by Jackson Lear
“There is no ‘unfortunately’ in this situation.”
“There is this time. Bruce was also there.”
“I do not stand corrected,” said Josh.
“He thought the phone was Lucy’s, so he picked it up and instantly saw a selfie of Gemma posing, somewhat, in the full length mirror. Lucy caught him.”
Josh closed his eyes and leaned forward, trying his best to suppress a laugh, until eventually he erupted and couldn’t take it any more.
“So, now, everyone in the entire bridal party has seen Gemma in the buff.”
“To be fair, she does kinda find herself in these situations,” Josh said.
“The streaking is understandable, especially after getting the house for as little as we did, but every other incident has been unexpected.”
“So is the wedding still on?”
“I assume so,” said Anthony. “Imagine all the planning Lucy would have to sacrifice over something as stupid as her hubby finding a selfie.”
“She needs her arsehole licked,” said Josh. He sank the last of his beer and sighed at the empty glass. “You know the most exciting thing I’ve done in the last six months? Watched every Rambo movie in one epic marathon in bed, with toasted cheese and mustard sandwiches on one side and chocolate pretzels on the other.”
Anthony nodded in commiseration. “I played dress-up with the kids and took wacky photos. Got a few likes.”
They fell into a quiet moment. Anthony stared at his beer while Josh weighed up the penalty of getting another.
“So Amanda’s coming for a visit,” said Josh.
“Yes, she is.”
“Any news if the boyfriend is coming along?”
Anthony shook his head. “I only got a short email, nothing too elaborate.”
“Maybe we can ditch him onto Bruce,” said Josh.
“Maybe. I mean, she did say she is coming back sooner than expected, so maybe what’s-his-face will stay behind?”
“Unless she’s come to announce that she’s engaged.”
Anthony shook her head again. “She would’ve told us already.”
“Not if she wanted to just rock up, glance down at her hand, and say, ‘Oh, what, this? This diamond ring? This old thing?’”
Anthony fell into a secret smile. “She did always say she’s not the marrying kind.”
“Yeah, but that was more of a ‘fuck you’ to her mum.”
“I wonder what she would say about you and Brooke,” said Anthony.
“Probably to go for it,” said Josh, while shooting a grin at his friend.
“No, she’s wouldn’t. She’d tell you that you have a good thing going on with Hannah.”
Josh felt a stab of offence there. It wasn’t even feigned offence at that. “Oh, would she?”
“Personally, I’d say enjoy flirting with Brooke, but be careful. It is a workplace, you know. They might not hit you on sexual harassment if it’s mutual but they can get you on something else. Performance issues and expectations. All that crap.”
“It would be bullshit if Lukas pulled me up on that, considering that he can’t wait to get into Amelie’s pants.”
Anthony winced and didn’t want to have to say this to his friend, but he felt it coming along anyway. “Seriously, be careful. They can always find something that you’re not good at. I hear these things from the bigwigs in London all the time. They can even say they’ve lost their trust in you. That one particularly stings because there’s no talking your way out of it. Then you start second guessing how everyone sees you.”
Josh glared. “I thought we were talking about Amanda.”
“We were.”
“Good. How did Gemma take the news?”
Anthony shook his head in confusion. “Of ...?”
“Of Amanda coming back sooner than expected.”
“Oh. Haven’t told her.”
Josh leaned back in his chair as he gently shook his head. “That may have been a mistake.”
“There’s no casual way of telling my wife that her old nemesis is returning soon.”
“Nemesis?”
“I actually heard her use that word the last time Amanda was in town. It may have caused some friction.”
“Why?”
“I think Gemma checks my emails every now and then.”
Josh closed his eyes and felt a mighty groan come over him. “Did she find anything?”
“She may have found a thousand emails back and forth in the last few years. Nothing incriminating, it’s just the sheer quantity that would surprise her.”
“Does she think you two are having an affair online?” Josh asked.
“She never mentioned it during our sessions but I’m willing to bet that she has that one locked and loaded as though I’d prefer to spend more time with Amanda than with my wife.”
“You better hope then that Scott comes along.”
“Won’t matter if he does,” said Anthony.
“Well, here’s hoping it all goes well.” Josh rose from the table. “I shouldn’t, but the evening calls for a lager to shake things up.”
“By all means,” said Anthony.
“You want one?”
Anthony looked over the weight of one more beer versus ordering something lighter.
“My shout,” said Josh.
“Okay, you’re on.”
Josh headed inside, leaving Anthony to sit under the giant umbrella that was locked in place. He glanced over at the three young ladies and found they were all swiping back and forth on their phones. Anthony took his out of his pocket and sent Gemma a quick message, saying that he expected to be back at seven and would she like him to bring home some takeaway.
8
Gemma
She and Anthony met just after her folks moved to Luxford from Newcastle. Gemma was neck deep in exams to become a qualified accountant, came to visit on what was supposed to be the first of a once-a-year weekend trip, happened to sit across from Anthony on a train to London, and found that he irritated the shit out of her when he laughed at her refusal to go out with him.
“Telling someone you won’t go out on a date with them just because you don’t feel the same way is so very high school,” Anthony said. “You’re an adult. You know that feelings can burst out of nowhere and all it takes is the right gesture, or the right phrase, and all of a sudden there’s that spark of interest that wasn’t there before. Stop being a scaredy-cat, put your faith in someone else for one evening, and come and have dinner with me tonight.”
Gemma refused again, so Anthony jumped on the same train as her back to Newcastle and spent the next couple of hours igniting that spark. The photo of them at the train station in Newcastle was still framed in their bedroom.
Between then and now were about five hundred takeaway meals each, four hundred bottles of wine, ten new board games, and nine weekends away. They had two children and a basset hound. Tom was seven and had just finished his second year of school. Sarah was five and was about to start her first. They were old enough not to need a full time mum chasing after them, which allowed Gemma the luxury of returning to work for the first time in seven years.
Only … it wasn’t like gliding into her old role but more a case of being drop-kicked into an alien world where every day became a battle of ‘this is how we do it now’ versus ‘the old way was better’. Simon had begged her to stay on back then, even as a part-timer who could work largely from home while Tom was still a new born. Even three months ago he jumped at the chance of getting Gemma back to show the fresh faces how a stellar professional performed.
But that was three months ago.
Last Monday Ellie called in sick. The kick in the guts was not that she was wearing braces and a training bra when Gemma last did her job, it came from sitting in front of Ellie’s computer for all of five minutes. An email popped up of a dog with a hot water bottle on its head, wishing her a ‘get well soon’. Five more well wishes came through in the thread. As Gemma scrolled up s
he found a ‘happy hump day!’ with a camel drinking champagne, a ‘Grrr, it’s Monday,’ and a ‘It’s Friday Bitches!’ The email thread was eighty messages long. Half of the office was involved. This was the first time she had seen any of them.
The quiet voice in her head told her to not read any more, yet her right index finger scrolled down to an email from Simon titled, ‘Gemma.’
The voice inside screamed at her, yet she managed to click on the email. It wasn’t until her drive home that she remembered she had a performance review the following day.
Simon led off with a sobering, “If I’m honest …” and finished by extending her probation period by another six weeks as though he was doing her a favour. She came home to find that Tom was grounded for punching Sarah because she scribbled all over the desk his dad had just made for him. Gemma stayed in the shower until the hot water ran out.
She began the following day in incognito mode, where she ran a quick search for property prices in Newcastle, particularly in Whitley Bay. She ended up staying there until Anthony’s alarm buzzed him awake.
9
Amanda
Anthony sat in front of his office computer at Woodards and drummed his fingers on the desk. He kept glancing to his phone, waiting for it ring or buzz with a message. He wore his favourite navy blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up just for today.
A new email popped up. One of his employees was asking for a raise. The standard policy was to introduce raises only at the start of the new financial year, as well as after an evaluation to see if they met their KPIs. This one had a hit and miss record. And he was trying to romance one of the casuals, all on company time.
All of that faded the moment Anthony’s phone buzzed with a message from Amanda.
‘You! I’m in your area. Come out for lunch. x.’
Anthony smiled and was halfway through a witty answer when Amanda sent him a follow up.
‘No excuses. Much catching up to be done. x.’
Anthony rolled his head around and accepted that his brilliant message would now make less sense, so he deleted it and started again.
‘Would madam like to meet me at Café Krifi at 12:30?’
‘I’m here already having a coffee. Did you know you went to school with the manager and that he’s currently single? I have been recently informed of this news. He’s not in the least bit subtle.’
‘Did you bat your eyes at him?’
A moment later, Anthony had his answer.
‘Save me! He brought a coffee over to me and said it’s free!’
Anthony checked the time. 11:45. He scribbled a note on an orange Post-It and left it on his keyboard - ‘Gone to lunch.’ Ten minutes later, Anthony had parked his car and wandered into the diner-booth café Krifi. Amanda lit up like a vision of smiles and exuberance. She had trimmed her hair up to her shoulders and now had blonde highlights at the tips. She wore a crimson satin buttoned top and a black flowing skirt.
Amanda dropped her mangled copy on the rise of Broadway’s hedonism onto the table and bounded across the café. “Hello stranger!”
Anthony came over and gave Amanda a hug. She responded with an automatic kiss on the cheek, then she quickly pulled back.
“I’m sorry, are we not doing kisses anymore?” Amanda asked.
“No, no, here you go.” Anthony leaned back in and kissed Amanda’s cheek. Then he stepped away and took a seat. “Did we ever do kisses?”
Amanda shot him an airy look. “For a while, when it was in vogue. We thought it was very European.”
“Ah. You’re looking well.”
“Thank you! You too.”
“New hair do?”
“Yeah, I’m ashamed to say that people have expectations of me living a New York lifestyle, so I do have to ham things up from time to time.”
“You’re wearing a skirt.”
“I’ve been wearing skirts for years,” said Amanda.
“Since when?”
“Since discovering warm weather.”
Anthony picked at the menu sitting between them. “How was your free coffee?”
“Delightful,” said Amanda. “And gone, so you may need to order me another one.” She tapped the rim of the empty chai latte with a fingernail.
Anthony glanced over his shoulder and saw the manager eyeing them up. “You’re too afraid to get one yourself?”
Amanda leaned in and nodded towards the front of the counter. “You didn’t tell me Greg Buchanen bought out Krifi.”
Anthony shook his head. “Is that vital to know?”
“Well, he ... we ...” she waved her hand, dismissing the memory.
Anthony arched a surprised eyebrow. “Hooked up?”
Amanda pulled back, mortified, then she shrugged it off. “We made out once on the hood of his car. Way too much tongue. Like, waaaaaay too much.”
“How far did he get?” Anthony asked.
“He slid his hand into my jeans. When he pulled it out again he caught his watch and gave me a wedgie.”
Anthony grinned and, sure enough, Greg took that as his cue to come over, re-introduce himself to Anthony, and take their order for drinks.
As soon as the coast was clear Amanda clasped her hands together and leaned over the table. “Okay, I’ve been gone for a while. Goss. Give me.”
Anthony shrugged. “Nothing’s really happened that I haven’t emailed you about.”
“That’s boring. Make something up.”
“I’m more interested in why you’re back from New York.”
Amanda shook her head as though it didn’t really matter. “Family stuff. Making sure I’m still in my parent’s will. That kind of thing.”
Anthony paused, sensing something else, especially as Amanda had never been able to look him in the eye if she lied. “That was a sorry excuse of a story.”
“It was. And, my mother thinks I’m rapidly turning into a spinster.”
“You’ve got plenty of time.”
Amanda glared at him. “So you agree with her?”
Anthony smiled in return. “Touched upon a sore spot, did we?”
“Well, you know ...” she dropped into a haggard voice that was supposed to imitate her mother’s. “‘You’re thirty four already. When am I going to see grand children?’ Well, if that’s her attitude I’ll just keep saying ‘never’ and see what kind of pressure that puts on her.”
“She said this recently?”
“Pretty much as soon as she picked me up from the station.”
“So you and Scott ...”
Amanda dropped her eyes towards the table. “Broke up.” She glanced at Anthony and, not for the first time, caught a look of utter devastation on his face. His jaw had dropped open as though Amanda and Scott were always meant to be. “Yeah, I got that look from my dad as well.”
Anthony pulled himself back into the present. “Sorry. Uh … are you okay?”
“Yeah. I mean, not great, but … yeah.”
“I really am sorry to hear that.”
“We just weren’t meant to be.” She looked over Anthony and was surprised, maybe even relieved, that he hadn’t snapped himself back to his joking self. “Did I just broke your heart with that one?”
“I think you did, actually. I hate it when people break up.”
“Or, you could just say, ‘Yay! Amanda’s back! We missed her!’”
A smile returned and he gave her a quick nod. “We did miss you.”
“Good,” said Amanda. “And it wasn’t just Scott that had me running back home. Hell, I knew he was trouble years ago and my mum saw it as well. And you know how she likes people to know that she was right? Yeah. So the other thing: last month my boss pulled me aside. As awesome as she is she also has those secret witch-like instincts of intuition. She asked if I liked my job, and holy fuck I thought I was about to be fired. So I said ‘yes’ while hoping like hell I wasn’t going to have to beg to keep working there. Then she asked if I loved my job. Well, that brought me down. She aske
d what I had always wanted to do. I told her I used to want to work on Broadway. She hinted that working in promotions for an events management company is hardly what I’m supposed to be doing with my life if I have my heart set somewhere else. I mean, I only went for the promotional side because she recommended me for the position. So that sent me into a head spin. A week later I asked for time off. Yeah.”
“Holy shit, Amanda.”
“Tell me about it. So aside from getting slapped around with guilt on the Scott and job front – how are you and Gemma?”
Anthony held back on a snort. “We’re fine.”
“And Josh and Hannah?”
Anthony paused for a little too long.
“Oh,” Amanda said. “So there is goss.”
“He’s on the path to making a mistake,” said Anthony.
“We’re all on that path, somewhere.”
“He’s about to ask for your advice.”
“Well, considering I just broke up with my boyfriend, put my career on hold, and came running back to my old friends, my advice is not going to be in his best interests.”
“Honestly, I think that’s what he’s hoping for. So what happened with you and Scott?”
Amanda threw her hands up into the air. The first dose of caffeine had just kicked in and another was on its way. “Woah, woah, you can’t get out of something that good without letting me in on the details. Spill.”
Anthony shook his head. “Right now it’s nothing, but it’s his thing to talk about. And he’ll kill me if I say anything to anyone.”
“I don’t count.”
“You especially count.”
“Why? Does this mistake involve me?”
“No,” said Anthony. “But not another word until Josh mentions it. And whatever the news is, it’s a complete surprise, okay?”
Amanda leaned back into her chair and crossed her arms. “Fine.”
“Good. So, you and Scott. What happened?”
Amanda’s joyful exuberance drifted away. “I fell out of love.”
“When?”
“Correction. I don’t think I was ever in love with him. I told him I wasn’t the one for him. He reached for his chest as though his heart literally broke. Then he insisted that I was the one for him. That became awkward. So I slept on the couch that night, didn’t really have an escape plan because, well, it was a spur of the moment thing. There was an opening in the conversation and I knew if I didn’t seize it then we’d waste another six months, or a year, until one of us realised it. So, yeah, I flew back to London a couple of days ago, met Dad’s new lady friend, and came out to Luxford this morning.”
