for gifts, drinks, restaurants, hotels, anything and everything.
There was nothing in any of his jackets, his trouser pockets, his office desk. Nothing was written in his dairy, but she knew that didn’t mean anything. All that meant, was that he was more clever than she would have ever thought. He must have hidden evidence of his infidelity in a very good hiding place. She went through all his desk drawers again. Only this time she emptied the entire contents on to the floor and started going through everything. She took all the books off the shelves and waved them upside down so that any loose pieces of paper would fall out. She looked behind pictures on the wall, looked under the desk, in the bins, and under the lamp base. Nothing. She moved the desk from its resting place against the wall. Maybe he had a secret compartment? Nothing. She went through every file in his filing cabinet. She read about the boat insurance, read every bank statement, read every maintenance invoice, every detail about work that had been done. She read through his captain’s log. She crosschecked every scheduled hire against his schedule on the wall planner. The only thing that wasn’t in there was the most recent sailing trip. Maybe he hadn’t had time to update his journal. She decided she would wait and see what he did, before she questioned him again. He may still intend to write his log and she didn’t want to let him know she had been reading everything. It had taken her all day to go through the coat closet and his office, and her results had yielded nothing. She had just finished putting everything back when he came home. She was pretending to polish his desk when he walked in.
“Wow, this looks fabulous!” Julian said, in delight, as he opened his office door. “It doesn’t look like I even work here now. It’s so tidy. Thank you darling.” He walked over to her, and kissed her on her cheek. She stiffened as he did so. “What a great job!”
“Hmm.” She answered. She straightened his desk diary and his pen and picked up the polish and duster.
“This is just amazing,” he said shaking his head. “It’s just so clean.”
“I thought you needed help cleaning it up, so I lent a hand.”
“Thanks again, darling.” He went to kiss her, but she evaded his lips and left his office. He was left trailing behind her. “So how was your day, honey?”
“Just did some cleaning. Nothing interesting , ” s he said dismissively.
“I can see that. You did a great job.” He went o
ver to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I don’t want you working too hard sweetheart, remember you ’re getting over that cold. It will take it out of you.”
She wanted to lean back in his arms and rest her head against his shoulder as she normally did, but she couldn’t. Not this time. Not until she knew what was going on. It was eating her up inside. All day, every second, in her mind, she heard the words ‘he’s having an affair.’ She carried on with the washing up.
“I’m fine,” she said coldly.
Julian knew the tone she used, it was the ‘back off buddy’ voice, and as he didn’t want a full-scale row, he made his excuses and went in the office to work a little before dinner.
Dinner went well, the kids were laughing and chatting about their day at school and it was almost a normal family day. Except for the fact, that Crystal knew things would never be the same again. All because he had ruined everything. She watched him laughing and playing with the kids as though nothing had happened. He laid on the floor and let them climb all over him. They used him as a human jungle gym, and then they made him be a horse so that they could jump on his back. He was playfully forced to trot and canter around the room and make ‘neigh’ sounds. The kids were squealing in delight and by the time it was bath and bedtime they were exhausted. Julian went to read them a story and put them to bed. It all seemed normal on the surface but Crystal was bubbling with anger and resentment.
Crystal eyed his wallet on the side table . What if there were receipts in there? She picked it up and started leafing through the sections in his wallet. He had maybe thirty dollars in small bills, a few credit cards, a photo of her and the children, but nothing else. She cocked her head to one side and looked up as she thought. Where else? Where else might he hide things? His car, it was now obvious. If there was nothing in his coats, jackets, and office then they must be in the car. He would be bound to keep receipts in there. She went through to check the progress on the kid’s bedtime story. She listened outside the door so as not to disturb them. He was reading a classic Hans Christian Andersen story and she knew he had at least another ten minutes to go. She quickly ran quietly to the side door and went into the garage where his truck was parked. She almost forgot to disarm the car alarm, but remembered, just in time. The car beeped once and flashed its lights to signal it was now unlocked. She froze on the spot hoping he hadn’t heard the beeping sound. When she didn’t hear anything, she opened his driver’s door and started going through the storage sections in the car door. No receipts, no envelopes. She didn’t know what she was looking for; she just knew that when she found it, she would know. It could be something as obvious as a hotel receipt or a pair of sexy panties. She started taking the rubbish out of his car; there were several empty and coffee stained Styrofoam cups from a local coffee house. She twirled them to check for lipstick. No lipstick.
“What are you doing honey?” He asked, genuinely surprised to find her in the garage. She almost leapt to the ceiling; she was so shocked to hear him behind her. She had been searching his car so intently, that she hadn’t even heard him open the door between the house and the garage.
“Cleaning!” She said in a high pitch squeak.
“Oh, honey. You are such a treasure, don’t! Come sit down, it’s late.”
Her first thoughts, when she heard him say don’t, were that he didn’t want her to clean the car because he must be hiding something there and she became even more determined to find whatever it was. She had to clean it now. Before he had time to remove the incriminating evidence, whatever it was.
“No. I have to do it now , ” s he hissed at him.
‘Why now?” She couldn’t tell him her real reasons and so she stuttered for a few indiscernible excuses and then said, “I really need to clean this now. I can’t bear another day of you driving around in this trash bucket. It’s atrocious, you should be ashamed of yourself.” He laughed.
“Oh hun. It doesn’t matter, not now. It can wait until daylight, or even another day or so. Don’t do it now.”
Again she heard the words ‘don’t’ and that made her want to clean it even more than before.
“No your clients will judge you by your dirty car. I have to do it now!” She hissed again.
“But…” She stopped him talking before he could finish his sentence. There was no way he was going to talk her out of it now.
“Don’t you dare tell me what I can and can’t do , ” s he screamed at him in anger.
“Honey, I wasn’t. I was just going to say...”
“I don’t care. Fuck off, and let me clean! The sooner you go, the sooner I can finish.”
Julian looked genuinely shocked and backed away; maybe she was PMS’ing.
“Ok. Ok. You want to clean my car, go right ahead. I will be inside the house watching Game of Thrones, until you come back. Don’t be long honey.”
“Good!” She spat back at him. She was relieved he was going, so she could finish her job without him watching her every move. She waited for him to leave and then she continued going through the drawers and pockets of the car. It took her an hour to go through everything. She was surprised to find nothing. She was completely perplexed. Why didn’t he want her to clean the car, if there was nothing to hide? It must be because he knew he had hidden it somewhere else, but while she was out of the way, he could hide it somewhere else. What a fool she had been! She ran into the house to try catching him hiding things. Instead, she found him fast asleep in front of the television. He was stretched out on the sofa, snoring gently. The TV was on, playing to itself. She watched him sleeping. He still had his boyish good looks, his face unlined as he slept and she was torn between kissing him and slapping him for being a bastard. What the hell was he playing at? Risking everything for some slut? Didn’t he know how happy they were… had been? She started to get angry again and decided to get ready for bed. As she left for the bedroom, she spotted his phone on the side table. It was almost as though she saw it under a spotlight. Suddenly it was so obvious! The incriminating evidence would be there. Why hadn’t she checked there before? She went over to the table and picked it up and put it in her pocket. Then, she went to the bedroom for privacy and got the phone out. She wasn’t familiar with his phone at all, and every time she tried to do something it took her somewhere else. In the end, she decided to have a look at his call list, solely because it was the only thing she could figure out how to access. All she saw was ‘Office (outgoing call), the marina (outgoing call), Andrew (outgoing call), Derek (outgoing call), Derek, (incoming call), Derek, (outgoing call), Crystal office (outgoing call).’
Nothing there. She shrugged in frustration . What did she expect? An entry that said ‘my sexy slut?’ Even so, oddly enough she felt disappointed not to find anything. Deflated even. She quickly exited the phone, and crept back into the living room. She put the phone back where she had found it and turned off the TV. There she left him, gently snoring, and went to get ready for bed.
Lying in bed later pretending to sleep with her eyes closed, thoughts were still going through her mind. It was about three o’clock in the morning when Julian eventually woke up and got off the sofa. He came to bed , creeping in quietly. Laying down beside her, he snuggled in, his arm resting over her waist as he normally did when he hugged her in bed. She left it there, not wanting to let him know she was awake.
In the morning, the routine was the same as always. She got up to get the kids ready for school and made their breakfasts. Julian would make the coffee, then sit at the dining room table with them all. W hen the kids went to school they would both leave for work. If she wasn’t working that day, she would clean the house and plan the dinner for the evening. Today she called in sick again and spoke to her boss Devia who so understandingly gave have time off.
Crystal put all the laundry in the washing machine and then was determined to continue her search for evidence. It had to be here somewhere. She just didn’t know where. The frustrating thing was, Crystal didn’t
know where else to look. She had been through everything. She had been looking everywhere, even in cupboards and boxes they hadn’t used for such a long time. She had practically spring-cleaned the whole house. She had gone through all of his clothes in the closet, his briefcases on the floor of the closet, the family suitcases in storage. She had even gone through his gym bag, and all his shoes.
Suddenly, the buzzer sounded in the utility room, signalling the end of a wash cycle and the end of the dryer cycle that she had loaded earlier. She went through and pulled the dry clothes into her ironing basket and reloaded the dryer with the wet clothes. She went into the living room and sat down as she sorted the laundry from the dryer. She was sure that half of the clothes from Mary hadn’t even been worn. The clothes had just been put on and taken off, as she changed her mind and left each item in the linen basket so she didn’t have to put them away again. There was no way she could have worn three times as many clothes as the rest of the family. She sighed and folded them up, then went through to the kid’s rooms and put the laundry away. After picking up a few books and toys she went back into the living room to collect their own clean clothes to put away. She put them into her linen basket to carry them to their room.
Picking up Julian’s folded socks and underwear from the linen basket, she opened the drawer and was just about to put them away when the phone rang. Quickly she shoved them in, and ran to the living room to answer.
“Hello?”
There was no answer.
“Hello?” She said louder.
Still nothing. Silence. She heard a click from the other end as someone hung up. ‘Odd!’ She thought, and she returned to the bedroom to finish putting away the laundry.
As she was putting her clothes away, she suddenly realised why she might get a hang up call. It was her, trying to reach him. Her blood froze in her veins. She started stomping around the house. She was fuming. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, until she was in a wild rage.
Dancing With Devia Page 7
