Unbridled

by Fox Brison

  Jack chuckled, he was his normal laid back self again. “Yeah you might be right.” He began writing something on the hotel note pad next to the phone. “Here’s Jen’s address. Do you want me to tell her you’re coming over?”

  “No, I don’t want her to make some excuse and not see me. I mean I couldn’t blame her if she did. No, I’ll just turn up, say my piece and then hopefully we can all move on from this unfortunate episode.”

  Yep, and pigs might be flying the aeroplane back to Cody tonight!

  ***

  I arrived at Jen’s apartment slightly after seven o’clock that evening and asked the cab to wait outside. A man let me into the building before I had to press her buzzer, and after climbing two flights of stairs I stood in front of the number twenty two door for an age, well as long as I dared without the risk of missing my flight. I knocked softly, so softly in fact I wasn’t sure it would be heard, but a second later the door opened and there stood Jennifer.

  “Uhmm, Dani? Hi,” she said, her eyes wide in shock. She gave me a nervous smile.

  “Jennifer, hi. I’m sorry to turn up unannounced like this. Jack gave me your address and I’m here to apologise for this afternoon.” I frowned slightly but quickly erased the lines from my forehead. There was something different about Jennifer today, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. She didn’t seem quite as serious maybe? Or was it that her eyes weren’t filled with the same… verve?

  Her expression softened. “There’s no need to apologise, Dani. I think you handled everything pretty well, considering. Please come in. I want you to meet my sister. She popped out for a walk but will be back in a minute.” She moved aside and I saw a lovely welcoming apartment. Why couldn’t it have been a mess? I needed to find as many faults with this woman as I could so my head would overpower my heart.

  “I’m sorry I can’t, I have a cab waiting to take me to the airport, but I need to know one thing before I go. Do you love him, Jennifer? Do you love Jack?” As soon as I asked the question I knew the answer from the look in her eyes. It was an unequivocal yes.

  My heart was bruised but at least Jack’s had been spared - for the moment at least.

  Chapter 12

  Haley

  I think I was suffering delayed jet lag because after lunch with Jack and Jen (Kelly was right, they were adorable and Jack was the perfect gentleman) I came back to the flat and slept until my sister came in from work, then I needed some fresh air to wake me up.

  Actually I needed some tonic to go with my gin, but any excuse.

  “You’ll never guess who showed up while you were out?” Jen had her hands on her hips and owned the tiniest of furrows on her brow.

  “Who?” I opened the fridge and pulled out a couple of bottles of water and replaced them with a bottle of gin and the two of tonic I’d bought from the little shop on the corner.

  “Jack’s cousin. She apologised for this afternoon.” Her eyes were sparkling.

  “Jen that’s great! Why didn’t you ask her to stay? I would have liked to meet her.”

  “I did but she had a cab waiting. She’s going back to Cody tonight,” Jen explained. It sounded reasonable even though she shook her head disbelievingly.

  “Didn’t I tell you everything would work itself out in the wash?”

  “Yeah you did. Oh, sis, I feel, I don’t know… I feel like tap dancing.” It was great seeing her so happy again. She’d tried to hide it but it was clear the whole thing with the cousin was playing on her mind, not that she said much after her rant via the mobile, but the little frown that had been semi-permanent was gone. “She could have made things so awkward. Could you imagine how difficult it would’ve been living under the same roof as someone who hated your guts?”

  “Well I reckon a celebratory drink might be in order.” I began slicing a lime and she finally caught on, quickly retrieving the ice tray from the freezer.

  ***

  Jen and I were sat facing each other on her large bed, our legs crossed, a bowl of peanuts and a tub of Pringles between us. “God it’s been too long, Jen.”

  “I know, far too long. Cheers,” she added with a grin.

  We clinked our glasses together. They contained Bombay Sapphire gin, our guilty pleasure which I’d bought at the airport duty free shop. “I had one of my ‘what if’ moments today,” I savoured its juniper hit as the cold liquid slid smoothly down my parched throat.

  “You did?” she looked interested. “Tell me more.” We played this game often when we were younger. Sometimes it would be completely esoterical; what if man never landed on the Moon? What if Columbus never discovered the Americas? Other times it was more personal. What if I’d taken the job in Ireland when I was eighteen? What if she had accepted the place at Cambridge instead of the London School of Economics?

  “I thought what if you hadn’t had so many air miles saved? I might have stayed at home and become so obese I couldn’t leave the house.”

  “Did Mum go into overdrive comfort feeding you?”

  I nodded and laughed. “She tried her hardest. I don’t know if I’ll be able to look a cheesecake in the eye ever again, it was the only thing I managed to eat most of the time.” I drifted off for a few seconds before continuing. “I said a final and emphatic goodbye to Dawn this morning. Fort Point is amazing and it’s an excellent spot to think.” The clinking in the glass was somehow comforting in its normality. “It’s scary, you know, when you’ve been with someone for so long and then suddenly ‘poof’ they’re gone. I felt alone, adrift… and so fucking angry. I stood on the parapet and stared over the glistening waters of the Bay… God it’s hard to describe because there were so many shades and shadows. But right there and then I suddenly knew she no longer had a hold over me. I’m not even sure how it happened if I’m honest.”

  “That one night stand might have had something to do with it! You still haven’t told me about that by the way,” she said with a wink.

  “Later, I’m saving that for when I’ve had a few more of these.” I held up my glass. “It might get a bit risqué.”

  “You’d better make my next one a double then,” Jen teased.

  “Everything was such a mess back home, Jen. Liv was great. Mum and Dad were fantastic. But I just couldn’t get out of the rut I was in. The reason I reacted so badly when you told me you were married wasn’t purely because I thought it was too quick it was because…” I took a deep breath, “it was because the morning I found Dawn in bed with someone else was the same morning I was going to propose.”

  “What?” From her high pitched screech, I gathered Jen was taken aback by my admission.

  “I know, right? Even though things had been difficult for us I really believed we were over the worst of it, and I thought that getting through to the other side proved how much we loved each other. That’s what I wanted to believe anyway. I bought a ring and everything.”

  The ring.

  I’d taken it everywhere with me, not sure what to do with it. It was in my handbag when I went to the club; I didn’t mean to take it with me, I didn’t even mean to bring it to America.

  “There I was at Fort Point beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and I had another one of my ‘what if’ moments. You know, what if I’d stayed in Halifax that night, what if I had been stuck in traffic for an hour longer... what if I had arrived home and Dawn was alone…” I smiled through watery tears and Jen mirrored my expression, encouraging me to let it all out and cleanse my soul. It was a Dawn exorcism. “It’s amazing how such a small, black box, familiar the world over, can be the most important thing in your life. It’s a question and a promise, the future and the past… It wasn’t the biggest diamond ever, but not the smallest either.” I laughed scornfully. “We both know Dawn wouldn’t have been happy with anything smaller than one carat.” I took another drink. It was going down well, perhaps too well. “So anyway, I took a cleansing breath, then another. I was on my own and you know what, I didn’t care and I did the most cathartic thing
of everything so far-”

  “You didn’t?” She held her hand to her mouth.

  “I did. The box took a flying leap into the unknown, well, into the sea. I’m sure the other visitors thought I was mental. But that finished off the healing process. I have this vision of it washing up on a shore somewhere and it finding a person at a time when they really need it.” Jen remained silent. She was most likely thinking the same as the tourists at Fort Point, call the men in white coats she’s off her rocker. “I didn’t want to be one of those women who allowed a serial cheater to colour their lives, Jen, I had to do something, anything… heck everything to make sure I found myself again.”

  “Could things be working out for us at last, Hales? You’ve vanquished your Dawn demon and I’ve made up with Dani.”

  “Dani?” I took a sip of my gin, my eyes widening a little. Dani? I took another sip, a bigger one. Actually I downed half of the contents. No.. no… please no. “Who’s Dani?” I asked calmly, even though my inner Haley was running around a blazing funeral pyre, screaming oh God no, with her hands waving above her head. I opened the Pringles and took a couple, doing everything I could to avoid eye contact.

  “Jack’s cousin.” Jen wagged her finger in a mock telling off. “You don’t listen to half of what I say. I told you about her at least twice today. Speaking of which, do you mind if I give Jack a call and put his mind at ease?”

  “Yes,” she looked at me askew, “I mean, no of course not, call Jack.” My mind was racing in ninety six different directions. No don’t be ridiculous. Haley, Dani is a common name, I mean what are the odds… she couldn’t be….could she? I heard Jen telling Jack the good news and a minute later she came through to the bedroom with her hand over the phone.

  “Hales, do you mind if Jack comes over for dinner?” She mouthed please so pathetically what could I say?

  “No, not at all. The more the merrier.”

  Oh shit.

  What was happening? Was Jack’s Dani my Dani? Did she know Jen had an identical twin sister? If not did she think she’d slept with…? Oh. My. God. It was all starting to make sense and I was well and truly screwed. The odds of my having a successful one night stand? Probably a million to one.

  The chances of my one night stand being Jack’s cousin? Maybe ten million to one.

  The likelihood of my sister killing me when I told her I had used her name with said one night stand? Two to one on.

  I was seriously thinking about joining Dawn’s engagement ring in San Francisco Bay.

  I went into the bathroom, sat on the toilet and assumed the crash position. Instead of going for the tonic I should have gone to the hotel and told Dani the truth. It had been in the back of my mind to, but I didn’t want to seem like a desperate stalker. Why? Why does everything always happen to me? A million people have one night stands and after my first one I’m literally and metaphorically fucked.

  I’d only been hiding in the bathroom for five minutes when I heard Jen’s buzzer. Christ, was Jack Clark Kent and did he fly over here? However, when I eventually emerged and looked at the clock I’d been in the bathroom for twenty-five minutes and Jen thought I’d fallen asleep.

  Time flies when you’re scrambling up the smooth ceramic bowl, desperately trying to stop your life ending up in the toilet.

  Chapter 13

  Haley

  Jack, Kelly and the pizza delivery man all arrived at the same time. Jack paid for the food whilst Kelly excitedly began telling Jen all about the new roommate she’d interviewed during her lunch break that day. Me?

  I sat quietly in the corner.

  Very quietly in the corner.

  I had to get Jen alone and tell her about Dani and me, or at least what I suspected about Dani and me. I may not have been Jessica Fletcher but I couldn’t ignore the evidence piling up, even if it was all circumstantial up to this point.

  However, I couldn’t do it in front of Jack.

  It would be humiliating enough to admit I had a one night stand, but to confess I’d used Jen’s name? That would be as bad as catching your girlfriend in bed with a twenty year old temp. Hmmm. Telling a stranger you used his wife’s name to have a one night stand with his cousin? I groaned. On second thoughts it was infinitely worse.

  “Jen, I need to talk to you in private,” I hissed, but she was too wrapped up in Jack to hear me. “Jen,” I said firmly. “We need to talk. Now.” She frowned deeply, giving me the ‘what the fuck’ look she was most proficient at because I’d given it to her on numerous occasions. Nonetheless she followed me into her bedroom. “Jen, which hotel was Jack’s cousin staying at?”

  “The Palace. Why?”

  And what did I say about God loving gays? Right now I was clearly number one on His hit list. “You know we have this psychic twin thing going on? Well, is Dani almost six foot, with long black hair that she wears in a single plait, and brown eyes that twinkle with humour or flash with desire? Is her skin as soft as a peach and has a glow about it from the sun kissing it every day? Is she lean, and have Oh. My. God. Muscles that make your teeth hurt? Does her aquiline nose have a bump right about,” I tapped the bridge of my nose about a quarter of the way down. “Here.” I raised my eyebrows. “Impressed?”

  “I don’t under…” Then suddenly she did. Oh boy did she ever. “Oh fuck, was Dani...?” Jen held her hand to her mouth. “Please, Haley, please don’t tell me Dani was your one night stand.”

  “I wish I could. I’m guessing she doesn’t know you’re a twin and I’m also guessing she thinks she slept with her cousin’s wife. Which is undoubtedly the reason why she accosted you in Elmo’s toilet. She thinks you’re me.”

  “She was your bloody one night stand.” Jen was white, stark white, her blue eyes luminescent as she came to terms with the rather grizzly scenario. Then she glared at me. “Fucking hell, she was your one night stand!”

  “You’ve said that twice already,” I snapped.

  “And I’ll say it again. She was your bloody one night stand!”

  We stood scowling at each other until it got a little ridiculous and I looked away, calmer, or rather more resigned to the situation. “How’s Jack going to take it?” I finally asked.

  “I don’t know.” She sat down heavily on the bed. “I really don’t know. If Dani thinks she slept with me but didn’t tell him, he might feel betrayed by her. Wait a minute,” her brow wrinkled and her eyes clouded over, “your name is Haley. Why did she think that I used… I mean you used…” she cocked her head as she attempted to puzzle it out. “Why did she think someone called Jen slept with her? Hales, what did you do?” I coloured immediately. The question was valid, but not easy to answer, especially when it came out in a frustrated groan.

  “I told her my name was Jennifer,” I said sheepishly. I couldn’t look her in the eye. Actually, I couldn’t even lift my head through shame and embarrassment.

  “I don’t believe this!” Jen began pacing the room, her arms gesticulating wildly. She was raging, with me and with the situation.

  But mostly with me.

  “She’s going to think we’re crazy,” she ranted on unabated, “or that you’re crazy and I’m a complete dumbass. Jesus, the conversation in the toilet makes so much more sense! Why Haley? Why would you do that?” Yes she was mad alright and the last time we had a doozy of an argument like this she’d thrown a mug of tea at me.

  “So firstly, before the recriminations really start flying, and anything else you can get your hands on, I didn’t know she was Jack’s cousin,” I began my defence. “I didn’t think I was ever going to see her again and if I did, I’d planned on telling her the truth. Secondly, I was out in a strange city doing something I would never have dreamed of doing a week ago. Bloody hell, Jen, everyone kept saying let your hair down relax, take some chances. Kelly and I had a few drinks before we went out and I kinda developed this alter ego, a sexy, carefree, fly by the seat of your pants character. I called her Mia.” Jen looked at me blankly. “Yes, I know, stupi
d. But when Dani asked me my name I panicked and said the first thing that came into my head.”

  “I cannot believe this is happening, Jack and I are meant to be hiring a trailer and taking some of my stuff to Cody next week. What the hell am I supposed to say to her?”

  Here we go again, I wanted to say. And what am I supposed to do when you’re off gallivanting across the country? But I’d relinquished my sole claim to indignation.

  Jen sighed. She didn’t need me to say anything because she could read me like an open book. She walked over and joined me at the dresser where I’d picked up a picture of the two of us wearing Halloween outfits, I was Calamity Jane she was Scooby Doo. We both smiled at the same time. “It’s all gone pear shaped, hasn’t it?” she said, but it was purely rhetorical. “This was meant to be a time when you could recover and instead… I’m sorry, Haley, I should have talked to you about the plans, but everything is happening so fast and I know that’s my fault,” she said before I could interrupt. “Before this monumental cock up I thought you would come with us to Cody. I told Jack how much you loved horses and his ranch has some amazing bridle paths. He showed me the pictures on their website. They want to get into breeding horses, something else I knew you’d be interested in. Plus, Yellowstone Park isn’t far, I thought it would be somewhere we could visit together.”

  “It sounds perfect,” I said softly. I had to come up with a way to fix this mess and quickly. Think, Haley, think. “I’m so sorry, Jen.” Then a notion popped into my head and I blurted it out without really giving it due consideration. “Hey, how about if I go to Cody tomorrow before you and Jack get there and explain things to Dani? If she tells me to piss off so be it. But at least Jack won’t feel uncomfortable, you’ll be in the clear, she won’t have anything to feel guilty about and the three of you can all live happily ever after in what sounds like paradise.”